Hey everyone. I hope everyone has had a good week and I have a new chapter for you.

TenorSax93: Yes it is bittersweet. Save the day and Jade's still heartbroken.

Guest: Nora reaped what she sewed. If there is to be a fight between Jade and her stepmother, assuming she would be that stupid to go head to head with Jade, it will not be pretty. Jade plays for keeps.

Twilight Warrior 627: I'm glad I beat your expectations: under-promise and over-deliver. On the face, the second Mrs. West's motivations is that she's afraid that her child loves Jade and sees her as more of a mother to her than he does to her. Dusty doesn't see it as a burden of putting down a rabid animal. He sees it as a burden to them if they had to do it themselves.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Yes, you do know that dog and I've finally explained how Ian got him. It would have been nice if Jade and Freddie had gotten to Nora, but there is a deeper point for why it was Dusty and Sam that will be examined.

They can legally kill an escaped fugitive, especially one in the process of committing a felony as holding Ian is the ongoing crime. They see it right now as they have someone still out on the loose, so they're bending some rules.

Xemtlenc: I guess it depends if you're ever in that circumstance. The point is to ask the question. Dusty certainly agrees with you of not burdening her soul with it. Jade is simply protective of her man from whatever direction comes at Freddie. We'll see how Jade handles things in the next chapter or two.

On a side note, there are a lot of previews for Liz's Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll and I know that I'm excited to see this.

Also, illusionarygentleman and his writing buddy SVAD is back with a new Jade/Freddie story, 'Oh, Nancy'. It is quite M-rated boys and girls, so don't read it if you're not old enough.

Thanks to PD31 for plugging this story in his recent update to 'Something Better Comes Along'. Go check that out when you have a chance if you haven't.

Rating: T Language

Chapter 25

UCLA Medical Center
10833 Le Conte Avenue
Los Angeles, CA
Friday, October 25, 2013

Detective Jones, Mister and Mrs. West patiently waited on the other side of a drawn curtain in a private room (where a pair of uniformed officers was standing outside the room) as Ian was examined for any injuries on the insistence of his mother.

On the other side of the curtain, Ian was sitting on an examination table with a pediatrician finishing up her examination of him while the nurse was taking his vitals. Ian remained silent as the health professionals went about their work, only answering a question when the doctor asked. He didn't care much for going to his doctor, but this one (Doctor Emma she said he could call her) was a nice and a very lovely brunette to the eyes. Ian thought she smelled nice and vaguely looked like Tori in an older sister sense, which set his nerves at ease with having to take off his shirt and jeans. The nurse was an older woman with a grandmotherly quality to her.

The nurse pulled the ear thermometer from his ear and read the reading. "Temperature normal."

The doctor sweetly smiled to him and said after pulling away the stethoscope, "Okay, all done." She helped him pull his shirt back on then assured him with a lovely smile, "I'll be right back."

Ian smiled to her and the nurse handed him a fruit juice carton with the straw already in it then the she and the doctor slipped passed the curtain to meet the parents.

The blonde Mrs. West hastily asked, "How is he?"

The doctor smiled in an effort to assure the mother as she answered, "Other than perhaps being a little irritable for perhaps missing a nap and a little hungry and thirsty, he's fine. We've given him some fruit juice for the electrolytes and a cookie to get his blood sugar up. He just needs a good meal and a good nap and he should be fine. There are no visible marks on him."

"Did she do anything to him? I mean…"

The doctor tightly smiled and diplomatically answered, "There's no indication that there was any sexual contact, but of course it is not as easy to tell with a boy unless there was… but there wasn't any. However, with the conversation I had with him, there's nothing to lead me to believe that there was any kind of that contact."

Mister West let out a sigh of relief while his wife closed her eyes to keep back the happy tears.

Detective Jones asked, "Can I speak to him?"

The younger Mrs. West interrupted in a near shrill voice, "Is this really necessary?"

The detective patiently smiled at the mother and answered, "Yes it is ma'am. We need to know what exactly happened to him while he was with her and perhaps he can shed some light on what happened to her."

The fairly young mother angrily countered, "If you would get that boy you arrested tell us what happened to that crazy girl, then you wouldn't have to question him? Why can't you find out from Samantha?"

Jones confidently answered, "Detective Vega is a very experienced detective. He'll get him to talk, but in the meantime, as I said, it is important we get as much information about what happened so they know how to properly charge her."

Mister West took a place next to his wife and rested a gentle hand on her elbow. "Dear, the detective is correct. It's important that they know all that they can. We don't want her to get off on some kind of technicality when they find her."

The blonde was reluctant to follow her husband's advice, but his touch was a subtle reminder that he was putting his foot down. "Okay, but make it quick and don't upset him."

Ian sipped on his juice drink as the bald headed police detective and Mister and Mrs. West entered the room and parted the curtain. The blonde immediately took a seat next to her son and hugged him to her side.

Jones politely smiled to the child and began, "Hello Ian, I'm Detective Jones. I'd like to ask you a few questions. What can you tell me about what happened?"

"You mean about the crazy lady with the chicken took me."

The bald detective went along with a laugh, hoping to keep the tension down, then clarified, "Could you tell us all that happened? All that you could remember. How did you get with the 'crazy lady'?"

The child thought on what happened to him. "I was playing a video game and Sammy said she had to go to the potty. She left to go then the front door opened and that crazy girl busted in. She grabbed me and carried me out. I tried to scream, but she covered my mouth with a rag. She put me in the back of a red car then took me to some house and dropped me in a well. She called Jadey a few times and she yelled at the phone. I was in there a few hours…" He held up his plastic child watch to show that he could tell time. "…and she wouldn't give me anything to eat or drink. I'm glad I didn't have to potty."

Jones scribbled down some notes then asked, "Can you tell us how the boy and girl found you?"

"I don't know. The lights went out for a second then Sammy and Dusty found me. She got me out of the well then we left. The mean girl wasn't happy, but she was afraid of Ira."

"Ira?"

"The big black and white dog."

Mister West leaned over and whispered, "It's the dog that threatened Detective Vega when they came back to the apartment."

Jones nodded the continued to question, "So after the dog scared Nora, you just left?"

Ian nodded. "Sammy carried me out, but Dusty stayed behind with the crazy woman."

"So this 'Dusty' stayed with the 'crazy woman'?"

"Yeah, he told us to go, so we left, but…"

Ian darted his eyes back and forth, unsure if he should continue.

"Yes?"

"When we got to Dusty's car, there was a very loud scream and… in the house shined like it had swallowed the sun with all the light coming out the windows." He motioned out with his hands and made the sound effect of an explosion. "The windows and the door blew out like the big bad wolf was inside to blow the house down and made it look like it was a sunny day. Sammy told me not to worry then drove me back to her house."

Mister West wore a stoic expression, determined not to give any hint of his reaction to the tale his son spoke. The second Mrs. West however looked dismayed at what her son had gone through and what she believed his mind had to make to deal with his apparent rescue.

Jones smiled to Ian and stated in a good naturedly laughed, "Thanks. You're a big help and you're a very brave kid."

Ian took a sip from his drink, not understanding what the big deal was in telling what happened.

The businessman suggested, "Why don't we give Ian a minute to finish his snack and let us talk to the detective in private?"

Detective Jones was the first to slip past the curtain and Mister West motioned with an arm to usher out his wife, but before the husband and wife could slip out, Ian looked to his mom and asked, "When am I going to get to see Jadey?"

The second Mrs. West stated in a stern voice, "You're not going to see her anymore."

"What do you mean? She said she would see me later and we're going Trick or Treating on Halloween."

The blonde raised a finger and continued in a stern voice, "You certainly will not. She's not a good influence on you and now we've seen that it is dangerous to be around her. I will not have you spend any more time with her."

Ian frowned and felt an unfamiliar emotion surge through him. He had always loved his mother, he didn't know of any other feeling towards her except for maybe a little irritation when he didn't want to go to bed when he was in the middle of playing or watching a video, but he was feeling a new emotion towards her: anger.

The blonde stared back at her child. "Don't give me that look Ian. You spend far too much time with her and now look what happened. You were snatched for being around her. It was all her fault."

Ian ignored her instruction and maintained his angry pout.

Mister West took a deep breath and put on a reserved expression. He recognized the determine look in the child's eyes, one he knew he possessed and one that had irritated him to no end with Jade. He knew this would not end well if his wife pushed the issue and Jade certainly wouldn't accept her decision and if she didn't… there were a long line of people behind her that would back her. He decided to interrupt before there was any escalation, "We can discuss this later. What is important now is to find Nora and to do so, let's speak with the detective."

"There's nothing to discuss Roy."

The tall gentleman tightly smiled and answered calmly, "Darling, we've all been through an emotional ordeal. It's important to take a step and rationally look at the situati—"

She ignored him and walked past him and between the curtains.

Mister West sighed at being brushed away, but smiled to his son. "I'll be right back son." He slipped out, leaving Ian to continue to pout as he sipped his drink, trying to comprehend the feelings he was having towards his mother.

Ira seemed to appear out of nowhere from behind the bed and hopped on it next to him and rested the underside of his chin on his lap. He was surprised by the dog's presence, but ignored the lack of an explanation to his presence and patted the 'animal's' head to help calm his nerves.

Outside the room, the blonde Mrs. West stated in a near frantic tone, "That crazy girl traumatized him. He thinks he saw sun in the house."

Jones passed a glance to Mister West then tried turn down the emotion with a calming tone, "Actually ma'am, there are a number of witnesses that confirm seeing a brilliant light coming from house and what sounded like an explosion just before the SWAT team arrived. We're still investigating exactly how that happened, but apparently something happened."

The blonde looked dumbfounded and asked, "You're serious?"

"Yes."

Mister West folded his hands in front over his belt buckle and asked, "Could this Mister Hale you have in custody set off some explosion in the house and killed Nora?"

Jones brushed a hand over his bald head then answered, "It's a possibility. The most logical thing that could have happened is that there was a struggle in the basement where your child was being held and perhaps the water heater was damage, causing an explosion—it would explain the busted windows and door. That's quite possible and I've seen where they can literally shoot off like a rocket and demolish a house in the process, but the water heater is intact and other than the broken windows and torn off door, there's no expected structural damage." He shook his head as he concluded, "It certainly is a mystery."

The older frowned as he wanted answers and puzzle pieces not fitting together was exacerbating his aggravation. "Where do you go from here?"

"We keep the manhunt going for her and hopefully David can get the truth out of the kid."

"If he's done something to this Nora, I hope the D.A. will take everything into account. I hate to see the young man that rescue my son prosecuted. After all, she was an escaped felon. I assume that would be a considerable factor in any decision."

"It is. If he killed her while rescuing your son—which she was in the process of committing a felony—than that would be perfectly legal, but he's not saying that. Our concern is that he could have potentially helped her escape."

"Frankly, that doesn't make sense. He goes through with the trouble of tracking her down then just letting her go?"

Jones patiently smiled. "I've been at this job long enough to know that people do a lot of things that don't do any sense and even to their own detriment, but I assure you that we will figure out what happened and bring Nora to justice."

"Thank you detective. If there isn't anything else, we'd like to take our son home."

"Of course. We'll have a patrol escort you home and keep a patrol car outside until we find her." He looked to one of the uniformed officers and began to make the arrangements while the parent walked back into the room the retrieve their son.

The dog lifted his head off Ian's lap then licked the side of his face, drawing a giggle out of him before slipping off the table.

Ian calmed his laughing then curiously asked, "Where are you going?"

The curtain parted and Mister and Mrs. West stepped inside the cordoned off section of the room, drawing the child's attention away from the dog.

Mister West directed a surprisingly warm smile to his son and asked, "Are you ready to go?"

Ian glanced down and saw that Ira had disappeared completely from sight. He easily wore his confusion, but it apparently wasn't picked up by either his mother or stepfather as Mister West picked up his son to take him for checkout, not waiting for an answer.

West Residence
Los Angeles, CA

The ride back to the West Residence was a quiet one as Freddie had driven Jade home as she wasn't in any condition to drive her own car. As soon as they arrived inside the garage, Jade ditched him and rushed to the entrance of the kitchen then upstairs. He sighed as he watched her retreating form, but decided that she needed some alone time to settle her nerves.

Ruby pulled up her vehicle just in time to see her daughter enter the home. She closed her eyes for a moment then put on a stoic expression at seeing the departing form of her daughter. Her instincts told her to rush right behind Jade, but knew that would be counterproductive. She glanced to Shay and he offered her a supportive smile.

The matriarch unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of her car. Shay was only a few steps behind her as they reached the door. Ruby found Freddie had taken a seat at the kitchen bar and idly stared at it while she heard the last of Jade's footsteps up the stairs. Seeing that there wasn't anything productive she could do at the moment for her daughter or her future son-in-law, she glanced to the men and tiredly stated, "I'm going to fix us something to eat."

Freddie muttered, "I'm not hungry."

Shay pointed out, "You should eat something. Starving yourself isn't helpful."

"Sitting on my ass isn't helpful either, but it looks like that's all I can do."

Freddie wasn't known for his swearing, but with enough stress, he could start letting some words slip through, so he was showing that the stress of the day's events and Jade's emotional state was getting to him.

Shay patiently answered, "Sometimes doing nothing is actually the best thing to do. Let Roy's trophy wife throw her fit for the night then in the morning when nerves have settled and process what happened today, we can sort out this issue about Ian."

Freddie squared his jaw, visibly showing his disagreement with such a plan, then voiced it, "I don't want her to suffer through the night and that's what she's going to do. She was as silent as a ghost on the way back here and I thought she was going to breakdown crying before we got here. Jade has her limits. I've seen when they've been hit and it's heartbreaking."

Mrs. West sympathetically looked to her future son-in-law and replied, "Sometimes you need a good cry in private to just deal with your emotions before you pull yourself back together again." She took a deep breath then sighed, "I've had plenty personal experience when it comes to things like that."

Shay tightly smiled, thinking of any number of times she could be remembering.

Freddie closed and palmed his forehead, reluctantly accepting his future mother-in-law's advice. He had simply been there for Jade in the past and he would do so now regardless of helpless it made him feel in actually trying to do something to relieve her pain.

He didn't get to dwell on it as the doorbell rang, turning everyone's attention to the front door.

Mrs. West started in frustration, "For the love of… I'm not dealing with any press…" She quickly walked over to the front door and looked out the peephole, expecting a gaggle of reporters demanding to see Jade now that she was no longer under the protection of the police during the search for her stepbrother, but was momentarily taken aback by who was standing on the other side.

She opened the door and saw the bashfully goofy smile of her dearest friends' son. Spencer breathed out, "Hey Aunt Ruby."

The dark haired beauty breathed out a sigh of relief and pulled the tall artist into a hug without a second thought. "Hey Spencer." She pulled back but kept her hands on top of his shoulders as she looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard the news, so I thought I could—"

Shay approached behind, hearing his son's voice. "Spencer?"

"Dad!"

The man-child in many respects rushed to his father and pulled him into a hug even to the point of picking him off of his feet.

Shay heartedly laughed and awkwardly patted his son on the back, "Good to see you too… you can sit me down."

Spencer followed his father's instructions and let him go.

"So, why are you here—not that I don't like seeing my boy?"

The Shay son awkwardly smiled and answered, "I heard about what happened to Ian, so I hopped on a flight down. I read on the way over here they found Ian. He's alright?"

Ruby answered, "Yes, Sam and Dusty found him. He's safe."

"I read that too, but what about Nora? They said she's still on the run. If Sam found her, she would leave Nora a bloody mess."

Shay snorted out, "Samantha didn't get the chance. She's not on the run."

"How do you know?"

"When they brought Ian back, Mister Hale made it a point that she should be in Hell."

Spencer's eyes grew to near comical saucers and muttered, "Oh my God, did they kill her?"

"I assume that Mister Hale killed Nora in quite a fantastic way from the news leaking out about what happened at the house after Sam left with Ian—you have to love these phones that can go on the internet—she said she left with him before anything happened."

"Wow… where is he?"

Freddie finally walked up, hesitant to interrupt a father/son reunion, especially one where there was a real father/son relationship, and answered, "He's with the police being questioned. Tori's dad thinks he can get him to tell him what happened. I doubt it though. He's not going to hang himself and go to prison over it."

Spencer knotted his brow and asked, "Is anyone getting him a lawyer? If he did kill Nora, he's going to need one."

"I called his dad on the way over here to let him know. He said he'd take it from there."

"Are you just going to leave it at that? I mean… he's done a lot for you, don't you think you owe him more than a phone call to his dad?"

Freddie flinched as Spencer had stated the obvious. He didn't like the relative little he did for Dusty in the situation, but he couldn't exactly convince Detective Vega to let it go. "You're right I do, but right now I need to be here for Jade. She comes first and I know he understands that. I don't know his reasons for actually killing her, but I know he didn't take it likely, so he had to expect the consequences and he can look after himself. I'll be there if and when he needs me, but until then, I got to be here for Jade."

Spencer wore a surprisingly guarded expression for someone usually so expressive then asked, "Okay, speaking of Jade, where is she?"

Ruby sadly answered, "She ran upstairs to be a lone."

One of Spencer's eyebrows shot up and hastily asked, "Shouldn't someone check on her?"

The Colonel tightly smiled, seeing that his son had the same worrying thought that he had been turning in his head. He diplomatically answered, "Let's give her some time to process then one of us will."

Spencer looked a little lost on what he was supposed to do now. "What do we do in the meantime?"

Shay thought for a moment then recalled the conversation happening among the three before Spencer's arrival, sparing a quick glance to Ruby then stating, "We eat something."

The struggling artist still expected a little more from his father even after telling him that they would just give Jade the emotional space she needed.

The former flyer wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders and picked up his suitcase before leading him further into the house.

Freddie closed his eyes and shook his head, feeling just as useless as he did when Nora had Ian, however, Mrs. West's gentle hand on his shoulder pulled him back from any potential sulking. She gave him a gentle smile and assured him, "Come on, let's get something to eat then see if Jade wants anything."

The former Seattleite knew exactly what Jade wanted, but he was powerless at the moment to give it to her.

Los Angeles Police Department
100 W 1st Street
Los Angeles, CA

Detective Vega frowned at watching Dusty sitting quietly on the bench in the large holding cell that held nearly a dozen prisoners at the moment as if he was calmly relaxing on the beach. He was expecting the teenager to have a nice fright with being with the other prisoners and start answering any question he wanted answer, but the complete opposite had happened. The other prisoners gave him a wide berth, so wide in fact that they let him have half of one of the benches that were against the wall with not a soul wanting to bother him. There was a point where the detective thought his little trick would work when nearly a body builder at least in his mid-two hundreds attempted to stare down the teenager when he was first put inside, but the guy nearly wet himself after a few seconds in stepping away in fear. It triggered the others to stay away from him.

David Vega had locked eyes with the teenager several times, each time a staring contest began and each time Dusty looking back without a hint of worry. He was confident to the point of near cockiness. Vega had to put a stop to it soon or he would never get the information he wanted out of the teenager.

Seeing that his little trick had failed, he decided to go ahead and take a real run at his only real lead to Nora. He motioned for the police officer in charge of the holding cell and motioned towards Dusty.

The sergeant on duty picked up his roster and read off the name, "Hale, Dustin."

Dusty got up from the bench and the other prisoners stepped out of his way as if the Red Sea was parting for him. The opened the cell and let Dusty out before locking it behind. He escorted him out of the room and towards an elevator. After the short trip, they arrived several floors higher into a high class floor that would put any Fortune 500 company to shame—hard earned tax dollars at work. He was led to an interrogation room then the officer motioned for him to have a seat on the other side of the table.

The Southern teenager patiently waited for someone to arrive, getting comfortable in the cushioned chair. He sat quietly for what he expected was a good ten minutes since they took his watch and cellphone.

Detective Vega finally walked inside and took a seat across from him with a file in his hand. He dropped the manila folder on the table then took a seat across from Dusty. He ignored Dusty's lazy glance and opened up the folder. He scanned along the first page and remarked, "You know, you've been my daughter's friend for almost two years, but I've never took a good look at you."

"Because friend would be stretching it? We have mutual friends and we've tended to stay within the same social group even after graduation."

"Well whatever the case may be, I didn't realize that such a violent individual was that close to my daughter." He looked back down at the first sheet in the folder. "You've been in multiple fights in high school—" He looked up from the folder to emphasize, "—both your high schools in California including an incident with Beck, my daughter's boyfriend—"

"—that you don't actually like and prefer she was with Freddie," Dusty interrupted with a grin. He chuckled while he added, "Heck, maybe that'll still work out for you with her feelings with Pretty Boy right now and she'll just end up in a threesome relationship with Jade and Freddie?"

Vega knotted his brow and mouth became a thin line, trying to hide the fact that the teenager was right about his feelings of Beck and Freddie and his disgust at such a suggestion about his daughter with a look of annoyance at being interrupted. He continued as if Dusty hadn't interrupted, "There was that incident last year on the UCLA campus with that fraternity… you put four guys in the hospital."

Dusty returned with a smirk.

The detective flipped the page in the folder and continued, "Then there was the biggy, assaulted four TSA agents at LAX last year. Stepping it up to include federal agents in your assaults?"

The teenager corrected with a smug smile, "It was five."

Vega glanced down at the sheet then answered with a get-a-long voice, "Yes, that's right, I'm sorry, five agents."

The former Hollywood Arts webmaster nodded along and smirked while commented, "Thank you for the acknowledgement."

The police detective slightly shook his head. "You have a more violent past than Samantha Puckett and she has a juvenile record that includes an assault on the Ambassador from Mexico a few years ago."

Dusty had a comment to that last part that would probably come off as racist, so he held his tongue. Instead, he decided to point out the clear omission, "You left something important out in all those incidents."

"And what was that?"

"They were all justified. At Northridge, I was targeted because I was a Southern white from black individuals—which the school refused to prosecute them because it's only a hate crime if a white person attacks a black person due to race—so I defended myself. They wanted a piece of fresh meat, so I turned some of them into my bitches for the rest of my time there." He muttered in disgust, "Equal protection under the law my ass… At Hollywood Arts… Beck deserved the punch, but I don't see how concern you are about that incident since I didn't hear of you arresting Freddie for beating the mess out of Pretty Boy in your own living room for trying to do the same thing to Tori, but of course you said that was justified." Dusty mockingly smiled and slightly leaned forward. He lowered his voice, "I guess it's only justified if it involves the one daughter you actually love."

The detective looked slightly uncomfortable at pointing out that fact as there were a number of superiors on the other side of the two-way mirror behind him eager to get Nora back behind bars from the media circus surrounding the case.

The teenager leaned back in his chair and continued, "You want to talk about what happened at LAX? What really happened to let me walk away with a clean record and an apology from the agency so I wouldn't sue them, because we can go into that if you wish?"

Detective Vega was getting off track with what he truly wanted to know, but then again he couldn't give up the chance to get some insight on the young man that he could exploit later. "How can you possibly justify such a thing?

"When they're the criminals pretending to be federal agents and a federal judge agreed with me."

The pair stared off at each other for several seconds before Dusty continued, "Heather, my girlfriend at the time, was taking a flight to New York for one of her fashion shoots. You know, she's very famous as a model. She'll be the next Cindy Crawford or Heidi Klum—let Tasha be the next Upton. Anyway, she wanted me to come along so we could have weekend together in New York, so I jumped at the chance. We needed a weekend together to get away from it all, but things started off bad when we got to the airport."

Dusty's get-along expression faded and was replaced with a cold stare. "We arrived and did all the usual things, but when we hit screening, an agent wanted to give Heather a more thorough 'examination' for no real reason. She hadn't set off any detector, there was no suspicious behavior from her… random they said… yes, it was a white Catholic girl that crashed planes into the towers that started the World War Three… she fits the profile."

He let the statement hang in the air for several seconds before continue, "She refused and decided that she would just leave and go to another airport. They tried to stop her and search her anyway—which let's be frank, they wanted to strip search a fantastically hot model and molest her… I stopped them… then kicked the chizz out half a dozen agents."

"And you find that perfectly alright?"

Dusty lazily shrugged a shoulder. "A judge said it was alright when he tossed the charges out after seeing the security footage of what happened—the footage they tried to destroy. Hey, you may be one of those little pussies that will allow their female family members to be groped in the name of 'security', but I'm not… wait, that's right, other than Tori, you don't actually love the female members of your family. You're embarrassed of Trina—who should have had a far better father than you—and your ex-wife… Heaven, she had to go do your partner behind your back to get the 'love' she needed. How's that divorce working out for you? You know, where you're going to pay out of the ass even if she's at fault."

Vega clenched his right fist tight and directed a hateful glare.

A short staring contest began between the detective and teenager, one that Vega couldn't intimidate the teenager and a lazy one from Dusty as if the detective was something beneath him.

Dusty took a deep breath and asked, "Can you get to your point? You want to know what happened after Sam left with Ian and I already said that I invoked my right to remain silent on those issues. Why are you trying to violate my rights?"

Vega grinned, directing his anger into a productive manner and pointed out, "You just waived it talking to me."

The handsome teenager raised an eyebrow and grinned, gently mocking the officer, "Did I? It sounded to me that we were just having a friendly conversation about all the things I was completely cleared on and justified."

"We were talking about your history of violence in relation to what may have happened to Nora Dershlit. Whether you let her go or you committed some violence against her."

"Justifiable violence. It's not my fault that I was targeted because of my race or your daughter's boyfriend tried to potentially assault his ex-girlfriend—is it something that you worry about him doing to Tori one day—or the TSA would blatantly attempt to sexually assault my ex-girlfriend in the guise of performing airport security or a conspiracy with a fraternity to ride that line of consent with girls showing up at their parties. Did you miss the Rolling Stone's article? You know better than prior bad acts won't fly and you certainly don't have a pattern there."

"Sounds like an admission there that you did do something to Nora."

Dusty just grinned towards him and remained silent.

Vega shifted forward to rest his forearms on the table and continued, "Dustin, I saw the same thing as you've said. They all look justified to me and from what I know about you from Tori, you sound like a good guy. Hell, you tracked down Nora on your own with Samantha just to save him. What I'm getting at in saying that is that you're one of those people that just wants to do the right thing… and I'm asking you to do the right thing again: where's Nora? If something happened—a scuffle or anything like that—the D.A. is going to be understanding. We just need to know what happened to her, whether she's still on the loose or… so this won't happen to anyone else."

The former Northridge student remained silent, looking back at him like a creepy doll.

The detective tightly smiled then took another approach, "What if I tell you what I think happened? Make it easier to face something you may not want to face."

Dusty happily drummed his fingertips on the tabletop. "I looovvveee stories. I'll be happy to hear yours."

Vega didn't waste the opportunity for the emotional opening, "Okay, taking into account the violent environment you've had to experience the last couple of years, which is a big mitigating factor in anything that happened, this is what I think happened: you and Samantha found Nora somehow. I haven't worked out that part yet, but you found her. You two overpowered her and Samantha took Ian with her and left you behind. During the struggle, something happened… Nora was injured, perhaps even killed. In a panic, thinking that you two could get in trouble, you perhaps moved her body before we got there then set off some… explosion to try to cover up and destroy the evidence."

Dusty nodded along, commenting, "Interesting, interesting… but what 'explosion'? The house looked intact to me."

"Except that all the windows are blown out with the front door out in the middle of the yard… there is the bright light that Ian saw when he was leaving with Samantha."

The Southern teenager raised an eyebrow. "Ah, that…"

"You're not going to deny what he said?"

Dusty lazily shrugged a shoulder. "I'm not going to make Ian out as anything other than an honest child. If that's what he said he saw then I would believe him."

"So I should believe Samantha and Ian that you were the last one with Nora?"

"That's up to you. I'm just saying I'm not going to say anything against Ian, but… that raises some very head scratching things for you to figure out though."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I mean how did I get past the police and SWAT team? I heard the sirens approaching after we found Ian. I somehow left the house without anyone seeing while carrying out a body—going along with your theory that I may have done something to her. That would be a very neat trick in getting away from the LAPD doing such a thing. You guys don't screw around like that. I love watching the news when there's some high speed chase that gets on the cable news when there is a slow news day. You don't give up chasing them down."

Vega tightened the muscles in his jaw just a little more, annoyed that the teenager was correct. Once the time Detective Jones and SWAT arrived at the house, the time the neighbors reported the 'explosion' and driving time from the house back to Sam and Cat's apartment was taken into account, there wasn't a real window for Dusty to dispose of a body or any real way that Nora should have escaped.

There was a knock on the door and Vega turned in his seat, annoyed with the interruption because he felt he finally was getting somewhere with him.

The door opened and another detective poked his head inside and stated, "Detective Vega, his lawyer is here to see him."

Detective Vega interrupted, "He didn't ask for one."

Dusty parroted, "I didn't ask for one."

The fellow detective answered, "Maybe not sir, but he's got one and demanding to see him."

Vega looked back to Dusty, annoyed with the timing of a lawyer's arrival.

Dusty shrugged a shoulder.

The detective stood up as the door opened further to allow a well dressed gentleman with a hint of grey at his temples followed by Heather wearing a worried expression.

The in-custody teenager didn't bother hiding his surprise at Heather's appearance.

The obvious lawyer looked to Detective Vega and stated with a professional tone, "I need to speak with my client alone, so please turn off the microphone."

Detective Vega gave Dusty a scathing glare before shutting the door and giving the trio some privacy. Vega immediately came face to face with Police Chief Charlie Beck, the commanding officer of the Detective Bureau Deputy Chief Albanese and the commanding officer of Robbery-Homicide, Captain William P. Hayes. None of them looked too pleased.

Vega didn't care at the moment and demanded, "Who called for a lawyer? Did his father send him? He didn't ask for one." He motioned towards the glass to reinforce his point, "He just said he didn't ask for one."

The Chief answered, sharing his detective's frustration, "No one, but he showed up and demanded that we allow him to speak with Mister Hale or he was going to file an emergency wit to get him out of our custody. We were already on thin ice with the questioning when he invoked his right to remain silent and we can't risk anymore for him to get off and ignoring a lawyer in seeing his client with Jade West with him would rolling out a red carpet for him to leave. We have the whole world watching due to the celebrity nature and I don't want a call from the mayor or the police commissioner board or embarrass the department."

The detective angrily replied, "I was trying to get him to tell us what happened to Dershlit; I wasn't worrying about prosecuting the kid and that's not Jade West. That's his ex-girlfriend. They could pass for twins and you just got fooled."

The group of senior officers turned to one another to share confused expressions. However, the chief quickly disregarded the confusion and pointed out, "It doesn't matter and it wasn't a reprimand; I'm just pointing out the situation."

Vega shook his head and turned back to the two-way mirror to see his only means in finding an escape fugitive possibly talking his way right out of the police station.

In the interrogation room, Dusty repeated his statement to Heather, "I didn't ask for a lawyer."

The lawyer was going to answer, but Heather beat him to the punch by answering, "I thought you needed one after I heard on the news about what happened to Ian and that you were arrested. He was referred by my agency's law firm. He's very good."

Dusty glanced to the man in his early forties then back to Heather to reply, "Thank you. I really appreciate it, but I don't need a lawyer. I'm not talking to you or the cops… okay, I'm toying with Vega a little bit because he annoys me for the way he's treated Trina and that they don't seem to understand the concept of 'right to remain silent'. They have nothing. They can hold me for a while, but that's about it."

"Not if they decide to charge you with aiding and abetting a fugitive and maybe accessory after the fact in the child's kidnapping… assuming you didn't actually do anything to her, but the fact that they seem to be ignoring your invoking of your right does help you."

"They might try, but as I said: they have nothing. They have a very confused situation that doesn't make sense when you put the pieces together and can't make a case out of it. So, I am not in the need of your services. If I really need a lawyer, I would just get one from Wolfram and Hart."

The graying lawyer sighed and glanced to Heather. The model returned the look then politely asked, "Can I talk to him alone for a minute? Would that be alright?"

The lawyer thought on it for a moment. The police might not like the idea of him being able to talk to someone other than him while being in custody, but figured he had the police and the D.A. over a barrel at the moment with the apparent violation of Dusty's rights plus Heather was paying his fee. "I think it would be alright for you to stay here while I talk to the chief and the D.A. to see if I can secure his release. I think the threat of filing a motion for his release will be enough, especially now that I know they're trying to violate his rights."

He politely nodded to the pair then exited the room to start a heated discussion with the police.

As soon as the door closed, Heather looked to Dusty and demanded, "Take the lawyer."

"Heather, I appreciate what you're doing. I really do, but I don't need one. I'll be fine."

The dark haired model walked around the table and leaned down to grab the armrests of the chair to stare her ex straight in the eyes and harshly questioned, "Fine? You're sitting here being questioned by the police."

"More like having fun at their expanse."

"This is not time for you to be a smart aleck. You could be in some serious trouble. They're not letting this go. Nora is an escaped fugitive and she kidnapped Ian. If you're not going to accept the help then just tell them where Nora is. I don't understand why you would just let Jade worry about Nora being out there so she could try again."

Dusty returned with a stern look, "Nora will never bother Jade or Ian or Freddie or Carly or anyone else ever again and they know it."

"How can you be so sure…"

The black haired model trailed off and took a slow breath as she realized what he had done. She stood up and took a step back from him and softly whispered, "Oh."

Heather's step away from him was the loudest thing she had 'said' to him since his return and it was painful to absorb. He swallowed the pain and softly defended, "What? She was a monster—no different than a saw-tooth vampire or feral werewolf or wraith or djinn or Jefferson Starship—and she would have killed him without a second thought. She would have let him sit in a hole and let him starve to death. She was let go the first time and escaped the second time; I was not going to let her have Joker immunity so she could go after them again—as she swore she would do again after escaping wherever they were going to put her. She wasn't going to stop until she had destroyed them or she was dead, so I put her down. If it wasn't me, it would have been Freddie or Colonel Shay—Freddie because of what she did and the Colonel because she tried to murder his children twice."

He stood up and took a step forward to her, close enough where only inches separated them and whispered, "And… I was not going to give her the opportunity to come after them again, because maybe the next time we couldn't save the person she went after… or maybe she would hurt you thinking you were Jade. I wasn't going to let that happen."

Heather blinked then blinked again as his last statement sank into her mind. She took a step away from him and just looked at him. She was originally going to respond about how that was a decision left to God, not him if it wasn't directly self-defense or for someone else; he didn't have a right to simply execute her, but she replied with what her aching heart spoke, "Why? Why would you care if she hurt me?" She pointed a finger in his face and verbally lashed out, "She couldn't have hurt me any more than you hurt me. No one—no one has ever hurt me like you have."

Dusty squared his shoulders and stood up straight, looking to her with a concerned gaze.

The model continued and directed her upwelling of heartbreak, her anger and maybe her little bit of hatred to the Southern teenager, "You broke my heart. You might as well have took your sword and cut out my heart from my chest then stomped on it in front of me. You just tell me that you're sorry, you can't do this anymore and just leave and go play superhero. I thought we had… I thought you loved me."

The room became deathly silent while Dusty looked at her, his own pain rising to the surface that he had buried in his heart for leaving her and the hurt that he saw in her eyes and coming off of her in waves only a being similar to him could 'see'. He held his stare onto her and whispered, "I do love you."

The raven hair colored girl shook her head then directed a surprisingly hateful glare into his eyes as she whispered out in a cold yet hurt filled voice, "No, you don't get to tell me that after you did. You don't get to use that as justification for killing her."

Dusty snapped back, "I'm not justifying it with that reason. I told you my reasons and if you don't like it then you don't like it and that's your problem." He took a breath and reined in his anger a bit before continuing, "For breaking up with you, I did what I did because I love you. I am completely, absolutely and totally in love with you, but I knew I could not make you happy and the only way you were going to have that happiness is with someone else."

Heather crossed her arms under her chest and looked at him completely dumbfounded, her anger and resentment vanishing at least for a few moments. "Whatever gave you that idea? What did I ever do to make you think you couldn't make me happy—that you didn't make me happy?"

"Nothing, you did nothing. It was me."

"How is it you? Please, just tell me." She dropped her arms and shook her head, giving him a pleading look and asking, "Please, just tell me the truth."

Dusty blew out a breath and glanced down to the floor for a second then looked up to meet her eyes. He softly asked, "Where do you see yourself sixty, seventy years from now?"

The model's brow knotted and her pink lips formed a straight thin line, confused why he would just ask a random question.

He patiently waited for her to answer, but she remained silent in her confusion. He quietly asked again, "Where do you see yourself years from now?"

Heather finally realized he was serious then shrugged a shoulder before quietly answering, "I don't know. I'll be eighty, ninety years old, if I'm still living? I guess retired, maybe acting a little bit in bit roles. I'm probably keeping busy with something—something to help the community." She softly smiled, liking where his train of thought was going and momentarily forgetting the hurt he had caused her. "Spending time with grandkids—great-grandkids… I thought our great-grandkids. Maybe rocking on a porch with them with you rocking beside me."

He looked her directly in the eyes and asked, "You pictured me next to you? Our grandchildren?"

"Yes… when I pictured spending my old age with, it was you… it was you… until recently."

The Southern teenager nodded his head in acknowledgement then replied, "Do you know what I see myself seventy years from now?"

Heather wanted to snap at him that she didn't care where he saw himself, but she couldn't be that harsh to him. She still saw the sweet boy that had always been there for her and grounded her even if he was the one with wings. She slightly shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

Dusty continued, his own heartache filling his voice, "I'm going to look exactly the same or close to it. I'm going to remain the same and I'm going to watch you get older and older until you're this beautiful ninety or one hundred year old woman with beautiful white hair… then years later, I'm going to watch you die because I'm immortal and I'll remain… and children? If we had children… they could be gods. They could be gods… gods who just might want humanity to worship them as such… and then I just might have to put them down… put my own children down as if they were like any other monster."

The raven haired teenager's eyes widened, momentarily stunned by his answer.

He continued with a strained voice, "We won't get the normal life like that and I want you to have it. I want you to have children with a man that will love you and will grow old with you and eventually die with you. I don't want you to miss out on being with someone that could do that with you. I just want you to be happy and I don't think you'll be happy with me when things turn out that way."

Heather paused and just stared at him as she hadn't thought about any of what he had said. She was just stunned for the moment. None of those consequences had ever entered her head. When she had pictured such a thing, she always pictured him as a grey haired handsome old man. She had always just seen him as her sweet boy, rarely acknowledging in her own mind his heritage least long the ramifications of such. She had never contemplated such things, but as the quiet seconds ticked by, they made sense to her. Her boy with wings would always be her sweet boy and never a grey haired man to match her silver hair.

The children that she wanted someday, she had quietly admitted to herself months ago that she wanted him to be the father of them, would be divine or at least partially. A mother to gods was a humbling thing to contemplate. She wouldn't have the normal life with him as any other couple—or majority of couples that didn't experience some life altering tragedy of a child dying or something equally as horrific.

The model took a deep breath and snapped, "I don't care. I don't care about all that happening. I… I love you Dustin."

She had spoken the words she had tried to forget since their breakup and start looking in another direction to find that again. She couldn't forget them, so she spoke them.

He sadly looked to her in return, breaking one of their hearts or perhaps both just a little more, "You might not one day when you see me like this and you see someone else in the mirror."

She took several deep breaths as she felt angry hot tears forming in her eyes then snapped, "So you just selfishly made the decision on your own? You couldn't have brought this up and discussed it with me? Do you know how selfish that is? How selfish you are to make that decision without me getting a say in it at all?! How you didn't trust me? How you didn't want to talk about it?!"

He snapped back, his emotional walls crumbling, "Yes, I'm being selfish! I'm being selfish with your happiness! I want you to have all that! I want every one of your dreams come true, but I'm not the one that's going to make it happen. I didn't want to be the biggest regret of your life. You can spend the rest of your life with me, but I can't with you."

The Southern teenager took several unneeded breaths in an attempt to calm his nerves. "What else is there to discuss? This is the exact conversation that I wanted to avoid because it would just end up causing us to fight and fight and fight with no possible resolution other than the one I took. I simply decided to skip that step and maybe spare a few of those hateful feelings."

Heather took in a sharp breath through her nose and stared hard into her ex's eyes, neither yielding to the other's stare in staunchly believing their position was right.

The room became still for several seconds until the door opened and the lawyer and a very unhappy Detective Vega stepped inside. The lawyer happily announced, "I got you released."

Dusty maintained his stare with his ex-girlfriend while he clearly thanked the lawyer, "Thank you." He broke eye contact with her and turned to head out of room.

Heather wiped under her eyes with her left thumb and took a quick breath before asking, "Do you need a ride home?"

The handsome teenager stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder. He quietly answered, "I have my own… transportation, but thanks for the offer."

He walked out, leaving Heather with the answers she wanted since the moment he broke up with her, but not having a clue what to do with them.

Author's Note: There may not be any blood shared between Ian and Jade, but I guess we can see that little guy is going to as stubborn as his stepsister. Jade may be emotionally down at the moment, but you know that she's never out. Wow, big revelation there at the end between Dusty and Heather, but come on, I know you readers had to know that was the reason for a while. Later, OneHorseShay.