Keith paused outside of Cassie's room. Everyone stopped around him, looking at him quizzically. Wondering if he was in pain or needing help. But all he wanted to do was take a deep breath, before entering her room. He could not describe the pain in his leg, and he had played it off to the others. He was not so sure he could fool Cassie. So he took a deep breath and entered the room with his smile plastered on his face. Trying not to wince or limp.

"Why aren't you all packed up? I've passed all the poking and prodding tests and have passed. I am ready to leave this place." Keith told her while walking over to her bed.

"You have been cleared to travel?" she asked Keith but looked at her father for confirmation. Her dad shook his head yes.

"Well I like that." Keith said acting like his feelings had been hurt.

"What?" Cassie asked.

"I saw you check with your dad to make sure I was telling you the truth." He teased her.

"I…I didn't mean to doubt you, but I didn't want you causing yourself pain just to get me out of here." She replied, feeling guilty

"Too late." Nina said quietly.

"Too late, what?" Cassie heard what she wasn't supposed to. Keith gave her an angry stare.

"If we don't leave we'll be driving too late." Keith told Cassie.

"Cassie, there are some exceptions the doctor gave us for allowing Keith to go, like you will have to stop every hour for him to exercise the leg, and if he looks like he is in pain there is regimen for giving him his pain medications. Are you able to drive and watch him?" her dad asked.

"I'm standing right here, and I can take care of myself. I can tell her if I am in pain." Keith said defensively.

"Yes, but will you is the question." Nina asked.

Keith rolled his eyes and glared at Nina again. Nina moved over to stand behind Rick.

"Temper, Temper, little man. We are just trying to make sure you are getting back to your mom in one piece. I would not like to be on your mother's bad side. So if we do not get your promise to cooperate, it is the jet for you." Cassie's dad warned him.

"I promise to follow all the stipulations that the doctor told us in the other room. I promise to tell Cassie if I am in any pain and how many pain pills to give me, and if we need to go straight to the hospital. Satisfied?" Keith said.

"Yes, and hopefully the pain pill the doctor gave you a minute ago will start working soon, so the sweet Keith will be back soon. You are awful when you are in pain." Nina said from behind Rick. "Oh!" she said when she realized what she had said. "I'm going out to my car to wait for you, come on Rick." Nina grabbed his hand and pulled Rick out of the room quickly, shooting Keith an apologetic smile as she left.

"So why are you in pain?" Cassie said sweetly, getting up off the bed slowly and taking a step towards Keith.

Keith stepped backward and looked for help from Cassie's dad.

"Sorry son, you're on your own, I am going out with Nina and Rick to make sure everything is ready to go. You'll have to get out of this mess yourself." He smiled and left Keith to his own defense.

"Are you going to tell me?" Cassie took another step towards him.

"Well, you see it was like this, I woke up this morning and your dad was still asleep." He took another step backwards and felt the chair behind him and knew he had no where to go, so he sat down in the chair. "I walked outside and saw the pool and beings no one else was there I jumped in." He grimaced as he scooted back in the chair to get comfortable.

"And that gave you pain?" she said as she moved to stand over him.

"No, when I came here for my exam and the doctor found out I had got my stitches wet, she dried them out with a high temperature lamp. That gave me pain. But she wouldn't let me go anywhere, even threatened to keep me here in the hospital until they were dry. I just got out of here, there was no way I was going back in." he told her nervously.

"So all you did was get your stitches wet?" she asked.

"Yes." He replied.

"With the way you were all acting I was thinking you had done something bad, not that getting stitches wet is not bad, but that is forgivable, especially since I bet that water was really, really cold." She teased him.

"Am I the only one that doesn't know that the water is cold?" Keith asked her, smiling.

"You are probably the only one that doesn't get up early." She laughed. " So you need help out of that chair?"

"That would be nice." He said, and took her outstretched hand but instead of letting her pull him up he pulled her down into his lap, making sure she didn't hit his bad leg. "This is nice."

"I thought you wanted out of here." She said laying her head on his shoulder.

"I need a kiss to get me motivated." He said in her ear.

"Motivation I can give you." She whispered and turned her head to reach his lips.

"So this is how you get out of trouble?" Cassie's dad asked Keith, as he came in the door.

"She attacked me sir." Keith laughed.

"I'm sure she did, come on get up, Cassie. We got everything all ready to go." He dad held out his hand to help her up. Then did the same for Keith. "Children out to the car."

Her nurse wheeled out Cassie to the front of the hospital, before they went out the door, he dad reached over and tied a scarf around her eyes.

"What's this for?" she asked.

"It's a surprise for you to see what they did to your car." He told her. Cassie reached up as if to take off the scarf. "Don't you dare take that off until I tell you."

"I told them I am never ever driving that car again." She said firmly.

"Fine. If you don't like it, then we'll give the car to Keith." He replied. Smiling even though she couldn't see him. He looked over to the side of the building where Rick was standing and waved, Rick turned and waved to Nina who was out of sight, and she pulled the yellow Mustang up and to a stop in front of Cassie, while Rick ran back to bring her Mustang up. Her dad waiting to remove the scarf until Nina's car was parked behind hers. He then reached over and yanked off the scarf. Cassie covered her eyes. Her dad leaned over concerned, until he saw she was crying.

"What's the matter, girl?" he asked.

"It's my dream car." She said quietly. "The corvette was nice, but I just couldn't handle it. But when I had driven Nina's car, it was fun. I have to thank him. Do we get to stop at the mansion before we leave?" she asked.

"No, unfortunately he left, but he said that Nina had plans to take all of you back for the first school holiday, so you can save all your thanks for then. And a thank you letter wouldn't hurt either." He told her.

"Yes, I'll do that, as soon as we get back. Come on let's go!" she said excitedly.

"So you have no problem driving this back to San Pueblo?" he asked. "Because if you have any doubts you and Keith can ride back in the jet and Rick and Nina can take the cars back."

"I have no problem, what about you, Cassie?" Keith asked her.

"No, I don't have a problem. Come on dad quit worrying; Keith and I are responsible young people. We'll take care of each other, right, Keith?" She asked him smiling in his direction.

"Yes, we'll take care of each other." Keith answered smiling back at her.

"Why do I have a feeling I am going to regret this decision?" he shook his head in defeat. "Come on, drop me off at the airport and then you four can go on and I'll be waiting in San Pueblo."

Cassie's dad crawled into the back seat of her car and the mini convoy headed over to the airport. Keith leaned back in his seat. He was feeling really happy at the moment. His girl sitting next to him. He turned to look at her, and she caught him staring at her, and he smiled sheepishly at her.

"What?" she asked him?

"I need to ask you something, but I will wait until we are alone." He answered and smiled again at her. She laughed at him and turned her attention back to driving. They didn't realize it but her dad was watching the two of them from the back seat. They would've laughed if they knew he was thinking that the two of them deserved some alone time after all the trouble they had had in the last week. They finally reached the airport, with Cassie driving super safe the whole way, making sure that her dad had no reason to cancel the trip. As soon as they got out of the car, he walked around to her and gave her a big hug.

"Dad! Having trouble breathing." She said laughing. "It will only take two hours and we will be back home, well at Nina's."

"Well, about that we do need to talk but we will have to talk about that when we are alone, okay?" he asked.

"That seems to be everyone's statement today." She told him

"What?" he asked confused.

"Nevermind, like you said we will talk later when we are alone. So let's get you on the jet, so we can take off." Cassie said, pushing her dad towards the jet.

"Don't think I don't know what you were doing on the way here, young lady, I know you were driving to please me, and you better drive the same way all the way to San Pueblo, remember you are responsible for Keith's health and well being." He reminded her.

Cassie stopped and face her dad, "I know I have to watch out for Keith, and I will drive sensibly. So don't worry to much, I would say not to worry at all but I know you and you will worry about something no matter what I say, and also please don't tell Mrs. Partridge that we are coming, so we can go by and surprise them. Do you want us to check in with you before we go over there?" she asked, starting to push him towards the jet again.

"No, just give me a call when you get to his house, so I don't worry too much." He laughed. When they reached the ramp for the jet, he stopped and pulled her into his arms, kissed her on the cheek. "I love you, Cass. Be careful, You better hurry and get into your car before I change my mind and make you fly with me." He threatened. Cassie quickly kissed him on the cheek and laughing, ran back to her car.

"Let's go, Nina, my dad is threatening to take my with him on the jet." She laughed and backed her car out of the parking space, waving at her dad she took off down the road to the highway.

Her father watched her drive off and then climbed into the jet.

Cassie stopped at the stop sign before getting on to the main highway. She turned to Keith, and smiled.

"You look like the cat that caught the canary." He said in answer to her strange smile.

"I think we are going to have a fun trip, don't you?" she answered.

"What are you talking about?" he asked her confused by her actions

"I mean it will be just us two, well Nina and her man will be behind us but we'll be alone in this car. No bad guys chasing us, no parents watching our every move." She answered.

"Yes, all that is true, but if you don't get to driving we won't be getting to San Pueblo any time soon." He replied still confused. But he didn't get to ask any other questions as Nina pulled up behind her right at that moment then pulled her Mustang up besides Cassie's.

"Hey you waiting on us?" she called out to Cassie.

"Yes, do you want to lead?" Cassie answered.

"No, you go ahead, that way we'll know when you pull over and we can stop with you." Nina answered. Cassie eased off the brake and pulled out onto the highway with Nina following. Keith scooted down into the seat trying to make his leg more comfortable. He could still feel pain where the stitches were, but the pain medication made it just a dull throb. He looked up to catch Cassie watching him.

"I'm fine, just getting comfortable, I promise to tell you if anything starts hurting. So relax and pay attention to the road, please." He said laughing, pointing at the road.

"Are you worried about MY driving?" she asked, trying to sound insulted.

"I am if you are going to watch me and try to drive at the same time." He answered her honestly. "And if you can't trust me enough to tell you when I am in pain, then we have some serious trust issues."

"Whoa, I am just worried." She replied.

"I don't mean to fuss, but come on, I am old enough to know when I am in pain, and how important it is for my leg not to become infected. So I'll trust your driving, if you'll trust me to be honest with you, is that a deal to your liking my sweet maiden?" he offered smiling.

"I'd agree to anything when you smile at me like that." She said with a laugh.

"You are being silly, but I like your reply." He said with a chuckle. He leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.

Cassie looked over at him and smiled. All she could think about was how handsome he was. She turned her eyes back to her driving. She looked at her watch to check the time, as she wasn't taking any chances on missing the rest stop.

.

Keith was watching Cassie out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable but he could not take his eyes off of her. Her hair was a beautiful shade of auburn and her knew her green eyes were the prettiest he had ever seen. He had not had the opportunity to really examine her since he had met her. And knowing her personality if she knew she was getting the once over from him, she'd probably get mad at him. Just the thought of her temper and what she might say brought a smile to his lips, which she caught as she glanced over at him.

"Alright, what are you up to?" she accused him.

Keith jumped, and sat up quickly. "What?" he asked.

"You were looking so guilty, with that guilty smile on your face." She answered.

They both laughed at the same time.

"What were you thinking about?" she asked.

"How beautiful you are." He answered.

"Couldn't you have waited to tell me that in…" she looked at her wristwatch. " Oh in about 35 minutes?" she asked him.

"Why 35 minutes?" he asked shaking his head in confusion.

"We would have been stopping for our rest stop and I could have hugged you." She answered.

"There is no fast and hard rule that we can not take a break every 30 minutes." He answered laughing at her.

Cassie smiled and pulled the car over to the side of the road. Keith and her got out of the car and went to sit on the trunk, knowing that Nina would be coming up on them in just a few minutes. Keith leaned over and gave Cassie a quick kiss.

"That's all I get?" she teased.

"Hey, I said you were beautiful, I am still waiting for my big hug you promised me." Keith teased her back.

Cassie leaned over and grabbed him and hugged him as hard as she could.

"Whoa, I don't think you know your own strength and if you don't let go I think you are going to finish breaking my cracked rib." He teased her again.

Cassie let go quickly. "Are you alright? Did I really hurt you?" She ran her hands over his chest, trying to see if she had hurt him.

"No you didn't hurt me, but you can continue to search for injuries if you want." He said smiling, liking the feeling of her hands wandering over his chest.

Cassie punched him on the arm. "Meanie." She said smiling up at him.

Nina pulled up behind the car at that moment and she and Rick got out and walked up to her car.

"Are you both okay?" she asked as she walked up to them.

"Yes, we just decided to take a hug break." Cassie told her smiling.

"We might have to separate you two." Nina said and she turned grabbing Rick's arm and headed back to her car. "Come on you two, get back in the car and let's go. You can manage to wait for a hug for another 30 minutes or so."

"You heard the boss lady, get your butt back in the car, and may I say that it is a cute butt." Keith told Cassie.

"Oh, come on, you two are getting nauseating." Nina moaned. "When we stop in 30 minutes it had better be at someplace to eat, I am getting hungry."

"I second that idea." Rick agreed.

"Okay, it's agreed, in 30 minutes we look for food, so let's go." Cassie got in the car and they all took off together.

Nina decided she had better stay closer to Cassie's car instead of hanging back, like she had been doing. She had given them too much privacy.

Very conveniently in 30 minutes they were driving through a small village, which had a hamburger stand. The two Mustangs pulled into the parking lot. All eyes were on the two cars, and then when the two handsome couples got out of the car all eyes followed them into the hamburger stand. They had just sat at their table and the waitress walked up to the table. She stood there for a moment just staring at Keith, with her mouth hanging open. Cassie looked up at her to order her food and found her staring at Keith. Her eyes looked over at Keith to find him looking back at her with something like fear in his eyes.

"Keith? What is going on?" Cassie asked.

"I think we need to order our food to go." Nina said, also noticing the waitress' staring at Keith. "You go back to the car and I'll go order the food to go." Nina pushed back her chair to get up.

The waitress came to her senses, pulling her eyes away from Keith to look at Nina. "I am so sorry, you don't have to leave. There will be no trouble. I'll even get the manager to lock the doors if you like."

"No, I think it will be alright, as long as you are okay." Keith answered.

"It's not alright, Keith." Cassie said pointing at the doors to the front of the building. Keith slowly turned his head, dreading what he knew was going to be there and sure enough, he saw about 15 girls standing outside pointing at him through the glass.

"Harvey! Come lock the door quick!" the waitress yelled toward the back of the restaurant.

"Why?" his voice trailed off as he saw the growing crowd of girls at his front door. He didn't ask any more questions but ran over to the door and locked it. He turned back to his captured guests. "Sorry, but we'll get your food fixed as soon as possible, Maggie, call the sheriff, I think we'll need some help getting them out of the building."

"Does this happen all the time?" Cassie asked Keith, watching the girls outside.

"Pretty much in bigger towns, in San Pueblo, they've known us since we were little so we are no big deal. I admit I am surprised that news traveled so fast in this small of a town." Keith answered her.

"Okay, lets get your orders, so we can get you out of here in one piece. The sheriff said he would be here in about 20 minutes, he said he would try to give you enough time to eat, but if you feel uncomfortable eating in front of a mob, we can pack it up in bags and there is a picnic spot outside of town. About 2 miles down the highway." The waitress told them. They gave her their orders. "You know what we have a private room in the back where we eat, you can sit back there and eat without an audience."

"That would be great." Cassie said.

They followed her into the back room. Soon they had their food and drinks. They were almost finished eating when the waitress came back into the room to tell them the sheriff was outside making everyone leave.

"She has been very nice, not ogling you while you ate." Nina laughed at Keith.

"Very funny." Keith told her.

"Yeah, why don't you sign some of these menus or something for her." Nina told him.

"Yeah, Keith isn't that what the girls want, is an autograph?" Cassie teased him.

"All right you two, quit already, I'll sign the menus, too bad we don't have any pictures." Keith said.

"You usually carry pictures?" Cassie asked, shocked.

"Yeah, we have a box of them in the back of the bus, it's a family portrait and we each sign the photo." Keith answered.

The Waitress walked back in about then, and Cassie handed her the menus that Keith had signed.

"Thank you, for being so helpful, I wished there was something else I could do for you." Keith told her.

"If you don't mind, could I take some photos of you and your friends?" she asked.

"No, I think that would be alright." Keith answered.

She grinned in embarrassment and she pulled her camera out of her pocket, taking about ten pictures of the group and then of Keith.

"Thanks so much, the sheriff said it was safe enough for you to leave now." The waitress told them.

They walked cautiously up to the front of the building. Harvey coming out from the back to watch them leave. Just before leaving Keith turned around and waved one last time and went out and got into the Mustang.

"That was nice of them." Harvey told his waitress.

"Keith let me take pictures and signed some menus." She told him.

"Can you let me have a signed menu and make me a copy of one of the pictures, so I can put it up on the wall. You know we never have anyone famous here and it'll be my first." Harvey asked.

"Sure Harvey." She answered distractedly as she watched Keith drive off down the road.