Author's Note: The love and support you all have showed me is everything. It's what should be happening in this world today. That love, that support..so over whelming and made my heart happy. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could reply to each and every one of you but there was so many reviews that I can't. I would rather spend my free time writing my story so you all can get another update. But Seriously.. you all are the BEST! And I love each and every one of you. It's like I haven't been away from JE fanfic for years now.. Like I was greeting an old friend with a hug. Thank you all so much! Seriously the best readers/fans a girl could ever ask for.

This chapter made me laugh.. why you ask.. because I had it written down months ago and went to get into my computer and my muse laughed and said I don't think so, bitch. Lol. My muse had decided to completely change everything. LIKE EVERYTHING. I'm still shaking from it. I know a lot of you are hoping for a Babe story and I don't think that's where this is headed.. but again, I don't know because its not anytime soon(as of right now). Again.. not a cupcake ever. I don't care for Joe but he's unharmed in this story.

Again.. this characters are not mine.. I am only playing with them.

Chapter Two
Fate

I'm not sure how long I've been on the road now. It's been a few weeks. I've been living out of my van and it is a blast. There's plenty of room in the back for me to stretch out and sleep so no hotel rooms. I've been eating peanut butter and olive sandwiches and snacking on dry cereal. I've been sleeping in well lit areas and taking showers in reputable trucking stops. Everyone I've met is so nice.

My first stop was in this small town in Pennsylvania called Parker. Population less than 1000 people. But everyone was so kind. I stopped in to this small diner. There was one lady working the tables and another guy working the grill. I learned they had been married 53 years and they had a total of 8 children. Blanche and George had 26 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren. I know (well she told me) all their names. All of them. How she keeps them straight, I don't know. She was the sweetest person I had ever met. And I found myself drawn to her.

She said I had a kind face and invited me to Sunday dinner. I gladly accepted and had so much of fun. The whole family was there. All of them. All 39 of them. She had two sets of twins. They were identical and I was never to tell them apart. I couldn't get over it. We played flag football, then volleyball, a very loud game of charades and then this one very violent game of Spoons. Oh my goodness. There was fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, macaroni and cheese, three types of veggies including corn on the cob. There was grilled steaks with shrimp and baked potatoes. There was potato salad and cole slaw. I can't even remember most of the food but I made myself sick off it all. I ate so much. There was several different kinds of cake and pie too. And ice cream too.

I ended up staying in Parker, Pennsylvania until Thursday because her son, Thomas(I think he was the 2nd oldest or was it the 2nd youngest) was a lawyer and his secretary had been out sick with the flu and I ended up working for him for three days. She came back on Wednesday and Thomas gave me five hundred bucks for three days. I told him it was too much but he insisted because I helped him out in jam. Apparently he was the only lawyer for miles. I asked him what type of lawyer he was. He laughed and took a phone call. So I still don't know.

I sadly said good bye to the whole family and left out on Thursday. I was very sad to go. As friendly as they were they never asked too many questions. It was like Blanche could sense that I didn't want to talk about it. Her daughter, Abbi said that I had a good soul and that I would be okay. I took that to heart.

I traveled for a few more days since I had now had some money on me. I stopped at Hershey, Pennsylvania because Hershey.. chocolate. I wasn't missing out on that. I stopped at Eastern State Penitentiary and took a tour of that place. Creeping! But I had fun. I then went to the Luray Caverns in Virginia. Those were beautiful. I went to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center. I spent two days in that place, watching all the animals. It was so peaceful there. And then of course I had to stop at Busch Gardens.

I traveled straight through after that until I reached Kentucky. I stopped at another small town named Bandana and once again was met with the sweetest people. This town was even smaller, not even reaching a population of 250. There I met a guy named Frankie. Frankie was at least 90 years old. And he drank like a 21 year old. We sat on his front porch which was in the middle of town and drank moonshine out of a jug. It was horrible; the moonshine, not the company. I don't think I had ever laughed so hard in my life. He told me all about his service in the military. Losing his best friend in a war that never should have happened. He cried over losing his wife of 75 years(it is possible to be even married that long). He then lost his daughter to cancel when she was only 23 years old. He told me about the time he fell into a pig pen and almost lost his leg because he got trampled by a bunch of them. He was just thankful they didn't eat him. He told me about this massive bull that weighed over 2000 pounds that seem to have it out for him. He had escaped countless times just to come looking for him. Sure enough, it was about ten that night, I was so drunk I was sure I was imaging the giant bull in the middle of the street, but nope he came right over to Frankie and went to nudging him. Frankie then gave the bull moonshine. MOONSHINE! And the bull whose name was Jim(go figure) drank the moonshine and went on his merry little way. I still think I imaged it.

The next day I had a massive hangover, but I asked Frankie if he needed anything. He asked me to do his shopping for him. He gave me a list and some money and I went grocery shopping for him. How he's lived as how long as he have I will never know. His diet was nothing but junk food. Seriously, I was going to live like him in my old age. I was jealous of all the good stuff he was getting. I picked up some potato chips and Oreos for myself. Once I returned to Frankie's house with all his goodies, he tried to give me money but I refused. I kissed his weatherly cheek and went on my way.

It was the next day and I was several hundred miles away when I found a twenty dollar bill stuffed in the never used ash tray. It was signed, love Frankie. It made me cry. I put it up so I wouldn't accidentally use it. I was never gonna spend it.

I went to Nashville next. I explored the city known as the music capital of the world. That city vibrated, it felt so alive. I didn't have the extra money to do most the main attractions but I still enjoyed myself immensely. I did buy a cute little keychain with my name on it. It had the state of Tennessee on it and then my name on it. Plain but cute. A tiny souvenir. I then went to Memphis where I did go and visit Graceland. Elvis Presley is a legend, I had to go see for myself his beautiful mansion. I wanted to see the planes too, but I didn't want to get crazy. I did buy a shirt though. Super cute. 'Nothing but a hound dog' It was probably going to be my new favorite shirt.

From Tennessee, I headed to Georgia. I didn't stop until I reached Covington. I just recently started watching The Vampire Diaries and Covington is where most of it was filmed and I wanted to stop and see it but first, I was going to do something I had putting off for weeks. I called Mary Lou.

She answered out of breath. "Lo."

"Hey Mary Lou." I greeted.

"STEPH!" She screeched in my ear and I laughed. It was good to hear her voice.

"How are you?"

"No! I don't want to hear about me. I want to hear about you. It's been weeks, girl! Are you okay?"

I apologized immediately. "I was avoiding this call because I knew it was going to make me home sick, but I'm good."

"Thank God for small favors. Where are you?"

"I would rather not say. That way if you get questioned, you can answer honestly."

Mary Lou laughed. "IF? No if. I've already been questioned. More than once in fact."

I groaned. "Oh no. I'm sorry."

I could almost hear her shrug. "Doesn't bother me any."

"Who asked?"

"Everyone, Steph. I have talked to your mother, your father, your grandmother, Connie, Lula, Eddie, Joe, a couple other guys from the police station, a few of RangeMan employees and Ranger comes by at least once a week."

I chewed on my lip, unsure of what to say. I hate worrying everyone but the thought of Trenton and everyone there makes me want to throw up. I don't know if I can ever go back.

"Steph?" Mary Lou broke the silence with a whisper of my name.

I let out a sigh. "I'm sorry, Mary Lou. I'm so very sorry for putting all of this on you."

"Don't you worry about me, Steph. I've seen of what this city is doing to you. What the people in this city are doing to you. You haven't been Steph in quite some time. So I'll be okay. So tell me some of things you've seen on your journey."

And just like that, I was okay again. She knew what to say to make me feel better so I smiled and told her about Blanche and the whole family and then I told her about Frankie. After an hour on the phone, we said our good-byes. I then disabled the phone and tossed it in the trash.

I spent the next day exploring Covington, but I left just as quickly. I spent too much time on the phone with Mary Lou and if her phone was bugged, Ranger would be on his way soon. I had more souvenirs and more memories and that made me happy.

I traveled to the state line of Georgia and then down to the coast. I stopped at Tybee Island, Georgia. I spent several days on the beach. Enjoying the sand, the sun, the waves, the people. The beach was my happy place. and I was loving it.

There on the beach, I met Bodhi. Bodhi was as country as you could get. He was blond and blue eyed and drop dead gorgeous. I was lying on the beach one afternoon and he came in from surfing. The beach was crowded but there was an empty spot next to me and he plopped down and started working on his surf board. Cleaning it up. He looked up and saw me watching him and he grinned. I naturally grinned back. We started talking. He was 19 years old and going to college, Yale in fact in the fall. He was super excited but nervous about being so far away from home. We talked for hours until the sun went down and it started getting chilly. He walked me back to my van which he fell in love with. I just laughed. He took me out to dinner, just as friends. Bodhi was hilarious and he knew a lot of stupid jokes and silly facts. But I enjoyed his company. We agreed to meet up the next day to go visit some cool places that tourists missed or just didn't think about. I took a shower in a nearby truck stop and then curled up in my van and went to sleep.

The next day, I dressed in a pair of blue jean shorts and a bright blue tank top. I was pretty sure the tank top brought out the blue in my eyes. Bodhi was there, bright and early wearing nearly the same thing. I laughed.

"Dude, we match. Gnarly." He did a little hand thing with his thumb and pinkie and made a face.

I laughed harder. He pulled my ponytail. "You ready to go?"

I nodded and then looked towards my van. "Is there any where I can leave my hamster for the day? I really hate to just leave him in this heat."

Bodhi grinned and nodded. "Grab him and follow me."

I grabbed Rex and we walked up the block. "Welcome to my humble abode." With a flourish of his hand, he welcomed me into his tiny apartment. I looked around and immediately was in love.

"It's awesome. I love it." It was definitely small town country boy meets surfer boy, but it was done in a way that was tasteful. He blushed.

"You ready to go?" he asked. I put Rex down on his counter. After making sure he had plenty of food and water, I was ready to go.

I nodded. We then walked back to my van where his motorcycle was waiting. I missed it the first time.

"We're going by motorcycle?" I asked, excited.

He grinned. "We are. You ready for that?"

I nodded eagerly. I had put some money in my pocket and grabbed the keys to my van. I made sure it was locked and hopped on the bike behind Bodhi.

"You ready to ride a little?" He asked.

"To where?" I asked curious.

"Jacksonville, Florida" He replied.

Now I know what you're thinking. Why am I trusting this man when I've known him for less than a day. And honestly I don't know. But something in my gut told me it was okay so I trusted my gut. Its never let me down before.

"I'm ready." And I really was.

With that, we headed down the highway. We stopped several times on the way. Looking at different sites, beaches and restaurants. Home of the giant.. whatever. We always stopped. It was evening by the time we made it Jacksonville. Bodhi had me laughing the whole time. Singing Barbie Girl and California Gurls on the top of his lungs had me laughing so hard I was close to peeing my pants. Dancing in the middle of the deserted highway when we pulled over because Bodhi had to pee. He was always doing anything he could to get me to laugh. We stopped a gas station when I had to go. I refused to pee on the side of the road with him watching. He was okay with that. Bodhi was honestly the sweetest man I had ever met. He was going to make a great husband one day.

However fate had other plans. After spending the evening in Jacksonville, cruising with no destination in mind, we turned to head back to Tybee Island, Georgia. Bodhi was crossing a four lane highway when a truck came out of no where and blind sided us. While both of us had helmets on, it wasn't good. We were thrown several feet off the bike. All I remember was a lot of metal crunching, screaming, fire and smoke. And lots of blackness.

I was told later that Bodhi died. He never even made it to the hospital. His head had hit the concrete so hard that it busted his helmet. And when his head hit concrete again, he was dead instantly. As for me, well my life changed dramatically after that fateful day.