Thank you very, very much for the reviews on this story. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and am so glad there's been some interest in this story (which is growing a little longer than the one shot I originally thought it would be, ha!). Thanks to everyone for taking the time to read and leave a review, it has made this story that much more fun to write. Thanks for bearing with me as it took a turn for more angst!

Chapter 5

Chris and Buck had long since left the city limits of Denver—and their jurisdiction. They had gone to every known place that teens gathered for unsupervised Friday nights. They had gone to flop houses, bars, and every other place teens would be scared away from. Places Buck worried their sisters would go without a second thought.

And there was still no sign of them.

"What now?" Buck asked, getting back into the squad car after another location turned into a dead end.

Chris looked at him.

"No," Buck said.

A resigned frown.

"No. No way, Larabee."

A heavy sigh dragged out of Chris. "You have any other ideas?" he asked.

Buck rubbed a hand over his face.

"That's what I thought," Chris said. "Look, we call it a night," he said. "Get some sleep and hope they've turned up by morning."

Buck didn't have any alternative to that, so he nodded. They had state patrol looking for the car. Buck figured the girls were more a danger to society than themselves. At least Morgan was. Morgan had long since ceased to listen to any kind of limits Buck tried to put on her. He was more than a little worried about her. Her grades had started going downhill almost immediately after he moved her to Denver. And then she had started sneaking out too many nights to count.

He glanced at Chris. He knew Chris had his hands full with Sam, but Sam still listened to Chris. She might act up once in a while, but Sam still didn't seem to have the same reckless streak Morgan did.

"How do you keep a lid on Sam?" Buck asked.

Chris cut his eyes over to him.

"I mean, tonight's not the best example," Buck allowed. "But she ain't…" Buck didn't even know what to say. They had both seen Morgan behind the wheel of the stolen car. It was Morgan, not Sam. And Buck was at a complete loss with what his sister needed.

"We need sleep," Chris said. "We get some sleep and then we start running down any leads the state boys come up with."

Buck nodded. Getting Morgan home was only one piece of the puzzle at this point. He had no idea what to do with his sister after that. He glanced at Chris. Chris didn't seem to ever doubt his decisions with Sam. And there was no reason he should. Sam had a solid head on her shoulders. She never once made a questionable choice. Not without Morgan leading her astray.

"I'm sorry," Buck said quietly.

Chris looked over at him, his brow furrowed in question.

"For Morgan," Buck said. "We both know this isn't something Sam would do on her own."

Chris shook his head. "Sam doesn't have to do anything she don't want to."

Buck appreciated Chris' lack of condemnation of his sorry attempts at parenting Morgan.

"We'll get them home and you'll figure it out," Chris said, his tone not leaving any room for argument. Buck wished it was that easy.

If he hadn't figured it out yet, Buck was doubtful he was going to any time soon.

"They're resourceful and smart, when they're not bein' so stupid," Chris muttered. "They'll be fine and we'll get them home."

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"What are you doing?" Sam yelled, reaching for Morgan and yanking her away from the burning car. Angry black smoke billowed into the sky.

"I'm going to put the fire out!" Morgan yelled back at her, jerking her arm from Sam's grasp.

"With what? Your bare hands?" Sam's voice rose higher.

"We can't lose the car!" Morgan yelled, jumping back as flames licked out from the edges of the hood.

"It's gone!" Sam exclaimed, not sure why Morgan couldn't see that it was a lost cause.

Morgan finally gave in to the pressure of Sam tugging on her arm and stepped back. A small crowd had gathered in the truck stop parking lot to watch the flames devour the car into a sedan-sized fireball in the early morning hours.

"What's going on?" came a familiar drawl.

Sam kept one hand on Morgan, half worried she would try to save the already lost car.

Vin carried a bag with Styrofoam to-go containers and Ezra held a cardboard tray of coffees. They both stared at the burning vehicle.

"The car's on fire," Sam said bluntly.

Morgan paced away a step, running a hand through her hair, a desperate look in her eyes.

"You ok?" Vin asked both of them.

"We're fine," Morgan said. Sam felt her stomach clench at the wild look in Morgan's eyes. "Everything's under control," she said, her voice slightly shrill.

"Is that why the car is on fire?" Ezra asked.

Morgan looked at him and Ezra didn't flinch.

"Come on," Vin said to Morgan. He didn't put a hand on her, but stayed close to her side. "We'll figure it out."

Sam watched Morgan take a breath, listen to what Vin was saying. For whatever reason, the guy seemed to be able to get through to Morgan, calm her when she was on the edge. Sam let out her own breath of relief as he got Morgan a safe distance from the fire.

"Here." Ezra pressed one of the cups of warm coffee into her hand.

Sam took it, taking a drink and knowing it wouldn't be enough to counter the restless night's sleep in the car while Morgan drove. In the distance, she could hear sirens and looked to Ezra in alarm.

"Just walk slowly," he said. "Like we have no interest in this conflagration."

"Morgan—" Sam started.

"I believe her new friend has her," Ezra said, steering Sam past Morgan and Vin who also fell in step with them.

Sam bit her tongue. She kept an eye on Morgan, thankful Morgan seemed willing to leave the burning car behind without any more arguments.

"We can't go back now," Morgan said finally.

"Morgan," Sam said, a warning in her tone.

"We don't have a car. We can't go back," she doubled down.

Sam closed her eyes.

"She don't have to go back," Vin said.

Sam shook her head. "You have no idea—"

"She ain't goin' back if she don't want to," Vin said quietly.

Sam looked at Morgan. Morgan was barefoot, dark circles under her eyes, and had a streak of soot running up one arm. "Morgan," she tried again, gentling her tone.

But Morgan shook her head quickly and took a step back from Sam. "I'm not—I can't—I can't—"

Sam wished she didn't have the guys there right then. She didn't want anyone seeing Morgan on the brink of falling apart and judging her. Not these guys who had no idea how strong Morgan really was, what she was trying to run from.

"I know," Sam said. "I know." She moved close enough to Morgan that she could hear Morgan's rapid breaths. Morgan looked at Sam and Sam could see the pain in her friend's eyes. "We'll figure this out together," she said. She steeled herself and made sure Morgan couldn't see the worry on her face. She would hide any doubt, any fear, and not let any weakness show. It's what Chris would do and Sam would walk in her big brother's footsteps no matter what it cost her personally.

Morgan looked like she was listening and Sam gave her hand a squeeze. "We'll go home and I'll make sure Buck understands—"

It was the wrong thing to say. Morgan wheeled backwards until she crashed into Vin.

"I'm not going back!" Morgan yelled.

Sam's compassion for her friend was overwhelmed by her growing frustration with Morgan's irrationality. "Yes, you are!" she said. She reached out, intending to grab Morgan and haul her back to Denver bare handed. Morgan slapped her hand away. Sam grit her teeth and reached again for Morgan, but Morgan slapped at her hand again. Her hand caught in Sam's long hair.

"OW!" Sam shouted as Morgan pulled at her hair. She grabbed Morgan's hair and gave it a hard pull, causing Morgan to shriek angrily.

Morgan kicked out angrily, her bare toes connecting with Sam's shin and not causing any pain.

Sam was just about to get a grip on Morgan when an arm wrapped around her waist and she was lifted away from Morgan's anger.

Sam struggled against the vise around her waist without success.

"If you would like to draw attention, you're doing a fine job."

Ezra's calm words broke through Sam's anger. She stopped struggling. His arm slowly loosened until she was free. She could still feel his warmth even without his hold on her.

"You can step away unless you're more comfortable here," he said.

Sam hated the heat she felt in her cheeks. She turned an unimpressed glare on Ezra and he responded with a knowing look.

She looked back at Morgan and frowned with concern when she saw Morgan's hands trembling.

She opened her mouth to try to draw Morgan's attention, but something caught Morgan's eye.

"What's that?" Morgan asked.

Sam followed Morgan's eye and frowned. Then saw the determination setting in on Morgan's face and something closer to fear stirred in her chest. "No," Sam said.

Morgan looked at Sam, her face stricken with grief. "I can't…"

Sam shook her head. "That's not the answer."

But Sam could see Morgan had already made up her mind. Sam wished she was as decisive as Chris. Chris would never have let things get this far out of control. Chris would have figured out how to help Morgan.

Sam didn't know how to help Morgan. She wasn't Chris. The best she could do was make sure she was there for Morgan and try to shield her from the fallout of her own decisions.

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