"Tell me something, Monica," Andrew asked. His emerald eyes scanned a book with interest. "How can all these men and women take such risks to be firefighters. It seems like such a scary job."

"And being human isn't, Andy?" Monica asked. She sat at the computer, busing herself in an article for the paper. She let out a giggle and then stopped and took a sip of her coffee.

"I mean, look at this…" Andrew pointed towards an old newspaper clipping about a wildfire in California. The picture was graphic. There were so many people lying on the ground, whether dead or in critic condition. "I have to do this for a living?" For a moment, Monica's expression was sympathetic until she remembered what had happened between them both.

"Hey, at least you make money," she announced and turned back to the computer.

"You haven't forgotten about it yet, have you?" Andrew asked in a solemn tone. Monica didn't respond. He shook his head in frustration and sighed. "Ever heard the saying 'forgive and forget'?"

"Forgive and forget, Andrew? What about you, have you forgiven me and forgot everything that's happened?" Her Irish lilt was rushing with anger. "And no, I haven't yet."

"You know what, I think this big plan of the Father's is just making things worse. I'm going to take a walk," Andrew declared. "I won't be back until later."

"Fine, miss dinner. It's almost ready," Monica told him. She still didn't look up from the screen.

"I'll buy my own," the blond told her. He paced out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

"See if I care," Monica said mockingly under her breath. She rolled her eyes. "Suppose I should've mentioned this when you were here, but we don't have any money on us." She shrugged her eyebrows and typed more.

"Yo, man, what are you doing way out here?" Aaron asked his friend. He puffed out smoke from his cigarette. "Don't ask me why I came to get you, but Sydney went into one of those modes of hers and totally blew the socks off of us guys." Bobby kept his back turned to Aaron the whole time. "What's up with you, man? She was just your mom. It's not like she was important or anything."

"Get off of me!" Bobby screamed. He pushed Aaron down to the ground by the shoulders. "Just leave me alone! Scram!" Aaron nodded.

"Okay, dude, just trying to help."

"I don't need no help from you," Bobby sighed angrily.

"Then who from?" Aaron asked. He stood back up and shook his clothes off. "From your papa or perhaps God?"

"It wouldn't be bad if God would help me now." Bobby shrugged.

"Hey, man, I thought you were over all that religious stuff."

"I am, I am. I'm just saying that it would be nice if God still cared about me," Bobby prompted.

"That's why you ran, remember? Because God didn't care! He turned his back on you!" Aaron hollered. He shook his finger in Bobby's face. "You can't be no member of my gang if you're going to be all godly on me now, Bob. You can just leave!"

"Hey, I'm no godly guy! I still believe that God doesn't care about me, and He did turn His back on me!"

"Okay, cool. Now, man, come on back. Your girlfriend is weeping over your disappearance." Aaron smiled.

"For the last time, Aaron, she's not my girlfriend! Now just get your hand off of me and I'll be fine." Aaron nodded and released the grasp that he had around Bobby's neck.

"I know she's not, dude, 'cause she's mine." He smirked as they walked back through the woods and to the temporary hideout they occupied. Bobby let out a sudden laugh and gave a punch to his friend's arm.

"By the way, are we cool?" he asked. Aaron shrugged his shoulders and then nodded.

"Good thing you guys are back," Sydney whispered. "Rumor has it that child services is out looking for us…see?" Sydney held the mini-radio up to the two boy's ears. Sure enough, the DJ was announcing the four teen's names in the missing child reports. "If they catch us, we'll probably go to jail for life sentence."

"So what?" Ron asked. "That would be better than hanging around this dump."

"This ain't no dump, you punk," Aaron said with a roll of his eyes. "If this is how you'll think of my gang, then you're out!"

"Just pulling a joke, man," Ron said, backing up. Aaron laughed.

"You sure are a punk, isn't he, Bobby? Look how scared he is!"

"Na," Bobby put in. "He's a wimp."

"Aw, that describes him good," Sydney chimed. She sat down next to Bobby on the ground.

"You know, guys, I don't know why I ever joined this thing," Ron sighed.

"We needed you, Ronny," Aaron explained. "You're the one with the brains. You maintain our ammunition and make our bombs. Without you, we wouldn't have the explosives."

"I suppose you're right. Just say that you need me one more time," Ron joked. He ducked as Aaron reached over and hit him on the head.

"Hey, sirens!" Sydney whispered. She gestured towards the distance. "We better make a move on it. If we run into any police, there's no way we can escape. I mean, come on, we're already on the radio."

"We're the famous quadron," Bobby laughed. "We could come down in history as the four who killed."

"Dude, that'd be sweet," Aaron sighed. He gathered up his backpack and other supplies that he could carry. "The girl's right, let's scram."

"The girl?" Sydney asked in an astonished tone. "Since when am I the girl? I have a name you know!" she snapped.

"So, you're my girl so I can call you what I want!" Aaron called back with a grin.

"I am not!" Sydney screamed. She chased after Aaron and threw him down on the ground with a simple blow.

"Whoa!" Ron exclaimed. "What a girl."

"Excuse me?" Aaron said, standing up. His cheeks were turning red with embarrassment. "I let her do that!"

Sydney brushed her hands together and took the lead in front of all of the boys. She shot a glare at Aaron with her blue eyes.

"I'm no one's girl!" she called behind her. Aaron just stood there, still bewildered, for inside he knew he didn't let her push him down.

"Whatever!" Aaron exclaimed. He rolled his eyes. When he finally met his two friend's glances he shrugged. "What?" he added innocently and walked ahead of them. Ron and Bobby exchanged looks and laughed silently.

"Some girl of his," Ron said under his breath.

*I'm not quite sure if Andrew has ever been a firefighter before. Does anybody else know?*