DISCLAIMER: FOR ALL PREVIOUS AND ALL FOLLOWING CHAPTERS, I DO NOT OWN ANY OF EVERWOODS CHARACTERS, ONLY THE CHARACTER OF HAYDEN MACLEOD.

Chapter 12

"Ephram! Ephram, wait up." Amy called as she ran down the hall after him.

"Hey." He said as he turned to face her. "What's up?" "I thought we could walk home together." She said smiling. "Sure. I wanted to talk to you about something anyway." He said, smiling back at her. "What about?" "Wait until we get out of here first." "Okay." She said, curious about what was on his mind.

They walked in silence until they were well away from the high school. Stopping at the park, Ephram turned to Amy with an almost worried look on his face. "Ephram, is something wrong, I don't like that look." She said, sitting down with him on a bench. "Well," he began, not knowing what to say first. "Tell me about Hayden." "Hayden?" she said a curious look, "Ephram, way do you want to know about Hayden?" "I just do, ok, now tell me." He said, a slight hint of defensiveness in his tone. "Don't get testy with me, Ephram Brown, I just wanted to know why." Ephram lowered his gaze from Amy, "I'm sorry, I promised Delia, and I just have my doubts about it, that's all, I didn't mean for it to sound like that." "You promised Delia you'd ask about Hayden when the two of you have been spending quite a bit of time with her. There's something you're not telling me, Ephram, and I want to know what it is." Amy looked at him with what she hoped was a look of determination. Raising his gaze to meet Amy's, Ephram was silent for a long moment. "Delia thinks Dad should ask Hayden out, she says she wants to hook them up. I don't know."

A smile stretched across Amy's face as her excitement became evident. "I think that's a great idea. Oh, Ephram, this is going to be so much fun, I'll help you, I've know Hayden all my life, she's great, and I think she'd be good for your dad." Ephram couldn't help but smile at Amy's excitement, and maybe this wasn't such a bad idea, what did they have to loose. "Okay, what do we do first?"

AN: sorry it's been so long, but it's been crazy around here. I know this is short, but I have to work out the details on what to do next. Thanks for the good reviews, and keep them coming.