A/N: Just so you guys know, this might be slow in the updating factor. You see, I know exactly what I want the ending to be (except for a few things that need to be tweaked ) but as always, it's a matter of getting there. So please bear with me. Mort Rainey plushies, complete with the black beanie hat thing he wears, if you do.

A/N2: Just a little side note, anything in italics are Mort's thoughts, and anything in bold is Mort's other side. Not Shooter, just his reasonable side.

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Word of advice, never listen to the traffic reports on the news. 'Oh, highway 4 will be clear and it will be smooth sailing.' said the oh so chipper traffic man. Ha! What a bunch of bull. The freeway was jammed packed with cars. Where they're all going is and will forever be an unsolved mystery.

And what's worse, Mort was having a tad bit of car trouble. Well, that's putting it lightly. In all actuality, his car had completely broken down and he was now stranded on the side of the highway.

Looks like you got a bit of a problem there pilgrim.

You don't say? And don't say 'pilgrim', I don't want any reminders of, that.

Fair enough. But you still have to think about your current situation. How do plan to solve this little problem?

Why don't you tell me, oh fountain of knowledge.

It's not my place to say.

Oh, so you can criticize my every thought, but you can't help me come up with a good one?

That's right.

Thanks, you're a big help.

You're welcome. Now, what are you going to do?

Hmmmmm....... how about I walk to the nearest town, and, borrow, a car?

Borrow?

Yes.

You mean steal.

Tomato/Tomato.

Don't you think that's a bit, oh I don't know, rash?

Rash times call for rash actions. In case you've forgotten, I've got a daughter to see.

Hey, if you think you can really pull it off, go for it.

Gee, does that mean I have your blessings?

Sure, why not.

And those are the events that led Mort to where he is now, walking down the highway. He was just outside of New York when his car broke down, and he needed to get to Virginia. And according to the sign he just past, he still had another eight miles to the next town. Boy how he wished he had worn a more comfortable pair of pants instead of jeans.

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Three and a half hours later and Mort finally reached the town. He legs felt like they were ready to fall off, so he was very grateful when he came across a bus stop. He sat down with a huge sigh.

Long walk?

Shut up.

As he was taking his much needed rest, he began to survey his surroundings. He appeared to be in the downtown area of whatever city he was in, he didn't pay attention. He decided he would go for a car in the parking lot with the most people. The more people, the less noticeable he would be. He finally came across the local grocery store and dubbed it the perfect place. With a deep breath, he got up and headed over. As he entered the parking lot he quickly took notice of a red 88' 4x4 Ford pick-up truck. His mind made up, he made a b-line for it. Checking around him to make sure no one was watching, Mort tried the door and was extremely surprised to find that the door was unlocked.

'This is too easy.' he thought to himself with a smug grin as he hopped in.

Not so surprise was he though when he found that there were no keys. Of course not.

"Damn." he muttered. That's when he, subtly of course so no one would get suspicious, began the task of hot wiring the car.

Unfortunately, with all his concentration on the job at hand, Mort did not take notice of the young lady coming towards him with a bag of groceries and a very amused look on her face.

"Hi!" she said cheerfully while knocking on the window.

"Fuck!" Mort cursed loudly. That girl had scared the living daylights out of him! He turned his head to the girl still standing there with a smile on her face. Knowing that she wasn't going away, he hesitantly rolled down the window. "What?" he asked.

"Hi." She repeated.

"Hi."

"Nice car you got here."

"Thanks."

"You look like you're getting ready for a long drive, am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Ah, where ya headed?"

"Out of town." Mort replied, his patience running dangerously low.

"Neato. What for?" she asked, that same sickening sweet smile still plastered on her face.

"Listen lady!" he finally snapped. "I'm a little busy here, so with all do respect, if you could just.....fuck off! That would be great."

"Well now, that's the problem. You see I would, I would love to in fact, but this just so happens to be my car you're in. So, if you could just get out, that would be great." she said, standing by the door expectantly.

Got any other brilliant ideas?

Shut up.

Noticing that he didn't appear to be making any plans to movie, the girl decided to try another approach.

"No? Okay.......tell you what." she started, now leaning against the car door. "I'm in a pretty good mood today, so how about I drive you to the bus station, and then you can give me back my car."

"No." he said stubbornley.

That's an awfully bold answer, considering this isn't your car!

I thought I told you to shut up!

"Oh." she said, a bit taken aback. "Umm, okay. Well, how about this, I'll get into the passenger seat over there, you drive to the bus station, or the train station, whichever tickles your fancy, and then when we get there you give me back my car."

Mort appeared to be in deep thought for a moment, then replied with a shake of the head.

"You know, you're being a bit pig headed considering this isn't your car." she pointed out.

"So I've been told." he muttered under his breath.

The girl was silent for a minute, then spoke up again. "Alright, well this is it, my finally offer. You scoot over to the passenger side, I'll drive you wherever you want to go, pay for gas, food, boarding, if needed, and to put the cherry on the cake, you can be sure I won't call the police and report you for attempted robbery because I have no cell phone." at this she made a gesture to show she had no pockets or any kind of bag.

Mort looked at the girl like she had grown a second head. Was he actually hearing her right?

"You're crazy you know that?"

"So I been told." she replied, back to smiling.

"I just tried to steal your car lady, for all you know I could be some ax murderer, why do you want to help me?" he asked, completely baffled by this girl's actions..

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I got nothing better to do. Plus, I'm a little on the naive side." she joked. "So, what do you say, we got a deal.?"

He wasn't sure why, but for some odd reason, he felt he could trust her. With a feeling he might regret this, he decided to go along with it.

"Alright, deal." he said.

"Great!" she exclaimed, shaking his hand.

Mort scooted over to the passenger seat so the girl could get in. As soon as she got her seat belt on, she turned on the car, pulled out, and got onto the road. Once she got to a stop sign, she turned to him to introduce herself.

"My names Lucy by the way. Lucy McAdams."

"Mort Rainey."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."