The Runaway Four

by Armia of Dacia

What happens when Sophia flips and teams up with Ruby, John Kanin and Luke.

Title: The Runaway Four

Author: Armia of Dacia

Summary: What happens when Sophia flips and teams up with Ruby, John Kanin and Luke.

Disclaimer: I own none of the Wolf Lake Characters, Episodes...etc.

Sophia flopped onto her bed, crying. She hated Luke Cates. He had ruined her date with Scott and had nearly pushed her over the edge. She glanced up at the mirror above her dresser. Sophia stared at the pair of eyes that were glowing back from her reflection. About to burst into tears again she turned away from the mirror. 'Go Away'! She mentally yelled at the wolf within. Suddenly she felt like throttling the living daylights out of Luke. The next thing she knew was she was halfway down the hall and headed for the front door. Sophia stopped and took several deep breaths to calm her nerves. She didn't need to be walking down the road with glowing eyes and she definitely didn't need to be attempting to kill Luke, he'd probably win, especially right now. She turned and slowly forced herself to go back into her room.

She was running, just running. There was something or someone following her. She couldn't let them catch up. She had to get ahead of whoever it was and stay ahead of them, far ahead. She was running by the lake that was below the rave site. She couldn't stop she had to get away. Then she was on the highway running towards the town limits. She was almost there...then she hit an invisible wall. She couldn't go any farther. She slowly turned to face the person that was still behind her. She couldn't see who it was. A faint mist was curling around the image and it slowly turned into a wolf form that was a dark grey. She cringed back trying to get away. It leapt at her....

Sophia bolted up straight. She sat in her bed, a cold sweat quickly beginning to evaporate away. She was shaking from head to toe. Sophia jumped as she heard a wolf howl from somewhere in the woods. She swung her feet to the floor and walked towards the window to shut it. After she shut it she turned to look at the clock. "Great, it's only four a.m." she muttered as she headed back to bed. Sophia was right next to her bed when something furry brushed against her foot. She jumped back about three feet. She stood there for about five minutes before deciding to jump the distance into her bed instead of walking right up next to it.

She landed with a thump in the middle of her bed. Sophia yanked the covers up and laid back down hoping to be able to go to sleep again. She was just dozing off when something landed on the bed and curled up next to her. Sophia's eyes snapped open as she sat up.

She glanced to see what it was and she let out an ear-splitting shriek. Sophia didn't know how she did it, but somehow she managed to get around the dark gray wolf on her bed and close to her bedroom door before it growled. Did you have to shriek like that? he asked.

Well, what would you have done? she retorted. Sophia frowned, a confused look spreading across her face, how could she answer him like that? She shook her head slightly and glared at him. And just what are you doing in my house and in my bedroom? she snapped angrily. She got a 'you should know the answer to that' look. She watched as the wolf in front of her took a step forward. She backed closer to the door and reached behind her back for the knob.

Luke growled as he watched her back closer to the door. And just where do you think your going? he asked. Sophia shrugged. The roof, maybe I'll sleep up there from now on. She muttered. Luke mentally rolled his eyes. Sophia heard a door downstairs slam shut. "Sophia! Where are you? Are you alright?" her father sounded extremely worried. Luke whimpered and moved towards the window. Could you...uh...open the window? he asked.

Sophia rolled her eyes as she walked around him and opened the window. Luke jumped out and tore off for the woods at top speed.

"Sophia!" Matt yelled up the stairs. He was very worried. He had heard Sophia's scream over the mental pathway. He was pretty sure a lot of other people had too. He knew she hadn't learned to shield all of her thoughts yet. Although this hadn't happened before. "I'm upstairs and I'm fine. Why?" Sophia shouted down as she walked towards the top of the stairs. Matt frowned as he looked at Sophia. Something wasn't right. He took an deep breath and caught a scent that wasn't hers, it was the scent of Luke Cates.

Sophia watched as her dad's eyes flared gold for an instant before returning to normal.

He nodded and muttered something about her needing to block her mental shrieks. Sophia's eyes widened when she realized what he said as he walked towards his own room. No wonder Luke had said what he had. He gotten a double dose of her scream. She smirked. 'Serves him right. He deserved it.' she thought as she went back to bed.

Luke sighed as he walked through the front door of his house. Man could Sophia scream.

She had screamed out loud and along the mental pathway. He glanced up to see his mother looking down the stairs at him. "And may I ask about just whom was screaming at four in the morning?" Vivian asked as Luke walked up the stairs. She arched an eyebrw as she thought she heard him mutter something like "Sophia," as he walked past her. If it was Sophia that had been screaming like that...school was going to be very interesting tomorrow.

Sophia walked down the hallway as quickly as possible. She wanted to get to her locker, grab her stuff and go. She had had almost every male skinwalker at least within three feet of her all day. She just wanted to go to work, finish up there, and go home. She never wanted to see Luke or his friends again. Unfortunatly it was a little difficult considering he seemed to know every move she was going to make before she even made it. It was starting to get on her nerves. She was almost to her locker when she realized that there were people standing around and in front of it. She sighed in resignation. Luke was not going to let her get away with avoiding him the entire day. He was leaning against her locker while talking with several of his friends.

Sophia quickly went through her back pack to see if she really needed to go by the locker or not. After going through her back pack for the second time she decided she didn't need to go to her locker. She had what she needed in the back pack. She turned and began to take the back way out of the school.

Sophia had just rounded the corner when Luke and his friends were shooed out of the kitchen by Mrs. McKline or 'Miss Neat Freak' as most of the high schoolers called her.

Sophia sighed, she did not want to have to put up with them right now. Her head was starting to pound. "Look, it's the half-breed." Presley sneered as she nodded to the left. Luke followed her gaze and gave a rouge smile. Sophia was heading in their direction, her head down and her books huddled close to her chest as she made her way quietly down the hall, as if she didn't want to be noticed. Hey, something on the floor that interesting? he called to her, and smiled when she turned and looked directly at him. He and his pack quickly closed the distance between them, Presley placed her hand possessively in his back pocket. "What do you want Luke?" Sophia sighed, expecting the pack to dish out their daily dose of verbal abuse.

He gave her a feral grin. You really want the answer to that? he asked.

Sophia's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You have your slut with her hand in your back pocket, you don't need another one." Sophia snarled as she started to walk around them.

Now her head was really starting to pound. "What did you call me?" Presley asked, her eyes flashed gold and a low growl sounded in her throat. "You heard what I said," Sophia answered as she continued down the hall. She pushed the doors open and they slammed shut just as Presley reached them.

"Hey Sophia, don't forget table three." Kit called to her. Sophia nodded that she had heard her. She really didn't want to go over there. Presley looked like she wanted to kill her and Luke, well, he was just being himself. Sophia slowly made her way over to table three.

"What do you want?" Sophia asked. You, the thought entered her mind and sent shivers down her spine. Sophia's eyes went from brown to gold and then back.

"Not exactly on the menu, sorry." she snapped. After finally getting their orders she marched into the kitchen. "Hey Kit, you in here?" she called above the noise in the kitchen.

"Yeah, Whatcha need?" Kit asked as she came around the corner of an oven with a dripping plate in her hand.

"You serve table three and I'll do the dishes for the next week, deal?" Sophia bargined. Kit shrugged, "Sure." Kit handed her the plate and dried her hands before heading out into the dining area.

Luke glanced up when someone placed a plate in front of him. He frowned when he saw it was not Sophia, but that it was Kit. "I thought this was Sophia's section." he said coolly.

Kit glared at him. "Well, all I got to say is you must have really pissed her off. Especially for her to promise to do the dishes for the next week as long as she didn't have to serve this table." Kit answered as she placed the plate down in front of Luke. Luke watched as Kit walked back into the kitchen. Sophia was trying to avoid him yet her scent was giving her away.

He smiled as he thought about it. She was beginning to smell like a mix of spicy vanilla and pine. He could smell her from here and they had to be at least twenty feet away from each other.

Presley saw Luke shake his head and try to hide a grin. He wasn't the only one that was catching a whiff of Sophia's new scent. Presley glared in the direction of the kitchen doors. Sophia was going to have hell to pay if she came anywhere near Luke.

About three hours later Sophia put the last dish away and clocked out. She was extremely tired and the headache from earlier seemed to be spreading down her back to her hips and thighs. She walked out of the kitchen to come face to face with the one person she didn't want to run into right then. "Want a ride home Sophia?" Luke asked quietly. He quickly looked her up and down and a small smile played around the corners of his lips. Sophia studied him carefully, she was still mad at him over what he had done the night before. Sophia was about to answer when a low growl caught her attention. Quickly glancing in the direction of the pool tables Sophia saw Presley glaring at her. Averting her gaze back to Luke she answered, "No, you probably should take your annoying bitch home anyways." Sophia jerked her head slightly in Presley's direction.

Luke's eyes started glowing at her comment. "No, I asked if you wanted a ride home." he stated in a slight tone of annoyance. Sophia shook her head no as she walked around him and headed out the door. Luke waited only five minutes before going after her.

Sophia wanted to get home as soon as possible and sink into bed. That way she might hopefully be able to sleep this annoying headache off. She was at least another five blocks away from her house when she started to feel extremely dizzy, her head felt like it was going to split open and she was beginning to see red, literally. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to control what she knew was going to happen. Suddenly she felt someone grab her arm and gently pull her into the shadows. Sophia snapped her eyes open and looked straight into Luke's light green eyes.

"Why now?" she managed to get out as a spasm of pain shot through her body. Luke gently picked her up and hurried to his car. They were going to Sherman's.

Sophia knew that they were driving at a very high speed. But she was dreading their destination, since she didn't know where it was. Her skin was starting to burn, she was looking at everything in wolf vision. The next thing she knew was that they had stopped and Luke had pulled her door open and was proceeding to carry her up the front steps when the door to Sherman's house opened and Vivian Cates stepped out onto the porch.

"Sherman, I swear I will never understand why..." Vivian's voice trailed off as Luke came walking up the steps with Sophia in his arms. She arched an eyebrow as she heard Sophia whimper when Luke had to shift his weight and it jostled her a little bit.

Sherman came to stand next to Vivian and took one look at Sophia before motioning Luke to go inside with her. "So it's finally time." he muttered, "Won't Matt be thrilled." Vivian followed Sherman back inside the house and closed the door behind them. This was going to be a long night.

Sophia opened her eyes slowly. She was sore from head to toe and she was lying in bed looking up at the pictures Sherman had on his wall. She vaguely remembered Luke telling her it would be okay and had seen Vivian out of the corner of her eye last night but other than that, she didn't remember much. Sophia took a deep breath and went to sit up only to find someone's arm wrapped around her waist. Carefully turning her head she saw Luke sleeping soundly behind her; his arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Being careful not to wake him she slid his arm from around her and placed the pillow she had been using in her place. She stood up and quickly found her clothes from last night and slipped them on. Sophia's hand had just reached the knob when she heard a low growl.

"I appreciate the thanks." Luke growled softly, as he got up and walked over to her.

Sophia sighed. "I didn't want to wake you up." she said softly.

"I was already awake; Sherman, my mom and I have been up most of the night making sure that you were all right after your flip...since you passed out." he added the last part with a slight chuckle.

Sophia glared at him. "Well, thank you and now if you will excuse me, I'm heading home." Why did he have to be such a pain? He wasn't being as bad as he usually was, but still. And she was sure her dad was going to be in a fit after this.

Luke opened his mouth to say something when the door was gently pushed open and Vivian walked in.

Sophia backed up out of Vivian's way as she came into the room. She was secretly relieved that Vivian was in there at that moment it would keep Luke quiet for the time being, but at the same time she was dreading it.

"Good morning Sophia." Vivian said. Looking at Luke she nodded to the door. "Sherman has breakfast ready, go eat." Luke nodded and walked out around his mother, who quietly closed the door after him.

"Mrs. Cates, I..." Sophia began.

"Sit down." Vivian cut her off.

Sophia obeyed and sat down on the edge of the bed behind her.

Vivian sighed. "Your pelt color is white, you know what that means, right?" she asked, watching Sophia's face for her reaction.

"It...it's white? No, it can't be!" Sophia nearly shouted, as she became hysterical.

"Calm down! Yes, it's white. That means; One, you have a dominant color; Two, you will have a lot of us watching you from now on..."

"No, no, no! I...I'll..." Sophia cut in.

"You'll what? Do like Ruby? Try to run, only to fail." Vivian arched an eyebrow.

"I..."Sophia hung her head for a moment before she glared up at Vivian, her eyes starting to glow. "I won't stay here and be locked away in the pack only to be constantly watched and then paired up with some jackass for a mate. And you can't do anything about it! I'm leaving, now!" Sophia could feel the wolf inside her cringe at her own tone and her choice of words. What scared her the most was that Vivian was standing there perfectly calm, as if someone had told her about the weather.

"Very well, you can try to leave, if you wish. But, I can do something about it and I will. I won't be the only one to stop you. You will have the entire pack on your heels if you do that. Especially the males, since you don't have a mate yet."

Sophia clenched and unclenched her fists. She stood up slowly, watching Vivian with a cold, yet wary look. "You...you...DAMN YOU!!"

Luke's head snapped up from his plate as he heard Sophia curse at his mother. Sophia...?

Sherman chuckled and shook his head as he flipped through a magazine. "Well now, we know she has a tongue on her. I don't think Matt taught her that though."

Sophia blocked Luke from hearing her thoughts, and Vivian as well. She wanted nothing more than to just start throttling Vivian.

SOPHIA! Luke shouted the thought, only to have it echo back to him without an answer.

Vivian remained perfectly calm. "You will switch classes so that you are in the classes with the pack, you will not date any humans, and you will remember you place. You haven't gained any rank yet. Is all of that clear?"

"Yes," Sophia ground out between her teeth.

"Good, now if you will excuse me, I need to go talk to your father." Vivian turned on her heel and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Sophia turned to look out the bedroom window. Caleb and Randy where sitting out there. Sarah was there as well. And all of them seemed to be keeping an eye on the window. She stormed into the bathroom and looked out the window that was in there. She had a clear path straight into the woods, there was only one problem. From where Vivian and Luke stood on the porch with Sherman, and from where Caleb, Randy and Sarah were sitting, they would all see her climb out the window. But, that was a risk she was willing to take.

Vivian and Luke both spun and looked to see where Randy and Caleb were headed. Sarah was right behind them. "Sophia! Get back here!" Randy called after her as he dove into the woods after her.

Vivian growled her annoyance. SOPHIA DONNER! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!

Sophia flinched when she heard Vivian call after her. She knew that Vivian had made it so that everyone heard that thought. And she knew Vivian was mad. Sophia topped the hill she had been running towards, grabbed a low branch that was hanging in her path and began climbing as high as she could.

"Mom, I'll go talk to her." Luke offered.

Vivian nodded. "I need to go find Matt anyways. When you get a hold of her, I want to talk to her." With a goodbye to Sherman, Vivian headed towards her car and started it up.

Luke sprinted off and quickly caught up to Randy and the others. "Where is she?"

Caleb shrugged as he looked around. The entire area had her scent lingering in it, but she was nowhere to be seen or heard.

Sarah was looking around and for some reason she remembered that she and Sophia would sometimes climb trees to hide when they had been younger. Looking up she saw Sophia sitting on a fairly low branch with her back to them. "Luke, she's up there."

Luke's head snapped upward. Sophia was sitting perfectly balanced in the tree branches above him. Sophia, please come down.

NO! Sophia snapped at him.

Then I guess I will have to get you down. Luke walked towards the tree and reached up to grab Sophia's ankle. The next thing he knew was that she had managed to kick pine needles down onto to him. Luke snarled his annoyance, his eyes glowing.

Sophia let out a yelp as Sarah pushed her from behind. She tried to grab the branches above her head. How she missed all of them, she would never know. What she did realize though was that Luke had caught her, and that Presley and her friends had come to see what the commotion was about.

'Oh shit,' Sophia thought as she squirmed, trying to get out of Luke's arms. "Will you please let go?" she whispered, her eyes on Presley the entire time.

"What the hell is going on?" Presley snapped, her eyes flashing between Luke, Randy, Sarah and Sophia.

"I was sitting up there and they decided to show me why it's not a good idea to do that. That's all." Sophia answered quickly as she managed to get out of Luke's grip. She took a couple of steps away from Presley, who at the moment, was glaring at her.

"Actually, it's because you decided to climb the tree to avoid us and Vivian. Especially since it was Vivian who told you to stay put." Caleb retorted.

A shocked look flashed across Presley's face for a second. "And may I ask just why, you are not listening to Vivian?"

'Because, she...' Sophia stopped her thought when she felt Luke's eyes burning into her. "I need to go find my dad." she muttered.

"No, you need stay where my mom told you to stay." Luke stated coldly.

Sophia turned and looked at him. "If you want someone to boss around Luke, look somewhere else. Because I'm not listening."

Presley started for Sophia, who was now three feet from her. One second she had been reaching for her, the next second she had been flung at least thirty feet away, by Sophia.

"H...how did she do that?" Cindy asked, warily eyeing Sophia.

"She flipped last night." Sarah answered bluntly.

"Yeah, and she's a white too." Caleb added under his breath.

Presley slowly stood up from where she had landed. Her eyes searched Sophia's. She could instantly tell that Sophia hadn't wanted to do that, the wolf inside her had.

Sophia pushed Luke out of her way and ran. She scrambled around trees, roots and logs until she got to the highway. 'Highway, just great! Now all I need is...yes! That's it! Walk along the highway and hope I can get a ride.' Sophia thought, as she quickly walked along the highway looking for a car.

"Damn it Matt! Will you listen for one second?" Vivian shouted at him.

"No! I'm going to find Sophia, before she gets hurt." With that Matt walked out the door and slammed it closed behind him.

Sophia hadn't seen a car or truck at all. Nothing; the highway was completely silent. From the hill on which she now stood she could see the town limits sign about a mile away. With a burst of energy she ran towards it. The second she got off the hill and into the woods she got the feeling that something was following...and that it was quickly gaining.

She could hear her heart pounding as her feet connected with the pavement of the highway. The town limit sign was right in front of her. Nothing would stop her...well, almost nothing. Sophia felt like she had slammed into a cement wall as she was jerked to a stop about two feet from the sign. A cool evening breeze blew around her. It was getting dark and it was getting dark fast. As much as she didn't want to, she began to slowly turn around. She was beginning to shake from head to toe.

There it was, the figure from her dream. It dropped into a crouch as the night fog started to roll in. Then it leapt at her. Sophia managed to get out a scream before her back connected with the pavement.

Matt sighed in frustration. He had talked to Mac, Randy, Sarah and Caleb. No one had seen Sophia since earlier when she had thrown Presley and knocked Luke off his feet when she pushed him. All any of them had been able to tell him is that she had run southwards. Southwards, that was heading towards...heading towards the highway that led out of town! Matt turned the key in the ignition switch. The second the truck roared to life he backed it out of the driveway and headed towards the south-bound highway.

A familiar musk flooded into Sophia's senses as the wolf rubbed his head against her neck. "Luke? That was uncalled for!" Sophia sat up and pushed him away. "If I had wanted to have the wind knocked out of me I would have asked." She frowned when he walked right up next to her and nuzzled her cheek and neck. His tongue raked across the side of her face.

Run with me? he asked softly.

No, I...I um...that is, Sophia didn't know what to say.

Why not? Luke thumped his front paws on the ground impatiently.

"I need to go home, Luke." Sophia stood up and walked around him, heading back towards town. She looked up when she heard the sound of a truck barreling its way towards them. She glanced at Luke. He didn't seem to be paying attention; he was right in the middle of the road. LUKE! GET OUT OF THE ROAD! Sophia shouted the thought to him.

Matt saw Sophia standing on the side of the road and heard her mental shout that was directed at Luke. He slammed on the brakes and parked the car as Luke calmly trotted to Sophia's side. Matt growled and his eyes flashed gold for a moment as he reached across the seat and opened the passenger door. "Get in Sophia. Luke can ride in the back." After Luke had settled down in the back and Sophia was sitting in the front seat, they began the long and silent drive back into town.

"Dad! It's not like I didn't try not to flip! What makes you think I wanted to?" Sophia shouted.

"Sophia! Just..." He studied the frown on her face and noticed the faint rings of gold around the normal brown color of her eyes. "I give up! Do as Vivian said and switch your classes." Matt stormed out of the kitchen and slammed the front door as he headed towards work for the night.

"I'm not switching classes." Sophia hissed under her breath. Sophia let out a growl of frustration as she marched into the kitchen. "Let's see, half an almost raw burger or peanut butter and jelly." Sophia talked to herself as she went through the fridge. She finally decided on the peanut butter and jelly, (her human side, well, what's left of it). The first bite she took tasted like chalk, the second one, well, lets just say first and second bite, plus lunch, came up faster than you could say 'dinner'. Sophia leaned over the trash can as everything came up. Only afterwards did she notice someone was holding her hair with one hand and had just dropped what was left of her sandwich into the trash can.

"Want this instead?" Luke asked as he held a chicken sandwich in front of her.

Sophia looked at it and slowly shook her head. "I lost my appetite." She frowned when she heard Luke chuckle behind her.

"Want to go to the lake tonight?" Luke asked, as he leaned back against the counter.

Sophia turned and looked at him. "Why don't you take Presley with you?" her tone was cold. "I'm sure she would enjoy it more than I would." Sophia turned, walked out of the kitchen and stomped off towards the stairs.

"She's already in the car with Randy, Sean and Sarah. Now, do you want to come or not?" Luke asked, mentally rolling his eyes. If the need arose, he knew Sophia could easily beat Presley, they had all seen that yesterday.

"No, I need to stay home and finish my chores...and homework for Monday." Sophia walked to the front door and opened it. "Go,"

"What kind of chores?"

"Dishes,"

"Dishwasher,"

"Vacuuming,"

"Doesn't look like it needs it."

"Algebra two and science project!"

"You have tomorrow." Luke grinned at the irritated look on Sophia's face. "So, you still want to stay here?"

Before Sophia could answer, someone knocked on the door. She opened it just enough for Randy, Sean, Sarah and Presley to slip through.

"Well, are you coming or not?" Sarah asked, looking at Sophia.

"No, now all of you, out! I have chores I need to get done." Sophia held the door open and just looked at them.

Randy grabbed Presley's arm and quickly pulled her through the open doorway. Sean wrapped his arm around Sarah's waist and walked outside to the car with her.

Sophia turned and looked at Luke, he was holding her jacket. "All right, but only for a couple of hours."

Sophia knew she shouldn't have agreed to come. She knew that this was a bad idea. Knew that if her father found out what she was doing, he'd probably lock her up in her room and throw away the key till she was thirty, well, maybe not. Sophia looked around nervously at her surroundings, and self-consciously rubbed the sides of her arms. Sheathed in the denim fabric of her jean jacket. She had only been there for thirty minutes, but she was starting to realize just how big a mistake she had made. How could she have ever thought that she would enjoy this? She should have stayed home and watched a movie. Truth was, she had already finished her homework and her chores.

The music was loud, but it also had an addicting beat to it. Throbbing richly in her veins. Singing seductively under her skin. Frightening in its intensity. She'd never heard music like this before. Compelling. Dangerous. And the wolf inside of her was fighting, it wanted out of the 'leash' she had it on at the moment. Clenching, and unclenching her fists a couple of times didn't help much, if at all. Sophia did a quick glance over the majority of the crowd, looking for Luke. Frowning slightly when she didn't see him, or any of the other four, she turned and slipped into the forest. She was heading home. She didn't care if Luke got mad, she was leaving!

"Sean! Have you seen Sophia?" Luke shouted above the music.

"Yeah, she left a couple of minutes ago." Sean wasn't paying much attention and missed Luke's annoyed look. But he didn't miss the growl, neither did half the other people around him.

Luke stomped off in search of Sophia. In a few moments he caught her scent vanishing into the forest. "Damn it!"

Sophia hurried along the forest path. She was almost to the road when a growl stopped her in her tracks. Sighing she turned around, "What do you want Lu..." her voice trailed off. it wasn't Luke...it was Presley!

Luke had spent a good hour searching the immediate area for Sophia. Sean! Randy! Come help me find her! he called to his friends.

No sooner did the three of them start heading towards the highway, when they heard the sounds of a fight. Running as fast as they could, they reached the place the sounds were coming from. Out of the three boys, Luke's eyes were the widest. Sophia and Presley were both in wolven form, and locked in the middle of a fight.

THAT IS ENOUGH!!! Luke shouted mentally to both girls.

That was when Sean realized that Sophia wasn't trying to hurt Presley, she was trying to back out of the fight. Before any of them had to move forward, Sophia managed to slip out of Presley's grasp and run!

Presley knew she was in trouble. She turned and looked at Luke.

We will discuss this with my mom. Luke's eyes were glowing with anger. With out saying another word he took off after Sophia.

Sophia was in her room when she heard the doorbell ring. Since her dad was still at work, she had to go answer it. Opening it part-way she glanced out at Luke.

Luke gently pushed against the door and slid into the house. "Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

"I'm...I can't take this any more! I hate having to live under these stupid rules and...and..." Sophia closed her eyes for a moment. "I just want to leave, and if you want to tell your mom, fine." Sophia walked into the living room and flopped onto the couch.

"You think you're the only one that wants to leave?" Luke asked calmly. "I...I that is..."

Sophia looked at him with a curious expression, waiting for him to continue.

"I was talking with Ruby the other night, and we decided to go talk to Kanin. And the three of us were going to leave tonight, but...I decided to stay here and...um...well,"

"Stay here with me." Sophia finished. A faint smile flickered across her face when she saw Luke nod.

"Of course, we could just leave with them, but, then again..." Luke shrugged.

Sophia squirmed in her seat. "I...um...the reason I didn't want to go to the rave was because Ruby had called earlier and I was going to leave with them in an hour." She bit her lip waiting for Luke's reaction.

"Well, Luke, are you coming with or staying by yourself?" Ruby asked from the doorway.

Both Sophia and Luke jumped as they turned to look at her. Sophia turned and looked at Luke, waiting for his decision.

"Ah, what the hell. Mom can handle things on her own for a while, right?" Luke grinned.

Three years later

Dear Dad,

I thought you might like to know that you had a grand-daughter. Her name is Amy Rose. She has blue eyes like her grandfather. I hope you are doing well.

Sophia Cates

Matt shook his head with a quiet smile. He should have known three years ago that Sophia would run, and with Luke Cates to top it all off. He smiled even more as he placed the picture of his grand-daughter next to the picture of Sophia that he had on his desk, before going back to work.

The End