Part 2 "Hope in the rain"
I woke up at 5:00 am. I could have slept longer, but I wanted to be out of the house before Pacey woke up, incase he wanted to talk to me about last night. I shouldn't have said anything I should have kept my mouth shut. It is easier at times if I just leave these mad thoughts in my head. He probably thinks I am weak now, and that he wonders why he trusted me for advice all these years. I give good advice sometimes; I just never have been good at asking for it. For asking for help.

I sit in my office drinking coffee, listening to the pouring rain outside. The station house is deserted. It always seems to be. There are 15 officers on the force, and about 10 volunteers, but you would think with that many people on the force, the station house would always seem full. I wonder sometimes about my job now as Sheriff, the only difference between when I was a deputy, is that I have an officer. I still seem to be at times the only officer at a scene, or patrolling the neighborhoods, or taking care of citizen complaints. I wonder sometimes how my dad even ran this place, most of the other officers didn't really like him. They seem to despise him, and they tried to stay away, especially since he had a violent temper. He wasn't very nice to them it seemed, or it might just have been he was harder on me because I was his son. I don't know.

I hear footsteps in outside, and I set my coffee down on the desk, and reach for my gun. I carefully get up and open the door. A drenched figure is walking past the front desk, there is no one there anyway, as of now. His hair plastered to his head, and his eyes are drawn to the floor to make sure his loafers aren't tracking in water. His white shirt is drawn close to his skin, and I have to turn away slightly, I need to stay business like, I don't need to be ogling citizens. I put my gun in my hostler, and take a deep breath and put on a professional face, turning back in his direction. As I do, his blue eyes lock with mine, and I stop for a moment, struggling to say something. I have realized a couple weeks ago I was developing a crush on him, so, this visit is very much of a surprise.
"Hi, Sheriff Witter." His voice is calm and friendly. He seems slightly uncertain as well, we haven't had much contact, I mainly know him from Pacey.

"You can call me Sheriff Doug if you want. What can I do for you Mr. Mcphee?" I probably sound corny.

"Jack." He gives me a soft concerned smile.

"What can I help you with, Jack?" The name sounds nice rolling off my tongue. He probably just wants to complain about his students or something. I need to not get use to the fact that I may ever say his name again.

"Pacey asked me to talk to you."

"What?" I arch my eyebrows sharply. I am not sure why Pacey would have him speak to me. I hope this isn't about what I said last night.

"He is concerned about you. He wanted me to talk to you because I might be able to help, or in the least because I am a neutral party, who doesn't have the Witter sense of cruelty." He gives me another soft smile, which tugs at my heart. I wonder if he knows that he could be on a soap opera.

"I don't know…I am not sure if there is anything I can talk to you about…"

"That is okay, this is difficult for me, too…because this is probably a bad time, but I have had a crush on you for months, which is why I always seem to leave when you come to hang out with Pacey." He looks down at the floor. "Sorry that is not what I came to talk about…" He raises his head slightly at an angle, "I know what it is like to have a rage inside, and also to have a deep depression, and feel like you don't belong… And I can't say I have completely overcome both…But if you need someone to talk to, I can be a good listener." He turns to go, as if embarrassed he revealed the crush to me. He seems torn, because I do believe him when he said he didn't come over to tell me that.

"Wait…"

He turns to face me, deep concern in his beautiful eyes.

"I do need someone to talk to…but I don't want to be a burden…" I drop my eyes to the floor. "I like you, too…I just didn't know how to tell you."

He stops and walks closer to me. He pulls me into a hug, not saying anything, but it seems at the moment he doesn't have to, and for some mysterious reason he seems to know it.