A/N I do not own John McBain or any of the other OLTL characters. All others are my own creation. Please don't sue cause I am broke and have nothing to be sued for anyway.

Chapter 3

John was sitting on the Falk front porch later that night thinking about all that had happened that day. It was a lot for him to take in all at once. Finding out that he had a sister and that she was a victim in a case he was working on. To top it all off he couldn't even reveal to her who he was yet. Her parents, or her adoptive parents, thought that she might run away if told the truth right a way.

When John looked at her he saw so much of his mother in her eyes and face that it was scary. There was no doubt in his mind that she was the child that was kidnapped from his mother and father. He was taking a few days off to get to know Shelly and hopefully convince her to at least meet with Eve and Michael.

John looked up when the front door opened and Shelly stepped out onto the porch, seemingly oblivious to his presence. She stopped at the wooden porch steps and looked across to the other side of the valley. She seemed absorbed in the view, lost in thought. He remembered their first meeting earlier that day. She had seemed reluctant and a bit apprehensive of him. He didn't understand why but he hoped to gain her trust.

"Hey," John said softly trying not to startle her.

Shelly started and turned to him. "Oh sorry I didn't mean to bother you." Turning to go back inside she started to the door.

John saw her start to head inside and wondered why she was so anxious to get away from him. "You aren't bothering me," he said then, hoping to get her to sit down and talk to him a bit he said, "you like to be alone sometimes too?"

Shelly sighed and sat down on the opposite end of the couch. Looking down she was silent a minute, giving thought to his question. "Its not really about being alone, it's more about enjoying your own company I guess," she explained. Looking at John she studied him intently. "Are you really an old friend of my father's?" she asked bluntly.

John looked at her momentarily startled by her question. He hadn't expected her to question that. Seeing her studying him he asked, "Yes. Why do you ask that?"

"You aren't like any of his other friends. You're too young for one thing. You seem…I don't know too honest, I guess. Not that my dads friends are dishonest or anything. You seem better, you know? In fact if I didn't know any better I would think you were a cop." Shelly said, testing him. She wanted to see if he would lie or if he would tell the truth about what he was.

John was surprised by her comment. He hadn't thought he had done anything to betray the fact that he was a cop. Looking at her closely he asked, "Why would you think that?" genuinely wanting to know. Shelly didn't miss a beat he thought. She was very observant to have guessed he was not a friend of her father's and a cop.

"It's the way you walk, the way you speak and the way you studied me when we first met." Shelly said. While this man, made her have to face the reality of her visions he also fascinated her. Shelly wanted to be like him, she wanted to fight criminals and put the bad guys behind bars and she also wondered if that was why he was here. If he was here because of the internship she had interviewed for a couple of weeks ago.

John was amazed that she had noticed those things but then figured he shouldn't have been since she did want to be an FBI agent. He nodded and said, "Yeah, I'm a cop." He noticed that she didn't look at all surprised and he gave her a small smile. "So what do you want to be when you grow up?" He asked already knowing the answer.

Shelly looked at him and laughed, "Well since I graduate in a couple of months I'm kinda grown up already. I haven't told my parents this yet but I want to be an FBI agent." Looking at him seriously for a minute she got up and went to the door and said, "But I think you already knew that." Then went inside leaving John to stare after her wondering how she could possibly know that.

Several hours later after everyone had gone to bed Shelly lay on her bed tossing and turning. Looking at the clock next to her she saw it was only 2 am. She sighed, closed her eyes again and willed her self to relax. 'You need to sleep now Shel' she thought to herself. After a few more minutes of restless tossing she sat up and pushed the hair from her eyes. She knew she was never gonna get to sleep with all this tension in her.

Reaching for her running clothes she decided that she needed to work off some restless energy. Slipping on her shorts and sweatshirt and putting on her running shoes she walked carefully to the window and pulled it up. She hated to sneak out but she knew that her dad wouldn't let her go out this late. He was very protective of her and she loved him for it but that was also part of the reason she hadn't said anything about her desire to join the FBI.

Slipping out the window silently she climbed on to the roof and crept to the edge. She knew she had to be quiet because John their 'houseguest' was in the room directly under her. Looking down she saw that the light was off and sighed in relief, he wasn't still up. Sitting down and swinging her legs over the side and mentally calculated the distance between her and the rail of the porch as she had done many times before she jumped off and landed on her feet. Looking around to see if anyone had heard her she jogged across the yard and down the street.

John watched Shelly run off, from the window where he was standing. He had woken up to sounds of someone on the roof and was going to go investigate when Shelly jumped down. Surprised he almost jumped out the door and tackled the figure coming off the roof. Once he recognized her he wanted to go and confront her on what the hell she was doing sneaking out of the house at 2 in the morning. He was about to do just that when he remembered that it wasn't his place to do that. That she didn't know him as anything other then John McBain house guest and friend of the father. He sighed as she disappeared from sight. Sitting on the couch he decided to wait for her to return. '

Shelly ran down the street lost in the rhythm of her feet hitting the pavement. She loved to run it made her feel free, like she was in control. Deep in thought she ran without destination. Hearing voices she looked up startled. Looking around she was surprised to see that she was farther from her home then she had intended to go. She again heard voices, from around the corner. Quietly slipping around the corner she was shocked to see Herbie standing there with 2 other men holding a baseball bat. One of the other men he was with was on the ground seemingly begging for his life.

Smothering her surprised gasp she watched as Herbie waved the bat in front of the downed man and said something that she couldn't catch. In sick fascination she watched as her boyfriend appeared to be threatening a defenseless man. She was about to interrupt when Herbie brought the bat down violently against the car next to him, causing her to jump, leaned down and said something else then he and his partner climbed into the car and drove off.

Shelly ran over to the frightened man and tried to help him up. He flinched away from her and said, "Get away from me! Leave me alone."

"I'm just trying to help," Shelly tried to explain but he just took off down an alley and disappeared. After standing there for a minute in shocked confusion Shelly turned around and headed for home. She had some thinking to do and choices to make. Like for one, did she turn in the man she loved or did she go to him and ask for an explanation for his behavior.

She ran home more troubled then she had been before. Coming to her house she decided to take a risk and come in the back door, which was only a few feet away from the room John was in. Hoping that John was a heavy sleeper she quietly crept in and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't see anyone around. Walking lightly she watched her steps making sure she didn't walk on any boards that might make any noise. So engrossed in this task she was startled when she ran into a solid wall of muscle. Looking up she sucked in a deep breath and said, "Crap!"