A/N: So I decided I'd make a sequel to No Safe Place, and here is the first chapter. I hope everyone likes It!

Home by Daughtry
XXX
I'm staring out into the night,
Trying to hide the pain.
I'm going to the place where love
And feeling good don't ever cost a thing.
And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

Well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems,
The closer I get to you.
I've not always been the best man or friend for you.
But your love remains true.
And I don't know why.
You always seem to give me another try.

I cursed under my breath as the plane skidded down the runway towards the terminal gate. It'd been a rough plane ride, starting with a delay in take off from the city because of the snow falling. Then when it was safe for the plane to take off, we dealt with turbulence most of the way to Oklahoma.
My legs felt slightly wobbly as I made my way down the plane isle towards the door. A gust of wind whipped through the crack where the plane connected to the terminal and I shivered. It wasn't like I wasn't use to the cold, it was just that the plane had been so warm that I'd taken off my sweater and hadn't put it back on yet.
I walked out of the terminal and into the airport, searching the crowd as I went. It was crowded and some older people gave me disapproving looks when I'd accidentally push into them to get through. I just shot them a glare and continued on my way to the airport doors.
"Mia!" I turned my head to the sides until I saw a group of boys making their way through the crowd towards me. I smiled as they came up and engulfed me in a tight circle.
"Hey guys!" I said with a smile and I hugged them all individually. "Gosh I've missed you guys a lot." I smiled as Soda took my only bag and carried it out the door.

"We've missed you too, Mia." He said as we walked outside. I shivered and grabbed my sweater from where I'd hung it over my bag, shoving my arms through the sleeves and zipping it up to my chin.
"It's freezing." I said as we walked towards the parking lot. "Why couldn't I have come home when it was warmer?!" The boys chuckled as we walked towards their cars, and I was about to get into Darry's truck when a car pulled into the parking space beside us. I wouldn't have paid any attention to it if it wasn't for the model of the car and the person sitting in the driver's seat.
I watched as Tim Shepard stepped out of his black 1963 Ford Galaxie 500, his sunglasses shading his eyes from the glare of the snow. He had his leather jacket zipped all the way up, and he had the collar flipped up to keep the cold off the back of his neck.
He must have caught me starring because he smirked.
"Welcome home, angel." He said as he walked around the car towards me. "Been awhile." I shook my head a bit and blinked so that I would stop starring. When I made sure I wasn't just seeing him, I smirked.
"Yes it has." I said and was slightly surprised when he wrapped me up in a tight hug, but I quickly relaxed and hugged him back just as tight. "I didn't know you were going to be here." I said as I rested my head on his shoulder. It was kind of nice that we were all the way out in Oklahoma City, since no one knew who we were, Tim dropped his tough face a little and he was keeping a tight hold on me.
"I thought I might surprise you." Tim said as he finally let me go. I smiled a little as I leaned back against the truck, then remembered that the other boys were standing out in the cold waiting.
"Umm," I turned to Darry and then back to Tim. "Could I-" Tim nodded and opened the door for me to get in. I smiled as Soda stepped forward with my bag and handed it to me. "I'll see you guys later. Thanks for coming all the way out here guys." I slid into the passenger seat and pushed my bag into the back of the car. I waved at the boys as Tim walked around the car and got in. He turned the key and backed out of the parking space before turning the wheel towards the parking lot exit.
It was awhile before either of us spoke, only once we'd gotten away from the air port and were starting towards the highway did I turn away from the window to look at him.
"I'm hungry." I said. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Really?" He asked. "You couldn't have said that 3 minutes ago when we passed Dairy Queen?" I shrugged and smirked when he sighed and turned around to head back to the restaurant.
"It's nice being home." I said, and he rolled his eyes, but I saw a smirk on his face.
"It's great to have you home." He said with a sarcastic edge, but it sounded sincere enough.

XXX

We sat in a booth in the back of the Dairy Queen, eating burgers and fries. I was into my 2nd burger and halfway finished my own fries, as well as a third of Tim's.
"Did they feed you at all in that place?" Tim asked as he shoved my hand away from his fries. I narrowed my eyes at him, but went back to eating my burger.
"They fed us." I said when I finished chewing. "Not the best meals I've had in my life, but it was better then what I remembered it to be. Same with the sleeping area. It use to be about 14 girls shoved into a room full of bunk beds, now it's more like 6 girls in a room with bunk beds. It's far more comfortable, and you don't feel like you need to stay awake until you're sure everyone else is asleep before you fall asleep. There's actually room to move around too." Tim nodded and finished his burger and sipped at his coke.
"Sounds half decent." He said. "What else happened?"
"I got a lot of exercise." I said. "They improved the gym, and when the weather was nice, they'd put us out in the grounds for the better part of the day. I also saw a few girls that I use to be friends with." Tim looked surprised and I rolled my eyes. "I did have some friends that were girls." He smirked as he finished his coke and tossed some money from his wallet down onto the table.
"That surprises me." He said as we walked back out into the cold. I shivered as I jumped into the car and rubbed my hands together to warm them up. "I didn't think any girl could keep up with you." I smirked as we started down the road, back towards the highway.
"Very few could." I said. "Most were too wimpy, and wore high heels which were useless when it came to getting into trouble. You can't move fast enough to get away from the cops when they start chasing you." Tim smirked and reached over to wrap his warm hand around mine. I found it strange to have him showing so much affection, but my hand was so cold that I just smiled and leaned back in the seat. I closed my eyes and relaxed as Tim drove down the highway towards home.

XXX

It was almost an hour drive from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, I slept the whole way, and I opened my eyes only when Tim stopped the car outside Buck's.
"Wake up sleeping beauty." Tim said as he shut off the car. "Time to go sleep on your own bed." I smiled as we got out and walked towards the door. When I opened it, it was too quiet for the time of day it was, or closer to night.
"Why is it so quiet?" I asked as I rubbed my arms and brushed the snow from my hair. It had started to snow at some point while I slept, and it was coming down hard.
"Buck actually made enough money to move the bar out of the house." Tim said as we walked into the kitchen. "He bought a little place in town, it's a pretty popular spot." I was surprised that Buck would actually move the bar out of the house. I'd always thought that he would leave it here no matter what.
"What else have I missed?" I asked as I started up the stairs with my bag. "I guess more happened in 6 months then I thought." Tim was right behind me as I entered my room and tossed my bag onto the floor before I collapsed on the bed.
"Ma left the old man." I looked up at him in surprise.
"Really?" I asked, and he nodded as he came over and sat down at the end of the bed. I laid back down and closed my eyes for a moment.
Tim's family was what you'd call dysfunctional, but it was rare to not find a large group of dysfunctional families around here. But even then, not many split up, because most of the time, the families were living in the situation they'd grown up in and didn't know any different. For Tim's mom to leave would have been big news whenever it happened.
"What happened with Curly and Angela?" I asked as I opened my eyes and rolled onto my side so that I was facing Tim. He was lying on the bed at an angle, his head resting against the wall above my head.
"They come and go as they please, but they mostly stay with Ma. She's staying with her sister a little ways across town." I nodded as I shifted around so that my head was resting beside Tim's side and propped my feet up on the wall above the head of the bed.
"What about you? Where are you staying?"
"At the house. The old man hasn't really been around much since Ma left, so the house is basically mine." I smirked and starred at the ceiling until my eyelids started to drop down, and I felt myself drifting off to sleep.
"Wanna go to a party?" Tim's voice cut through the fog that was starting to cloud over my brain, jolting me awake.
"Where?" I asked.
"Steven's parents are out of town for a few days because his great grandmother or something like that died out in Miami. He's got the house to himself and was planning to throw a party tonight. Wanna go?" I nodded and sat up.
"I'll just change into something else." I said. The clothes I was wearing were the same clothes I'd worn when I left Tulsa for New York. They hadn't gotten a good wash since the washing machines at the centre were crap.
"I'll meet you out in the car." Tim said and walked out the door. I shifted through the clothes in my dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a shirt. I quickly changed into them before I jogged down the stairs, and over to the closet. I pulled out the leather jacket that I'd put a wool lined sweater into so it worked as a winter coat, and put it on before I got down on my hands and knees to reach into the back of the closet for my boots. I found one, but had to half crawl into the closet before I was able to locate the other. I stuffed my feet into them and walked out the door.
It was snowing hard as I walked quickly to the passenger side of the car and hopped in.
"It's cold." I said as Tim backed out of the driveway and turned onto the road. I held my hands out in front of the heater to warm them.
"Stop complaining." Tim said as he turned down another road. I glared at him, but didn't say another word as I watched the snow fall down around the car, and noticed the cars lined up along the roadside. I could hear a beat coming from up the street as Tim pulled off the road and we stepped out.
"Steven's house is a few houses up." Tim said as he came around the side of the car. I tightened my jacket around me and let Tim wrap his arm around my waist as we walked up the street.
"We could have parked closer." I said as we passed by a spot on the street that Tim's car would have fit into.
"A little walking won't kill you." Tim said as we started up the yard to the house that was clearly having a party.
"I've been in jail for 6 months." I reminded him. "I've had plenty of exercise. I lost almost 20 pounds! The walk might not kill me, but the cold sure will." Tim rolled his eyes as we walked into the house.
I was hit with the strong smell of sweat and beer, and a wave of music blasted into my face as I shrugged off my jacket. I tossed it onto the floor beside the door. Coats were already littering the rest of the entrance area, but none by the door. I just hoped that no one would grab it.
"Tim!" I turned my head and watched as a guy stumbled through the crowd towards us. "Glad to see you could make it!" He yelled over the music. Tim shrugged, the cool expression I was used to covered his face like a mask.
"Figured we'd stop by for a bit." Tim yelled back over the beat of Elvis pounding through the speak system I could see in the living room.
"Come have a drink." The guy turned and started to shove his way through the crowd. Tim looked at me and motioned for me to go first.
I started to move through the crowd behind the guy.
"Who is he?" I asked Tim over my shoulder. I didn't recognize the guy, but I assumed it was someone in Tim's gang.
"Steven." He said as we got through the living room. The kitchen had a swinging door, and the sound of the music didn't seem as loud once the door was closed.
There were only a few people standing around in the kitchen when we walked in, and they slowly moved back out into the living room.
"So, you must be Mia." Steven said as he reached into the fridge for a couple of beers.
"That's me." I said as I accepted the beer. I hadn't had a drink for months, and I found it burned more then it use to.
"Glad to see you made it out of there." He said. His words were mixing together, and I sensed that he had been doing a lot of drinking.
"There isn't much I can't handle." I said as I took another drink. Steven grinned wide, making it obvious that he was drunk out of his mind.
"Probably a good thing if you're dating Shepard." He snickered before heading back for the kitchen door. "Enjoy the party guys!" He called over his shoulder as the door swung shut, leaving us in the quiet.
Dally and I used to go to parties all the time. In New York, we were at some wild parties that wouldn't have ended had the cops not showed up. I could feel adrenaline starting to pump through me as I quickly finished off my first beer and turned to Tim.
"Let's go dance." I said. Tim raised an eyebrow before he finished off his beer.
"OK." He said and we left the kitchen, and were immediately drowned in music and people.

The hours passed by in a blur of drinks, music and dancing. I could barely see what was in front of me as I walked around the house. A few people I didn't recognize said hi, and I just waved and kept going.
At some early hour in the morning, cops showed up to break up the party. Tim dragged me out of the house, leaving me just enough time to throw on my jacket.
I don't know how we got there, but we arrived at Tim's place, just as the sun was starting to show above the treetops. It had stopped snowing, and everything was covered in a layer of white.
"So pretty." I said as I stumbled up the steps to the house. I almost puked as we walked through the door, but I just fell to the floor instead.
The rest of the walk up the stairs, and whatever happened after that was blurry, and hard to remember. All I can remember is eventually falling asleep next to Tim in his bed, and thinking that I was going to have a pounding headache in the morning.

Oh, well I'm going home,
Back to the place where I belong,
And where your love has always been enough for me.
I'm not running from.
No, I think you got me all wrong.
I don't regret this life I chose for me.
But these places and these faces are getting old.
I said these places and these faces are getting old,
So I'm going home.
I'm going home.
XXX

So there is the first chapter of it's a losing game we play, and I hope everyone liked it enough to continue reading. I'm going to try really hard to stay on top of it and update as regularly as possible. Though I won't be able to update until late next week because I'm gone… again. :p

I'd love to come home to some reviews!

~Stay Gold!