Hey guys sorry as usual for the long delay, i honestly have no valid excuse... erm... a llama ate my computer? Raise your hand if you believe me... cough... awww... :(

Well anyway, thank you for the reviews guys:

Mike The Snowman: Yup they really did, thanks a bunch :

General Dragon: Hehe... oh not long...

Awesome Rapidash: Messing with Rick's mind is very fun, as he's pretty gullible... to an extent.

Libra1: Updating... wait for it... and... now!

Cermer: Who indeed, and it is a very good song! Is the groomsbride not the whore gasps?

merchiewannabe: Yeah he does change a little... but I tried to make him seem like less of a perfect guy as the story goes on, because we all have our little imperfections and I wanted to make him seem more... real.

Okay and the last item of news is... the story is coming to a close, it greives me so that i am on the last 2 chapters now. So I was wondering... would you like me to write a sequel or not? I could be convinced...


29. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt

Karen and Ann sat still beside the cellar door, their breathing shallow and erratic listening to the deep vibrations of the men's voices. As far as they could tell not a lot had gone on so far, just mindless chatter about the weather and drinking of beer. Ann was slumped against the door looking bored out of her skull whilst Karen continued to listen intently.

"Karen, this is boring," Ann whined, heaving a deep sigh. Karen looked at her friend sympathetically but continued to listen. "Karen!"

"Well we can't exactly leave now, we're stuck. Come on, oooh it's getting good." She said pressing her ear against the rough oak door again. Ann's eyes widened in excitement as she bounded to join Karen in listening.

"Oh what's happening?" She asked curiously, her ears pricked to absorb the sound.

"Oh never mind, I thought Saibara asked Gray "how's Mary" but he actually said "the cows hairy". Hmm, I was wondering when Gray started to talk about grooming." Karen said, grinning as Ann's face turned pink.

As the night went on the men became steadily drunker and the girls quickly more bored, so far the guys had talked about beer, the weather and animals. Ann had begun pacing the room, like a lion pacing its cage, ready to pounce at the unsuspecting visitors.

"Why the hell did you make me come here? Karen, this is boring…" Ann complained but was immediately silenced by Karen. "What now, Gotz talking about his back hair again?"

Karen rolled her eyes and beckoned for Ann to listen at the door, she obeyed immediately. They could hear Rick and Jack talking together, sounding increasingly more angry.

"What's that farm boy, you think your chickens are better?" Rick barked, his voice sounding annoyingly superior.

"Hell yeah! They're better cared for and they all lay golden eggs."

"Yeah right, you wouldn't know how to care for chickens if the chickens were self-caring." Rick argued back. Karen could hear from their voices that they were both fuming and very drunk and she knew that this would not end well.

"Yeah well at least I would know how to care for my wife!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rick demanded, his already annoying voice turning high and squeaky, like a fork being scraped across a plate.

"You heard me! It's obvious why Karen doesn't love you, she needs a man who can take care of her." Jack said, sounding a little too knowledgeable. Karen held her breath, she knew what was coming next and she couldn't stop it.

"And that man would be?"

"Me, we're a much better couple than you ever were!" Jack shouted. Karen felt her heart sink, he'd done it, he'd gone and sang their secret like a drunken lovebird. She felt her heart thumping hard in her chest as she waited desperately for Rick's reaction. She could see Ann looking at her sympathetically as she too waited for the answer.

"Oh that's a good one farm boy, you wish! Karen loves me more!" Rick said, unable to believe what was so obviously the truth. Jack just laughed and they both seemed to be laughing together at what they each thought was true.

Karen heard a thud as both men obviously fell unconscious and she breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Ann her eyes blazing with anger, tears and panic. She bit her lips till it almost bled, the fear of Rick finding out consuming her.

"What am I going to do Ann? What will the town say? What will my parents say? Oh god, oh god, oh goddess! I'm having an affair, Ann!" She said, beginning to pace back and forth while shaking with fear.

"Firstly, calm down, Rick was drunk, he's not gonna believe what he heard, you just deny it. Secondly who's he going to believe, Jack who he hates and doesn't want to believe or you who he loves and will want to believe?" Ann said reassuringly, bringing her into her arms to stop her from pacing. Karen looked up, her eyes bright and wide with worry, she knew Rick. She knew how possessive and suspicious he was, and he would stop at nothing to ensure she was truly his.

"I dunno Ann…" She said, her pale skin growing cold with worry. Ann smiled reassuringly, shining like the sun as she did so, her golden hair adding to the warmth she brought. Karen sighed gently, trying to calm herself down, telling herself that everything would be fine. But inside she knew everything wouldn't be fine, her life didn't work that way.

The next day she woke up tangled amongst her bed sheets. Struggling like a trapped animal, she tried to free herself from her fabricated cocoon. She pulled them off and breathed heavily, cold sweat pouring down her slender body. She bit her lip, knowing that she would have to face Rick that day and find out exactly what he believed. She stepped out of bed and looked into the silvery mirror, scraping a strand of golden hair out of her face and studying her own green eyes intently. She closed them, clearing the pulsating in the back of her mind, calming her heart rate and preparing herself to face him. Stepping down the stairs she spotted him immediately, lolling on the couch like a dead creature. She knew he would have a hangover from hell and that would only increase his anger. Fearfully she surveyed the room for any signs of a weapon that might be used against her, thankfully she found none but was on her guard anyway, she couldn't be too careful.

"Hey… Rick." She said unsurely, her voice quiet so as not to anger him further. He blinked awake, his cold, grey eyes studying her face carefully. He squinted at her as though trying to remember what he had found out the previous night. She smiled sweetly, so as to feign a face of pure innocence.

"Karen, erm…" he began, thinking deeply, he knew he had something to ask her. In his hungover state being tactful was not high on his priority list, so as soon as he remembered the question he asked it straight out. "Have you been having an affair?" He sounded completely blasé which surprised her, he obviously hadn't believed Jack. But what was her line, did she say "no" and lie and so suffering greater consequences when he did eventually find out or did she tell him the truth?

"Why would you think that?" She asked coolly, good answer, it revealed nothing and didn't lie either.

"Something Jack said… last night… can't quite remember." He admitted, trying hard to sit up on the sofa and look her in the eye, he knew her eyes would give more away than her tone of voice.

"Last night, you were both drunk." She said, again dodging the question. Rick nodded, trying to remember exactly how much he'd had to drink, he'd lost count after the fifth shot of vodka and the two measures of rum. He opened his mouth as if to ask what that had to do with anything, but he stopped, realizing that he could really embarrass himself in this situation.

"Never mind, can you feed the chickens?" He asked, giving up on asking her, Jack was probably just trying to wind him up.

"Kay," she replied quickly, eager to get away from his beady, grey eyes boring into her like silvery knives. She quickly hurried out to feed the chicken family while Rick contemplated how weird it was that she hadn't refused… suspicious.

After feeding the chickens and not even bothering to lavish the love upon them that Rick usually did she hurried over to the farm. When she entered she heard the angry moos of cows and squawking of chickens and she realized that Jack probably had been too hung-over to feed them yet. She sighed deciding that since she was such a good girlfriend… was she his girlfriend...? that she would feed the animals for him. After doing her duty as girlfriend she knocked gently on his small wooden door and after hearing no answer entered. She found the entire house in disarray, he'd obviously been incredibly drunk the night before, dirty clothes lay everywhere and all the plates and dishes were dumped haphazardly on the table.

"Jack?" She whispered, tiptoeing closer to the bed in which he was passed out on. She would have loved to have thought he looked like an angel when he slept, but it was hard to think when he looked so bedraggled. His hair was ruffled and looked like a brown birds nest and a trail of drool leaked from his mouth as he slept. He snored slightly, sounding like a purring tiger and he had a slight frown upon his relaxed features. Karen glanced at the clock and registered that it was past noon, deciding that it was obviously time to wake him up.

"JACK, WAKE UP." She shouted, shaking his shoulder roughly as she did so.

"Nooo, don't hurt me giant toilet of doom!" Jack yelped as he woke up. His sleep-filled eyes then did a quick search of the room before he completely relaxed.

"Morning, sleepy head." She smirked as she ran her hand lovingly through his tousled hair. He looked at her and his eyes lit up immediately, shining golden radiance upon her. He grinned and rubbed his eyes slightly, doing a catlike stretch on the ruffled bed sheets.

"You know," he told her, "there are much nicer ways to wake a fella up."

"Yeah, I know. But this one seemed more fun." She admitted sweetly, placing a soft kiss on his cheek. He glanced at the clock by his bed and groaned slightly, the bright sunlight only just registering with his tired eyes. He had only just begun to feel his hangover headache too.

"Damn, I guess my animals hate me."

"Nope fed 'em," Karen told him proudly. He cocked his head at her in surprise and then smiled broadly.

"Wow, aren't you the best girlfriend in the world. Remind me to buy you something pretty later."

"Will do." She told him, knowing that the promise pretty things was something she wouldn't forget.

"Right… well I'll have a shower then." He told her, planting a kiss on her cheek before heading into the bathroom. Karen listened for the shower to turn on before heading to the kitchen and taking out a clean frying pan. She knew that if she had told him she was cooking him breakfast he would have begged her not to, but what he didn't know couldn't hurt him… yet.

When Jack returned from the shower he found his house spick and span and a "delicious" breakfast laid out for him on the table. Karen was standing in an apron in front of the table with her hands behind her back, beaming.

"You took so long to shower that I decided to prepare this for you." She told him, gesturing to the breakfast. "Besides, you need to get some food into your system, I'm guessing from the sounds I heard that you've already emptied your stomach." Jack tried not to look too embarrassed that Karen had heard him throw up, but he couldn't help his face glowing red. Karen had managed to ignore most of the sounds by cooking the sausages and listening to them fry, but some had been unavoidable.

"Well thanks, remind me to buy you two pretty things." Jack told her, sitting down at the table and starting on the food while Karen watched his every reaction carefully.

"Good?" she asked and Jack nodded. "I'm glad you like it. I was wondering if you'd like to go to the hot springs today, it should be pretty empty after the party last night."

"Or really full because everyone will be trying to get rid of their headache." Jack pointed out but Karen shook her head.

"Nope, usually after a night of drinking everyone in Mineral town likes to sit at home and rest, so the women will take care of their husbands. So the hot springs should be empty, it'd be nice to get in some… quality time." She said raising her eyebrows seductively. Jack swallowed his sausage quickly and looked at her wide eyed.

"Sure, erm… quality time sounds great." He said enthusiastically.

So after breakfast the two headed through the silent town to the hot springs. The sounds of birds could be heard twittering about but other than that the area was completely silent. She grinned at Jack before slipping into the hut in front of the springs to change. She then submerged herself into the hot springs and smiled seductively at Jack who hastened to dive in with her. She quickly paddled over to him and kissed him deeply, running her hand down his back.

"See, told you this would be fun."

"Did I say it wouldn't be?" Jack asked, kissing her gently. He wrapped his arms around her and then pulled her under the water, leaving her breathless. When they reemerged from the water Karen's eyes widened as she spotted Rick. She hurriedly shoved Jack under the water and smiled casually.

"Hey Rick… er what are you doing here?" She asked, watching out of the corner of her eye as Jack swam to the door of the changing hut.

"I came to relax by the hot springs… who are you with?" Rick asked suspiciously, peering into the water. Karen's eyes widened, hoping that he hadn't seen Jack.

"No… no one." She said quickly, acting surprised at Rick's suspicion. His eyebrows shot up.

"Oh my god is that one of the chickens?" Karen said suddenly, pointing in a random direction. Rick looked in the direction she pointed, eyes wide to search for any chickens. While he was looking Jack quickly slipped into the changing hut.

"Ooops, it was a squirrel… never mind." She said innocently. Rick frowned but then shook his head and smiled.

"Oh never mind, so are you coming home now? Or are you going to stay here for a while?" He asked calmly. Karen couldn't believe her luck, Rick was so blind he hadn't noticed anything. She breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"I think I'll go for a walk up Mother's hill actually, seems like a nice day for it." She told him with a smile. He shrugged and nodded, before turning on his heel and headed home.

Jack returned from the changing hut and they both burst out laughing.

"That was too close for comfort!" She laughed, pretending to wipe sweat from her brow.

"I'll say! We really need to be more careful." He warned her and she nodded.

"Want to go back to your place?" She asked with a playful grin. He swallowed hard and nodded quickly.

Rick stormed home, anger radiating off him. He was absolutely fuming. Did she really think that she could fool him? Did she think that he was that blind, that stupid? Well he'd show her, he'd show her who was stupid once and for all!

"Rick dear, are you okay?" Lillia asked weakly from the doorway. Her mother's intuition was kicking in.

"I'm fine mother, what are you doing here?" Rick asked, his teeth gritted tightly together.

"Oh nothing, I just came over to bring you some pie Popuri made." She said beaming. Rick managed to smile back and took the pie off his sweet mother. "Oh and how is Karen?"

"She's fine." He answered coldly. Lillia blinked and frowned, the couple were obviously going through another rough patch.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked in concern, but Rick shook his head quickly, a bitter smirk on his face.

"No mom, its okay. I'm dealing with it."

Karen looked out of the window, the sky was growing increasingly darker and she was sure Rick would be beginning to get suspicious. She looked back at Jack who was focusing intently on the T.V as they watched some old western movie. Suddenly there was a gunshot and she jumped.

"Jack, I really have to go home." She sighed, reluctantly standing up off the couch. He looked at her with innocent, puppy dog eyes willing her desperately to stay. She smiled and gave in, picking up her coat.

"Fine I'll go home and tell him that I'm going to be late." She said before stepping out into the cool air. The stars were glittering gently in the sky and the night was silent.

When she arrived at the door Rick was gazing idly at the chicken coop. She frowned and tapped him gently on the shoulder, he flinched slightly.

"Hey Rick, I was thinking of going to the inn to meet Ann. That's okay, right?" She asked softly, her voice kept perfectly casual. Rick turned around and beamed at her, making a smile twitch onto her lips, he was obviously in a good mood.

"Sure thing, Honey! But could you do me a favour? See I have a problem with one of our chickens, and I was wondering if Jack could give me a bit of advice..."

"You want Jack to give you advice?" She asked in surprise. She was unsure of what to make of this display of happiness, as far as she was concerned he hated Jack.

"Well you know usually I'm not most fond of him," he admitted with a sheepish smile formed with his skinny lips. "But, I need some advice farmer to farmer, so if you could get him here I'd appreciate it."

Karen frowned again, this was a little odd, but if Rick needed help she was sure he'd stoop really low to get it. So she shrugged it off and smiled.

"Sure I'll go get him." She said heading out of the farm.

"Thanks baby. Oh and tell him I'll meet him inside, you can go off to the inn once you've told him, okay?"

She frowned slightly again, she guessed she'd have to wait for Jack at the farm while he dealt with Rick.

After she'd told him what Rick had asked they both headed towards the farm, deciding that Karen would wait outside for him, just in case Rick was acting too weird. After all, she could just walk in and pretend that she needed something. They arrived outside the fence and she flashed him a reassuring smile. It was really dark and she strained to see him through the black stained night.

"It's odd, there aren't any lights on in the house." She said softly, she then sighed. "I think the bulbs gone, Rick'll probably make you change it. So that's his game..."

"Ah well, I'll just change the bulb then I'll be back."

Rick waited in the shadows, his heart pounding hard in his chest. He clutched the cold metal gun in his sweaty palms, breathing heavily. He'd turned the light off a few minutes before, after all if he saw Jack face before he shot him... well that might take away his will. He swallowed again, running through the plan in his head. Take the gun, shoot the guy – well that would be difficult in the dark, but he could still see shadowy shapes, so he assumed he could just aim for the shadow. Then what did he do after that? Everyone in the town would hear the shot and Karen would know that he had summoned Jack there.

He could deny it. He would deny it. How would he explain why he shot the farmer that he had ruined his life? The reason seemed good in his head, but would it seem sound in the minds of the townspeople. Well then he could claim Jack attacked him, after all Rick had married the girl Jack was in love with. Even if that girl was now having an affair with the farmer. He had to make Jack pay for what he'd done and that bitch would pay too. So now he was ready, he placed his finger over the cold metal trigger and took a deep breath he could hear footsteps. This was it, he was completely ready. The door swung open and he spotted the farmer's shadowy figure. He aimed and pulled the trigger.

BANG.

"NO!" Karen screamed, hearing the gun shot ring out soundly into the silent, dark night.