Hi guys!

Hope everyone is well, things have been a lil busy around here but I found a couple minutes to hop on and upload. Things are starting to heat up (or cool down as the case may be) so you've been warned folks. Strap on your seatbelts and crack out the popcorn. Its show time. Enjoy!

Chapter 28.0

Lisa looked up as Jack,Ty and Caleb rode back into the ranch yard, hurrying over to meet them. Her blood ran cold as her eyes urgently surveyed the paddock behind them for any sign on the girl. Her search was fruitless. Jessie wasn't with them. 'What happened? Where is Jessie?'

Jack dismounted a weary Paint, grabbing his reins as he turned to her and Clint. 'Jessie outrode us, there was no way we could keep up with that stallion of hers. I'm afraid you won't be taking Jessie to Vancouver today Clint.'

'It appears so.' He glanced down at his watch. There was no way he could wait any longer. He had to leave or he wouldn't make it in time to pick up the other child or catch the plane. 'Jack, you ring me the moment the girl shows back up here. I know you and Lisa don't agree with the decision that she needs to go to foster care till they make a final decision over your request for guardianship but it still stands regardless. Jessie taking off won't have any effect on that and she still is legally in their care and under their control despite the fact that you two are the ones that have been looking after her. It's just the way the system works and what they've decided unfortunately.'

'We understand.' Jack nodded.

'Ring me the minute, the minute she gets back. I'm going to have a fun time explaining why I couldn't take her with me today.'

Lisa looked up at Jack as Clint headed back to his car and left, seeing Jack's visible sigh of relief as his car pulled out of the drive. Ty and Caleb had taken their horses to the barn and if the condition of Paint was anything to go by, Jessie had given the three of them quite a run for their money. Jack looked exhausted, emotionally and physically. What stunt had the girl pulled now? She'd almost given her a heart attack when she'd jumped Warrior out of the corral but Jack looked like he'd aged ten years. 'What actually happened out there?'

'Nothing much, except Jessie almost killed herself. Darn kid.' He replied. There wasn't any kind way of breaking the news that Jessie had almost died getting away from them. They started for the barn, leading a very tired, very sore Paint as Lisa accompanied him.

'What did she do?' She felt her heart skip a beat. Jessie was reckless, but she wouldn't actually try and get herself killed would she? Would she go that far? Had she just struggled with her demons for too long? 'What happened Jack?'

'She leapt Warrior over the fence that borders Heartland and the national park, the one way at the back of the property.'

Lisa paled. 'The one with the cliff that cow ran through that time?'

'That fence.'

'Oh God.' Her hand went to her mouth in shock. No one would have been able to get the bottom of that cliff on a horse and make it out alive. She'd seen that cliff, it was impossible. Why Jessie? Why even try it? Her mind started to race ahead, all thoughts of reason done away with as her mind began to conjure up all sorts of things.

'Lisa, Lisa.' Jack dropped Paint's reins, wrapping his arms around her. 'She's okay, she made it to the bottom. Jessie's fine.'

'She is?'

He nodded. 'Warrior got her down safely. The last I saw of them both of them were on their feet, they're both okay.'

'Thank God.' She chastised herself for her reaction. Of course Jessie was okay. Jack would have told Clint if she wasn't. Why hadn't she thought of that before? 'Are you sure she's alright?'

'From what I could tell, she's just fine.' They continued on to the barn, Lisa opening the door as Jack led Paint in. 'We gave up the chase after that. There was no way we could have gotten down there and going by trail wasn't an option. If trying to stop her from running away caused her to be that reckless, there is no telling just what lengths she might go to to get away.'

'But even her running away isn't going to change anything. She's still going to have to go to the home till they make a decision regardless. Realistically, she should never have been able to be here in the first place.'

'No, I know. They were lenient with that, its just a shame that they wouldn't be a bit more lenient now.' He sighed, taking his saddle off the gelding. 'But we both knew what date they set to take her, we should have said something about wanting to take guardianship of her earlier. In a way it's my fault.'

'It's both our fault.' She corrected, leaning against the stall door. 'Your right, we should have spoken about it earlier. Maybe we would have been able to spare Jessie from all this.'

'Or maybe we couldn't have. I guess it's just something that we'll never know.' He grabbed a brush, wiping the sweat from the geldings coat. 'All we can do I guess is hope that they hurry up and make a decision, and a yes one at.'

'What do we do now?'

'There's not much we can do. Jessie will come back once she thinks it's safe then-' He shrugged as his voice trailed off. 'I have no idea.'

Time slipt by, Jessie lying beside her horse in complete and utter exhaustion, physically, mentally and emotionally. She was spent, too exhausted to fight her body's desperate plea for rest despite the precarious situation she was getting herself into. The weather was turning bad, the wind picking up as thick grey clouds blew in from the north. The temperature was dropping rapidly, the wind coming down off the mountains where it was already snowing pushing the temperature below zero. It was freezing and still getting colder. Still the girl didn't stir when Cougar found her, having followed her scent through the forest. The mountain lion instinctively curled up against her, Warrior and her touching noses as they greeted each other. Cougar licked Jessie's cold cheek but the girl didn't stir from her sleep. Nothing was going to wake her from her nap no matter how precarious it was to be sleeping in the middle of a coming blizzard…

Lisa looked out the window again for nearly the millionth time, glancing at the clock. It was just past two in the evening but still there was no sign of the girl. She frowned, seeing the clouds blowing in. A storm was coming in and from the look of it it was going to be quite a storm.

'I see.' Jack spoke into the phone as he walked into the kitchen. Lisa glanced at him for a moment then turned back to the window. 'I'll send someone in to get them. Thank you for letting me know. Bye now.' He hung up the call, placing the phone back on the charger. 'That was the school. Their dismissing the students early today because of the weather forecast.'

'Well if these clouds are anything to go by-' Lisa turned to him. 'I'm going crazy here Jack. I need to do something. Do you want me to go get the girls?'

'Jessie will come back, don't you worry.' He replied but still couldn't help the concern he felt as he looked at the gathering storm. 'Thank you for offering Lisa but I'm going to send Caleb. His truck is better suited to the conditions then your car. I'll be back in a moment.'

She sighed, turning away from the window as Jack headed out to go find Caleb. Jessie had been gone for almost five hours, she should have been back by now. She poured some water into the kettle and put it on to boil, trying to keep herself occupied. It was freezing outside and Jessie still wasn't completely in good health. She'd lost quite a reasonable amount of weight and she was still recovering from her cracked ribs too. Add to that the emotional and mental strain that she had been under lately and she felt she had considerable reason to be concerned. Jack had told her what she had done, jumping the horse down a cliff. If she was as desperate as to risk her life and her horse's to escape leaving for a foster home there was no telling what she might do. Maybe they were right. Maybe they weren't the right people to help her. Maybe she would be better off somewhere else where people knew how to deal with children like her.

'Caleb's heading to town now.' Jack exclaimed, rubbing his hands together as he walked into the warm house. 'It's chilly outside, that wind is blowing straight off the snowys.'

'Jessie doesn't have much warm clothing on either.' She replied, taking the kettle off the boil. 'She's only got Amy's old jacket, she doesn't even have a scarf or gloves-'

'Lisa, Lisa.' He put his hands on her shoulders, interrupting her as she started to get worked up. 'She's probably on her way back right now so let's not get all worked up okay?'

'Alright.' She nodded. 'Let's hope that you're right.'

Another hour passed, another hour with still no sign of the girl. Lisa was still keeping vigil at the kitchen window, another of countless cups of coffee in her hand. Caleb had returned, Amy and Mallory were both in the dining room working on their homework while Ty and Caleb occupied themselves outside with making sure the stock would weather the storm. A radio was playing in the background but she wasn't paying attention to what was being broadcasted. Her attention and her thoughts were directed solely on Jessie. They should have known that Jessie would have pulled a stunt like this. In all honesty it was a surprise that she hadn't run away before. If she had chosen to run, there was no way they would have caught her. The last time she had run, when she had taken off from the hospital things had almost taken a very bad turn. What trouble was she going to get herself into now?

'Amy, Mallory, quiet!' Jack's voice broke her thoughts as the radio volume was turned up. 'I'm trying to listen to the weather report.'

'What is it Jack?' She asked, heading into the living room. Jack was sitting at his table in the corner making flies for his fishing but had put his work down to listen to the report.

'The severe snowstorm warning that was issued earlier has now been upgraded to a blizzard warning.' The radio crackled, the woman's voice filling the silent room as they listened closely to it, Lou coming out to join them from her room where she had been working. 'A blizzard warning is now in place for Calgary and all surrounding areas for three hundred miles radius. Blizzard conditions are expected to hit around six pm-'

Lisa looked at the clock. If they were right they only had three hours in which they could find Jessie. If the girl was going to come back on her own accord, she would have been back by now. If they didn't go find her there was no way she could survive a blizzard. Not in her condition. 'Jack-'

He silenced her by raising his hand, still listening to the radio.

'We will continue to update on this weather warning as the storm develops. Advice on how to prepare can be found-'

Jack turned to Lisa as he turned the radio off again, a hint of concern in his eyes that the girls didn't catch but she could. 'Any sign of Jessie?'

Lisa shook her head. 'Nothing. Jack, she would have been back by now, she should have been back by now. We need to go find her, before the blizzard hits.'

'I'll come with you.' Amy offered immediately.

'Me too.' Mallory added.

'No one is coming with me.' He replied as he stood up. 'I don't want to have anyone out there with this blizzard on its way. I'll go look for her myself.'

'Your not going without me Jack.'

'Lisa-'

'Don't argue with me Jack!' Her eyes flashed determinedly. 'We are wasting time that could be spent out looking for her. I'm coming with you. That's final.'

Jack gave up. She was right. There was no point trying to argue with her when it came to Jessie. Lisa would do anything for her and she wasn't about to let him get in her way. If he didn't let her go with him he knew she'd go on her own. That was definitely something he didn't need happening. Having two of his most important people in his life out in a blizzard. He looked Lisa up and down, calculating. Lisa was only wearing a light jumper and jeans, definitely not clothes suitable for riding through a snowstorm. 'If your coming you're not wearing that. You wouldn't last two minutes out there.' He turned to Lou. 'Can you find her something else for her to wear? I'll go get some extra clothes on myself and grab some blankets for Jessie, she's going to need them.'

She nodded as Jack headed to his room then turned to Lisa. The woman followed her to her room and she quickly started looking through her wardrobe. 'Clint didn't warn you guys he was coming to get Jessie?'

'Oh?' Lisa looked up, having not really been paying attention. 'No, no he didn't.' She replied. 'He said he'd been trying to get hold of Jack to let him know all morning but he couldn't get through.'

'Poor Jessie, that's a horrible surprise.' She grabbed the warmest clothes she had, passing them to her. 'See if any of these fit you.'

'Thanks Lou.' She acknowledged as Lou left to let her change. 'Maybe find Jessie a coat as well?'

'I'll see what I can find.'

Lisa quickly changed from her light clothes into the clothes Lou had lent her, listening to the rising wind blowing outside. Jessie why haven't you come back? Her mind asked as she headed back out to the living room. Jack was already there, waiting for her as he spoke to Ty and Caleb. 'Ready.'

'Right.' He handed her a scarf, pair of thick gloves and one of his spare winter coats with a hood. 'Put these on.'

She nodded, quickly putting them on as he had asked. She glanced back at the clock. Every second was vital. They had to get out there and start searching, Jessie had to be found. She looked at Lou as she came back into the room. 'Did you find something for Jessie?'

'I've got her a coat and gloves.' Lou handed them to her. 'I'll have some clothes for her to change into ready and some hot chocolate. She's going to be chilled through by the time she gets back here.'

'Thanks Lou.' She headed to the door to wait for Jack as he said goodbye to the girls.

'Be careful Grampa.' Amy cautioned, giving him a hug.

'I will be.' He replied, then spoke briefly with the others before following Lisa out the door. The cold air and wind hit them as soon as they stepped onto the porch, more clouds gathering on the horizon. He turned to Lisa as they headed to the barn, handing her the blankets he was carrying. 'Take these to the barn, I'll go grab us a couple horses.'

'Right.' They parted ways, Jack heading to the small paddock where the other horses had been penned to wait out the storm. She sighed with relief as she walked into the barn, Paint and Spartan whinnying a greeting to her. Pegasus too stuck his head over the stall as she walked past, headed for where the tack was kept. She placed the blankets down, looking for anything else they might need.

'I've got these two.' Jack led a brown mare and a buckskin gelding into the barn. 'Amy's been working with them, they're a couple of horses Lou got for the dude ranch. I'd rather take Paint but he can't go out in this.' He tied them up, grabbing a set of tack for the buckskin while Lisa grabbed the tack for the brown. 'I was thinking we'll head straight to where we lost her and hope we find her tracks before the first of the snow hits.'

Lisa nodded as she quickly placed the saddle blanket and saddle onto the mare. 'How long will it take for us to get there?'

'An hour, maybe longer.' He had the gelding saddled, tying the blankets, jacket and an old canvas roll to the back of his saddle while he replied. 'I've got to grab a few things, can you bridle this guy? Leave the halter on him and tie his lead to the saddle. We might have to lead them some more of the way.'

'Got it.' She bridled her mare, leaving the halter on it then took her lead off and tied her up with the reins instead. She kept glancing towards the door, hoping against hope that the girl would come traipsing in but Jessie didn't appear. She headed to Jack's gelding, quickly bridling him as Jack returned.

'Tie this on your saddle.' He handed her a lantern as he tied one to his. 'And the rope.' He tossed his saddlebags over the back of the saddle with extra things they needed. Walkie-talkies, touches, extra batteries. He patted the gelding as he untied him, leading him to the door. 'Let's just hope we find her quickly and get back here before it hits.'