DISCLAIMER: Still don't own it.

A/N: So it's been a year. Sorry about that. I got pulled into the very strange Vin Diesel void for a while and my writing kinda fell by the wayside for that time. This is a short chapter, which is a sad showing for not having posted something for a year, but...here it is, anyways.

Thanks as always go to animegus farmus, and tin-a-holic, who inspired me even though they didn't know it.

Wyatt

The weeks immediately following Wyatt's run in with DG at the pond are quiet. So is the girl herself, as far as he can tell.

DG will not look him in the eye longer than a glance, and avoids him at the diner if she can.

Jeb is quiet, too, though in that perplexed way, like he's got something he's troubled over.

Wyatt knows logically why the Geare girl might avoid him, but he's curious if she's been distancing herself from his son as well. Wyatt doesn't pry into Jeb's relationship with his first friend in Hilltop, but there's been a distinct lack of her at the apartment, and Wyatt wonders if she's pulling away from Jeb due to embarrassment about what he might know.

Jeb knows nothing, though.

For as much as Wyatt is irritated at her law-breaking, he understands the very personal reason behind it and would never betray that vulnerability, whether DG realizes it or not.

Wyatt wonders if he should tell her this. It's an odd position to be in not just because she is his son's friend, but because Wyatt himself can empathize with DG's frustration and fear of 'being stuck' somewhere. It's not been too long ago since he'd felt the same for a while in his life.

He watches her, but he isn't the only one.

Carter and the other girls at the diner treat her a little softer in an undefinable way that speaks of familiarity. As if they are almost used to dealing with DG's growing pains. And in a small town like this, it's entirely possible to village raise a person.

Gulch watches her, too. Speculatively.

Elmer had initially been annoyed when he'd found the report Wyatt had filled out on his paperwork after his shift dealing with DG. His entirely too casual inquiry on Wyatt's lack of handcuff use on the Geare girl had suspicion rising in Wyatt.

"She's nearly twenty-one and didn't look to be going anywhere anytime soon," Wyatt pointed out, just as casually. "No point in ruining her record just because she had a bad night." He'd known her history with Gulch since before he'd come on, but he wasn't sure there wasn't just a little more behind it, than what had been said.

Elmer Gulch treated DG like an annoying cousin or sibling, always ready to call her out on her misbehaviour, but despite his bland expressions and blase tones when speaking about her, there was just something in Wyatt's gut that told him the other man wouldn't be entirely opposed to seeing her behind bars. And given DG's disdain for Gulch, it almost seems like a power play.

Wyatt himself had felt that about many a criminal and suspect in his days as a city cop on the Force, but there was something that didn't sit right with him about thinking about Deege like that. Wanting her to behave and obey the Law was one thing, but imagining her locked up left a sour taste in his mouth.

It's probably a little too personal to be professional about, he admits, but secretly, Wyatt himself has learned what lines have to be straight, and which ones can bend.

Time marches on and Jeb has made himself a few more friends from his classmates in Shop. Two boys his own age that he spends a growing amount of free time with. They don't appear to be as reckless as DG-at least no more so than any teenage boy is wont to be-or if they are, they're good about hiding it. They seem content enough to waste several hours plopped in front of each others' t.v.s, or playing on Jeb's Xbox and devouring the entire contents of their parents' fridges when they aren't off playing basketball outside.

If Jeb isn't happy, then he is at least content and more settled into life at Hilltop with his new friends, and Wyatt concludes that the grocery bill is a small price to pay for that. Especially when his son announces that the trio are going across the street to the diner, to see DG and grab some fries after demolishing anything snack-related in the Cain kitchen.

DG

Though late Spring is an unusual time for an arts and crafts festival, DG has always enjoyed the one she attends with her parents every year, two counties over. She invites Jeb, partly out of guilt for shutting him out, recently, but mostly because she thinks he'd enjoy it. Over dinner at the Geare household, one night, she tells him about some of the neater things they've seen over the years, with Momster and Popsicle chiming in from time to time.

Jeb nods thoughtfully as he wipes his mouth and then says, "You know who'd be interested in it? My dad."

"Really?" DG asks, incredulously, with a tilt of her head.

"Yeah," Jeb agrees with a chuckle of amusement. "Metal working and woodcarving? He's kind of a secret nerd about that stuff."

"Well, why don't you ask him to joins us, then?" Pops offers. "We'll all go."

DG doesn't miss Jeb's silent question in his eyes over the table.

'Is that okay with you?'

She heaves an inner sigh before trying to deliver an easy shrug in response.

'I don't care. It's up to you.'

And so, with two trucks and five people, the Cain-Geare group rattle down the highway that next Saturday.

Though they stay together as a group, DG tugs Jeb ahead of their parents not long after they arrive at the festival, still a little embarrassed around his father, though he'd been distant, but cordial in greeting her that morning.

She still hasn't been back over to the apartment since the incident, though Jeb never indicated he had a problem hanging out at the diner or her house.

She distracts herself from this line of thought by pointing out some of her favourite returning booths and artists to her friend, instead.

As Jeb predicted Mr. Cain seems unusually interested in the wares for sale, especially the furniture booth. She hadn't seen him give anything that much positive attention since the second time she'd watched him eat at Hilltop, leaning over a thick bowl of beef stew and half a ham and swiss sandwich.

An old armoire catches DG's eye in one stall and she goes to inspect it more thoroughly.

"See Narnia?" Jeb teases from behind.

She snorts. "I wish. There isn't any room to hang any fur coats. See?" She holds the doors open to show the rows of shelves the cabinet held. "It could hold my art stuff though."

They spend a few minutes knocking on the sides, and making sure the furniture contained no warps, mold, or secret compartments before DG makes her way over to the seller and begins to haggle. Three minutes later she has a self-satisfied look on her face as they joined their parents who had moved back in the lane between the booths.

"You look pleased," Momster notes, looking up as the younger members join them.

"I bought an art cabinet," DG announces, still glowing fresh from her bargain-striking.

Mr. Cain makes a show of checking her over. "You hidin' it in your pocket, Kid?"

Despite their recently strained relationship, DG takes his gentle ribbing in stride and ignores the blush trying to stain her cheeks as she rolls her eyes before she hooking a thumb over her shoulder to point out her new purchase. "The guy said we could take it whenever, but we're gonna need the truck," she informs her parents.

The offer comes as a little bit of a surprise, but in hindsight, given the location and the situation, maybe it really shouldn't have.

"You gonna need a hand liftin' that thing?" Mr. Cain asks.

Wyatt

The cabinet was heavy, but no more than DG's bike, really. It was the bulk that made it a task to get it up two flights of stairs, but Wyatt, Jeb and DG managed.

They sat the chest out of the way for a moment as DG flew into action, moving items to make space for her new purchase.

Wyatt took the breather to do just that and scrub the sweat starting to bead in his scalp as the Geare girl worked to shuffle her belongings around. As she and Jeb dumped things from here to there, Wyatt surveyed the room.

As far as he knew, DG didn't wear perfume, and although the area held the scent of warm wood and age that all attics seemed to, there was still a lingering and unmistakable feminine note in the bouquet throughout the space. It mingled well and apparently was unique enough that Wyatt would immediately pinpoint as Deege's.

DG took the whole attic space as her bedroom, though the mish-mash of things made it seem that she still lived in an attic. It worked for her, though. She was an unpretentious farmgirl, far more interested in function over form, though there were homey touches. The room was rustic, but charming.

The walls held no posters, no artwork except DG's own: some charcoals and some watercolours.

Wyatt studied the ones closest to him: a hot air balloon drifting over a lake in the woods, the scene of an autumn harvest with workers in the field, a woman's portrait. They looked rough and unpolished, but still very good. The girl had talent.

Once DG had a clear enough space, they managed to wrangle the cabinet into its designated spot near her desk.

And despite spending most of the days with the Geares, Emily invited the Cains stay for dinner. Wyatt had initially balked, not wanting to monopolize their time (and in all honesty, looking forward to heading home, himself), but between Jeb's pleading looks, and the emotional break-though that had somehow happened between Wyatt and DG during the the course of the afternoon, coupled with Em's firm insistence (and a very delicious potato salad), it was too hard to turn down.

Besides, it was a nice break to take from cooking dinner, himself.

And even nicer to see DG smiling and laughing again.

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