Dinner was really great. Rose was having fun and even the food was good. Stevie had forgotten what it was called, though. She hadn't been really listening when Dave had told them. It had been some secret recipe of his mama's if she could recall it correctly.

Stevie hadn't meant to be impolite and not being listening. She really tried hard but she just couldn't focus on what the others said. Her thoughts drifted off to different times, to different things.

She had her mind on things that had happened a long time ago when she still was a child and on things that just had happened a few days ago.

She was remembering the things that had happened that very morning in her home in Adelaide. She couldn't remember what she had said to her husband, what had made him flow into a rage. It wasn't important anyway, he'd beat her up whenever he felt like it and she couldn't do anything about it.

She kept thinking about when she had woken from unconsciousness. When she first hadn't known where she had been; when she had finally asked the nurse who was checking on her if her daughter was outside in the hallway.

"Daughter? There was no daughter with you."

Those words had felt like a knife through her heart. She could still feel the fear take hold of her when she remembered them. The fear that something could have happened to Rose. The fear that HE could have hurt her, too.

She could have never forgiven herself if that had been a fact.

The memory of what had happened afterwards was blurred. Panic had overcome her. Rose couldn't be hurt! She remembered vaguely calling Rose's friends. Hearing them say that they had no idea about Rose's whereabouts.

And then she had been talking to the police. Her throat getting tighter and tighter with every word she had told them about James. About Rose. The tears welling up in her eyes.

She hadn't heard the phone ring.

Well, if she thought about it now she remembered a phone ringing, but she hadn't paid any attention to it. Who'd have been calling her anyway? James wouldn't have and she was sure that Rose had been hurt, otherwise she'd would have been there. With her.

The nurse must have picked up then as she had reached her the receiver.

She couldn't remember taking it. She couldn't remember leading it to her ear. She couldn't remember answering it. All she could remember was relief washing over her body when she heard Rose's voice. The tears she had been trying to hold back had been runnng freely down her face. Only difference was that those had now been tears of joy. Not the tears of fear.

"Are you okay?" she had managed to bring out between her sobs. God, she just has to be.

She had looked at the two officers who were watching her interrogative. She had nodded and smiled at them, wiping away the tears that had wetted her cheeks, while she had heard Rose telling her that everything was fine. That she was not with James. That she was at a friend's.

Stevie had heard herself asking Rose to hold on and then telling the police that everything was fine, that Rose was staying with a friend of hers. They then had excused themselves, relieved that the child had turned up safe, giving the young redhead some privacy.

Turning her attention back to Rose she had realized she still hadn't known where exactly her daughter had been. The girl had many friends.

"Rose, where are you? I was worried about you!"

She had tried not to sound reproachful but she couldn't ban it totally from her voice.

"I'm sorry, mum! I didn't mean to upset you."

She had immediately regretted her undertone. Of course Rose wouldn't upset her on purpose. She had to have good reasons for that.

"It's okay, hon. I'm sorry. Just tell me where you're at and if you can stay there for two or three days. I'll be home by then."

"You have to promise me first that you won't freak out, mum." she had heard her daughter demand over the phone.

"Why would I do that?"

"Promise me!" Stevie had let out a deep sigh. Seriously, why should she freak out when her daughter was safe?

"I'm at Drover's Run…" she heard her daughter say timidly.

"Excuse me?" She couldn't believe what she'd just had heard. Had her daughter really said Drover's Run? No, she must have misheard. How would she have gotten there anyway? And most importantly, why would she have gone there? She didn't even know the people there. She had not even known herself if the farmstead still belonged to the McLeod family.

"I…I'm at Drover's Run." she had heard her daughter repeat. "And Mrs. Mcleod said…" Rose's attention seemed to have been drawn to something else, because all that Stevie could here was a rustle. Before she could have said anything Rose had been back with her, though.

"…uhm…Tess said I can stay here until you're better."

"Tess?" I haven't talked to Tess in years. I wonder how she is…I guess she was just as surprised by Roses turn up as I am with the fact she's there. Oh god, I guess she knows now why I left Drover's…I didn't want her to find out that way…

"Mum?" Rose's voice had snapped her back to reality. "Are you still there?"

"Uhm..yeah…I'm…uhm…I'm here…" She had tried to compose herself. "How did you get there?" She then demanded to know.

"I don't think you wanna know…"

"Rose, I am your mother, I want to know how you got there." Oh my god, what did she do?

"I took the bus to Fisher and then…." she had hesitated a moment "then I went hitchhiking because I didn't have any money left."

"You did WHAT?" This was really bad. How could she have been so stupid to do such a thing? "How many times have I told you that you ar…."

"Mum, please calm down! Nothing happened. Really. I was picked up by Alex Ryan. He said he knows you…"

Alex Ryan? Stevie had almost choked on her own breath. However, before she could have asked any questions Rose had added. "Mum, I better get going. Tess says you need to rest. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay. Tess is probably right." Stevie had let out a heavy sigh. The whole occurrence of that day had in fact drained most of her energy from her body. "I love you, Rose."

"I love you, too, mum! You'll be here soon, won't you?" The concern in her daughter's voice had almost broken her heart. "Don't worry, sweety. I'll be with you soon."

"Good." She had heard Rose sigh relieved. "Night, mum."