Chapter 7

The sun was shining brightly in the sky. There were a few fluffy white clouds, but other than that it was clear. The way to the orchard was a dirt path that led through some thick woods. The trees were tall and dense.

"Is it a far walk?" Cody asked turning to Kat.

"I don't think so. The clerk said it wasn't too far, maybe about fifteen minutes?"

"Oh ok. I was just thinking that if it's far we might get lost."

"I don't think so. Besides, Randy has the map, right?"

"Yea I got it," Randy said turning back to look at her. "We're not going to get lost. I have a decent sense of direction, unlike Mr. Get Us Lost in the Middle of Nowhere over there," he said turning to Cena.

"Geez you make one mistake and you never hear the end of it," John grumbled.

"Not when that one mistake almost got our asses shot," Randy returned. "We were damn lucky that girl convinced her father that we were lost, not trespassing."

"What?" Kat asked laughing.

"Well you see, a while back me and John were driving through Mississippi. We were heading through to Dallas for a show. I was driving and John had the map. Halfway there, this idiot tells me to make a right at a fork in the road. Next thing I know we're in the middle of the woods, and the car runs outta gas."

"You're kidding?" she said still laughing.

"No joke. We got out of the car and started walking around, looking for a house or something. As it turned out, we were in the middle of some psycho guy's land. He came out of the trees with a shotgun, and probably would've shot us both if his daughter hadn't come running. She convinced the man that we were probably just lost, not to shoot us for trespassing. Once we got some gas for the car, I took the map and got us the hell outta there. That was the last time I ever trusted John with a map."

"That's terrible," Kat said, "and yet hilarious at the same time. I'm glad you guys didn't get shot though."

"Me too," Randy said. He looked at the map for a moment. "It's this way," he said pointing.

"But that goes off the trail," Ted said.

"I'm going with what the map says man."

Ted held up his hands. "Alright, if that's what the map says." He shook his head.

They turned off the trail and headed through the trees. Randy and John were at the front, with Ted, Cody, and Edge right behind them. Edge was telling the two about the book he was reading. Ted had recommended it, and he wanted to know if Edge liked it.

Behind the Ted, Cody, and Edge, was Kat and Mark. Kat was walking a little more slowly than the rest of the group. It wasn't that she couldn't keep up with them; she just didn't see any point in walking so quickly. Why not view the scenery a little? Her and Mark were walking side by side in silence. He had slowed his pace so that she wouldn't be left lagging behind alone. She looked lost in thought, so he didn't speak.

Suddenly her eyes narrowed and she turned away from the group and went into the trees. Taker jumped at her sudden movement, and the rest of the guys turned around.

"What the hell?" Randy asked.

"What did she see?" Edge said turning to Taker.

"No idea. I'm going to go after her, before she gets lost in these damn trees. Randy do you have that extra map?" Taker asked.

"Yea, here you go. You sure you don't want us to come help you look?"

"It's fine. She must have seen something or somebody. She probably didn't go too far. I'll meet you guys there."

With that Taker took the map and, putting it in his pocket, went off in the direction Kat had gone.

He hadn't gone more than a few dozen feet, when the trees opened up, revealing a large clearing. He saw Kat in the middle of it. He went over to her. She was sitting in the center of a huge group of flowers.

"Is this why you disappeared?" he asked sitting in the grass.

She looked up, startled. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wander off. But I thought I saw a break in the trees, and the flowers, and well, I was curious."

"You were curious?"

"Well yea. That and the fact that these are my favorite kind of flowers," she added holding up a bunch that she had picked. "I don't see them much at home."

"What are those?" he asked. The flowers she was holding were a brilliant blue.

"They're delphinium, better known as larkspur. They're my favorite; I just love the color."

He nodded. "Does this mean you're not coming with the rest of us to the orchard? If you'd rather stay here…"

"No no," she said. "I still want to come. I just wanted to see the flowers first."

Taker nodded again and stood. "Alright then, let's go before they think something happened to you." He offered her a hand, and pulled her to her feet.

"Ok," she said looking around at the field once more.

"Don't forget your flowers," he said picking up the bouquet.

She smiled and took it from him. "Thanks."

Mark pulled out the map and studied it for a moment. "Well according to this, we can either go back the way we came, or we can cut through the field and go that way," he said pointing.

"Can we cut through the field?" she asked with a hopeful smile.

He smiled. "Why not?"

She grinned. "Yay."

Taker shook his head. "I'm starting to see why you teach elementary school," he said with a laugh.

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I just like letting my inner child loose."

He laughed again. "It shows," he said gesturing to the bouquet and the fact that she had wandered off to pick it.

They started walking through the field toward the opposite side. There was another patch of larkspur, and Kat was eyeing it. There was one particularly pretty bloom among the flowers. It was larger than the rest, and more vibrantly colored. She glanced at it and sighed, thinking that Mark might be right about her being childish for picking the flowers. So, instead of picking it, she kept walking.

Mark saw her looking at the larkspur, and his attention was easily drawn to what she had been looking at. The vibrancy of the flower was hard to miss. Even among a sea of its own kind, this one stood out. He saw her sigh and keep walking, and he shook his head. She was a few steps ahead of him, and as she kept going, he leaned down and snapped the flower off its stem.

He quickly caught up with her. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No, I was just thinking," she answered.

"Penny for your thoughts," he said.

She shrugged. "Nothing much really. I was just thinking maybe you were right about me running off."

He nodded. "Oh."

"So?" she asked.

"So what?"

"So where's the penny?" she asked with a half smile.

Mark shrugged. "I don't have one."

"Then it's not really a penny for my thoughts is it?"

"I guess not," he answered. "Maybe this works better?" he asked innocently, handing her the flower.

She looked up at him in surprise. "How did you know…?"

"You're an easier book to read than you think," he said shrugging again, this time with a grin.

She smiled. "Thank you," she said taking it from him. "Hmm but what happened to picking flowers being a little childish?"

"As a friend of mine once said, there's nothing wrong with stopping to smell the flowers every now and again," he returned.

She laughed. "Your friend's a smart man." She looked up as they came to the end of the field. "Hey, aren't those apple trees?"

Taker looked. "You're right. This must be the place. Why don't we go find the guys?"

The two headed toward the front of the orchard. There was a man sitting there with bags and buckets to carry whatever fruit might be picked.

"Hi there," he said when he saw them.

"Hi," Kat said. "Umm we wanted to pick some stuff."

"Sure thing darlin'. You take a bag or a bucket, and once you're done you come back here for me to weigh it."

"Great," she said smiling. "By the way, did a group of guys just come this way?"

"As a matter of fact, there was a group of guys here not five minutes ago. They headed toward the peach trees."

"Thanks," she said.

Taker picked up a bucket. "We could all use some fruit. It's easier to carry than the bag anyway."

Kat nodded. She thought for a moment, and turned back to the man. "Um, would you might if I left these here? I don't want them to get crushed," she said gesturing to the bouquet she was holding.

"That's no trouble. Just set them down on there, and they'll be here when you come back."

"Thanks again," Kat said. Her and Mark walked off and headed toward the peach trees.

A few minutes later, they found the guys laughing hysterically at Randy. He was doing an impression of a monkey, hanging upside down from a tree.

Upon seeing Taker, he quickly dropped himself down onto the ground. "Hey Deadman," he said.

"What's the matter Randy?" Taker asked. "Why'd you come down? It suits you."

The guys rolled in laughter. "He's got a point Randy," John said laughing.

"Shut up John, before I take that peach and shove it up your…"

"Randy!" Taker snapped.

Randy held up his hands. "Sorry, sorry. I need to watch my mouth."

"Yes you do," Cena said mischievously.

Randy shot him a look, and John was silent.

"So who wants to go pick pears?" Edge said cheerily, cutting the silence.

Randy shrugged. "Lead the way Goldilocks."

Edge turned. "What did you just call me?"

Randy grinned. "You heard me."

Edge looked at Kat. "She's the only one that gets to call me Goldilocks."

"Why's that?" Randy asked.

"Cuz' I like her and I don't like you," he said with a grin. "Plus, she thought of it."

Kat laughed at Randy's face. "Sorry Randy," she said shrugging. "I guess you'll have to come up with another name for him."

Randy grinned. "Oh I can think of a few."

"Randy…"Mark started.

"Alright alright. I know, watch my mouth."

When they finally got to the pear trees, the fruit was easy to pick. The pears were hanging within arm's reach of all the guys.

Kat stood under the branches looking up. She jumped, her fingertips brushing the fruit, but she couldn't reach it. "Right about now, I wish I was taller."

"Need a boost?" John asked, seeing her jumping.

"Just a little one," she said looking up at the branches.

He went behind her, and easily lifted her off the ground. "Can you reach now?" he asked.

"Uh huh! Thanks," she said as she pulled a few pears off.

"Got enough?" he asked.

"Yea, you can put me down."

He gently put her back on the ground. "Good?"

She grinned. "That was fun," she said laughing.

Cena laughed. "Anytime."

She dropped the pears into the bucket John was holding and looked around. "Who's coming with me for apples?" she asked.

"We're all coming," John said.

They walked toward the section for apples and split up. Ted and Cody went looking for yellow ones. Cody said he didn't like the red, and that the green were sour. Randy said that he wasn't in a mood for apples, so he went off looking for what else might be around to pick. When he didn't come back after ten minutes, John decided to go look for him.

Kat, Edge and Taker were the only ones left by the apple trees. These trees were very sparse with fruit, and the fruit that was still hanging had been eaten by birds.

Kat looked around, noticing a dirt path that led off in one direction. "Do you guys think maybe there's more that way?"

"It's worth a look," Edge said. "Let's go check it out."

Taker shrugged. "Let's go then."

The three headed off in that direction, and soon met up with Ted and Cody. They had found the yellow apples. These trees had a lot of fruit, but most of it was close to the tops of the branches.

"I only got three apples," Cody said looking at the trees. "They're too high up."

"Why don't you climb up Code?" Edge asked.

"I dunno. I might be a little too heavy for the branches."

"Yea that's true. Don't wanna try that. Why don't we sit and wait for Randy and John to come back?"

The five sat waiting. Kat kept looking up at the branches as if mentally debating something with herself. She got up and walked back over to one of the trees.

"What're you doing?" Mark asked.

"I'm going to try to climb it. I'm lighter than Cody after all. Maybe I can get some of them."

She started her way up, and Mark came and stood at the base of the tree.

"Catch," she said throwing an apple down to him.

He caught it easily, and threw it to Cody. "There you go Code."

"Alright!" Cody said smiling. "My favorite."

Kat threw down another one, and climbed a little higher up. There were quite a few apples in this tree. She inched out closer to the edge of the branch she was sitting on. She picked three more and threw them all down to Taker.

Randy and John finally showed up carrying a basket of blueberries. "Look what we found," they said.

Randy saw Taker at the bottom of the tree and went over to him. "What're you doing Deadman?"

Taker gestured to Kat sitting up in the tree. Randy looked up, and she mischievously threw an apple at him.

"Hey!" he said, barely catching the apple before it hit him.

She laughed. "Sorry Randy, I couldn't help it."

"I'm gonna move before you knock me out with one of these things," he said shaking his head.

He went back to the other guys. "Why don't we start taking the fruit back to be weighed?" he asked.

"Ok," John said. Him and the rest of the guys picked up their buckets. "You coming guys?" he asked Taker and Kat.

"Sure thing," Kat said. "I just wanna get one or two more. Maybe Shawn wants one."

"Alright, we'll meet you guys back there." They began walking, leaving Kat and Mark by the apple trees.

"So are you coming down now?" Taker asked looking up at her.

"The view up here is really nice," she said. "I almost don't wanna come down."

"Well you can't stay up there," he said.

"Alright, let me grab an extra one and I'll get down."

She leaned forward and reached out for another apple that was on the end of the branch, but couldn't quite reach it. She inched forward a little more, and just as she was about to pick it, the branch she was on snapped.

She screamed as she fell toward the ground. She closed her eyes bracing herself for the impact with the ground. Instead she felt two hands grab her. As she fell she opened her eyes, realizing that Mark had caught her. He had wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him as they both hit the ground. They landed hard, with her on top of him.

"Oh my God," she said looking at him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," he said his voice a little pinched. "Are you ok?"

"I think so," she said, rolling herself off of him. He sat up, and she sat next to him. "I think my life just flashed before my eyes. Thank you for catching me. I hope I didn't hurt you."

"It's ok. I've had a lot heavier people fall on me," he said giving her a half smile. He stood, and she saw a pained expression flash across his face.

"Yea, but you don't usually land like that," she said standing beside him. "Are you ok to go back to the front?"

He nodded. "I'm fine."

They walked back to the front of the orchard, where the rest of the guys were waiting.

"Whoa, what happened Deadman?" Randy asked noticing Mark's stiff posture.

"Don't worry about it Randy. I'm ok," he said. "Let's head back."

They headed back to the motel, fairly quietly. Taker was trying to walk as normally as possible so as not to worry everyone else. He was doing a pretty good job of it too.

By the time they got back, it was just after six.

"I think I'm gonna go take a shower," John said. "All that walking and the dirt and all."

"I think we all need a shower," Ted said. "I call the shower first Code."

"We'll see about that," Cody said with a mischievous smile. "We'll see who gets there first."

"I think I'm gonna go do the same," Taker said. He turned to Kat. "Are you coming with me, or going with one of them?"

"I think I'm gonna go see how Shawn is, and then I'll come to your room. I need a shower too, and you have most of my clothes."

Taker nodded, and the rest of the group headed to their respective rooms. Kat grabbed a bag with some fruit in it and headed to Shawn's room.

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Author's Note: XOXO to all my lovely reviewers. =) Love all the reviews; they're better than candy. =D Well anyway, hope you all liked this chapter. I'll have the next one up soon.