YES! Here it is. Sorry it's late. I moved to a new house and the new computer connection SUCKS, so I just now thought of uploading on the other computer. :P I dunno why I didn't think of that before! I had a blond moment! Anyway, don't you think a Jeremy Davies voice would fit Cliff perfectly?

Chapter 7: Redemption

No, no, no. This was not good. This just wasn't happening...was it?

I looked one more time at the letter. This couldn't be Libby, it HAD to be a trick. I then looked at Ann; she was in total shock. Total. Morbid. Shock. I could just see it on her face.

"Ann," I said gently. It seemed to knock her out of the daze. She looked at me.

"Ann," I said once more. "Listen, I-"

"No!" she screamed. "You never told me this! Of course you'd leave! Why wouldn't you? It's because of the baby, isn't it!"

I gripped her shoulders. "No, of course not, Ann! What are you talking about? I'm not leaving!"

She seemed a little calmer now, but still reluctant. "But...that's just what you do. You wander from place to place. Looking for what? Redemption? Well, you're not going to get it. Not from me or anyone." Then, she ran away.

"Ann!" I called out. I heard a loud slam of our bedroom door.

But, her words were true. I did wander. I did look for redemption. And I'd never get it. I didn't deserve it. I was so sick of people telling me what I could and could not do, like an immature, bratty thirteen-year-old boy I was. I ran out. I just walked out the door hearing my mother softly crying her last years away. Seeing my older sister's tear-stained, traumatized face as she shrieked at me to come back. My brother-in-law Josh holding his three children, my nephews and niece, with a confused look as I walked right past them. I was known to have a temper, be outgoing, and have fun. But I must've lost it because I was a nomad most of my life, without seeing a friendly face.

~December 21, 2002~

I looked at the clock beside my bed. Why do people have to get up so early...?

"Cliff! Time to get up!" Ugh, my sister can't sleep in at all. I was fully awoken by two four-year-old twin boys jumping on my bed. Why did Libby, her husband, and three hyper kids live with us again?

"Uncle Cliff!" They yelled. "Mommy says it's time to wake up!"

I gingerly pried the sheets off of me. "I'll be there in a sec, okay?" The two nodded in response and ran out my room. I could hear the rumbling as those energetic ones ran downstairs. Obviously, they took after their mother. Because they wouldn't sleep in either. It's like they thought it would kill them or something.

Thirteen was not an age of reason. That's what my sister always said. Well, since when did she think I gave a crap about what she said, anyway? Last I checked, she wasn't Mom or Dad. In fact, we never had a dad before. He left us a long time ago.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I apparently didn't have time for a shower, so I put a shirt on and slipped some jeans on my lanky legs. Then, I combed my hair neatly. Nice and short was how I liked it. "CLIFFORD CODY LARUE!" I heard Libby's screeching voice. Oh, great. When I was called by my lame full name, you knew I was in trouble.

I ran downstairs to be met by my 27-year-old brunette sister's blue-eyed gaze. Her foot was tapping gently on the wooden floors, her arms were holding her seven-month-old daughter, and she had raised eyebrows with slightly tilted, pursed lips. That never meant good for me. Even my baby niece Jenny was giving me a look.

"Why are you so late for everything?" Libby inquired.

"Maybe I'm not a morning person like you are."

Libby narrowed her gaze. "That shouldn't be an excuse. Seriously, Cliff, I bet you'll be late for your own child being born one day."

I didn't answer.

"Well, you're not going to be late for Evan and Ethan's rehearsal for the play," Libby said curtly.

I sighed until my mother stopped me. "No sighing."

I sighed even more inwardly. I loved my nephews, but someone else could watch their stupid practice. Why me?

Everyone in the room gave me a look. It was always my fault, wasn't it? It's like they thought I was responsible for everything that will, is, or has gone wrong. And Ann...she was my wife, and I crushed her. I crushed her by keeping so many things from her, things I just couldn't tell again. I know she just wanted to help me feel like I belonged, yet I hurt her.

"Well, we should go." They all must have felt very awkward witnessing such a scene with Ann and I. People love to make me feel guilty, don't they?

At that, Ann rushed out the door and right past me.

"A-" I started.

"I have to go in the garden," Ann said abruptly, cutting me off. The door shut behind her. So, I was alone...again. What else was new? I think a walk could help calm me down.

I stepped outside to be welcomed by the warm June breeze. I saw Ann working in the garden, although I didn't quite approve. She shouldn't be working. But then again, she was Ann. She always won arguments, I mean, how do you reason with her? Why bother anymore.

I walked down the narrow cobblestone path behind our house and kicked pebbles along the way. Just when things look hopeful, it's brought down again for me. I guessed I was just unwanted in the world. Unloved, no one cared. It is quite sad really, how people just don't care anymore about anything but their own problems. I looked into the murky pond beside me. It matched my mood.

The sky was getting darker. I looked to the sky for hope; an answer from the Harvest Goddess. I was welcomed by nothing but a cold, dull, thick, grey dome above me. The wind whipped across my face and it somehow became harder to walk in the strong gusts.

I hoped Ann was okay and inside where it was warmer and safer. She probably wasn't, though. Risking two lives? That just can't happen. I turned back regardless if Ann wanted to have nothing to do with me right now.

But of course...

BAM!

I collided head-first with something solid. A person, it was. They were on the ground dressed in a dark green cloak. As I was offering my hand to the person, they got up. It was a woman by how delicate she was. She did not look at me, but I recognized something; she had those brown curls...like my sister.

"L-Libby?" I wanted to cry. My voice spooked her and she ran away.

"Wait!" I yelled, still a bit confused as to why she would run.

And it was like this, back and forth chasing her. Until we finally stopped at a dead-end part of the woods.

I grabbed tightly onto her and pulled off her hood. My heart must have sunk twelve stories below.

It wasn't her...it was some old woman.

"Please...please don't hurt me," she begged.

I released hold of her reluctantly, for fear she might run again. My face lost all color out of depression.

"Who are y-you?"

"Please," the woman started. "Don't be so sad, young man. I do know your sister; Libby Brach. She sent me to Mineral Town to find you because you didn't give any effort to come to her."

"W-why would I g-go?" I said.

The woman shot me a look of sympathy. "Because you have to. Or she'll come get you herself for...him."

I frowned. "W-who?"

"A man you'll never want to meet. A dangerous man. But you must. It's the rules."

Instead of asking more useless questions, I gave her a dissarayed look.

"I'm so sorry..." With that, the woman ran away in the wilderness. I stood there, thinking about everything she just said. It reminded me of when I collapsed in Rose Square in March. That's when we had that freak snow. It reminded me of when I left my home...because it snowed then too.

"Why, Mother, why? Why can't I do what I want?" I screamed.

"Because, Cliff," Mother screamed back in her hoarse voice. "You'll never be ready if you keep acting this way. You are just too young!"

"Young for what? Going around Detroit by myself? I can do it!"

"No you can't! It's too dangerous!"

I gave a disrespectful glare. "I can do what I want! I'm not a kid anymore!"

Libby had come in from outside just then. She seemed a bit oblivious about our argument now.

"Libby, tell your brother he needs to mind his mouth," Mother snapped.

Libby gave me a perplexed look. "What did you say, Cliff?"

"I'm not going to your sons' stupid practice, I'd rather go around the city with my friends!" I hissed.

Libby gasped at me. She gave me a shocked look. "Wha...what are you going to do...?"

"I'm going to keep my word," I grinned evilly. "And I'll leave this forsaken place you two call home."

Libby, who was a good six inches taller than me at the time, grabbed on my arm. She was wailing for me not to go. Libby was not very strong and I yanked my arm free in no time. I looked at Mother, she couldn't look at me. Sickly Mother was grasping her cane in one hand tightly, and lightly wiping her tears with the other.

I ran to get a jacket and put it on over me. As I was outside, it began to snow. I saw my brother-in-law Josh with his children building a snowman.

"Hi, Cliff, ho-" Josh began, but I didn't look at him. I swiftly ran right past him.

I ran, I ran as fast as I could away from this place. Who cares about me? No one does. Otherwise they'd let me prove I'm responsible. They don't love me. Not my family or friends.

And so began my journey as a vagabond. So long Michigan.

I really didn't understand what was wrong with me when I left. How did I have the gall to hurt my family that deeply? I wasn't there...I wasn't there when Mother was in bed dying. Slowly coughing her last few breaths away. Libby probably was. She was there the entire time Mother had that lung disease.

I slowly opened the knob on the door to be welcomed home by the walls. Ann quickly glanced at me and then returned to cooking her stew. Obviously, it would be this way for quite a while; silent.

I remember when I became so quiet, so reserved, so painfully shy. It did me no good. Unfortunately, my dumb shyness became a part of me into adulthood. It took a long time for me to open up to anybody...except Wendy.

It was freezing; snow piling up on my jacket as I shuffled through more of it on the ground. My jacket was starting to get dampened by the precipitation that fell from the clouds. I made sure that I was as far away from my disoriented family as possible.

I made my way to my alleyway in downtown Indianapolis. I was ready to collapse and cry again. I'd always cry because it was so lonely. But I fought the urge to go back. It was a long day of work at the bar. Yeah, I know. It was no place for kids. I was told many times. But I had no job and the guy who owned the place was so nice to me. It's just his customers that weren't nice to me.

Some days I would come back to my cozy cardboard box with a black eye and cuts and bruises. They picked a fight with each other, not me... I was a pacifist. I happened to get caught in the middle of the brawls.

So home was my little corner of my little box. I had so little, but I treasured every single speck of food I received. It was February and food was scarce. My hair was growing out enough to be put in a ponytail. I didn't have scissors anyway, so I grew to like my messy new haircut.

"...Cliff? Are you there?" I heard a dainty, soft voice. It was so gentle and soothing. A girl with shiny blond hair popped her head around the corner. Her name was Wendy. She was the daughter of the guy who owned the bar, Mr. Price. Wendy's mother left when she was little, so she kept both her father and mother's last name and legally made her name as "Wendy Langley-Price".

"I'm here," I assured.

"I can barely hear you," Wendy joked and smiled. She was holding a wrapped plate in her hand. "I brought you some cookies I just baked," she said.

"You d-don't have to be so k-kind to me," I stuttered.

She grinned. "Whether you like it or not, you have to eat."

I smiled. "You're right..."

"Um...can I sit down by you?" Wendy asked, somewhat nervously. I nodded strongly. She accompanied my side and folded her arms around her knees.

"Do you wanna go do something?" Wendy sighed. I gave her a bit of a shocked look.

"It's boring here...I would go crazy because I would be so bored if I were you," she added.

"Where do you want to go...?" I asked.

She shrugged. "Dunno..."

Then, Wendy perked up and became her usual cheery self right away. "Ooh! I know! We could go and look at what people have for display in shop windows!"

"But, isn't that k-kind of..."

"Stupid?" I was afraid she'd figure it out. "I know it is. But, I don't have any other place to go. I should be heading back home soon too."

"Okay," I said simply and got up. We walked together down the narrow sidewalks. It was almost dark. You'd be lucky to see a lone cat roaming the streets. It was very quiet.

"So," Wendy was saying. "I can't believe you turned down our offer. You could have a home with us, Cliff! You might never get that chance again."

As much as I'd love to live with her, I couldn't. Something would go wrong. It just had to. I mean, it's too good to be true. It's unreal.

"I can't..."

"I don't want to hear excuses!" Wendy started to yell at me. But I was interrupted by a sharp gasp from her. Her lilac-colored jacket turned deep red. She clutched her side as I carried her off to safety.

"Cliff...! I...love you..." She wheezed.

"I love you too." I started to cry.

There was a hole in her that started at her back and came through her front. I didn't know what to do. The scene was stopped when a gang of men came down our alley.

"Yo, you look rich." The man was looking at Wendy.

"Please..." I wailed. "Don't hurt her anymore."

He didn't seem to hear me. He crouched down by Wendy. "Look, sweetheart. You give us some money and we'll get that gunshot treated."

Wendy cried. "I don't...have any money on me."

"Fine..." The man got up and made a signal to someone else.

A gun was taken out quickly and he made no hesitation to shoot her. Wendy was shot in the heart this time and died instantly. It felt as though a part of me was ripped out. Like suddenly my heart stopped.

As the men left, I held a lifeless Wendy in my arms. Strange enough, she had a smile on her white face and she looked so peaceful. She was at rest. It was time to leave. I couldn't stay with all of my traumatic experiences with her. So, once again, I felt empty.

"...You remind me of Wendy," I said to Ann and smiled. She peeled her eyes of the food and quickly looked at me with a mixture of confusement and innocence.

Her sparkling blue eyes were as if I were looking into Wendy's own eyes. And with Ann...it was as if I got a part of her back. Her personality, face, eyes, build, height. Everything seemed to belong to Wendy. That's why I immediately felt like I was in love with Ann. I just wasn't sure of myself. Seeing Ann, knowing her, it freaked me out how much she was like Wendy. And it seemed I got a second chance with Wendy...through Ann.

"Who-" Ann began. Her voice sounded a little cracked.

"A girl I loved," I smiled blissfully. "We were thirteen. I fell in love. While I was traveling she was so nice to me. But, a crazy man shot her twice and killed her. It was all for money. So, I was afraid to fall in love with any girl again. I swore to myself that only Wendy could fill my heart. That's why I was so passive with girls. Until I met you. It freaked me out, Ann. You are just like her. But I still love you, and always will."

Ann looked like she wanted to cry out of sympathy and because she was touched by my words.

"I'm sorry for overeacting," Ann said, fighting back streams of tears.

"I wouldn't blame you for acting that way," I said. "I should have told you. But it was just. Too. Much. Some things I want to forget."

Ann nodded. Then seemed a bit startled. "Oh..." she placed a hand over her stomach. I became slightly worried.

"The baby was moving," Ann looked back at me and smiled wide. I was relieved and excited at the same time. "She was moving!"

"SHE?" I asked.

"Yes, it's a girl."

I sighed. "Ann, we can't know for seven and a half more months. What makes you so sure?"

Ann shrugged. "Because I just know. And I want a girl."

I sighed again, a bit more deeper. If there was one thing with Ann it's that; if you can't beat her, join her.

"What would you prefer, anyway?" Ann asked. She didn't seem upset anymore.

"It doesn't matter," I answered truthfully. "Besides, how do you kn-"

She cut me off. "I JUST KNOW."

"Okay," I gave up. "You have a name already, I'm guessing?"

"No. There's a lot of names I like." Ann sat down. "I wonder if she will be short or tall."

I shrugged.

"Do you think she'll be nice or kind of cranky?"

"I don't know..." Deep down, I prayed she was a good child.

"Do you think she'll look like me?"

"She'll probably look like both of us equally."

Ann looked at me for a minute and then adjusted. "What color eyes do you think she'll have?"

I thought about my blue ones and Ann's blue eyes. Then I thought about the dominant genetic code.

"Most likely they'll be blue."

"Yeah. But that's okay..." she seemed a bit doubtful.

"What? Were you hoping they'd be brown or green or hazel or something?"

Ann made a face at me. "It's possible. And green eyes would be so pretty!"

I chuckled. "Green eyes are rare coming from two blue eyed parents. Where would she get green from?"

"My mom," Ann blinked. "Anyway, do you think she'll have red hair or brown hair?"

I was starting to get a bit annoyed by Ann's game of 20 Questions. But, she was Ann. Oh well.

"Ooh! Ooh!" Ann said excitedly. "Maybe it'll be a mix! You know, like auburn or something?"

I inwardly frowned. My mother and sister had auburn-colored hair.

"Yeah...maybe," I said. "She would be very pretty either way."

"How do you know?"

"Because she'll look like you," I answered. I wasn't really handsome, so I tried to assure myself that my daughter would be pretty like Ann.

"Awww..." Ann said. "You are cute, Cliff! Even if you don't think so, I think so!" I smiled at her.

"Do you think-" Ann started again.

"Ann," I pleaded. "Please. You aren't even showing yet. So how is there any answer to your questions?"

Ann twitched. "You're right. We just have to wait, unfortunately. And I'm an impatient person!"

I laughed. It was true. Making her wait was pretty stressful. But I could tell for the baby's wait, she would actually be okay. It could start to be a brand new day tomorrow.

A/N: YAY! Happy ending! Cuddling! Cliff sweetness! 20 Questions! Yippee! *glass breaking in backround* :-O Oops, I jumped around to much. :D Hehehee, oh well. Stay tuned to the final chapter...which is chapter 8! THE NEXT ONE! OMG!