Alright, i hope you liked the first chapter =)

Here's the 2nd; enjoy and review

Mystery
"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being." -C.G. Jung

Natalie Shepherd lifted the corner of her t-shirt to peek at the scar on her side. It was healing up nicely and the scar left should be a clean one, nothing overly gaudy. Her scary night was in the past, now, and she was pretty well recouped by now. She'd had to talk to the police, but doubted anything she'd said had really helped since she hadn't recognized anyone in the fight she'd inadvertently walked into.

But school had started now, and it was back to class, which was why she was up in the morning getting ready. Getting back in a routine of college almost made it seem like nothing out of the ordinary had happened to end the summer. The college wasn't that far from her house, so she was living at home and actually finding herself glad to be getting away from her still-worrying mother. Typically she had all the freedom she wanted -- she was an adult, after all -- but her mom was playing the doting-mother far too well, hardly giving Natalie peace.

She knew she was running a little late, so she righted her shirt and shoved her hairbrush and some other things back into her drawer before hurrying downstairs to grab her bag, purse, and keys on her way to the door. Both of her parents were already off to work, so she locked up behind her and was off.

She met Joel Tanner, a friend she'd known even in high school, where he was sitting in front of the building that housed the first class of that day, which they shared.

"Running late," he shook his head at her in a chastising way.

"I know, I know…I kind of spaced out this morning," she shrugged, ducking away from his hand, which was reaching out to ruffle her hair.

"Great, I have to deal you going crazy now -- like I'm not busy enough," he groaned.

"I'm not going crazy," Natalie chuckled, hitting him lightly in the side.

"Right right…"

They quieted down when they got to class, Joel opening the door to let her in ahead of him. They took their seats, and Natalie wished she was still in bed; history wasn't one of her favorite classes, it was just necessary to fulfill a Gen Ed. She must not have been hiding her boredom well, because Joel poked her a few times to jerk her back to reality with a knowing grin.

"Could you make it a little more obvious that you wanted to sleep through the whole lecture?" he teased after they'd packed up and escaped the classroom.

"Well I could've actually slept," she suggested.

"Right, right…what's gotten into you?"

"I'm just tired…and it's not like either of us likes that class, so don't be so hard on me," she muttered.

"Sorry…I'm just trying to make sure my patient is adjusting well"

Natalie gave him a hard look for that one before looking forward and shoving the double doors open to stride moodily to her next class. Unfortunately, she shared it with Joel; after the little crack about her being in the hospital, she didn't really want to talk to him. It wasn't that she felt completely traumatized by it -- she got that it was all a coincidence, so she didn't think anyone was after her -- but it had still been scary and wasn't a memory she wanted to think about.

"Nat, come on. I was joking….I was joking; you know that"

"Mmhmmm"

Joel groaned, mentally kicking himself for the flippant comment, and just headed down the sidewalk alongside her without a word. He didn't mean to upset her…he was sure she knew that.

"Well that car certainly isn't subtle…"

Natalie looked up to see what he was talking about even though she wasn't into cars, but knew what car he was talking about right away. A black mustang with red-orange detailing in what looked like some sort of tribal design was parked by the sidewalk; Joel was right -- it didn't exactly just blend in. She didn't really care, though, and was going to look away until she saw what appeared to be the car's owner. He was standing next to the car, hand on it, talking into a cell phone that was pressed to his ear. As they neared they could hear as he began to raise his voice, sounding angry.

Then he turned around.

This didn't strike Natalie in any way at first and she looked away so a stranger didn't think she was staring, but she looked back again quickly. She cocked her head at the man a bit, recognition seeping through her. It was him, that guy from the hospital. Though she'd been a little drugged-up the last time she saw him in her patient room, she remembered that had happened.

Either he felt eyes on him or just happened to lay eyes on her, but he obviously recognized her too. He went quiet, faltering in his conversation for hardly a moment when he caught her eye.

"What? Yeah, I'm listenin'…just shut your mouth and do like I said…do it!"

He snapped his phone shut but they were passing him by then and Natalie glanced back at him before continuing on her way and trying to pretend that didn't happen.

Billy was pretty sure he could kick himself -- why was he even here? Why was he ordering around business from this college campus? For a while he'd been scolding himself for even spending time sitting there; that was until he saw her -- but now what?

He saw her. So what?

He didn't know why he was even bothering at all with this chick. He had a good idea he wouldn't like her…he was already almost positive he hated her. He'd figured out who her parents were at the hospital, so she was probably some spoiled, whiney brat. He couldn't stand rich assholes with their arrogantly perfect lives -- girls included. So it bugged the hell out of him, that he couldn't get this bitch off his mind…couldn't forget that look, couldn't shake it….

So he stuck around even after getting off the phone with Tommy. He wasn't sure how many students went there or exactly how big the campus was, so he didn't really know his chances of seeing her again. He had a while before he had to be somewhere, though, so he stuck around just in case.

In case of….what?

Billy Darley hated not knowing things, so he was going to figure her out. Something was intriguing to him about her, and he was going to figure out what it was. Usually if someone agitated him this much he'd just off them…or at least give them a good beating. This wasn't necessarily aggravating in a bad way, though…

He made some more calls, so he didn't completely waste his time, and watched college students mill past. College…one thing he didn't really get. Of course, college had never been in his cards, not even a blip on his radar. He'd gotten through his Junior year in high school but by then he was sixteen, so he dropped out. He'd hated it, only attending for as long as he did to keep truancy investigations off the map; that kept Bones happy, which kept Billy safer.

And yet here were thousands of people happy to keep going to school…and pay for it.

Strange.

_____

"Joel, okay -- it's fine. I promise; I'm not mad or anything, but I don't want to talk about it," Natalie insisted.

As soon as they got out of class, Joel was on her case apologizing for bringing up anything.

"Ah, you are too mad," Joel rolled his eyes. "I wasn't trying to be insensitive."

"I know"

"Then why aren't you even paying attention," Joel sighed, grabbing her elbow lightly to stop her since they'd passed his building.

"I am. I hear you, and I'm over it. Now let go so we can both get going…"

"Can I have a smile first…?"

"'ey!" --- they both turned to see the tall, bald mustang-owner straighten where he was leaned before moving the cigarette from his mouth. "I think she said to let go," he nodded at them.

"Oh, it's not like that," Natalie explained quickly even as Joel quickly dropped his hand.

"Look, I'll see you later, Nat…have fun with Paige"

Joel cast a wary look at the stranger and turned around to get to his class. That left Natalie there and she shifted her focus to this mysterious stranger.

She knew it was the guy from the hospital that night, but had a better look at him now than ever before. She could see, now, just how big he was, tall and broad. His tattoos were visible, too, sneaking up onto his neck, past the collar of his shirt. She'd been a little scared of his presence that night, but was only just seeing that he actually did seem a little scary.

Someone bumped into her as they hurried down the sidewalk, causing her to stumble forwards just slightly. When she looked back to him she looked up into his face rather than taking him in as a whole. She found that he was looking her over similarly and she cocked her head slightly, taking another step forward even though his presence was foreboding.

"So are you some kind of stalker?" she asked, pulling the corner of her mouth up into a small smile.

He just looked at her; he came off bored but his eyes were alert as he dragged on his cigarette.

"Nah, I ain't stalkin' anybody"

"…so are you waiting for your class?" she asked casually, though he hardly looked like he belonged there; maybe that was judgmental, but it was the truth.

"I don't do school," he told her flatly, keeping his detached gaze on her.

"Whattcha doin' here then?"

"Is it illegal to park here? Cuz I didn't see no signs," he shrugged, waving his hand at the street where other cars were parked.

"No, I guess not," she chuckled a little. "…do you have a name?"

"You ask a lotta questions; ya know that?" he raised an eyebrow at her.

Natalie bit the inside of her cheek and narrowed her eyes a little as she looked him over again. She wasn't mad, but she was certainly curious. He made her a little edgy and she had the distinct feeling that she should be a little more scared, but it wasn't like he'd tried to even intimidate her any time she's seen him…

"Sorry….well, I gotta go; it's lunchtime. So…yeah," she ended the encounter lamely.

He just tilted his head up slightly in acknowledgment and sucked deeply on his cigarette. Natalie forced herself not to glance back as she walked away to meet Paige for lunch.

That was easily one of the most awkward conversations she'd ever had. For a moment she felt like she's committed some faux pas by asking so many questions, as he'd been forward enough to point out, but then reminded herself they'd been legitimate questions since she was curious about this guy who kept popping up in her life lately. It would be one thing if she saw him around the city sometimes, or if she always saw him around campus…but he'd been at the hospital, clearly come back specifically to her hospital room, and then just been sitting there like that. She wasn't putting any real stock in her accusation of "stalker" because if that's what he was really doing, he surely wouldn't be doing it so publicly.

Maybe it was a coincidence; things like this did just happen sometimes, even in a big city.

"Hey girl; did your class go over or something'?"

"No, I just stopped to talk to someone; sorry Paige," Natalie smiled apologetically once she met Paige outside of campus center, like usual.

"No big deal; let's get moving"

They hurried down the street to a little café off campus. Natalie enjoyed the lunch as they chatted amicably about anything, but couldn't shake the thought of the man from the hospital. Was she going to see him again? Would he just keep showing up? Did he want something? Should she be worried?…was this the kind of thing she should tell someone about?

Part of her told her that if she was worrying so much about it then, yeah, she should tell someone what was going on…or what she thought was going on. A more calm part of her reasoned that nothing had actually happened yet, so what was there, really, to tell.

"Where the hell you been all day?" Bodie asked when he looked up to see Billy strutting into the lab to check on things.

"The fuck are you talkin' to me like that for, huh?" Billy frowned, looking him over; it's not like he hadn't been reachable all day.

"Just no one knew where ya were," Bodie shrugged, not too concerned with the snappy retort; Billy was his leader, sure, but they'd been brothers too long for them to really take offense to each other. "You didn't tell nobody nothin', man; you straight?"

"I'm good; just lookin' into somethin'," Billy waved away the question. "Everything good here? I'd like to think I can be gone for half a day and shit won't get fucked up…"

"Yeah, we're good, bro. Don't gotta worry 'bout nothin'," Heco grinned.

"Heco, half the time I gotta be worried about you bein' high," Billy reminded him, thrusting a finger in his direction.

"Nah, man, I'm clean. I'm straight. I'm good," Heco readily assured him. "Just my pills, and those are legit."

Billy rolled his eyes. Yeah, his pills were prescribed and Billy was just sure he was loving it.

He continued to the back and grabbed his canvas bag from the cubby he kept it stashed away in when it wasn't on him. He grabbed the wad of money from his back pocket that he'd just collected from Tommy and then sat down to count that, plus what was in the bag from the night before. He had a delivery to Bones soon, and it usually served well to be prepared. So, in light of his impending meeting with his father, he shoved away thoughts of Natalie Shepherd and concentrated on the cash he'd soon be parting with.

"Girl, who're you texting?" Paige asked, slinging her bag over her shoulder after their lunch sometime the next week; now they had a class together.

"Joel"

"Uh-huh…you guys getting together or what? "Paige smiled in a sly, knowing sort of way.

"No; no, I seriously doubt that," Natalie scrunched her face a little to shake her head, even as her fingers jumped around to text Joel back.

"We'll see --- oho, shit…I think somebody pissed off the wrong guy," Paige commented, sounding on the verge of amused.

"Hmmm?" Natalie looked up quickly, wondering if they were going to see a fist fight throw down on the lawn or something.

She saw nothing out of the ordinary, just students hurrying here and there to get to class.

"What're you talking about?"

"See that car there?"

Paige pointed down the street to a mostly-black mustang where it was parked next to the sidewalk. It happened to be a car that Natalie was familiar with by now but she couldn't understand why Paige would know the car, or care that it was there. She'd seen it parked on campus a couple times, but hadn't gone up to him yet since she wasn't sure what's she'd say to him that she hadn't already said, and he hadn't shown any intentions of answering her questions. She just wanted to know what he was; it might give her a better idea of whatever was going on.

"Sure. So?"

"So?" Paige laughed. "Honey, you need to leave your neighborhood and come to my side of the tracks more often. That's Billy Darley….heads up the Darley gang…please tell me you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, I've heard the name before," Natalie nodded slowly. "But I wouldn't recognize him."

"Well that's him," Paige nodded to where Billy was standing on the side of the car farthest from them, leaning against the door with a phone at his ear. "Might not have realized it from this far if it wasn't for the car, but I've seen him before. Never at school, but around home."

"You just see him waltzing around? Fun…" Natalie muttered.

How, exactly, had she managed to get some gang-leading criminal popping up in her life?

"Well it's not like I'm in some gang, so what problem does he have with me? I don't work for him, don't work against him, and I don' buy anything from him. To him I'm just another person walking on the street, and visa versa," Paige shrugged. "But still, he's one dangerous S.O.B…that's for damn sure. Come on, let's cut this way incase he's here start trouble…"

They cut off the sidewalk across the lawn and Natalie spared a glance back at the black mustang. Maybe it was a good think she hadn't approached him again…

Hope you enjoyed. Please reviews.