AN: Here ya go folks! Don't forget to review!

(Jessie)

Alright, I'll be the first to admit that I was nervous. My parents never really got along. Honestly, it had surprised me to find that they had been in the same car when they died. So when I realized that I would be chilling with a real-life NORMAL family with a husband and a wife who loved each other, I wondered what I was supposed to do. What if Mrs. Orton didn't like me? What would happen then?

I didn't even notice when we parked in Randy's driveway. It wasn't until he opened my door and looked down at me that I was snapped out of my thoughts.

"You ready?" he asked with an easy smile.

"Do you think they'll like me?" I asked. He laughed.

"Who DOESN'T like you, Jess?" he asked. Dave Bautista popped into mind, and I tried to tell him so, but he cut me off. "Dave does NOT count, you brat." He held out his hand to help me up, and I took it with a smile. "Come on, let's go inside."

We walked inside, and Randy just looked happy.

"Sam! Al! We're home!"

"DADDY!" a small voice yelled. Small footsteps could be heard, and then a crash and the sound of shattered glass. A little blonde girl sped into view. Randy put his bags down and scooped her up.

"There's my little girl! What'd she break, Sam?"

"Picture frame. It's no big deal!" She walked into the foyer next.

"Hey there, stranger," Randy said with a smile. Still holding Alanna, he pulled Sam into a long kiss. "I missed you," he said. Sam pulled away with a smile, and then turned to me.

"How rude of us?" she asked. "You must be Jess." She held out her hand, and I shook it with a smile.

"And you must be Ms…?"

"Sam. Just Sam. Randy's told me a lot about you."

"Really?" I asked with a grin. "I'm sure it was all the bad things." Randy feigned a hurt look.

"Um, excuse me! I told her all about how you were my favorite runaway," he said.

"I'm your only runaway," I pointed out.

"Well would you rather me tell everyone you're my LEAST favorite?" We all laughed.

"Don't be strangers," Sam said. "Come on in, I was about to start on dinner. Randy, show her up to the guest bedroom." I looked up with Randy with a grin, and he shrugged.

"What can I say? She's got me whipped. Al, do you know who this is?" She looked at me and then shyly buried her face in his shoulder, peeking out at me. She shook her head.

"This is Jessie. She's going to live with us for a while." She didn't say anything, just smiled and turned her head into Randy's shoulder more.

"She's so cute," I told Randy. He grinned.

"Yeah, she gets it all from me. C'mon, guest bedroom." He led me up the stairs and into a big room with a full sized bed and French doors.

"Is that a balcony?" I asked in surprise. He laughed.

"Yeah, I like to be able to impress whenever some of the other guys come over. But… this'll be your room, for the time being." I grinned.

"This is awesome, Randy."
"Well, yeah, I try. Anyway, there's some drawers right there, but we're gonna be heading out tomorrow afternoon, so you might as well not unpack. I'm not, just gonna wash my clothes."

"You sound like such a pro at this," I said with a laugh.

"I'm a pro at EVERYTHING. Anyway, yeah, come downstairs whenever you're done."

"You got it!" Randy walked out the room and left me alone to check everything out. The bed was fantastic. I wasn't short by any standards, and I had slept in a twin bed my whole life. A full sized bed was awesome. And the French doors… Cha. Awesome. With a grin I opened them up and stood outside on the balcony. It was a nice day outside. Not too hot, but everything was really quiet. I looked up on the horizon and saw a thunderhead building. It looked like there would be a bad storm tonight. Hey, don't give me that look. I came from a long line of mariners; I knew how to read these things. With a sigh, I shut the doors and walked back into the room to get my stuff organized.

A few minutes later I went downstairs and found my way into the kitchen. Sam was cooking a spaghetti sauce, it smelled like, and laughing at Randy and Al. He was picking up his little girl and zooming her around the kitchen like an airplane. She was giggling adorably, and Randy looked happier than he had in a while. He brought Al over to Sam, and she put a spaghetti noodle on Randy's nose. I stood in the doorway feeling awkward. I felt weird, intruding on their private lives like this. They looked so happy, why should I interrupt that? As I turned to leave the room, Sam saw me.

"Hey there!" she said. "Don't be a stranger. Come on in." I walked in slowly. "How good are you at buttering bread?" she asked. I laughed.

"I think you could call me a bread buttering pro," I said.

"Well good!" She handed me some sliced up pieces of French bread and a bowl of melted garlic butter. "Think you can handle that?" I laughed.

"Yeah, I got it."

"Don't you Southern folks eat a lot of French bread?" she asked. I nodded.

"We have it with everything. Makes good Po-boy bread."

"Po-boy?" Sam asked, looking at me strange.

"Yeah, it's kinda like a sandwich, on French bread. You put anything on it, shrimp, roast beef."

"They're really good," Randy put in.

"I'm gonna have to cook y'all some real southern food," I said with a sigh. "Northerners," I groaned. They all laughed at me.

From then on, everything just seemed simple. We sat down and ate dinner together, then went and watched T.V. Gradually, through the night, I found myself becoming more and more relaxed. Sam was great. It was nice to finally have another female to talk to. It was definitely a big change from the happy fun Legacy all night party bashed I had been used to for the past week. Before I knew it, it was bed time.

"Bed time!" I told Randy with a laugh. "I think I forgot what that was."

"What do you people do on tour?" Sam asked.

"Me Ted and Cody have been partying. He got moved to Smackdown."

"Were you three close?" Randy laughed out loud.

"Were they close? Look at this picture Mark sent me." He pulled out his phone and showed her a picture. Sam started laughing.

"Hey! What is that?" I asked. Randy shook his head, and I scrambled over him to grab his phone, and saw a picture of Ted, Cody, and I asleep on top of each other. "He took a picture?" I asked, surprised.

"And sent it to everyone on the roster," Randy said. I groaned. "I told you, they will ALWAYS find a way to get you back. Anyway, bedtime, you two!" He picked up Alanna and carried her upstairs.

"Can I help you clean up?" I asked Sam.

"Oh, you're wonderful!" she exclaimed. "But no, no. Go on upstairs. From what Randy told me you've have some trying past couple days. Go to bed." I grinned.

"Thanks, Sam. G'night!" I ran up the stairs after Randy, and stopped short at the top of the stairs when loud thunder shook the whole house. Randy's head poked out of Al's room.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Fine!" I said quickly. "I'm good. Night."

(Randy)

I watched Jess practically run into the guest bedroom. The storm tonight was going to be bad. I was worried about her. After I had put Alanna to bed, I went downstairs to spend some one on one time with Sam.

"So, do you like her?" I asked her as I took a seat next to her on the couch.

"Are you kidding?" she said with a laugh. "She's a great kid. I'm glad you brought her here." We were both silent for a moment as lightning struck again and thunder rumbled in the distance.

"She's afraid of storms," I said quietly.

"Will she be ok?" I shrugged.

"Last storm we had to deal with, she seemed a lot better than the first time. I might check on her a couple times tonight." She turned to me and kissed me.

"I missed you." I grinned.

"Let's move this somewhere a little more… Private."

(Jessie)

I laid in bed for a few hours, unable to sleep. At some point, I had decided that I was tired of being scared of useless things like storms. Maybe not HARMLESS, but certainly not anything to be afraid of. I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was midnight. It hadn't started raining yet, but the thunder and lightning had picked up. It would start to pour any moment now. Do they HAVE storms this bad in Missouri? I chalked it up to my terrible luck and sat up.

"I'm not afraid of anything," I muttered to myself. Not really thinking about my actions, I walked over to the French doors and opened one up, stepping outside to the balcony. The wind ran through my hair, and the thunder boomed all around me. Lightning spider-webbed across the sky.

"It's kinda beautiful, isn't it?" I spun around and saw Randy standing behind me with a small smile. I nodded. "What are you doing out here."

"I decided I was tired of being afraid," I said softly. "Look, I'm sorry, I just needed to-"

"No, don't apologize," he told me gently. "I'm glad you could face it." I looked back out into the clouds and took a deep breath. Randy came up next to me and put one of his arms around my shoulders. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm better than I've been in a long time." The loudest thunder I think I've ever heard cracked through the night, and I cowered into his embrace.

"Look," he said. "It can't hurt you." I looked out into the night and nodded. Slowly, I drew away from him and stood right by the rail. More thunder shook the night, and I was alright. I thought about how much my life had changed in such a short time. I had people who cared about me. I knew what family really felt like.

And now, as the first raindrop fell, I felt something I hadn't truly felt in months. I was free.