Joanne asked Adam to distract Roy while she talked to Johnny. He nodded understanding her reasons, his wife having told him how Joanne was sick of Johnny. She had said that Johnny was constantly around the house taking up Roy's family time and then expecting to stay for dinner. Joanne had failed to include how Johnny had helped repair and practically renovate their house, forgoing his own time for his own activities.
Adam picked up Roy's daughter and told her if she asked nicely her dad would take her for another pony ride. He placed her in Roy's arms startling him at first. He had been watching his son. Johnny was carefully instructing him on the use of a knife and Roy had been concentrating on his son's careful movements.
"Daddy pleeeease can I have another pony ride?" she gave him her best puppy dog look. Roy's heart melted, he could never say no to his daughter. Joanne stood back and watched Roy carry his daughter over to the pony rides. She quickly made her way over to Johnny and Chris.
Johnny looked up to see Joanne looking rather annoyed at Johnny. "I don't like him using a knife John" she stated firmly, showing her disapproval further by crossing her arms over her chest.
"I've told Chris the rules and he knows not to ever use a knife without permission Joanne" Johnny said defensively. He knew he got on Joanne's nerves, she had never really warmed to him, she mostly just tolerated him.
"I don't care, what's stopping him from taking one of my knives and sneaking out back to use it to make something?" Joanne asked aggressively, as if John didn't know how kids acted.
"Chris?" Johnny nudged him to reply.
"If I used a knife without permission, I could kill someone by accident and then I would be locked away and never see my family again or I could accidently kill myself cause I might cut myself so bad all the blood in my body would fall onto the ground and I'd die" he said wide eyed.
"Johnny!" she said louder than she meant to. She was shocked that he would fill her son's mind with these images.
"Whatever works" he said shrugging not feeling at all guilty for painting the grim pictures in Chris's mind. A knife was a very serious tool and he wanted Chris to fully understand how dangerous it was. He had seen some gruesome injuries when he was living on the reservation as well as on the job.
Joanne shook her head and sighed. "I need to speak to you" she said gesturing him away from Chris. She would deal with that later; she needed to talk to Johnny before Roy noticed. She looked over her shoulder and made sure Roy was still distracted.
"White Eagle, can you sit with Chris please? This is his first time using a knife" he told his friend who nodded knowingly.
Johnny stood and followed Joanne to a spot away from everyone. From a distance, Cap watched Joanne lead Johnny away from Chris and looked for Roy. He saw him over at the pony rides with his daughter along with Adam and his daughter. He brought his attention back to Johnny and Joanne and noticed Johnny's posture change. He watched Joanne walk away from Johnny who stood still like a statue. When Johnny still didn't move for quite a few minutes Cap got up and started to walk towards Johnny.
"Uncle Johnny, Uncle Johnny look!" cried out Chris holding up his bow completely unaware that his Uncle was stunned. Johnny looked at Chris and tried to smile.
"That's really great Chris, couldn't have done better myself. How about you show your dad, hey?" Cap could hear the pain in Johnny's voice. He started to walk faster desperately wanting to talk to Johnny.
"John!" Cap called out as Johnny started to turn towards the trees that lined the park. Johnny stopped and hung his head waiting for Cap to catch up to him.
Johnny took a deep breath and pushed all his emotions deep down into his soul. He wanted to run, run till he dropped but knew in reality he was being silly. Although he and Cap's son were able to tackle more challenging running routes he still had to be careful not to overdo it and he knew running away from this was not the answer.
Cap put his hand on John's shoulder and for the first time in months Johnny actually flinched. Alarm bells went off in Cap's mind and looked around for Mike or Kirk. He caught Kirk's eye and motioned that things were not alright and to watch that no one disturbed them. Kirk had been watching the entire scene unfold and knew exactly what Cap needed and nodded. He grabbed a beer and walked over to a spot near where Cap and Johnny sat down and took guard.
Mike had also been watching from further away and seeing Kirk take guard he then tracked his eyes for Joanne. He saw her sitting talking, no whispering into Adam's wife's ear. She seemed to like what she was hearing and was nodding in approval. He then tracked for Roy and found him along side Adam watching their daughters and sons riding ponies. Roy was holding a bow in his hand. Mike then tracked back to Joanne and was just in time to see Joanne and Adam's wife clink their glasses of wine looking very satisfied. He then tracked over to Johnny and Cap and saw Cap rub his hand over his face in frustration. Johnny was staring as if in a trance at his hands. Mike sighed and became angry with Roy and Joanne for spoiling Johnny's day. This was meant to be a celebration of Johnny's recovery and him thanking all these special people but now it had turned into something bad and hurtful. He scowled at Roy then Joanne, and wanted to wipe the smiles off their faces. He felt a hand on his shoulder looked up, his angry eyes meeting beautiful blue eyes.
"I saw it too...let Cap take care of it" Dixie said trying to calm Mike. She had seen the anger on his face and decided to try to diffuse his hostility before doing something he would regret.
Mike nodded knowing she was right. He didn't want to do anything that would hurt Johnny any more than he was. Dixie smiled but her smile soon left her face as she watched Joanne walk over to Roy.
"I'd really like to wipe that smirk of her face" Dixie stated.
"Now who needs to calm down and let Cap take care of it?" Mike said accusingly.
It was Dixie's turn to nod and agree. "How about we tag team? I'll take on Joanne and you can have Roy" she said trying to calm herself with humour.
"You're on. We just need to get rid of Adam and his wife, they might cause interference" said Mike trying to sound serious.
"Hmm, Roy's changed since he's partnered with Adam" she stated thoughtfully.
"No not changed, just has a different set of priorities. He's never been a good friend to Johnny. Sure he's helped him a lot especially when Cap first took over but I've never seen him be a true friend of Johnny's. He uses Johnny and Johnny's so easy going and forgiving" Dixie nodded agreeing with Mike "He doesn't see that in Roy. He thinks Roy considers him as family but he doesn't and he's unfortunately proved me right" Mike finished sadly.
"You're right. Up until Johnny's accident I never saw Roy for what he really was...and now that you say it...yeah he did use Johnny." They both looked over towards Cap and Johnny. Johnny was still sitting stiffly but he was nodding as Cap continued to speak to him. Dixie and Mike could only speculate what was being said and why.