They tried to take off but the officers from before had the other side of the alley blocked off, and were now running towards them, "You two hold it right there!"

Amya rolled her eyes and raised her hands above her head, "Perfect. Jack's going to kill me now. What was that before about ruining it with another family 'cause uhh..."

"No, you were right. They would never let you go. Don't worry about that okay?" Carson asked. Amya nodded and the officer grabbed her arms and roughly pulled them into handcuffs behind her back. Another did the same to Carson.

"Really this seems like a bit much for two kids being at a park at night, don't you think?" Amya asked them.

"We have you now for breaking and entering, disobeying curfews, and resisting arrest," The officer explained to them.

"But we didn't break anything!" Amya tried. The officer ignored her and started reading them their rights.

"I want them split up, him in one car, her in the other," The man in charge ordered.

They took Carson away and the man turned on Amya, "Where do you live?"

Amya reluctantly answered him and he shook his head, "Really that's at least an hour drive from here, and you don't seem to have a car. How'd you get here?"

"Bought a bus ticket," Amya answered.

"Does your family know where you are?" He asked. She ignored him.

"If you cooperate this will be a lot easier on you trust me," He explained.

She shook her head, "No they don't."

"And they're probably worried sick aren't they?" He asked.

She nodded, "Probably."

"What were you doing out here? Did he make you come here?" The officer asked.

"No! Carson would never make me do anything. He's an old friend. I didn't even plan on meeting him honestly. I used to live here and I just came back to visit. That park means a lot to me that's all," She explained.

"Alright then, let's get you home," He spoke, "Call her parents. Explain the situation and let them know she's alright. Tell them that you are taking her to their police station where they can pick her up."

"Yes Sir," The younger officer responded.

"You. We are not going to press charges but I don't want to see you in my area again without a guardian with you, understood?" He asked.

"Yes Sir," Amya answered. Amya gave them Rudy's name and phone number. The younger officer helped her into the back seat and then did as he was instructed. They unfortunately had a very long and detailed conversation.

"Yes Sir she's alright," He spoke finally, "No she's been let off with a warning that's all. Uh huh. Yes we'll be there soon. Okay bye."

"He sounded really relieved to know that you were alright," the officer spoke. Amya rolled her eyes.

"What happened?" The officer asked, "Were you angry or something?" No response came from Amya.

"Upset maybe?" He tried again.

"Yes okay? Yes I was upset and angry. But not at them. Not really. I just needed to get away for a little bit. You wouldn't understand," She answered.

"So taking a bus ride that I'm sure took over an hour... you don't think that was overdoing it a little?" He asked.

Amya glared at him, "So handcuffing a teenage girl, you don't think that's overdoing it a little?"

"Only following orders kid. Besides you're lucky. If the chief wanted, you could be facing some severe charges for the stunts you pulled tonight," He spoke.

Amya rolled her eyes again, "If this is such a free country why can't people just go to the park at night when they're upset and be left alone? I really don't think what I did was such a big deal. It's not like I was hurting anyone."

"The laws are in place so that..." He began.

"Yeah yeah yeah safety, order, like I haven't heard any of this before blah blah blah blah bl-" Amya started.

"Oh little girl if you were my kid..." He trailed off, "I don't want to hear another word from you for the rest of this ride."

"You started it," She mumbled.

"What was that?" He asked.

"Why do you care you said you didn't want to hear my words?" She asked sarcastically.

"Shut it," He ordered. She narrowed her eyes and slumped down into the seat as far as she could manage. To no surprise Rudy and Jack were waiting for her inside the station. The officer pulled her along beside him.

"Remember what the chief told you," He warned pointing his finger in her face. She glared at him and looked away.

He unlocked her cuffs and released her, "She's got quite a mouth on her. Looks like you have your hands full." Amya rolled her eyes.

"I'm sorry officer," Rudy tried, "Amya, say you're sorry." She turned away and crossed her arms.

Jack stepped in front of her and she shrunk away from his towering figure, "Apologize. Now."

"I-I'm sorry Sir," She tried.

"For what Amya?" Jack asked pointing towards the officer. He put his hand on her shoulder and turner her firmly.

She shuffled her feet and looked at the man, "I'm sorry I was rude to you, and ran from you, and then you had to drive me all the way back here."

The man looked pleased, "Well I'm glad to see that she is in good hands after all. You may all go."

"Thank you Sir," Jack and Rudy answered bowing slightly out of habit.

Jack looked at her and she quickly followed with another, "Thank you Sir."

"We'll discuss this at home," Rudy said. Jack agreed and Amya followed them to the car. She sat in the back seat fidgeting the whole way, and wishing that someone besides her would say something, anything, to break the silence.

Amya followed them into the house and was the first to speak, "Should I go pack?"

"What?" Rudy asked, "Where do you think you're going now?"

"Aren't you going to send me away?" She asked.

Rudy hugged her tightly, "No way. You're punishment is that you are not going anywhere. Trust me when I say you will not be going out of our sight for a very very long time little girl."

Amya smiled at Rudy, "Okay Sir. I really am sorry for everything." Rudy smiled and she turned towards Jack who did not look amused at all.

Her smile quickly fell as she stared at him. He looked like he had calmed down, but she did not like the ominous presence he was giving off. She backed away, "Jack I..."

Jack pushed up two black sleeves as he spoke, "And trust me when I say that when I'm through with you... you're going to wish that we had just let you go."

Amya shuddered, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jack motioned her forward with his hand, "Come on. You're about to find out."

"Jack. Please not again. Jack I'm sorry, really I am," She tried, remembering the way that he stopped as soon as she apologized the last time.

Jack shook his head, "Nope. It won't be that easy this time."

Amya whimpered, "Rudy?"

Rudy shook his head, "No Amya it's Jack's decision and he's right. I have full trust in him to take care of you. You're very lucky that I'm not taking you across my lap as well. If you ever scare me like that, or run away again, you won't be so lucky. Understood?"

"Yes Sir," Amya answered solemnly.

"Okay," He held out his arms. Amya hugged him tightly.

"Now go to your room. I'll see you tomorrow." Rudy ordered.

For once Amya obeyed immediately and Rudy felt proud. He smiled at Jack for a second and then let out a deep breath as his smile faltered. Rudy had tears welling up in his eyes.

"Rudy, Rudy, what's wrong?" Jack asked urgently.

Rudy waved him off, "It's nothing. It's nothing. I just..." He bit his lip and looked at Jack, "I was really scared. I thought I... we... may have lost her... Just don't go easy on her okay?"

Jack nodded, "Trust me I won't. I felt the same way. But we have each other and our friends. We're not going to let anything happen to her." Amya smiled and wiped her eyes as she stood listening at the top of the stairs.

Jack jogged up the steps and she froze, "I..."

"Disobeying orders, again," Jack spoke.

"I'm so sorry Jack!" Amya ran up and hugged him just as tightly as she had Rudy, "I know you're mad, and I know you should be, and I deserve whatever-"

"Hush," Jack said rubbing her back soothingly, "It's going to be alright." Amya only nodded.

After a moment Jack spoke again, "Come on let's get this over with."

Jack sat down on his sister's bed and looked at her. She was wearing skin tight denim shorts and a black hoodie. She would have looked much older if she wasn't tugging at her sleeves and bouncing back and forth nervously. He did not waste any further time as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her down. In this position the shorts just barely covered his target so he decided to let her keep her modesty. Something he wouldn't have done for Kim, but she was his girlfriend and for now she still held more experience being over his lap. He smirked, wondering exactly how long it would take for Amya to surpass Kim in that department. He had known Kim longer, but at the rate Amya was going, she would be sure to catch up soon.

After the pause the first smack caught her off guard and she yelped. She clung to the bed sheets as he continued. She had already forgotten how much this hurt. No that wasn't all. He must have been going easy on her last time. This time the smacks resonated loud and clear and she was sure that she never wanted to end up in this position ever again. After a few minutes she could no longer keep silent, "OW! Jack okay! Ouch! Okay I'm sorry. I said I was sorry! Ow please Jack!"

Jack shook his head, "Sorry little sister but you aren't getting off that easily."

"But it hurts," She whined.

Jack didn't stop and he actually started picking up the pace, "Trust me I know it does." Amya was squirming as much as she could to avoid the stinging swats but Jack held her down effortlessly.

"What did I tell you the last time you ran away?" He asked.

"That if Ow! Jack come on!" She yelled.

"Watch the attitude," He warned giving her a few extra hard swats in a row.

"Ow! Ow! Okay! Ow! mmm sorry!" She whined.

"Answer the question," He continued.

"That I uh! If I ran a-way again you'd make this a lot worse! Ow you did, you win," She tried.

"This isn't about winning. This is about what you did. Even after I warned you about running away, what did you do?" Jack asked.

Amya smirked, "I ran a lot further away..."

Jack shook his head, "This clearly isn't getting through to you. Stand up." He pulled her up and she stared at him confused.

"Wait here," Jack said. Jack returned a minute later with a small thick wooden paddle in his hand.

"Oh no!" Amya argued, "No no no no no!" She backed up until she found the wall, "Jack you can't!"

"Why did you do this?" Jack asked.

"Jack I'm sorry. I was upset about the letter and I just wanted to get away. I used to go to that park all the time at ni... um..." She scrambled for words that wouldn't upset him.

"This isn't the first time you've broke in there after hours?" He asked.

"No this just happened to be the first time we..." She shook herself, "I mean that I... got caught."

"We?" Jack asked, "They mentioned you were with someone. Who was he?"

"Nobody. No one important just a friend," Amya tried. Jack was tired of talking. He grabbed her wrist and led her back over to her bed.

She whimpered, "Oh no. Not again. Jack?"

"We're not close to being done here Amya. I want answers, and one way or another I plan on getting them," He gave her a warning swat with the paddle. She jumped and whimpered.

"Who was he?" Jack asked.

"I told you, he's just a friend," She tried.

"I can tell when you're keeping something from me Amya now I want the truth," Jack said continuing with the dreaded paddle.

"Ow Okay stop! I am telling the truth. I've known him for a long time. His mom still lives in that neighborhood and he goes to see her a lot. I didn't plan on meeting him there it just happened," Amya said, "I go there when I'm upset. That's all. I was going to come back soon I promise." She hoped he would drop it because she couldn't tell him about Carson and everything that she knew. Not yet.

Jack accepted the answer but picked up the pace, "And being rude to the officer?"

"He started it!" Amya complained.

"It doesn't matter Amya, you had no right to fight with him, or run from him," Jack said landing an extra hard swat.

Amya couldn't hold back the tears anymore and she started crying, "Okay b-brother I'm s-sorry! I won't d-do any of it a-gain I promise!" Jack stopped and laid the paddle on the bed. He flipped her over and pulled her up into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried.

"Next time you're upset you talk to me about it okay? You don't bottle it up and then take off," Jack said, "You really scared us."

"I'm sorry Jack. I w-wasn't t-trying to scare you guys," Amya apologized again. He rubbed her back as she calmed down.

"I love you Amya," Jack said.

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" She asked confused.

"No not anymore. I forgive you," He said, 'but don't let it happen ever again."

She nodded and hugged him tighter, "I love you too." 'And I'm sorry I had to lie to you.' Were the unspoken words that followed. She knew if she told Jack now that he wouldn't be done with her yet, and she didn't know how much more she could take. She also wondered how long she'd be able to keep those secrets from him...

Review please!