I only own those you don't recognize.

Too late to make it right

"Forgive, sounds good

forget, I'm not sure I could.

They say, time heals everything.

But I'm still waiting.

I'm through with doubt

there's nothing left for me to figure out.

I've paid a price

and I'll keep paying it.

I'm not ready to make nice,

I'm not ready to back down

I'm still mad as hell and

I don't have time to go round and round and round.

It's too late to make it right,

I probably woudn't if I could.

'Cause I'm mad as hell

Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should."

-Not Ready to Make Nice, The Dixie Chicks

She unlocked the door to apartment 605 and stepped inside. It smelled of Pinesol and various other cleaning products. She'd spent the last two days scrubbing every surface and every nook and crannie. Shedding months of caked on dirt and nastiness. Her brother was a great guy. He was funny and cute in a geeky sort of way and had a heart of gold. But he kept house like he dressed. Half assed. She told him he owed her for her maid service and for all her cooking that wold save him from a life of grease and high cholesterol and banished nearly all take out menus from the apartment. And that she was putting his name in for a makeover on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Or What Not to Wear.

Adam, you need help, she'd said when he balked and appeared more than slightly hurt. How'd you ever survive that long without me?

It was a damn near miracle that the guy hadn't died of some food borne illness by now. His idea of a healthy meal was chinese without the MSG or a vegetarian pizza. No wonder Kendall nearly had a stroke when she saw produce and fresh meat and milk in the fridge and Adam answered the door freshly shaven and in a pair of brand new Tommy Jeans and a black golf shirt as opposed to his hung over, I just rolled off the couch look.

Adam Ross, Sam had said as she tossed him the new clothes she'd bought him. I am going to save your life!

She locked the door behind her and tossed her keys on a small table to the right. Toeing off her shoes, she went into the living room to check the answering machine. She was expecting a call from Pheonix. Her step father Clint. He was a better father to her and Adam than their real one had ever been. A retired pilot with both the Air Force and American Airlines. He was a tall, burly guy with snow white curly hair and a Wyatt Earp moustache and arms so huge they looked like they could crush steel. She and Adam fondly called him Sarge. And dad.

There were three new messages. She hit play and turned on the stereo and sunk onto the couch with a Sodoku puzzle book and a pen, her legs tucked underneath her.

"Hey lady bug..." a deep, rumbling voice echoed through the apartment, making her smile. "It's one thirty. Just calling to make sure you and your brother haven't strangled each other yet. 'Member how you two used to scrap when you were a teen and he was the annoying little brother?" a warm laugh nearly bounced off the walls. "Lots of good times with you two. Anyhow, give me a shout later tonight. Love ya, lady bug."

The machine beeped and went to the second message.

"Samantha..."

Her head shot up and she looked across the room towards the machine. She couldn't remember the last time he actually called her by her name.

"Its your father..."

Even worse. He always said daddy or dad.

"... it's three thirty," the message continued, "I've got something to tell you and I want you to call me back when you get this. Nothing's wrong with me or mommy, but its important. Talk soon, lady bug."

The machine switched onto the new message.

"Samantha..."

The sound of that voice made her blood run cold. Goosebumps pricked up all over her body. Her stomach tightened.

"I don't know why you took off like you did. I go away for three weeks and I come back and you're no nowhere around. What? You didn't stop to think I'd find out where you are and where you are? We can work things out. You know you can. You want it to work out. I miss you. You better call me back. Don't make me come to that shit hole city and drag your ass back here."

She sprang off of the couch. Stubbing her toe off of the leg of the coffee table and screaming every obscentity in the book as she hopped across the living room on one good foot as she made her way to the answering machine. She nearly busted the damn thing slamming her hand down on the erase button.

Nothing is going to make it right! she raged inside, wincing as she put her injured foot on the ground and began pacing the living room, hands in her hair. Nothing! Nothing can make it better! Make the pain go away! The hurt and the emotional scars and the permenent issues with trust the entire ordeal had left her with. The thought of him coming to New York sent blind panic gripping at her chest. She couldn't let that happen.She couldn't let him ruin anything else. Without even realizing it, she had reached into the backpocket of her pants and was holding that business card in her fingers. She stared down at it. At the name and number.

"Whatever you need. Don't matter what time of day or what its for. Big or small. Just call."

She was tempted to do it. Just pick up that phone and dial those numbers and... and what? What then? What would she say? How weak would that make her look? How vulnerable would she appear to a guy she barely knew? And what did it say for her when she was so willing to turn to a stranger for help? No. She wouldn't do it. She slipped the card back into her pocket. She just couldn't do it. Maybe one day, she thought wistfully. When it doesn't hurt so bad.

She sat with that diamond ring in her hand and tears streaming down her face. How could something so good turn out so horribly bad? There she was on a front porch swing on a wrap around porch at her parents' home. The wind rustling the trees and the sun beginning to set in the distance in a stunning display of vivid orange and pink that did little too brighten the darkness in her heart. On the eve of what was suppose to be the happiest day of her life, every dream and every wish had come to a screeching, disasterous end. For the first tie in her life she had actually been happy. In love. Someone loved her back. She was going to be a wife and maybe someone's mother one day. And now? Never again would she trust another man or let them get that close. Never.

The screen door sqeaked open and through her tears she saw her brother and her dad standing there. Clint was their dad. No doubt about it. He'd treated them and loved them like his own since the day he maried their momma when Sam was fifteen and adam was ten. He'd moved them to Arizona to shed the years of torment. He fed them and clothed them and put them through school. Supported them no matter what. He was quick with an I love you or I'm proud of you. He'd helped them on the road to healing. And he'd turned their momma into a laughing, sparkling beautiful woman any child would be proud to call their mother.

"Lady bug..." Clint said, his voice smooth and deep. "Can Adam and I join you?"

She nodded, brushing away tears with the back of her hand.

They sat on either side of her. The man who had become her father no questions asked. And the young man who meant the world to her and who she'd die to protect. The only man she ever trusted. Her peanut.

Clint offered her a steaming cup of tea. "Your momma and I called everyone on the list and told them not to bother showin'. Don't you worry about a thing. Its all taken care of. Adam and I split the list. The church, the reception hall, DJ, all that. No worries. It's all done."

"Thank you." she said and sipped her tea. "What about nana and papa? They're probably on their way from Flagstaff right now."

"Got a hold of papa," Adam told her. "They're still coming down. Nana's bringing some of her famous pecan buttertarts you love so much. Says they'll cheer you up."

"And papa's bringing his twelve gauge Remington huntin' rifle and I'm gonna grab my Smith and Weston and me and him are gonna go on a pig hunting expedition. No offense to either of you workin' for the police. I'm talking about the low down dirty mud sucking kind of pig."

Sam managed a laugh. "Papa comin' here like John Wayne to shoot the place up. I can just see it happening."

"I tell ya, when I get a hold of that sonofabitch, I'm gonna beat his ass from sun up to sun down and then do it all again tomorrow." Clint vowed. "Dirty rotten..."

"Mother fucker." Adam finished.

Sam burst out laughing and coughed and sputtered on her tea. She wrapped an arm around her brother's shoudlers and kissed his cheek. "I missed you, peanut," she said. "I'm glad you're here."

"So am I." he said, resting his head against hers. "Couldn't miss my sister's wedding, right? Even though now its my would be brother in law's funeral when dad and papa get a hold of his sorry ass."

"He's gonna be sorry all right." Clint delared. "No guy messes with my lady bug. And that guy? Thinking no one would find out? What a ..."

"Mother fucker." Adam said again. "Getting ladies he pulls over to give him favors in exchange of letting them go. That's jsut plain nasty. None of the guys I work with are like that."

"Maybe you should have brought a couple with you here and you coulda set me up." Sam laughed.

"Just be thankful you found out now, rather than later." Clint reasoned.

She nodded

"You make a decision yet?" Clint asked. "About taking off for a while? Mama and I will miss you but you have to do what's right for you, lady bug."

"I'm going to put in for a transfer or look for a posting somewhere." she replied confidently.

"Where you going to go?" Adam asked.

"Where ever they'll have me." she replied.

Three weeks later, while the sonofabitch was in Cabo with some buddies, she cleaned out the apartment and the chequing and savings accounts and was on her way to New York City.

Now, she was in the small cramped living room of that one bedroom apartment in Queens with her leg up on the couch and an ice pack on her foot and the cordless phone tucked to her ear, listening to her father rant and rave for the last ten minutes.

"Who does that bastard think he is?" Clint raged. In the back ground, Sam could hear her mother begging her husband to just calm down. Before he has a heart attack or a stroke.

"Apparently, he thinks he's still with me." Sam said. "And he says that he's coming to New York if I don't call him."

"Here's the thing, lady bug... he's already on his way. Its why I was callin'. To give you the heads up."

Wonderful, Sam thought, sighing heavily and closing her eyes. "When did he leave?" she asked.

"This morning. He's drivin' so it gives you a few days to prepare. Is there anyone there that can keep an eye out on ya?"

"Just Adam." she replied.

"Honey, no offense to your brother, but he couldn't fight his way outta paper bag. I mean someone who can take care of business if the need arises."

"There's one person." she said. "He can more than handle his own. Trust me. I met him today." she lifted herself up slightly and pulled the card from her back pocket. "A homicide detective. The one that helped Adam out not long ago. He seems like a decent guy. Big and strong to boot."

"You trust him?" Cliff asked.

"I could trust him." she replied.

"That's a start."

Five minutes later, heart pounding in her chest, she was dialling the numbers on that business card. It rang once. Twice. Three times. She was just beginning to consider hanging up when he answered.

"Detective Flack."