Hi all,
I am so sorry for the radio silence since my last update. Without going into details, life isn't the best atm and I just haven't had the chance to continue writing/uploading at this point in time. I don't know when I'll be updating next but I will be back when I can.

Enjoy.


At the sound of a knock on his door, Captain James looked up from his paperwork to see Trey and his mother standing in the doorway. 'Hey. Come on in...' He invited, closing the file up he'd been going through.

'Captain.'

'How's Austin treating you, Keesha?' He questioned as he stood to greet her.

'Oh, hot as hell, just like home.' She replied as she shook his hand.

'Yeah, you're not, you're not wrong.' Captain James agreed, motioning to the chairs in front of his desk. 'Have a seat.'

'Thank you.'

'Okay.'

'What's up, Cap?' Trey questioned, taking a seat beside his mom.

'When I was first coming up, there was this brother named Willy Lamb. He was like, you know, old-school cool, tough as nails, one of only a few Black Rangers. He was stationed up north. When I got my star, he drove through the night just to see them pin it on me,' Pulling a box out of one of the drawers behind him, he returned to his desk and held it out to Trey. 'and he gave me this.'

With a look of surprise, Trey took the box and took the lid off, looking at the item inside as he placed the lid down on the desk. Gently he took the leather shoulder holster out of the box, seeing three sets of initials stamped into the leather. W.L, L.J, and his, T.B. 'Cap...' He shook his head, at a loss for words.

'Willy had it made to kind of set himself apart, not that he needed any help doing that, but it was his way of saying, "I'm one of you, I'm here. You know? I ain't going anywhere."

'Thank you. I mean, this, this is just...' He didn't know what to say. 'Wow.'

'Hey, you earned your spot, man. This is just a little something to remind you that there's more to it than the day-to-day, you know?'

'Yeah. Yeah. There's history.'

'That's right, a legacy.' Captain James added. 'One that you're a part of and one that I know you're going to live up to.'

Trey nodded. 'Yes, sir.'


'Well, lookie here.' Stan remarked as he was escorted into the room by one of the correctional center officers, the officer removing his handcuffs before motioning for him to sit at the table. 'Madeline Stanton.' He said, looking at the teen as he sat down. 'Long time, no see. To what do I owe the pleasure?'

Maddie folded her arms across her chest, the photograph she'd borrowed from Rose sitting facedown on the table in front of her. 'Mr. Morrison, believe me, it has not been long enough.' She replied coldly, memories of that night coming back to her as she glared at the murderer in front of her. How he had kidnapped her, taken Cordell, organized to have her father killed... No, get back on track. She told herself, forcing herself to swallow back her hate for the man. She needed answers to questions that she had and he was the only one who could give them to her. 'I'm not here for a social call so let's get down to business.'

Leaning back in his chair, Stan nodded.

Glaring at him, she flipped over the photograph and pushed it halfway across the table towards him. 'Start talking.'

Seeing the picture of Bruce and Cali with their daughter, he let out a long sigh.

'Well, I'm waiting.' Maddie exclaimed, glaring at him. 'How about you start with lying to me about my half-sister? You said she was dead and I find out she'd very much alive.

'This is what I was afraid of. I didn't think you could handle the truth.'

'That was not your decision to make for me! I could have been searching for her. I could have found her months ago. She's the only family I have. She's all I have left.' She paused. 'How long? How long did you know?'

Stan took a deep breath, choosing his answers carefully. 'Bruce and I... We went to the same school together but fell out of touch when I went to college. He left town, didn't hear from him for years. 'Bout four years ago, we met up at a bar in Mexico. I had to meet with Cali, he'd come along with her. Needed work. We reconnected, caught up on lost times. He told me he had a daughter, Rose, but he never mentioned you. Not until he moved here to Austin.' He paused for a moment, looking back up at Maddie. 'Your father was living a double life. Telling you one thing, telling Cali another. He was a piece of work.'

'Yeah, you can say that again.' She agreed with a snort. 'Cali never knew about me, did she?'

'Far as I know, nope. He kept his cards close to his chest. Never said anything more than he had to. I know this is hard for you to hear but your father...' Stan shook his head as his words trailed off.

'I know he was no saint.' Maddie exclaimed. 'And I no longer call Bruce my father. He lost that privilege years ago.'

'Your father... He was a complicated person to say the least. Other than saying that, I don't have answers for why he was the way that he was. He had a good family, good parents. Guess somewhere along the line, he got into the wrong crowd.'

'Apparently...' She paused, Sasha laying her head down on her lap as she noticed her beginning to become anxious. 'That night, the ah... The night Dad took you back to where you killed Emily-'

'Woah, hold on a second. Cordell's looking after you now?' He questioned with surprise.

'He adopted me last Christmas.'

'Well I'll be damned. Guess things worked out for you then.'

'If you call living through hell for five years till you found a family working out for me, then yeah, I guess you could.' Maddie placed a hand on her dog's head, intertwining her fingers through the long fur on her ears to ground her. 'That night, I asked you if I had any siblings and you said that I had a half-sister who had died.'

'I lied.'

'Yeah. I guess you did.' Sliding the photograph back to her side of the table she looked down at it for a moment then back up at Stan. 'Rose was adopted by Cali's sister. She was told Cali was killed in a car accident and that she was Rose's only next of kin. That part of your work too?'

After a moment, Stan nodded. 'I just wanted what was best for the girl. Your father was in no fit state to look after her.'

'Huh. Look at you. A regular guardian angel.' Maddie snorted. 'Considering I was to be murdered as part of your plan to get rid of my father.'

'Maddie, just leave the past in the past. What is done, is done.' He replied. 'If that's all, there's the door.'

'One last thing.' She started as she placed the photograph on her lap, preparing to leave. 'I hope you rot in here.'

At that, Stan chuckled. 'You know, your father said almost the same thing the last time he was here.'

'Guess you can say he and I are a lot alike then.' Wheeling herself back, Sasha trotted beside her as she returned to the door. 'We both have a distaste for selfish bastards.'


'I still cannot believe that this is your family's place.' Cordell exclaimed as he and Cassie walked into her grandmother's barbecue restaurant later that night, the anniversary party on in full swing. 'Wow.'

Cassie chuckled. 'Yeah.'

'And you never told me you're Texas barbecue royalty.' He added as he closed the door behind them, carrying the evidence case with him. 'I mean, it's almost hurtful.'

'Well, there's a lot of things you don't know.' She replied, looking around the crowd to find her grandmother.

'Oh, yeah?'

Ignoring his question, Cassie navigated her way through the crowd to where her grandmother sat at a table with her brother and Liam, involved in some kind of domino game. 'There she is.' Coming up behind her quietly she covered her grandmother's eyes with her hands. 'Guess who.'

'Hey,' Isabella laughed as she stood to give her granddaughter a hug. 'don't you scare an old lady like that.'

'Oh, I couldn't resist.' Cassie said with a chuckle, holding her tight. 'I've missed you.'

'Oh, honey.' She patted her back for a moment then turned to the man standing behind her. 'Ooh, and who is this handsome young man?'

Cordell chuckled at that as he blushed a little.

'And tall, too.' Isabella added, looking back at Cassie.

'This is my partner Cordell Walker.' Cassie introduced, the two of them shaking hands. 'Liam's brother.'

'The famous Ranger Cordell Walker. You're always in the news.'

'Okay, well, ma'am, just Walker is fine, and believe you me, I'd love to stay out of the news.' He replied. 'Congratulations, by the way.'

'Oh, thank you. Make yourself at home.'

'You bet.'

'Eat. Both of you, eat.'

'Oh, we are gonna eat.' Cassie assured her. 'Just wanted to see you first.'

A photograph on the wall caught Cordell's attention as Isabella left and he walked over closer to get a better look. 'Also... h-hold on a second. Is that, is that a headshot?' He looked back at his partner. 'Were you a child star or something?'

'Strictly local.' Ben spoke up, making his sister chuckle.

'No, man,' Liam added as he placed his drink back on the table again. 'this place is a gold mine.'

'Okay, let's not.' Cassie spoke up, rather unamused.

'Oh, no, no, I, I think we should...'

Shaking her head, Cassie let out a long sigh as Cordell took another look at the picture of her when she was a kid. Somehow she just knew it was gonna be a long night...


The Side Step appeared dark and desolate as August walked up to the front door and took the key to the bar from his pocket, unlocking the door. Sliding the door across just enough to peer in he took a careful look around then grinned. The bar was empty. Turning the lights on, the place came to life as he turned back to the group of classmates behind him.

'Coast is clear.' He exclaimed with a smile as he slid the door across then stepped clear to let them in, his classmates entering the bar with shouts and cheers.

'Oh, check this out.' Scooter exclaimed as he walked into the bar, taking on the job of being the barman. 'Yo, pass the cups.'

August looked around at his classmates and his smile grew wider.

Tonight was going to be great.

It didn't take long for the party to get into full swing, laughter and cheers filling as the alcohol flowed from the bar. The drinks were on the house and the teenagers were taking advantage of the situation, enjoying helping themselves to whatever they wished to drink. August did his rounds while helping himself to some beer, checking on his classmates to make sure they were having a good time. A good time was what they were all having too, some of the boys on the pinball machines while a couple girls sang rather off-key to the karaoke machine. On the dance floor there was a sizable crowd of both guys and gals, dancing to the loud rock music pumping from the speakers.

The night had only just begun.

'Hey, my turn.' August exclaimed to Scooter when he finally finished his round on the pinball machine, August having been waiting in line to have a go after he'd checked up on his classmates. 'Prepare to have your high score beat man.'

'Hah, not on your life.' Scooter laughed, stepping aside to let him play. 'But you can try.'

'Hey, I'm an expert you know.' Placing down his drink he took hold of the controls and began a new game.

'Kegs are dry.' Brock exclaimed, coming over to join them.

'Alright, I got this... One moment. Damn.' He didn't quite make it to the score that Scooter had set earlier. 'Yo, give me a hand, Scoot.'

'Yeah. Sure.' Scooter agreed, the two of them making their way through the crowd to the supply room.

'Yeah, you know,' August started to explain as he took care of changing out the lines and swapping over which keg the alcohol was being drawn from. 'Sometimes the gas lines get a bit funky, I just have to change the kegs out.'

'Dude, how do you know all this?'

'Well, one of the perks of owning a bar, I guess.' He replied, checking to see if that had worked. 'Alright... we'll just switch out the kegs.' This time it worked and the beer started flowing through the line again. 'There we go.'

'Totally sick man.'

'I know.' August headed back for the door and tried to open it, frowning when he found that it was stuck. 'Hey!' He shouted, banging on the door. 'Guys, we're in here, we're stuck.'

Outside, the party continued on, no one hearing his shouts from the supply closet or noticing that he and Scooter were missing...


Mika sat in the car at the jail's visitors car park, scrolling through her phone as she waited for Maddie to return. Looking at the time she sighed heavily. She wouldn't make it back to the Equestrian Center in time to finish off her riding before she had to carry out barn duties. Oh well... She returned to her scrolling, flicking through her Facebook feed.

Awhile later she saw Maddie making her way back through the parking lot and placed her phone aside, getting out of her car to give her a hand with her chair. 'How did it go?'

'Well, Rose is my half-sister alright.' Maddie replied, stopping her wheelchair beside the passenger door. Opening the back door as Mika came around she asked Sasha to jump in and tossed her backpack in with her. 'I just... I don't know how to feel.' She continued. 'All this time and I never knew she was my sister...' Her voice trailed off as she bit her lip.

'I'm sorry Maddie. That's rough.' Mika exclaimed softly, shaking her head. 'Is there anything I can do?'

After a moment she looked back at her. 'Just... Be here for me. Okay?'

She smiled a little. 'You know I'll always be here for you.'

Maddie nodded.

'I'd take you home but I'm going to be late for my shift. Could you get someone to pick you up from the stables?'

'I think Stella's still in town, otherwise, I'll just call Mawline.'

'Alright. Well, hop in then and we'll get going.'

Carefully Maddie moved from her wheelchair into the passenger seat, resting her head against the headrest as Mika closed the door for her and folded up her chair to place in the boot. After that conversation with Stan, she didn't know how to feel. Elated that she had family? Anger that she hadn't known before? Anger that he had lied to her? A thousand emotions had washed over her when she'd found that photograph, mixed emotions. Surprise and shock were probably the best two words to describe how she was feeling. She'd been absolutely dumbfounded when she had seen that picture.

I have a half-sister. I actually have a blood relative. She corrected herself after a moment. No. I have a sister. The fact that she's only half related to me doesn't matter. She's my sister.

Returning to the driver's seat, Mika looked over at her friend as she turned the key in the ignition. 'You okay?'

Maddie nodded, turning to her. 'Just a lot to take in and process. I'll be alright.'

'You sure?'

'Yeah.' She sighed heavily. 'Rose's parents, they have no idea that Rose and I are related.'

Mika's eyebrows raised as they drove out of the parking lot and back onto the road. 'That's going to make for an interesting conversation.'

'Tell me about it. And my family...' Maddie paused. 'Let's just keep this between us for now, okay? Give me some time to process... Everything. I just don't think I can deal with this all right now. I've already got enough going on, I really didn't need this bombshell dropped on me today.'

'Of course Maddie. You don't have to worry, I won't tell anyone.'

She smiled a little at that. 'You're a good friend, Mika.'

At that, Mika laughed. 'Oh, I try to be. Now, you know, I've heard that icecream does wonders for making people feel better when they're sad. How about we stop by Amy's on the way back? My shout.'

Maddie chuckled. 'Alright. Sounds like a good idea.'


Stuck in the supply closet, August and Scooter sat on one of the tables inside, talking to pass the time as they waited for someone to come let them out. 'Brock seen your message yet?' Scooter questioned when August had paused for a moment. 'Anyone?'

Checking his phone, he shook his head. 'Nope.' Turning the screen off he sighed heavily, getting back to what he'd been saying earlier. 'I don't know, I-I guess I just wanted to make it out of high school alive, you know?'

'Damn. That's... dark.'

'I'm sorry. It's just...' He paused for a moment. 'It's been really fun hanging out with you guys, but I know I'm just Stella's weird little brother to everyone.'

'Dude, you guys were a force, plus you had a band with seniors.' Scooter pointed out. 'Always with upperclassmen. Does surgery on his uncle in his bedroom. Bro, you're badass. I didn't think we stood a chance.'

August did a double take at that, not sure if he'd heard correctly. 'What?'

'You literally just said you wanted to make it out of high school alive. And not, like, in a dramatic way. You meant it.'

'Well, I mean, when you put it that way...' His voice trailed off as he looked around the room they were trapped in, the locked door being the only way out.

'I'm just glad to know we were wrong about you being up on a high horse.' Scooter continued after a moment. 'Turns out, you are kinda crazy, though. We broke into a bar your Ranger dad owns and are drinking it dry...'

August nodded at that then cringed as he heard the sound of glass shattering out in the bar. 'What the hell was that?'

'They'll get our texts any minute and let us out.'

Glass was broken for the second time and slowly, he was beginning to realize that perhaps, this hadn't been such a good idea after all. 'Oh, man.'

'Relax.' Scooter chuckled. 'You've got this. It's cool.'

August reached for his phone again, this time getting up his messages to Stella. Obviously no one else was going to come to his aid and she was practically his only choice. 'I still hope you feel that way in about an hour.'


Cordell sat alone at one of the tables in the restaurant later on that night, looking at his messages to Maddie. They'd found Bel and Hope, she'd said, but that had been the last thing she'd messaged. Inwardly, he sighed. There used to be a time when she'd message during the day just to ask how his day was going and to check in on him but she hadn't done so for months now. It was just another reminder of how far apart the two of them had become.

Even though he was trying his best not to think about what he'd found in the evidence box earlier, he couldn't help it. He hadn't a clue that Maddie had gone through what she did. Oh sure, he had suspected that they'd beaten her before they'd brought her back to the cell but the thought that she could have been sexually assaulted or even raped hadn't crossed his mind. Now, with what he'd read, things were slowly beginning to make sense with Maddie.

The way she flinched whenever he, his father or Liam touched her.

The way she jumped when she heard a loud noise.

The way she had begun having panic attacks out of the blue, seemingly without a trigger.

He understood why now.

The next question was: where did he go from here? How could he help her? What could he do? He didn't know. One thing he did know was that now, he felt even worse for not being there for her the past few months. What she'd been subjected to... He bit his lip, swallowing back that lump in his throat. Not here, not now. He'd save his tears for later.

'You know,' Cassie started, startling Cordell as she joined him at the table he was sitting at. 'I've been thinking about earlier.'

Quickly he put his phone down, clearing his throat before he spoke to her. 'Hi.'

'About all of it.' She continued.

'Yeah.'

'Mostly the dossiers.'

'Cassie, these files, they're just...' His voice trailed off as he looked at the evidence box sitting on the table next to him.

'Crazy Pants trading cards, I know.'

'Yes. Exactly.'

'But they're not wrong.' Cassie admitted with a sigh. 'For so long I was just living for the job.'

'Well, as you know,' He cleared his throat again. 'work-life balance isn't exactly my strong suit either, but finding that sweet spot takes time.'

'I think just seeing it all laid out like that was the kick in the ass I needed to do more. Refocus my life or whatever.'

'Okay, that can all start right now. Sometimes all you need is family.'

'Is that why you've been tiptoeing around your brother all night?' She pointed out.

'All right.' Cordell agreed with a nod. 'Touché.'

Cassie chuckled, motioning over in Liam's direction as she stood, Cordell's brother walking by. 'Well, maybe now's your chance.'

'Stinker.' He exclaimed, catching Liam's attention.

'I'm going to go clear this.' She added, picking up her plate from the table. 'Do you want me to...'

'Uh, sure. Please. Thank you.' He gave her his plate, Cassie heading to the kitchen as Liam handed him a drink and sat down across from him. 'Perfect. Uh... How you doing? Good?'

'I don't know. I feel like Ben doesn't really want me here.' Liam replied with a sigh. 'His grandma keeps confusing me for Lucas. I don't know if I can really make sense of things.'

'Can I give you a bit of advice?'

'Sure.'

'Sometimes when you're in a relationship, you can tend to go with the flow and try and ignore the little things, but those little things can add up. Why don't you just talk to him?' Cordell suggested.

Liam thought about it for a moment as he took a sip from his glass. 'You really are doing better, huh?'

'I-I'm getting there.' He hoped his answer sounded convincing enough to satisfy his brother. After what he'd found out earlier about Maddie... He honestly didn't know how he felt. 'You?'

'Not quite. Grew up on the ranch, I never gave the horses a second thought. Now I need them for therapy- they really help. And Maddie-' He chuckled. 'Maddie's been trying to help where she can, teaching me her way of starting out with training the mustangs. We brought in one of the colts last week, slowly been making some progress.' Taking another sip of his drink he let out a long sigh. 'Working with this colt, I've begun to appreciate the effort it took Maddie to tame Bel and Dakota. Been a real... eye opener.'

'Good. Good.' Cordell nodded. 'That's great to hear.'

'Yeah, but, uh, I'm very far still from better. I haven't really healed keeping all the trauma inside. But out there I feel like, I don't know, I feel like I can let some of it out.' Liam paused for a moment. 'Maddie and I... We had a talk last week, after our session with Donna. It-it helped, some. Talking about how we felt. Maddie's been blaming herself this whole time for what happened to me, I just hope eventually she'll understand it wasn't her fault, you know?'

'Yeah, yeah.' He looked down at his drink, spinning the glass around on the table. 'Is she... Is she doing better, you think?'

'To be honest, I don't know.' He shrugged. 'I mean, she seems to be alright but you know Maddie. She's never been one to be... open, about how she's feeling or what she's dealing with.' He paused. 'Reminds me of someone else I know.'

Put on the spot, Cordell chuckled nervously. 'Yeah. You know what they say. Like father, like daughter.'

'Yeah...'

'Hey, um, how about this?' He continued after a moment. 'When you and I get home, we, uh... we talk about it? We talk about what we went through.'

'Yeah.' Liam nodded. 'I'd really like that.'

'Then it's a date.

'Testing. Testing. Testing.'

At Ben's voice coming over the speakers, Cordell and Liam turned their attention to the front of the restaurant where Liam and Cassie were standing together, Ben with microphone in hand. A hush fell over the room, the crowd quieting down as he went to speak again.

'We wanted to say a few words as we celebrate 100 years of Perez Prime Cuts.'

With that, he pointed over to his grandmother as the room erupted with cheers and applause, Isabella standing to bow in appreciation to the accolades.

'Back then it was just one smoker,' Cassie said as the applause died back down. 'two recent immigrants from Puerto Rico with a lot of promise.'

'Our abuela's been running it for decades,' Ben continued, taking the microphone back. 'and we've been very lucky to have a front row seat.'

'She taught us all about the value of hard work, about our roots, even though we weren't always the best students.' Cassie added, earning chuckles from the crowd at that.

'But when we started a little tradition, she saw that we were listening.'

'Wait,' She turned to her brother, frowning a little. 'what are you doing?'

'Every weekend Cass and I would put on a show. For tips, of course. Someone needed their candy money.'

Cassie put her hands on her hips as she looked at Ben. 'You can't be serious.'

'Oh, I am.' He replied, placing the microphone down on the bench behind him as Yo Sal Tu Azucar began to play.

Cassie just facepalmed as her brother began dancing then invited her to dance with him. There was no getting out of this one... 'Alright, alright. But if I mess up, don't laugh too much.'

'Alright,' Ben grinned. 'let's do this!'