Hayley's POV

I ran in the front door and shut and locked it... it wouldn't save me forever, but it'd delay them from getting to me and give me a little longer to think. I heard a noise upstairs and looked up to the railing to the sound of a moan in pain. I saw Steven stumble over to the railing and then he looked down at my terrified face and noticed my existence. "S***!" I heard him mumble under his breath. We just stood there and stared at each other for a while and eventually he just sat down where he was and I did the same. "You don't wanna do this, do you?" I questioned.

"Which one? Kidnapping you or being the bad guy I'm not?" he asked holding his cheek.

"Both really"

"Not really, no"

"Then why do you?"

"'Cause Rodney wants Ross and Kory isn't gonna argue with him... and both of 'em threatened to kill me if I didn't"

"Why wouldn't Kory protest?"

"'Cause Kory's his younger brother!... you didn't notice? Rodney didn't say?"

"No!"

"Damn"

"Come down here" I said and stood up. Steven stood up and walked down until he was only a few feet from the stairs and a few feet across from me. I leaned myself up against the opposite wall and made sure to keep a close watch on him... he may seem sincere, but Rodney did too, and now look where it got us. Sensing my uneasiness Steven saw on the floor and looked up at me so that I'd be at an advantage to anything. I relaxed a bit and slid my back down the wall until I was sitting... I'm always up for a fair fight. "Well I know those two are going to be waiting for me to get back with you, so we have some time to kill so it doesn't seem like it was too easy" he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well if we're gonna get you Ross back and stop those two then I'm gonna have to bring you back there and if I bring you there now then it'll seem too easy because we ALL know you're stronger than me and more powerful"

"Oh... okay then"

"So what do you want to do?"

"I have no idea"

"I have a question"

"Hm?"

"How did you and Ross meet?"

I smiled and drifted off a bit thinking of the odd way that me and Ross met. I could feel Steven getting inside my head and I tried to fight it, but couldn't. Before I knew it we were in my memory looking at what happened.

Well... Music does calm me down... It doesn't help me when I'm walking around L.A in the middle of the night now does it? I was looking everywhere but in front of me, so I didn't see this really hot guy in front of me. I was admiring the sights around me when, I guess my music was a bit loud and I walked to close to him, I turned back forward and this dude grabbed my wrist and twisted it. "OW! OW! OW! OW! OW! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP!" and by that time I was down on by right knee with him still holding my wrist, and then realizing I didn't mean to scare him and let go. I dropped back and leaned against the brick building behind me holding my wrist, with a tightened face of pain. "Sorry" he said "I thought you were trying to mug me" then he ran a hand through his amazing dirty blonde hair, his sparkling eyes on mine. "Yeah... like I'D be able to" I said back with a slight smile. He came and sat down next to me "Sorry about your wrist" he said sympathetically.

"I'll live" I said.

"You want me to walk you home?"

"I ran away"

"Oh"

"Yeah"

"Why?"

"My parents were neglectful b****es"

"That's a bit harsh"

"Oh no... not at all"

He stared out toward the street for a minuet and then back at me. "Well... you can stay at my place if you want" he offered. I smiled over at him "What? You just go around helping random people off the streets?"

"More or less"

"Yeah Thanks"

"C'mon"

He got off the ground and offered me his hand. I grabbed it with my left hand and he pulled me up, no problem, and led me to his house.

We were tossed back to reality and I looked at him in shock while he had a cool look on his face. "How the hell did you do that?!" I asked in shock. He shrugged.

"Always been able to" he answered simply.

"You kinda scare me"

"... I get that"

We sat there talking for a little and then we both decided it'd be time to go. Then I realized something. "Won't it look a little suspicious if we walk back in there without anything showing a struggle?"