Chris stuffed the last the of his belongings in his backpack. Maria was watching him from on his bed.

"Are you sure I can't persuade you to stay, Didi."

"No I can't stay. I'm a burden to your family already. You all have been very good to me. Gracias."

"But where will you go? Despite your confidence in yourself. You really don't know how to take care yourself."

He let out a little chuckle and sat down beside her once he was finished.

"Why don't you go home, Didi? I'm sure you've had enough time to yourself."

Chris shook his head.

"I can't. Not after Sarah. I'm already a coward by not facing my friend when I tell him the news."

Maria placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze for comfort.

"Another man in your situation would not have said anything."

"Yeah, and that man wouldn't have his friend probably hating him."

"I'm sure he does not hate you."

Chris didn't give an answer but wrapped an arm around her. She was like a little sister to him and he would miss her.

"Remember, if someone comes looking for me, you haven't seen me."

She nodded.

Maria walked Chris down stairs and to the door of the apartment complex.

"Take care of yourself." he said with a wave.

"You as well. Good bye, Didi."

Chris smiled and shook his head. Even in the end she didn't say his name or tell him what Didi meant.

Looking ahead, he traveled down the street and out of his county. He took the train to the end of the track and ended up near the border of Colorado and Kansas by nightfall.

Chris walked along the road. His feet stumbling on an invisible rock. His eye threatened to close and stay shut as he shuffled along.

Every now and then, he would see the lights of cars passing by. Since he was dressed in his darker clothes, he stayed clear of the road.

He could never be too careful with strangers who might pick him up pretending to be friendly and end up kidnapping him. Only for him, no one would go looking for him. No one would know he was gone since he had already ran away and no one was expecting him back anytime soon.

A couple more cars pass by him until one stops a little ahead of him and pulls over to the shoulder of the highway

Chris tensed up and got his knife ready. He was now on alert. Sleep all forgotten.

As he got closer he stayed put a little distance between himself and the car. His eyes never leaving doors.

One of the windows rolled down and he put his hand behind his back with the knife in it. His legs ready to run if necessary.

The face he saw was a girl and a couple of other teenagers her age.

"Hey, whatcha doing out here in the middle of nowhere?"

Chris just glared at her, not sure if he should strike, run, or answer. She seemed harmless enough, but for all he knew her friends weren't. There were boys in the car. Much to big to be sixteen.

"Come here." She beckoned him closer, but Chris stayed still.

"Where are you going?"

"That's none of your business." he frowned.

Instead of getting upset, the girl just laughed.

"Well do you need a ride?"

Chris tried to think about the risk about going with her when she opened her door and stepped out.

Chris jumped back and showed his knife. He didn't want to do anything to the girl, but he also wanted to show her not to get too close.

One of the boys saw the knife and got out of the car to protect her. This put the restless Chris more on edge and he waved his gun at the taller boy.

"Ella, get back in the car." the boy said to the girl.

"Cletus no! You're scaring him."

Chris wanted to point out that he wasn't scared, well not completely.

The girl, Chris now knew was called Ella, stepped in front of the other boy and put a hand out.

"Hey, do you want to get a ride with us into town?"

Chris wasn't too sure if he should, now that this Cletus fellow seemed to be giving him the eye.

"Don't worry, it's alright, you could sit by me and Jack."

Chris looked passed the girl and saw another boy still in the back of the car.

He knew he was running low on energy and that he needed to rest. He didn't think he'd be comfortable with these teenagers, but at least he'd be off his feet and give them a rest so if it was necessary he'd be able to run.

The girl watched as he pocketed his knife.

"Uh uh, that goes to me." growled Cletus.

Chris didn't remove his hand from over his pocket. He matched his glare with the older boy, daring him to try and take it away.

"He can keep it, Cletus. You can get back in the car now."

Ella held out her hand but Chris didn't take it. He walked passed her and stopped by the car, waiting for her to get in first.

Cletus sat up front with the driver and Ella slipped in before Chris got in and shut the door.

The car smelled of smoke and Chris wanted to gag now that he didn't have fresh air.

Looking at Jack, Chris sized up the other boy. The guy didn't look like he was dangerous.

He watched as the boy took in a breath of his cigarette and blew it out in a stream.

Chris wanted to gag and he went to roll down the window.

"Don't, it cold." Jack spoke for the first time.

"Do you not smoke?" asked Ella, taking the cigarette from Jack and taking a pull herself.

"I'm aware of what it does to your lungs so no."

Jack and Ella laughed at him as if he was making a joke.

Chris frowned, not liking being made fun of.

"Well it probably won't smell so bad if you try one."

Jack handed a cigarette to Chris, but Chris didn't take it.

"Fine then, goodie-two-shoes." Jack snorted.

"Don't mind him. So what's your name?"

"That's none of your business."

"You know what. I've had enough you kid." growled Cletus as he turned around in his seat to look behind him.

Chris reached for his knife but Ella stopped him.

"Don't worry about it. Cletus, calm down."

Cletus growled at Chris before turning back in his seat.

Chris turned to Ella who hadn't removed her hand from his.

"If you don't want to tell us your name that's ok."

Chris moved his hand away from hers and used it to rest his head on.

"You must be tired."

Chris answered in a shrug.

"Do you want to go to sleep. I can wake you when we arrive."

Chris shook his head and kept his eyes going between Cletus and Jack.

"I prefer to stay awake."

"No one cares if you're comfortable or not you brat." huffed Cletus from the front.

Chris kicked the back of his seat and was rewarded to hear the older boy complain and curse at him.

His eyes began to slowly close and Chris had to blink several times and pinch himself to keep himself awake.

The sooner he got where ever he was headed the better.

Ezra and Mr Travis walked along the street of Purgatory Dr. They had arrived in Colorado Springs around the afternoon and were now looking for signs of Chris.

"You know Ezra, that if we go searching for Chris then we won't have time to go looking for your family."

"He is my family."

Ezra then walked up to another person he hoped was a resident. It was a hispanic boy who was sitting on the steps with his soccer ball as if he was taking a break.

"Hola." began Ezra, he figured the best way to get information was to try and speak in spanish, "Conoces a un Chris? (Do you know a Chris?)"

The boy shook his head and ran into the building.

"Wait! Darn it." Ezra walked back to Travis.

"I take it that he doesn't know." smiled Travis.

"Maybe I'm saying it wrong."

"I wouldn't know since I don't know spanish."

"My mother had me learn to be more use-" he stopped short. Completely forgetting who he was with. "I should go and keep asking."

Ezra spotted a girl and walked ahead of his companion.

"Hola seniorita."

"Hola chico." she said, giving him a smile.

Ezra grinned, she reminded him of Inez a little.

"Conoces a un Chris?"

The girl looked like she was going to say yes and Ezra held his breath, "No."

"Si, gracias senorita." he turned and was about to go but then he remembered something. Turning around he addressed her again.

"Senorita, conoces a un Didi?"

Inez told him that Chris had said he was called Didi. Perhaps they knew him by only that name.

"Didi?"

"Si, un niño llama Didi (Yes, a boy named Didi)."

The girl looked as if she was thinking it over in her head.

"Didi es un nombre para un niña (Didi is a name for a girl)."

"Ya se (I know)."

The girl frowned and thought a minute longer.

"Why do you look for Didi?"

"Oh we're speaking english now, good. Didi is my friend. He's like a brother to me and the others back home and we're looking for him."

Maria thought over what she should do. Didi had said not to tell anyone about him if they came looking for him, but she also knew that if this was one of the people Didi spent so much time writing to then she couldn't just turn him away with nothing.

"Chris isn't here."

"Yes, I know you said that, but is Didi here?"

"I just said he wasn't here."

Ezra sank, "What do you mean? Is he away in a fight or out on a walk for a solitary brooding?"

"He packed his things and left town. Said he could stay no longer."

Ezra heard Chris say that before and saw that the girl was trying her best not to cry.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze.

"Our mutual brother is a bit of a hard head. Doesn't understand that he hurts the people he leaves behind."

She laughed and nodded.

"Do you know where he is headed?"

"I followed him a bit until he reached the train station. He was heading east."

"Do you know exactly which stop he was getting off of?"

"No, but I'd imagine it was the last one. I can't see him traveling on train just to go a couple cities east."

"That sounds about right. Thank you so much."

"If you do find him, tell him to come back and see us."

"I will." and catching himself before he forgot again he turned back to her. "By the way, when did he leave?"

"Two days ago."

"Two days." Ezra repeated to himself. "Thanks."

Travis was leaning up against a traffic sign as he watched Ezra talk to the girl.

He must've found some information because they talked for a while before the boy returned.

"So?" he asked.

"He was definitely here, but unfortunately left about two days back. We just missed him."

Ezra said the last part with bitterness.

He knew that his break was about to end and he had to be returning to Nettie's soon.

"I don't want to go back knowing that we are so close. If we just keep going a little further then perhaps we'll catch him. Going back just makes it feel like the distance between us is growing."

"That's because it is." said Travis before he could stop himself.

Ezra frowned and stalked back to the car. He knew Travis was right, and he was acting like a child to get angry at the true statement.

Straightening his back he knew what he had to do. Which part of it was to act like the gentleman his mother told him to be, and the clever person he had worked so hard to become. The other part was to get his friends to do the same and get their help on this. Meaning he had to get Buck and Vin out of their funk as soon as he got back.

"Mr Travis, I do believe it is of the hour that we should start on our journey home."

The older man smiled and nodded.

It was the evening before school started the next day when Ezra and Mr Travis arrived at Nettie's.

All the boys and Inez were waiting for him in the driveway.

Vin opened his door and Josiah got his bag.

"Thank you, gentleman. If I had known you boys would be so courteous on my return then I would've ventured out a whole lot earlier." he grinned.

"Nevermind that, Ez, what news do you got? Did you find Chris? Have you seen him?" asked Buck.

"Obviously not, Buck. He would've brought him back." said Nathan.

"Gentleman, please. It is late and I'm quite worn from my journey. Perhaps we can discuss this at lunch tomorrow."

Vin and Buck frowned.

"But you guys will be at school." Vin finally put the two and two together.

"No one is stopping you from joining us, Tanner."

Vin looked at Buck before turning back to Ezra, "Fine I'll go."

"Count me in." said Buck.

"You'll have to see if Nettie can still get you guys in, and if she does that don't mean you can just not go to school right afterwards, you here." Nathan said, looking at the two in question.

"Sure." shrugged Buck.

"Then that's settled." Vin ran to Nettie and began asking her.

Ezra could see the surprise on her face as Vin told her the news.

Josiah put an arm around him, "I'm surprised that worked. I was going to suggest that they do home school but that worked just as well."

"They can't keep waiting around for Chris to come back and loaf around. Their future doesn't depend entirely on him, but with the knowledge they can learn in school."

"I was trying to debate if I should have Nettie threaten to kick them out if they didn't start school, but that would only have them on the streets looking for Chris. I know Chris can take care of himself because he's tough. Vin has been on the streets most of his life, but is still pretty scrawny. He does posses street smarts. Buck I'm 'not too sure about. He hasn't been on the streets as far as I know, but he did get through the wilderness pretty good."

"Let's just hope we can get them in and then we can get down to business."

It took a lot of persuasion to have Vin and Buck be allowed to enter the school. The principal thought that Buck would just ditch classes again and Vin would never show up, but Mr Travis pulled some strings and got them in.

The group met up during lunch and recess by a big tree to hear Ezra's news.

Now Ezra was feeling a bit nervous. Even though he had news, it wasn't all that good and could be considered disappointing. He himself was disappointed.

"Well gentlemen and lady, I made contact I think with one of the people Chris stayed with. It was hard at first because no one knew Chris and I had only thought to ask the last person I had talked to if she knew a Didi. She did and I confirmed that it was a boy and that it was Chris."

"Why do I sense that there's bad news coming." said Nathan.

"Cause you're a pessimist." muttered Buck under his breath so no one could hear him.

"The bad news, Nathan, is that Chris had vacated that area two days before our arrival."

All around went up a chorus of groans and moans.

"Were you able to find out where he was headed?" asked Inez.

"A rough direction only. She was able to tell me that he got on a train and most likely took it to the end of the track."

"You mean the track ran off the track?" frowned JD.

"No, that means that he went to the last stop the train takes." Buck clarified.

"So where exactly then, Ezra?" asked Josiah.

"East. Probably making his way to Kansas."

"That's a whole 'nother state." groaned Vin, wiping his hands over his face and pushed his hair back.

"He can be anywhere in Kansas by now." Buck mumbled.

"Sorry that my news wasn't better."

"That's okay, Ez, you sacrificed your break that you use to search for your family to get us that information." smiled Josiah.

A chorus of 'thank you's went around.

"I've decided that I'll put aside my search for my relatives and focus on find my family. This family. But I'm going to need your help on this. Hopefully it won't be anything like South America, and I'm definitely not saying that I'm taking the leadership role."

"I think Ez is right. We've been doing nothing for too long."

"Well I agree that Ezra shouldn't lead us." snorted Buck.

The others laughed.

"How about we wait until Chris's next letter. See if it gives us some information."

"When does his next letter arrive?"

"About a week if it's on time."

They all groaned again. By that time the school bell rang and they groaned again before heading inside.

Now, however, they were on a mission.

When they arrived at Nettie's they all retreated to the stable where they made base.

Buck had borrowed books from school containing maps of the states. He started the tracing and drawing process to make copies for their search.

After he was done Vin would use another crayon to trace the direction Chris was taking to see it there was a pattern.

Ezra and Josiah would go over the past letters and see what information they could get from them while Nathan made a list of what they said. JD would run errands and get water and food for them while Inez wrote down the things they would need for their journey.

Casey was watching them from the door with curiosity.

As JD went to get some water for Nathan she stopped him.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Important stuff that you wouldn't know about."

"And why wouldn't I know about it?"

"Because it has nothing to do with you. That's why."

"Can I help?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Cause I said so."

"Casey crossed her arms, "Well if you don't let me then I'm going to tell Nettie."

"And what exactly are you telling her?"

"That you guys are trying to go off somewhere."

"I'll stop you before you get the chance."

"I won't tell if you let me help."

JD frowned, "Fine. You can help me get the water then."

Casey grinned and raced JD to the house. The boy running behind her telling her it wasn't a race.

Chris felt a hand comb through his hair. He was dreaming of Sarah. His head on her lap as he rested. Her hand running through his hair. It was soothing and he smiled.

Opening his eyes, he looked up, but only to see Ella looking down on him.

Chris sat up and pushed himself as far away as possible from her.

She'd been touching my hair. This strange girl has no personal boundaries. How did he end up with his head on her lap anyway?

"Did I wake you? Sorry."

"I think I prefer to be awake."

"A minute ago you were smiling."

"Yeah because I was dreaming and now I'm looking at you." he muttered.

"Watch it brat. It ain't too late to kick you out the car."

"I think I'd prefer that."

He'd been in this car far too long for his liking and was at least feeling physically better to start walking again.

"Can't we get you something to eat first?" Ella asked in a pouting face that didn't have an effect on Chris.

"I can buy my own food."

"That's fine, but at least let us take you." she tapped on the driver's shoulder and the guy turned off the highway at the next exit and parked in the first fast food restaurant.

Everyone got out of the car and Chris noticed that the boys, who he now had a better view of, were at least a foot taller than himself. They circled him like dogs ready to pounce on a stray cat.

Cletus and the driver ushered him inside while Jack took Ella by the arm and lead her inside.

Chris frowned, he really did pick the worse car to catch a ride with.

A/N: So on the other website I can easily group the two stories together under one name, but not sure if I can hear. The name of the series is called, Life's Crossings. I know it's a beautiful title. Came up with it right on the spot. Absolutely love readin your comments and use it as ideas for what happens.