AN: I don't own MCLeods Daughters. Sorry for the delay. Have fun.

Harry and Stevie were allowed home.

As evening fell, the Drover-Killarney family returned to their land. They knew it would be different. The many secrets they had unveiled left their mark. Still, the revelations hang over their heads. Yet they knew they would find their way back to each other. They would make sure of it. They needed to. They couldn't allow anyone to break them apart.

Jody's POV:

I can't do it. I want to leave. I've written the letter about my leaving, yet Drover's is home. The land is my home. I don't know where else to go. Everyone is coming back, today. I need an escape, yet can't go too far or stay too close to home, to Drover's Run.

I feel stuck. I feel stuck between the truth I want to know, the truth everyone else seems to have accepted without proof and the fear that it's just a dream... Will I be 'Aunty Jody', even if it's not the truth? Even if biologically speaking, I'm not Rose's aunt, Stevie's, Tess' and Claire's sister? I know the truth sets us free.

Figuratively speaking, I might have become comfortable with the lie. I fear the truth will hurt, or at least that it might hurt. I never used to be brave, like Claire or Stevie. I had no need to. They needed to, all of them, Tess, too.

I can't stay, not here anyway. I'll call Becky. Hopefully, I can come visit with her for a while. Leaving for the city would be her last resort. She could do it after visiting Becky. For now, she needed her friend. Kate was too close. This left Becky.

Hours later on Drover's Run:

Everyone was tired. Rose and Stevie fell asleep on the way back, exhausted from the last few days, the fears, the hurt they felt. Michelle decided to stay as well. Between the different farms, they, thank God, had enough guest rooms. Tess, Stevie and she had decided to call Tom and ask him to Drover's Run in a few days. They hoped confronting him on Drover's would help. All of them knew that whatever happened, they could count on each other.

While Alex, not wanting to wake Rose or Stevie, took the former out of the car to carry her to her bed, Tess found Jodie's letter.

Tess shouted in surprise and everyone came running. Living on a farm, shouting, even in surprise, had become too much of a warning signal. Rose was the first to be there, just awoken by Tess's scream, yet somehow knowing something had happened.

Give me the letter, please, she asked of her aunt. Reading through it, she said: "Jody is doing exactly what she told me not to do. I don't understand her. How can she advise me in one way, yet do the opposite just a few days later? She told me to talk to you, to be patient and understanding, yet she runs. She is a McLeod. No question there. I doubt we need that DNA test after all. And no matter what it would say, Jody is my aunt, and so is Kate, kinda. Even Becky, a person I hadn't heard of is an aunt to me, in the family we built. She needs time, I get that. But she needs reassurance, too. I hope she went, where I think she did. "

"Rose you are babbling again". Nick interrupted her.

"Where do you think she went to?" This time, it was Tess asking, finally finding her voice again. "Hopefully, either to Grandpa's, Grandma's and Aunty Claire's gravesites or to Becky's", replied Rose. Becky's is actually a good idea, Rose", Meg put in. " I'll just call there."

"No, Meg, don't", Rose and Harry said at the same time.

Meanwhile, Alex did exactly that. Having been through it, he told Jake and Becky to tell Jody they loved her and that he only wanted to know that she was safe, that she could call anytime, and that Jody could come home whenever she was ready. Becky promised him to tell Jody.