A.N - Sorry it's taken me so long to get this one out. Hope you like it.


I woke up slowly, blinking back the sleep from my eyes as I sat up and brushed my bangs out of my eyes as best I could. I sat up slowly; taking in my surroundings, and waiting for the blue blur that were my four walls to solidify. Eventually, the aqua blue of my surroundings no longer resembled a mass of cresting waves, and I managed to swing my legs over the side of my bed and trudge towards the door.

The room was still dark, for it wasn't quite five o'clock, but any hope of sleep had long since slipped through my fingers, now too far out of reach.

"Jane, hurry up! Owen, grab my bags."

I paused at the doorway, twisted the knob slowly, and eased the door out of the frame, peaking my head out of the room and down the hall. It was deserted, but the voices were floating up the stairs, filling the hallways with urgent whispers.

"Got your bags mom."

I crept along the hall and peered over the top of the stairs. There, by the door, stood Owen in only his pajama bottoms and a wrinkled hoodie, his hair giving him a disheveled look. His blue eyes were bloodshot and weary, and dark circles outlined his eyes, giving him a slight, racoon-ish appearance. My mother stood by my aunt in her nightgown and a housecoat, and my aunt stood restlessly by the door, holding onto her stomach, a pained expression filling the lines of her face.

"Mom?" I asked softly as I padded down the front stairs in plaid boxers and a white tank top, "is everything alright?"

"Aunt Jesse's going into labor." My mother replied quickly and breathlessly, placing one hand on my shoulder, "can you stay here? We don't have enough room in the car."

"Oh, uh, that's fine." I murmured, glancing over her shoulder at my aunt, clutching her large bump of a stomach, her face beet red and sweat beading on her forehead, "looks like you better get going now."

My mom laughed nervously and nodded, planting a soft kiss on the top of my head, "take care of the house while I'm gone."

"No problem." I smiled, "good-luck."

With that, my aunt nearly flew out the door, waddling towards the car, clutching Owen's arm tightly as she dragged him down the driveway. My mother smiled weakly and dashed out the door behind them, shutting it softly behind her. The engine of my mother's ford Taurus rumbled to life as I watched them veer down the dirt road through the lace curtains in the front hall.

I bit my lip and made my way into the kitchen, pulling the coffee pot out from behind the cabinet, filled the filter with ground coffee, and sat by the kitchen window, watching the sun rise in the gray sky.

It looked like rain, bad rain. This would surely bring dripping ceilings and the stress of frustrated animals. In fact, the sky looked menacing, even at this early hour. The sky was more black than gray, tinged with green, and the wind had picked up considerably since last night.

Before it became too much of a hazard to work outside, I decided to pull my sneakers and hoodie on and shut the barn door, check the chicken coop, and seal all the shutters around the perimeter of the house.

I jogged back upstairs, too noisily for my own good, and slipped my feet into my Vans as I tugged the first hoodie I could find off of my coat rack.

"Britt? What's going on?"

I stepped nervously out into the hall, and watched as Sam edged out of the second guest room, brushing his hair back over his head, yawning silently as he stepped down the hall towards my room.

"My aunt went into labor. Owen and my mom went with her." I replied monotonously. I sure as hell was going to be stubborn right now, even if it was incredibly rude and bitchy of me.

"Oh." He replied lamely, "why didn't you go?"

I sighed, and shut my door quietly, pretending to ignore him as I walked towards the top of the stairs; "there wasn't enough room."

I walked down the stairs quickly, feeling rushed as I reached for the knob on the front door, when a hand clasped my shoulder, holding me back firmly.

"What?" I snapped, whirling around to glare at Sam's tired face, "what do you want? There's a storm coming. I have things I need to do."

"Can't I just talk to you for one second?" He asked hopefully, almost pleadingly.

I'll be honest; he looked not only tired, but upset. He didn't bother to move his hair out of his eyes, and he hadn't smiled once in the five minutes since he'd been up. An oddity, seeing how I'd pegged him as one of those 'happy all the time' types.

"I'm busy." I replied coldly, regretting the bite to my tone the minute the words had raced across my tongue. I'd end up making myself feel guilty by the time I got out onto the porch. This always happened, even if the asshole deserved to be blown off. I have no spine sometimes. I just can't say no, and I cannot watch someone wallow in depression.

We stood there for a moment, eyes locked, when Sam shook his head and look down at the floor, however, catching a glimpse of my bruised arm first.

"Did I do that?" He asked weakly, "I'm so sorry Britt, I didn't mean-"

"It's nothing," I mumbled, pulling the hoodie over my shoulders quickly, "I'm fine."

"Britt, please just talk to me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I wasn't trying to-"

"I said I'm fine." I snapped, backed out the front door, and slammed it in his face, listening as the shingled roof over the porch shook, and the porch swing groaned in rusted protest.

I raced around the house towards the open barn and collapsed beside the first stall, resting my head against the old, rotting wood of the vacant space. I'm such a screw up, I swear.

"I can't do anything right. I'll end up cold and lonely with dozens of cats." I moaned into my knees, shuddering as a cold wind aced through the barn doors and swept across the ground, shocking the warm hay and the three horses sleeping soundly in it.

I slammed my fists into the floor beside my legs and screamed into my knees as a crack of thunder roared, and lightening lit up the sky. I lifted my head and look out the barn door. Rain was pouring in buckets over the patchy yard, creating puddles of mud faster than the eye could see.

Mojo stirred in his stall, whinnying loudly as another bolt of lightening illuminated the black, sunless sky.

I grabbed hold of the top of the stall, pulled myself to my feet, and walked out of the barn, feeling the pounding rain soaking through my hoodie as I pulled the barn doors shut. I slipped in a large patch of weed and mud, nearly crashing headfirst into the barn doors, when a pair of arms closed around my waist.

I struggled to wrench myself free from their grip as they helped me regain my balance, and turned me around to face them.

"What do you want Sam?" I screamed over the thunder, rain pouring down my face and rolling off my lips.

He inched closer, holding me tightly as my feet slipped in the mud once more, when I lost my balance, and we tumbled backwards, landing in a soggy patch of clover and magnolias, planted beside the barn years ago.

"Sam, what are you doing?" I asked again, rambling senselessly for an eternity.

"Would you just shut up?" Sam asked, half-grinning as he pressed his lips into mine, and another bolt of lightening branched across the sky.