Small Packages

[FalconX]

Roxanne

The thud of the small cabin's door sounded in the relatively silent air. Shaking her head, Roxy ran a hand over her tired and muddy face. Wings had decided to dump her on the track, while Roxy was giving her a workout. She hadn't been sleeping lately, and stupidly, she'd still gotten on her horse, even when she knew she wasn't completely focused. It was entirely her fault. Wings had felt her attention wander and had taken the opportunity seriously. She looked at the cowboy hat in her other hand, dust and mud speckling it's bring. With a tired sigh, she threw the hat onto the couch. Her attention was directed towards the answering machine when it beeped, informing her that there was a new message. She pressed the button, and it didn't take long before she was rushing back out the door.

An hour or so later, she fumbled with the door, finally forcing it open with an annoyed and slightly scared look. In her left hand she held a number of stuff relating to taking cary of a baby, and in her right arm, bouncing on her hip, was Dorothy May. Apparently, her friend Vivian, had left her daughter in Roxy's care. Without really telling Roxy this, except through a pathetic voice message. To say she was mad, was an understatement. Especially since, it didn't sound like Vivian was planing on coming back for Dorothy. Dumping the stuff on the floor, she held the baby out away from her, looking at her like one might look at a foreign object. Roxy was always the one who said she didn't want to get married. After all, she hadn't even dated anyone. Heck, she even failed that baby assignment in high school, which apparently, the point was to fail, to prove they weren't ready to be parents. But the teacher had been so horrified, she actually failed Roxy. Everyone else had gotten B's and A's. Roxy sighed, she was usually the one with good grades, she was a hard worker, but babies? You have to be kidding...

She set the baby down on the couch, sitting on the other end of the couch. The pair seemed to eye each other, before Dorothy started wailing. Roxy's eyes widened in horror, it wasn't hard to see that she was freaking out. "Oh... Come on, cheer up. uh..." Roxy looked around, she wasn't exactly equipped for this. She pulled out one of the baby's toys. Putting it in front of Dorothy, doing anything to make her smile. She just cried louder. Out of pure terror, she picked up her phone, dialing Rory's number. "Rory! Come down here! Quickly, please, I'll do anything. Just get down here... I'm freaking out. Uh, I'm at my house...." Eyes wide and voice frantic she babbled once he picked up the phone.

[Forte!]

Rory had been moping around, as usual. Grace was still holding him under house arrest, and wouldn't let him go down the the barn to work (although she was now allowing him to walk down there, after a rather heated argument between the two in which Rory asserted that he could, in fact, walk with a broken arm.) When the phone rang, consequentally, he immediately jumped ot his feet and rushed to get it. Unfortunately, he had mopped the kitchen floor out of boredom earlier in the day, and he went skidding, hard, into the counter as he attempted to make a grab for his cell phone (which was, very suddenly, sitting just out of his reach). His knees were slammed hard against the wooden cabinets, and he nearly fell flat on his but as he made a wild grasp for the phone. He didn't even bother to lok at the caller ID, a good thing, perhaps, since Roxy's frantic voice immediately shot out of the phone. Rory winced and held it a few centimeters away from his ear. He could hear a baby screeching in the background... Dorothy May? Again? He didn't catch a single word that Roxy said, but the urgency in her tone made her predicament clear. "Shh," he murmured, "calm down. I'll be right there, whatever's happening. But I can't drive and talk to you at the same time, so you're going to have to hang on just a bit longer..."

As he was speaking, he was already exiting the house, again not bothering to lock the door behind him. Grace was going to be furious that he'd taken the car - it was, in fact, slightly difficult to drive with one arm, but this was apparently an emergency of the highest sort. He was worried sick the whole way over, a frown furrowing his usually happy features. He drove rather too quickly, as a matter of fact, but at least he was there in only a couple of minutes and there was no major damage done. Her urgency inspired him to burst right through the front door rather than knocking - and a good thing too. Roxy looked as if she were about to cry, and Dorothy May WAS crying, red-faced and snot-nosed. Unable to control himself at the sight, Rory burst out laughing and scooped Dorothy May into his good arm arm. "Hush, sweetheart, your Uncle Rory's here now, he won't let the clueless lady hurt you," he muttered, still chuckling, then looked at Roxy, all seriousness now, "What happened? Why is she here? ...Actually, nevermind. Breathe, first, before you suffocate, please. Then you can tell me all about it." He returned to trying to pacify the screaming infant, clutching her against his chest and stroking her hair (all with one hand, which was quite a feat). She appeared to be frightened and away from home, and he didn't know what else to do about the situation. His eyes were fixed on Roxy, the worry plainly written across his face.

[FalconX]

Roxanne

She paused, running a hand through her hair, practically shaking with the panic running through her veins. Roxy, in this kind of situation, wasn't exactly good at remaining calm. A friend was moving away, and had dropped her baby on Roxy. That wasn't exactly something she could take with a straight face. Her dark hair was pulled up in a sloppy ponytail, but a few flyaway strands were around her face, just adding to her look of desperation. The constant crying sounds coming form Dorothy May were just making her even more jittery. She knew Rory was good with kids, and that was exactly why she was currently yelling her frustrations into the defenseless phone in her right hand. When she stopped, her breath coming in erratic puffs, she heard his calming voice in reply. Her lips set in a thin line, she listened to him try to calm her down. His attempts to do so were pretty much futile at the current moment. When he hung up, the tiny beeping at the end, signifying no on was on the other end of the line anymore, seemed to spell her doom. Sure, she was being dramatic. Yet, she was fairly sure this was going to be traumatizing. No, wait, it already was.

Roxy sat back down on the couch, trying to do anything, anything at all, to get the young girl to stop crying. Roxy had to admit, if some random lady she had only met once was making weird faces and wiggling toys in front of her face, she'd be terrified. That is, if she was a baby... Uh, theoretically speaking, of course. She was exhausted, and dealing with a baby wasn't exactly a great way to relax herself. Her hands were scuffed up, and the knees of her jeans had holes in them, from falling. Roxy's left arm ached from landing on it when she was thrown from the back of Wings. It had to be the worst timing for something like this to happen. In a couple of minutes, with several non-sucessful attempts to quiet the crying child, Rory burst into the small house. She looked up, silently begging her best friend to fix the situation. Her eyes narrowed when he burst out laughing. That wasn't exactly helpful. At his words when he picked up Dorothy, Roxy threw her hands into the air and muttered several inaudible things under her breath, in frustration. "I may be incapable of taking care of a baby, but I'm not deaf!" She exclaimed, knowing she made a funny sight, and it was quite probable she would've laughed, under different circumstances. Collapsing back onto the couch, she put her face into her hands. Looking back up at Rory with a sigh, she shrugged her shoulders. "I got a message from Vivian. She's going back to London, and apparently, she expects me to take care of Dorothy May. And from what it sounded like, she doesn't plan on coming back..."

[Forte!]

He rose his eyebrows at her proclaimation, but continued to coo meaninglessly over Dorothy May. the child was a good deal calmer now, letting out a defeated little sigh as her screams turned into sniffles and she sucked on her thumb helplessly. Rory sat down on the couch beside her, mostly because his free arm was cramping under the pressure of the tiny child's body. "...What?" he asked, his eys widening at Roxy's explanation. "That's... terrible!" A little tone of rage eeked its way into his voice, but for the sake of both Roxy and Dotty, he attempted to remain calm, although the skin white over his knuckles belied this tranquil, if confused, exterior. "Poor darling," he murmured, looking down at the tiny child with a good deal of pity in his eyes. He thought for a long moment, his head off to one side and the lines across his forehead deeply furrowed, before speaking again. "I'll stay as long as you need me to, you know," he said finally, "I don't have anything better to do, and obviously you're not having a very good day." He could see that much written across her face, and for once she hadn't put up her defense systems and was actually showing how upset she was. "...and, I don't know what you're going to do about it, honestly. You already have enough on your plate without that kind of a major lifestyle shift. So, I don't care what you say, I'm staying."

Not as if she wouldn't let him, or even ask him to - obviously she was fully aware of the situation she was in. He glanced over at her again, a little frown crossing his lips as he noticed her bleeding palms and skinned knees. "What happened to you?" he asked, feeling a bit nosy. He felt like asking if she was alright, but that was stupid, and he knew it, obviously she wasn't quite there yet. For once, he was at a loss for words. He wanted so much to tell her that it was going to be alright, but he didn't know that, and he knew that she wouldn't believe him in any case. So, since he couldn't think of anything to say that would make her feel better, he turned his attention back to the child, holding her rather awkwardly against his cast and murmuring almost inaudible condolences to her, meaningless but soothing. The baby, who hardly understood in any case, seemed to calm down to the low tones of his voice, and she closed her little eyes miserably, missing her parents in some terrible and primal way that Rory hardly understood. The infant had no words for her sorrow, and even if she did she could not have explained it, but somehow she knew that the whole center of her world had shifted suddenly and without explination. Rory was, honestly, angry at Vivian, and at Z, for putting the helpless child through such travesty at so early an age.

[Spitz]

Vivian glared at Ziggy. "Wasn't my fault I got put in jail. It was a police officer. He got on my nerves so I hit, no slapped, him" she said and then turned on the radio. She changed a few channels before finding a song she liked and hummed the tune. She just wanted to see her baby girl to bring her home and go back to normal again. Its all she wanted. The next song came on and she smiled 'all I ever wanted - basshunter'. She sung a long with it. "Just wait until you see the book, I did a little project while you were gone you see" she said and laughed. She had planned the whole wedding from church to outfits. It was a pretty pricey wedding actually but she knew she had all the money in the world. She started to twirl her hair between her fingers. It wasn't long until they got to the ranch. Coal to Fire acres. It was a weird, but awesome, name. She was sure Roxy would be glad to give the baby back and hopefully she would understand as Ziggy was back and everything. She would tell her all about it.

The whole airport thing was so romantic in a way. She saw the ranch and smiled as Ziggy drove up the driveway and parked by the house. She stepped out of the car and looked around her. It was a beautiful ranch that her freind owned. She looked at Ziggy "Roxy will be glad to give her back, she is no good with children" she laughed and walked toward the door. She heard voices. Rory was there. She knocked three times on the door. "Roxy! Its Viv, I came to pick up Dorothy!" she called and waited. She wondered how her baby was, her pristine little baby. She loved Dorothy too bits and thought if they refused to give her back the whole story would come out. Ziggy would probably feel as guilty as ever knowing she had gone crazy when he left. She didn't want to tell him the story. She had a feeling it would spill out though, it was hard to think of her fiance's reaction to it. Of her going crazy, going to jail and leaving her baby back in America. How she just wanted to get her and be normal again.

[I Am Agent Z]

Ziggy chuckled when she glared at him and told him how she had managed to get herself into jail. He then pulled into Roxy's ranch and slowed to a stop in the driveway. He got out as Vivian did, looking around, not much had changed since the last time he had been here. He walked up to the door with Vivian. And he stood a couple steps behind her, waiting for Roxy to open the door. He sighed softly, he had taken another chocolate bar from the glove compartment when he got out and was gnawing on it ravenously. He looked at the ranch once more, again passing off everything as 'haven't changed.' "Not much seems to have changed since the last time I was here..." He said softly, closing his eyes thoughtfully before biting off another piece of chocolate. How very peculiar, he'd have figured, especially with Roxy, that she would change something now and then.

[FalconX]

Admittedly, Roxy hadn't expected Rory to reply to hysterical declaration, but that didn't stop her from being annoyed. When she was in this kind of a, for lack of a better word, state, she wasn't exactly thinking rationally. That much was painfully obvious. Roxy muttered under her breath, thankful that Dorothy May had stopped crying. She just wasn't good with kids this young. She could do four plus years of age, but before that, it was utterly hopeless for her to try. Her sister would always snidely tell her that this was the reason why Roxy didn't want to get married. After all, you can't get married and be so horrible with kids, right? It just wouldn't work. Besides, Roxy hated it when people didn't like her, how much worse would it be if she couldn't calm down her own child? Yeah, her self-esteem was definitely at a low point currently. At least Rory was here though. With weary eyes she watched her best friend sit down on the couch next to her. "Regardless, that's what happened." She replied, resignation coloring her voice. Roxy nodded slowly, looking at the small child. Even if she wasn't good with kids, she hated to see this little girl go through something like this. She tilted her head to the side, offering a thankful smile towards Rory. "I wouldn't dream of asking you to leave. If you haven't noticed, I'm desperate." Despair leaked into her voice, no matter how hard she tried to cover it up. Roxy always did things for herself, she hated asking for help. But this was something that she definitely couldn't handle on her own, no matter how difficult it was for her to admit.

She barely heard her friend's question, still dazed with the situation that had been sprung so suddenly upon her. How could Vivian do this to her? Roxy's eyes narrowed as she pressed her lips together, anger lighting her eyes. Indignation that someone would abandon their child like this coursed through her. Roxy could understand wanting to leave town, to go back home, but to leave Dorothy May? That didn't make any sense what so ever. No matter what way you looked at it. Snapping out of her stupor, she looked towards Rory. Shrugging her shoulders, her mind finally registering his question. "Wings threw me while I was warming her up. It was my fault. I let my attention wander and she noticed. I was stupid enough to get on her when I was to tired to be completely focused." She shook her head, ignoring the stinging sensation on her hands. Honestly, she was ashamed with herself. She'd been riding ever since she was little, but she'd made an amateur mistake. The sound of someone knocking on the door caused Roxy to jump. This entire thing had set her on edge. She was two steps away from falling apart completely. She grit her teeth when she heard the voice calling from behind the door. She stood up, stalking towards the door. Half of her was ecstatic her friend had come back to take her daughter. The other half was past angry with Vivian. She had left Dorothy to begin with. She threw open the door, displeasure mixed with faded happiness written on her oriental face. Her eyes flew to the person standing behind Viv. "Ziggy..." She said, shellshocked. Last she heard he was still missing. Shaking her head she turned to look at Vivian. "Come in." She said curtly, cutting the words off sharply. Turning around she walked back into her house, standing beside Rory who still held Dorothy May.

[Forte!]

While Roxy seemed to have resigned herself to the situation, almost, Rory felt a great deal of anger on behalf of his friend, as well. It was unfair and unjust to leave her - already stressed out with financial affairs and the not-too-distant death of her mother - in charge of such an enourmous, and life-long obligation. It had been unfair when Z dashed off in the first place, Rory remembered that he'd been angry on Vivian's behalf at the time. But if that was selfish, this was selfish squared. Rory, who was raised in the country by a father who had all the courtesy and gentility that one would expect of such a man and a mother who was constantly outraged about some small injustice (Rory distinctly recalled one day when she had been absolutely livid after having caught the neighbor boy shooting at jays with a bebe gun), had a strong moral compass. And this was definitely pointing southwards. Pulling himself back into the present for a moment, he loked over at Roxy, his frown more pronounced now, the anger just below the surface manifesting itself in white knuckles and in his eyes, which were near spitting flames at the moment. "I noticed," he assured her, "you sounded like you were going to burst into tears... or flames.. on the phone. Luckily I got her quickly enough." He tried to grin, but it looked plastic and false on his face, and he knew it very well. He gazed at her far-away look worriedly. "You look like you could use a little sleep," he said, obviously concerned. She really did, with the strained features and the distinct dark rings, like bruises, that tinged the skin beneath her eyes. He felt bad for not having come earlier, honestly. He had promised that he'd be around a lot more, and he wasn't. He'd also promised that they'd have fun the next time they got together, which also hadn't turned out to be true. He was beginning to feel like a pretty lame best friend.

He accepted her explanation without comment, only a little nod as he looked back at Dorothy May. The child was sitting tall now, as if she were aware of what was about to happen. Rory was attempting to keep her from actually tumbling out of his lap, as she was trying to do, with his cast, which was a rather awkward task. The knock startled him, as well, and he started a little, but didn't jump out of some subconcious will not to. The voice he rceognized - Vivian - but, unlike Dorothy May, he wasn't particularly happy to hear it. Instinctively, he attempted to hold the infant back, succeeding only at her dismay. She didn't understand what had occured, and was too simple and innocent to understand the concept of her abandonment. The anger that was simmering just below the surface of Rory's calm exterior was rising hotly, and he knew in a detatched sort of way that he was going to do something desperately stupid if Vivian even tried to take the child home after what had occured. It was obvious that she needed help of some sort. The sight of Z surprised him, as well, since he had been pessimistic about the return of the singularly rash detective that he had only met once. He stood up as they came into the room, Dorothy May cradled in his good arm while he gave the couple a rather cold stare. "How dare you?" he hissed, suddenly, his voice a whisper, "How dare you come back after what you did to her?" His eyes shifted from Viv to Z as he said this last, obviously meaning the sentence for both.

[Spitz]

Vivian stepped into the house "thanks Roxy, and yeah Ziggy came back. He declared it on a intercom in a airport. I mean, it was just so romantic and-" she was cut off by Rory's voice. The rage started to flood through her body "how dare I? Are you saying I shouldn't of come back for her? And don't blame ANYTHING on Ziggy. HE didn't know. HE was left probably in a disgusting place starving and you put the blame on HIM as well!" she screamed at him. You could see all the anger in her eyes. It showed so well on her face also. But she was not done, she was no where near. "You don't understand the pain Rory! The anger, the grief and the confusion. It may be hard for someone with the emotional level of a teasthingy to understand but everything was going through my mind at once!" she was shouting and crying at the same time. She looked at her child, she was staring at her mother. "Hello baby girl, I'm so sorry for leaving you alone. Its just Daddy decided to go wanders and leave Mummy all alone" she said to the child. Her voice calm and caring.

When she looked back at Rory she raised her hand. Then it slapped across his cheek. "Now Rory, give me my daughter before you get hit again. You are in no way allowed to even lay a finger on her. And with only one arm supporting her she could fall and break her head open in any minute. And then I would kill you Rory" she shouted at him. She stepped back at walked over to Ziggy. Tears were in her eyes and the lump in throat was back. "All I want is my baby back Rory, when he left I was in turmoil. I was going crazy but it wasn't my fault. I thought I had lost him forever" she said her voice now weak. She hugged Ziggy and then looked at Rory. Her gaze shifted to Roxy and she mouthed a sorry. It was probably too late now, her friend probably hated her now. It was understandable really. If Roxy decided never to talk to herself again she would understand it totally but wouldn't be mean to her. She would try her hardest to make friends with her again. Maybe buying her a new horse would do it.

[I Am Agent Z]

"It's true, what Vivian is saying. I was kidnapped, I would never leave intentionally. I hated myself for being away from my family for so long, and loathed every second I was gone. Rory, You have no idea how much I wanted to come back. But it wasn't until yesterday before I was able to get away. I don't even know how I managed to do it.... it's all a blurr. But, if I hadn't have escaped, would I be standing here now? Tell me, Rory, do you honestly think that I would abandon my own family after I had proposed to Vivian? Do I seem like that kind of person to you?" He asked, a slight growl in his voice close to the end of his statement. He then started pacing across the room, bad habit of his, he paced a lot these days.

[FalconX]

At Rory's try at a lighter comment, she forced a tired smile onto her chapped lips, though it painstakingly obvious that it was fake, never reaching her eyes. "Yeah, can't say I would've survived much longer without you." She replied, trying to go back to her more joking, happy nature. She failed to appear happy though, her voice breaking slightly as she spoke. A wry smile twisted her lips. "Yeah, I could sleep all day if I had the time. To bad I don't even have time to get a couple minutes." She wanted to go back to the times where she didn't have to worry about money, or anything that went with owning her own ranch, for that matter. This was her dream, and she was barely keeping it afloat. Her life seemed to be slipping through the cracks and she could only watch as it fell.

When she watched Vivian and Ziggy walk in, she saw the look on Rory's face. This wasn't going to be good. And honestly, she couldn't lie and ignore the rage fighting it's way toward the front of her mind. Roxy listened as Viv thanked her for letting them in, apparently Vivian had missed the anger lying under the words she'd said. She heard the heated words slip from Rory's parted lips, and although she wanted to oppose them, she backed him up. She couldn't believe she was stuck in this situation. Roxy tried to get along with everyone. In the beginning she'd hated Vivian, who tended towards cat fights, while Roxy avoided them. She'd made an effort to get to know the other young woman though. And so, they did become friends. Yet, regardless, the injustice that Viv had done to Dorothy was unacceptable. After Viv started screaming, then slapped Rory, and followed it up with a threat, Roxy narrowed her eyes. In her slightly crazed ranting state, she missed her friend mouth sorry towards her.

"Don't understand the pain? You think we don't understand what it's like when someone you love dearly leaves you? A few months ago my mother died!" Roxy kept her voice level, but she spat them out in venom. "I thought you were my friend! You left me in charge of your daughter, and told me through a voice message! You of all people know I'm not good with kids! Yet you put her in my hands, expecting me to do what I was told. Like a dog? I'm not yours to command. I don't care how desperate you were, and I don't want to hear about how you couldn't handle being alone! I lost family, I loved my mother, and yet, I sucked it up. I took care of my ranch, my horses, everything. No matter how hard it was, I kept going." She turned her narrowed eyes to Ziggy. "I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault, being kidnapped is only the fault of the kidnapper. But how can I hand over this child to a family who's mother just handed the daughter to me. Not even knowing if I would check my messages. How do you expect me to do that with a clear consciences?"

[Forte!]

Rory's eyes narrowed as Vivian spoke, rage contorting his features for an instant. But then it was gone, buried beneath some quickly erected wall, his features becoming as stoic and placid as rock. Mostly, this was a reaction to the fact that he was still holding Dorothy May, and he had been shaking so hard with rage that she was actually shaking with him. When Vivian slapped him, he instantly moved to protect the child, and therefore bore the full brunt of the blow. It was a hard slap, one that sent him immediately backwards and sideways, out of range, but it wouldn't have been particularly painful except for the fact that she'd somehow managed to get his cheek caught on his teeth, cutting up his mouth fairly badly. The metallic taste of blood flooded his senses almost instantly, and out of some subconcious desite not to mess up Roxy's floor, he was forced to swallow with a cringe. Unfortunately, this action on the part of Vivian only mode it even more certain that he wasn't about to hand the child over. If he had even attempted to dodge, the slap could have easily caught the far more precious child.

He snarled, the rage returning to his features. He probably would have punched her if he could, but fortunately this was physically impossible at the moment, and he realized what a stupid thing it would have been to do anyway. "Don't understand the pain? Don't understand THE PAIN? The pain of having lost one parent? The pain of having the other one slip away as if he didn't care for anything in the world? Vivian, I AM THE PAIN. I was shuttled across the country running, just like you tried to do, running and running and running because my father didn't know what else to do! Because I didn't know what else to do! I know what it's like to grow up without parents, it's a fate that I wouldn't condemn upon my worst enemies." His own words were eclipsed by Roxy's, and his rage broke into surprise as he wheeled around to stare at her incredulously. It was uncharacteristic of Roxy to speak her mind, and it surprised him despite the situation. He had never seen her angry at anyone, but nonetheless he was almost proud, and he stood at her shoulder with a look in his eyes that proclaimed that if anyone tried to harm her, the gig would be up.

When she was silent, Rory turned his eyes on Vivian again, still angry. "That's no excuse," he said, his voice lowering again, "that's absolutely no excuse for what you did to her, and I hope you know that. I really, really hope you know that..." His voice wasn't angry anymore, more like he almost pitied her in her blindness of the severity of the situation. "What you did was wrong, on so many levels. And, no, I cannot hand her to you in the good faith that you will protect and nurture her." He stated it in a rather no-nonsense tone, before turning to Z. "You have no idea how relieved I am to hear you say it. I still think you're five kinds of fool, but at least you're not a traitor. And I hoped that you weren't that sort of person." He had, after all, only met Z once, when he was, in fact, doing something foolish, and hadn't been told the reason for his absense.

[Spitz]

Vivian looked at Roxy. She had lost her mother? What? "Roxy, why didn't you tell me? And I only left her with you because your the only actual friend I have here..." she trailed off and looked toward Rory. He was yelling at her for the same thing. Vivian felt her eyes water and the tears started to run down her face. She stepped toward the door and looked up at Ziggy. "Don't bother following me. I just need to be alone for a while" she said and walked out of the door. She was crying as she walked. She knew where she was going. She walked through the town and then she walked across the road and followed it to the airport. She got into the airport and found her original plane to England had been delayed. She had fifteen minutes to board the plane so she ran and just reached it in time. She handed her ticket to the man and he let her in. She sat by a window. Looking across she could just make out the town in the distance. Ziggy was there. Dorothy was there and so was her home. She was leaving them behind.

She put on the plane seatbelt and waited for take off. Maybe she would go to Ireland. Her mother said it was always a beautiful place there. The plane started to go down the line. It gained speed and she looked out of the window. How she would miss America. She would probably find help in the country. Maybe a psychiatrist. The plane finally decided to take off. Vivian sat back in the seat and waited. It would be a hard time. She looked at the engagement ring on her finger and took off the chain around her neck. She put the ring onto the chain and back around her neck. She couldn't even wear it anymore. Ziggy probably thought she was at home. The young girl next to her tapped her on the arm "hey! Your the person getting married to Agent Z!" she said and Vivian nodded. "Yes, I was getting married to him. I still love him its just I need some time alone" she said and the girl looked puzzled "why?". "Nevermind" she said and turned on her iPod. Typical. The first song that came on was 'From This Moment On'. She gazed out of the window while listening to it. It was their song.

[I Am Agent Z]

Ziggy watched as Vivian walked out the door, then glared at Rory and Roxy, and found himself muttering after a moment "Now look what you did..." and left before even giving them a chance to answer. He ran out, but Vivian was already gone. He got into his BMW and started up the engine, thinking maybe she went back to their ranch. He drove down the road back to their ranch and, after parking the car and getting out, he walked up to the door, being a respectful person he knocked a few times, but when nobody answered, he opened the door and looked around, calling "Vivian?" He walked in, looking all around the house high and low. Then suddenly, like a ton of bricks, it hit him she was gone. He clenched his fist at his side and lowered his head, tears rolling down his face in the silence. What was he going to do? This was all Rory's fault. He called up Roxy's house, hoping that Rory would pick up, he had a few choice words for him. If Roxy picked up, he would, calmly, ask for Rory. And then once Rory was on the phone, boy that arrogant whelp would get an earful.

[FalconX]

Roxy's gaze flickered over to her best friend, unbelief written across her face that Vivian had actually slapped him, a fairly hard slap for that matter. Relief filled her eyes when Rory seemed okay, at least, not to damaged, and Dorothy May hadn't been hurt in any way. Dark brown eyes sharp, she looked towards Vivian and Ziggy, her steady glare unrelenting. She heard Rory ranting about the injustice of the statement that Vivian had made. Still, nothing stopped her from going on her own tirade. She couldn't help it. Roxy was usually the one that kept her feelings to herself, she tried to be calm, collected and the friendly one. She kept her anger in as much as possible. But Vivian had crossed the line, causing Roxy to just snap. Pent up emotions fell from her lips, as if a flood gate had just burst in the depths of her mind. Finally, she reined herself in, stopping the words that seemed to just keep coming. She barely saw the look of shock on Rory's face, but realized when he moved towards her, standing directly beside her. He was a good friend, and one that she count on, of that much she was sure. Roxy looked away from Vivian when the woman asked about her mother. "I know why you left Dorothy May with me, in some twisted way, I understand. But it's still not right, Viv. You're my friend, but that doesn't change anything."

Rory's next words backed hers up perfectly. They both believed the same thing in this situation, and it reassured Roxy. At times, she wanted to just have Dorothy back. After all, how else would this go? Roxy didn't want custody of the young girl, and going to court about the issue would be a nightmare. Ziggy had the money for expensive lawyers, Roxy was barely able to keep her ranch. Yet, somehow, she knew that it would just be wrong to hand Dorothy back. Maybe, she could convince her friend to get some help. And once Roxy was sure she was stable enough, maybe then, Roxy could give Dorothy May back. Was that even a good and plausible idea, though? With sadness pooling in her eyes, she watched Vivian leave abruptly, unsure of what to do. At Ziggy's words, anger sparked in Roxy's eyes again. "Don't turn this on us, it isn't our fault." But doubt still lingered in Roxy's voice. She watched Ziggy leave, before turning around, sighing. It wasn't to long after that the phone rang, she looked at it warily, before standing up and answering it. "Coal to Fire Acres, Roxy speaking." She muttered, her voice completely emotionless.