Sorry for the long absence guys. I've been out of the loop for the last few weeks. Reason? Read "Twilight" and you'll know what I mean. hahaha.

Well, this is the season finale of RTN. Hope you enjoy it. (It's pretty long, compared to the other chapters)

Episode 106: “The Battle”

POINT PLACE, WI

June 12, 2002; Monday

1:19 PM

Formans’ Front Yard

As soon as the door flew open, three pair of legs ran as fast as they possibly could from the Formans’ household.

Red looked frustrated as hell. He picked up a few rocks from the ground and started to throw them at the three stupid teenagers, two of which were his own grandsons. He didn’t give a damn. That’s what they got for blowing those damn air horns in the middle of his damn nap.

He managed to hit Luke twice on the head. Red wasn’t surprised. Luke had gotten Eric’s talent of easily tripping over himself. Luke always was the best to take down first.

Sure enough, two more rocks later, Luke was facing the ground and started spitting out grass.

Red hurried over to his grandson and picked up the BB gun that was laying right next to the teenager. He pointed it right at Jagur’s head and prepared to shoot before Jagur and Mikey turned around the corner.

“Red!” came a shrieking voice from behind him.

Red turned to find his wife looking very appalled by him at the very moment. Mrs. Forman shook her head at him and started walking towards her grandson, Luke.

Red turned back towards the other two teenagers and let out a high curse. He turned back to Mrs. Forman. “Aw! Dammit, Kitty! I nearly had those sons-of-bitches!”

She gave him a stern look. “One of them is your grandson!”

Luke started to pick himself off of the ground, now that he had the strength to and his head wasn’t throbbing as much.

“So? Serves him right for disturbing my damn nap.” Red kicked his grandson back to the ground.

Luke let out a groan and ate up more grass.

Mrs. Forman was ready to use that BB gun on her husband instead. “Oh, we were waking up anyway.” She tried to help Luke get back on his feet.

Red looked at her with shock. “Kitty…” he let out a whine. “Why are you always defending them? And acting as if they’re perfect angels and would never do anything wrong?! It was one thing when you did it to Eric, but to do it to all your grandsons? They need to become men, not…” he thought of the perfect word…but it didn’t take him long to find it, “pansies…like Eric.”

Mrs. Forman gave her husband a stern look for a long while. She then shook her head and went back inside the house.

Red, still frustrated, threw down the BB gun and followed his wife. He hated teenagers.

Once Luke was sure that his grandpa was inside the house, he got to his feet and ran off.

As he turned the corner, however, something made him trip…and swallowed down some dirt as well.

A roar of laughter was heard.

Stevie was the one laughing the loudest. “That was such a Kodak moment. Why couldn’t I have been carrying my digital camera today?” She gave a small pout. “Oh, well…I guess my video camera is gonna have to do.” She grinned from ear to ear as she showed her clumsy cousin her camera.

Luke let out another groan. He could only imagine what Stevie would do with that clip. Knowing her the way he did, she would probably post it up on the school’s website. And he could always attempt to take it from her. But why go through more humiliation? He knew he didn’t have a chance in hell in taking it away from her. He let out another groan. He hated his life.

Mikey roared with laughter. He swung his arm around Stevie. “Lets go do some damage, babe.” He gave his friend and evil grin.

Stevie chuckled and left with her boyfriend.

Reece bend over and helped Luke get up. “Come on, little buddy.”

Luke got to his feet. “Thanks, Reece.” He shook off the dirt. When he looked up, his cousin Jagur was still laughing at him. Luke gave him a death stare. “What?” he demanded.

“You should have seen your face.” With that, Jagur left.

Reece followed suit and laughed as well as he remembered.

Luke let out curse words underneath his breath.

--

At the same time that two of his children were getting into trouble, Hyde was giving a small tour of the studio to Roberta and her son, the new artist signed onto Zen Master Records. When he was finished, he sat his chair. “So, the plan is to kind of work with your voice a little bit today. We want to find the perfect songs for your voice and try to see how we can mix your style so that we have some edge, so that way you can blend better with the rest of the artists in this company, Jason.”

Jason frowned. “How are we gonna be able to do that? I mean, my voice is a R&B type of feel. ZMR is more Rock. Don’t know how we can mix those two.”

Hyde observed him for a minute before he spoke again. “Did you think you were going to stick to pure R&B?”

Jason became a little uneasy. He turned to his mother who gave him courage to speak up to the boss man. To be honest, Hyde intimidated the hell out of him. “Well…yeah. Just to be on the safe side.”

Hyde snickered at this. “Son…ZMR never does safe. We are not known for being safe. We like to take chances. And don’t worry, we can make R&B and Rock come very well together.”

Jason, again, frowned. “How?”

Hyde shrugged. “Don’t know. But we’ll find out.” He started to look around his studio for a record and prepared to play it. “This is a song that has just been recorded by The Adams. You know who The Adams are, right?”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. They’re one of the bands signed on to your record.”

“You heard their music before?”

Jason nodded. “Some. I really dig that Halo song though. It’s pretty tight.”

Hyde nodded. “Halo became a number 1 hit about a year ago. It was very Punk Pop. I’ve always liked the style of those guys. Reason why I signed them two years ago. Do you know that two of five guys are brothers?”

Jason shook his head.

“Well, Kenny and Travis are the master minds in the band and both make real great music…but the thing is that they both have different styles in music. Kenny is more into the Punk and Metal and Travis is really into Classical. It was hard for them to make a whole album together. But they were able to because they decided to go with a Punk Pop album since that’s what Kenny, Pip, Vin, and Oliver are more into. Their debut album did great--went Platinum. But Travis got real stubborn when we decided to start recording for the second album. He really wants to put some Classical music in there and we couldn’t get him to budge. So…after a month of struggles, we put our heads together and came up with this song called ‘Give Me’….” Hyde pressed the play button.

The music began. It started off with a violin, slow and mellow, and then a piano followed suit. A harp was then heard in the background and then the tempo became a little more advanced. More strings were added and then an electric guitar started to play. A voice then began to sing lyrics about a tragic event that had just happened to him as the orchestra and band became more intense. The rest of the song continued with the guitars and violins playing together in unison. The voice was the balance of the two. Jason could feel the Goosebumps starting all up his body as he heard this.

Then, after about four minutes the song, came to an end.

Hyde stopped the record and smiled at Jason and Roberta’s reactions. “What did you think of that?”

Jason wasn’t able to open his mouth.

Roberta gave a smile. “That was somethin’ else, that was.”

Hyde turned to Jason. “Jason…if we’re able to combine Metal and Punk Pop together with an orchestra…believe me when we tell you that we can make R&B and Rock come together.”

Jason nodded and smiled. Even though Hyde scared the hell out of him, Jason really felt his music career was safe in Hyde’s hands.

“Now…lets get started.” Hyde got to the phone and dialed a number. “Hey, Slam. We’re about to get started. Bring Beat, Dunk, and Walter down here with you.”

--

A few days later, Stevie woke up from a very horrible nightmare. She couldn’t really remember it, but it still gave her shivers. She tried to push it towards the back of her mind and tried to focus on other things. On a much more important thing. A very beautiful matter…like her birthday!

A smile spread across her face. She was now 15 years old! Not an exciting number, but that was besides the point! It was her day. Not a day for her stupid brothers to completely ruin--because her father would make sure of that. But a day for her! She would get presents today! And a cake! And lasagna! Mmmmm! She loved lasagna! It was her most favorite of all meals! And if she was really lucky today, her dad would slip her a beer late at night! He had been doing that for her since she turned 11 and it was a tradition she wished was more of a daily ritual instead of a yearly one.

With that in mind, she rushed to take a shower and got herself ready. She hated that she had summer school this year, but kinda liked it today. More people to wish her a happy birthday!

So, she got her most cutest jeans, her favorite spaghetti strap red tee that read “Rock-n-Roll Makes a Country Girl”, put on her favorite black boots, and popped on her new black cap.

It took her a total of fifteen minutes to do her hair and makeup. She flew down the stairs, expecting her mother’s version of the “Happy Birthday” song. However, no one seemed to be downstairs.

A frown appeared on Stevie’s forehead as she went into the living room and then the kitchen to see where her mom was. She called out her mother’s name several times, wondering where the hell she was. Then, she saw that there was a note on the door. Stevie rushed over to it to read it:

Kids, I had to rush in for work today. I wasn’t able to make you guys breakfast or lunch, so you’re gonna have to make it for yourselves or ask your dad for some money. He’ll be in the studio all day today, so know you can’t go down there if the red light is on.

Love you,

Mom

That was it? No “Happy Birthday“? No “I’m sorry Stevie”? Not even a “Have a good day”?

Stevie let out a groan. She turned towards the basement door and saw that the red light was on. She kicked the counter and headed out of the kitchen. She grabbed her bag pack, put on her headphones, and turned on her IPod. She scrolled through her album section and clicked on Evanescence’s EP ‘Origin’. The alternative metal band was exactly what Stevie needed at this moment.

--

Hyde was now in the studio with some other producers and songwriters listening to the new artist. Jason was impressing the hell out of Hyde. The young artist held a strong promise whenever the recording started. Everything that Hyde and his team threw at the kid, he seemed to make golden. Hyde felt like a kid in a candy store.

As Hyde sat back on his chair and stared at Jason threw the glass to where the kid was recording, he couldn’t help but feel Goosebumps. This kid was going to be able to finish an album by the end of the year at the rate he was going! It could probably be done by the end of summer, but Hyde didn’t want to rush the kid.

Jason belted out the last note of the song he was singing.

Hyde checked the clock and saw that they had been recording for 10 hours straight already. He got on the mike. “That’s a wrap for today, guys. We’ll pick up where we left off next week.”

There were some groans. It’s usually the response Hyde got whenever he cut Jason’s magic. Everyone in the studio loved to hear the kid tear the place up.

Hyde gave them all a death stare. “Shut up. I’m not gonna overwork his voice. Good day.” He turned to Jason. “Nice work, kid.”

Jason nodded and took off the headphones. Everyone started leaving one by one, until there was only Jason and Hyde left in the room.

Jason grabbed his stuff to leave. “Thank you, Mr. Hyde. See you next week.”

Hyde stopped him before he could leave. “Wait, kid. I wanted to ask you something.”

Jason turned back to his boss. “Yeah?”

“Jackie has been wanting to meet you for quite a while and asked me to ask you if you wanted to have dinner with us and our kids tonight.”

Jason nodded. “Sure. That’d be cool. Thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem, kid. I’ll call your mom right now as well.” Hyde picked up the phone.

Jason shook his head. “Oh. She’s still at work, sir. She won’t be out until almost midnight tonight.”

Hyde put down the phone again. “Alright. Well, let me take you upstairs so you can meet Jackie. She said she was gonna be home by this time.” He started to walk out of the room and Jason followed.

Hyde climbed up the stairs and Jason closed the door. “Aren’t you gonna like it, sir?”

Hyde shook his head. “Nah. Everyone knows better than to enter that room without me being in there.” With that, Hyde continued going up the stairs.

Jason felt a little hesitant, but still followed.

--

At that very moment, Stevie, slammed the door shut. She hated life. No on in her freaking school had wished her a good damn happy birthday!! Stupid teenagers!

“Hey,” came a soft voice from the living room.

Stevie’s heart made a flutter. She turned to her mother, excited. She remembered!

Jackie smiled at her daughter. “What’s wrong?”

“Had a bad day,” Stevie admitted.

“Wanna talk about it?” Jackie took a step towards her daughter when all of a sudden, Jimmy busted into the room, letting out a wail.

“MOM!!” He clung onto his mother as tears streamed down his face.

Jackie’s attention immediately went towards her son’s. She looked horror-struck. “Jamin, what is is?!” She stroked his cheeks.

“Ulysses! He’s dead!” Another tear came down his face.

Jackie frowned. “Your skateboard? What happened?”

“I was learning a new trick. And I was showing Chris, but then…my footing was wrong and I…I broke it! I killed him!”

“Oh, honey. We can get you a new one,” she said with a soothing voice.

“But he was my favorite, Mom!”

Jackie took a hold of his hand and sat him down on the living room couch. She started to calm her son down and forgot all about her daughter in the hallway.

Stevie was appalled! She threw her bag pack on the ground and ran up the stairs.

Jackie didn’t even notice it.

--

About half an hour later, the Hyde family gathered around the table and was preparing to eat.

Hyde took his chair and frowned. “Where are the brats?”

Jackie set down the drinks. “Jagur and Jamin are in the front yard. They should be coming in--”

In that very moment, the door swung open and two boys stepped into the kitchen.

“Now,” Jackie finished her sentence. “Hey, boys. I want you guys to finally meet someone.” She motioned her sons to join her. She turned to Jason. “Jason, these two are my boys, Jagur and Jamin.”

Jagur and Jimmy both shook hands with Jason and sat down around the table.

Once Jackie sat down, Hyde frowned. “Where’s Stevie?”

“Doesn’t want to come down.” Jackie said simply.

Hyde shrugged and didn’t say another word. He started a conversation up with his sons and Jason quickly.

All five of them had some laughs as they ate Jackie’s awesome lasagna that she had made for this occasion….

--

“Come on, baby,” Mikey moaned as he nibbled on Stevie’s ear.

Stevie shook him away one last time. “I said no, Mickey!” She got up from her bed and looked more than bothered.

“Why not?” Mikey whined. “You always want to make out.”

“Well, I don’t today, alright!” Stevie was ready to give someone a nice punch. She was so frustrated!

“Why?!” Mickey was also getting frustrated…but for different reasons all together. “I mean, what else can we do?! It’s so boring!” Then, his eyes lit up. “Oh! We could always do it!”

At that, Stevie did punch him.

“Ow!” Mickey rubbed his shoulder. “What is with the hitting?!”

“Get out of here, Mickey!”

“Why? What did I do?!”

She let out a groan and grabbed him by the arm. She pushed him out of her window with all her force.

“But--baby!” Mickey let out a yelp as he fell onto the tree. “Ow! My eye!”

Stevie rolled her eyes. She slammed down her window and marched out of her room. She needed to get out of there. She needed to go to her happy place.

And as she flew down the stairs, she heard laughter from the kitchen. She went to go see what it was.

And her family was there…all having a good time. All laughing and eating…her lasagna! She scolded them and wished they all chocked on it! Then…she noticed that there was somebody else there…. She frowned. She had never seen him before. And then she remembered something. Last night her mom had told her dad to invite his new artist to dinner the next day. She said she really wanted to meet him. Stevie hadn’t thought much about it, thinking that it was no big deal. So what? At least twice a week some of her dad’s artist had dinner over at the house.

But that was before one of them started eating her lasagna.

Rage overtook her now. She raced to the studio without being seen.

The moment she got down there and saw all of those controls, she felt soothed. Something about a studio always made her relax somehow. Back when she was younger and her dad would take care of her in there, she always felt whole as she fiddled with the controls--which hadn’t taken her too long to know how to work. She loved the feel of the guitar underneath her fingertips…or the microphone touching her lips. It was her happy place.

Stevie let out a little smile as she entered sat down on the chair. She picked up the guitar and started to fiddle around with it. And then, she opened her mouth to sing one of her most favorite songs:

“Just like the white winged dove sings a song sounds like she's singin'
Whoo-whoo-whoo
Just like the white winged dove sings a song sounds like she's singin'
Whoo, baby, whoo, Said, whoo
And the days go by
Like a strand in the wind
In the web that is my own
I begin again
Said to my friend baby, nothing else matters
He was no more
Than a baby then”

She continued to play the chords and let her velvet voice combine with them. Her favorite sound.

She then decided to record a little to help her keep her mind off of other things. She went inside the booth and started to sing along to the first song that came to mind.

“I can’t find a reason to let go

Even though you’ve found a new love

And she’s what your dreams are made of

I can find a reason to hang on

What went wrong can be forgiven

Without you, it ain’t worth livin’ alone

Sometimes I wake up crying at night

And sometimes I scream out your name

What right does she have to take you away?

When for so long you were mine”

She closed her eyes and let herself get sucked in to the lyrics and let her voice overtake her.

--

The rest of the Hyde family was done with dinner and the boys had left the room already, wanting to hang out with their friends for the remainder of the day. Jackie was cleaning up and Hyde thought to help her out for a little while.

He turned to Jason. “Why don’t you go down to the studio? The guys should be here in a while.”

Jason hesitated. “Are you sure?” He had heard how much Hyde was overprotective over his studio.

Hyde nodded. “Sure, man. I’ll be there in a sec. Just make sure that nobody touches anything while I’m not there,” he warned. He had the most serious look on his face as well.

Jason nodded and left to the studio. As he closed the door behind him, he thought he heard something coming from the booth. He frowned and thought that maybe he or Hyde had left a song playing. But that just wasn’t convincing him. Hyde always turned everything off before he left the room. So, as Jason was coming closer to the room, the noise grew louder.

And right before he entered the room, he realized that it wasn’t noise at all. It was a voice that was singing. A voice that he had never heard of before. Was this a CD playing? Who was this? He really liked it.

He placed his hand on the door handle and opened it…slowly…. Then, his eyes grew in terror as he noticed that someone was in there recording…without Hyde’s consent. Shit, he thought, I’m screwed. He walked over to the set and hesitated at first before doing anything. The reason?… Why did the question need to be asked? The voice coming out of this girl’s body was just out of this world. He didn’t seem to notice anything about her. Not her black hair, not her eyes, not her skin color, not her height…just her voice.

It took him a good long while to break out of the trance. He cleared his throat and got on the intercom. “You can’t be in there.”

The voice startled the girl and she immediately stopped singing and jumped off the floor a little.

A small smile spread across Jason’s face at her reaction.

Once she was able to catch her breath again, she turned to her intruder…and she met his gaze.

He was still smiling at her, forgetting about Hyde’s number 1 rule.

And the moment she saw his smile, rage built inside of her. She gave him a death stare. “Says who?”

He was confused with the tone and out of impulse, he gave her attitude back. “The owner of this studio…Steven Hyde.”

She rolled her eyes and rasp berried. “Please. Like I give a shit about what that man has to say.” She put on her headphone again and continued on with her singing.

The anger inside of Jason was starting to mount up. “You really need to get the hell out of here.”

She let out a groan. “Will you shut up? I’m trying to record here?”

“Are you even signed up to ZMR?”

“No.”

“Then what the hell are you doing here?”

“Why the hell do you care?”

“Because my boss made it quite clear that he doesn’t like anyone down here whenever he’s not present.”

“I don’t need permission from anyone on what I can and cannot do.” She began to put on her headphones again.

This annoyed him. So much that he pushed the ‘Stop’ button and pulled out the record.

This angered her. She marched right out of the booth and went directly to face him. “What the hell are you doing?! Put that back!”

He smirked at the anger he had caused. “Make me.”

She frowned. “‘Make me?’ What are you? 10?” She tried to snatch her record away from her.

He kept it out of her grasp with a laugh. “Close.”

“Give me my damn record!” She yanked on his collar.

He gave out a choking cough. “I can’ breaf!” he barely let out.

“Good!” Her hold grew stronger.

However, he still wasn’t giving it up.

She let out a groan. Desperate times call for desperate measures…. She lifted up her left boot and kicked him as hard as she could on the shins.

He dropped the record and soothed his leg, spitting out some fowl language underneath his breath.

Then, there was a roar of laughter in the background.

Both teenagers turned to see that they had in fact not been alone at all. They had in fact been in the presence of some of ZMR producers…Hyde included.

He gave Jason a half smile. “What seems to be the problem here?”

Jason turned and gave the girl the meanest of all looks. “She was in here recording and I don’t know what else. I told her about your number 1 rule and she wouldn’t listen…. Next thing I know, she’s chocking me and kicking me!”

She rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t chocking you.”

“Then what do you call not letting me breathe?!”

“Oh, don’t over exaggerate.”

“That’s enough,” Hyde warned before the fight got too much out of hand. If it were any other time or day, he wouldn’t have stopped this little entertainment. But he wasn’t about to waste this time to get back to work. “See yourself out. I need to practice with Jason.” He went over to his chair and set everything up.

She gave Hyde a dirty look now. “Well…can I ask when my turn will be? I need to record too, you know. And lately, I haven’t had much time in here!”

“I really don’t want to discuss this right now,” Hyde stated and went on as if she didn’t exist.

She grabbed a pillow that was lying on the floor and she threw it as hard as she could to the back of the man’s head. She left with an angry look upon her face.

Jason turned to Hyde, startled. He wondered what Hyde would do.

However, Hyde went about as if nothing happened for about a minute or two. Then, he let out a breath and turned to Jason. “Hope you enjoyed Stevie’s presence.”

Then, it hit Jason. That had been Hyde’s child! And here he had thought that Stevie was another son! Shit!

--

That night, Stevie was sitting on top of the roof, trying to collect her thoughts and keep calm. She had hated everything about this day. It was the worst birthdays ever!

How could they have forgotten? I mean, I understand that Jagur and Jimmy are pretty self-absorbed--same as my stupid cousins. And Grandma and Grumpa are really old and lose their memory easily…and I understand that Mickey is a complete moron. And Reece isn’t here. He’s off for vacation…the same went for Aunt Laurie. Uncle Eric…well…I expect much from him…. But Mom and Dad? They never forget.

With that final tear, she placed her head onto her lap and let out a deep breath, trying her best not to cry.

Right then, someone appeared on the rooftop.

Stevie turned to see her dad walking over to her. She rolled her eyes and silently wished he would slip and fall.

He finally reached her and sat down next to her. He gave her a small smile. “Hey, kiddo.”

She said nothing. She just stared up in space and tried to get lost in all the stars.

He let out a breath. “I guess I deserve that.”

Still, she said nothing. Her focus was on Orion’s Belt.

“Baby…I’m sorry,” he said in a hurtful and truthful voice. “It was just…such a busy day and I know that it’s no excuse--”

“Yeah, that is no excuse,” she cut him out. She finally met his gaze and gave him the most hurtful of looks.

His daughter couldn’t feel how truly shitty he was feeling inside right now. And he couldn’t blame her. “I’m sorry,” he said again, knowing that it wasn’t going to patch up any bruises.

She shook her head. And in frustration, a tear fell down. And once one fell, more continued almost immediately. Damn it!

Hyde felt as if someone had just cut his heart open with a knife. “Baby…” He took her in his arms then. “I’m sorry,” he murmured as he kissed her hair and rocked her as she cried. “I promise to make it up to you. Next year, we’ll go all out.”

Stevie continued to shake her head. She broke out of his embrace and turned to him. “That’s not why I’m upset, Dad.”

He was confused now. “Then if it’s not for your birthday, then what is it?”

She took a deep breath and looked down at her feet as she decided to tell the truth. “It’s the fact that…I’m being replaced.”
This just caught him off guard. “What? By who? When?”

“By Jason…ever since he’s been here that’s all you ever spend your time on. It used to be me that was in the studio with you nonstop during the summer break, now….” She wrapped her arms around her legs and placed her chin on her knees.

Hyde shook his head and wrapped his arm around her. “Stevie…Jason and you are complete different artists. He can never take your place. You’re my daughter.”

“But he’s now your favorite artist…anyone can tell.” The words hurt her, but they were the truth. She knew that she wasn’t speaking lies. She turned to her father then. “Tell me I’m wrong,” she challenged. “Tell me that ever since Jason has come in, you haven’t spent most of your time with him.”

Hyde thought for a minute on how he was going to use his words. And he couldn’t. He realized she was right. Lately, he had been taking favoritism towards the new R&B artist. And that was completely unfair to everyone else. Even back when Stevie was the best of them all, he still treated her the same as the others.

She waited for his response.

When he turned back to her he gave her another apologetic look. “You’re right. And I’m gonna change it.”

She looked deep into his eyes. “You promise?”

He gave her a half-smile and kissed her on the forehead. “Promise.”

There was honesty in his voice and she knew he would never lie to her. He always kept his promise. She leaned into him and shut her eyes, forgetting and forgiving everything that had gone wrong that day.

He rubbed her back. “Wanna go to the kitchen now?”

She lifted her head and frowned at him. “Why?”

“Your mother is making you some lasagna.” He gave her a wide smile.

Stevie instantly felt bad. “Why?” she asked in horror. She got to her feet and rushed inside.

Hyde was right behind her. “She feels horrible…and like the worst mother in the world.”

Stevie shook her head. “She didn’t have to do this, though.”

“You know your mom,” he said simply.

And that she did. Stevie knew that when her mother felt she had done wrong with her or any one of her brothers, her mother went the extra mile to make up for it. It was only Stevie, Jagur, and Jimmy that could ever make Jackie Hyde feel horrible for hurting them. She could give a crap if she hurt anyone else’s feelings. But her children? That was a different story.

Stevie entered the kitchen. Sure enough there was Jackie, hair a mess and eyes completely puffy--most than likely because she had been crying. She looked flustered as she mixed the sauce.

Something squeezed at Stevie’s heart and she felt lower than dirt.

Right at that moment, Jackie looked up. She and Stevie held each other’s gaze for a while…sharing unspoken words.

It was like they were having a conversation, but without speaking with their mouths. It was a strange bond they shared. Just by looking at each other, each could tell what the other was thinking. It was something that even Hyde and Jackie didn’t share that strongly.

Then, Jackie walked over to her daughter and gave her the biggest embrace as she let out some silent tears. Over and over again, she asked for forgiveness…and Stevie would give it to her. However…Jackie still kept asking.

After five minutes, Jackie finally let her daughter go and went to finish up the lasagna. For the remainder of the night, Stevie and her parents stayed up and hung out. It wasn’t something Stevie had ever had the privilege to have, hanging out with her parents alone for this long amount of time. It was nice. Nice that for at least a couple of hours, she didn’t have to share her parents. At least for a couple of hours.

It's taking me a while to get these new characters together, please have patience. And REVIEW!

So, the next episode (which will be the 2nd season premire) will be titled "INternSHIT". Hyde hires two interns... : )