Jess chose not to address the whole "Lindsey" situation that had occurred a few nights before. He felt that Barbara getting a hold of Stephanie was good enough.

"Have you seen Norman Bates lately?" Chris nudged his sister as he barged in her room without knocking
"That's not funny" she said, straight faced.

"I thought it was."

"You're a poor judge"

"Ouch! What's eating you?" Chris asked, continuing to pester his sister.
"Mom and Dad wont let me live it down! They watch me every time I leave the house! I've caught Mom staring at me through the fucking window!"

"I tried to tell you...you chose to go help him," Chris smirked
"He needed help. If I wouldn't have stuck up for him, he'd be in jail or something. Those officers were going to arrest him."

"For what? A string of murders outside Santa Fe?" Chris chuckled at his own cleverness.

"You're no help Chris. He's not what you think."
"Well he surely isn't helping his case any," pointing out the window to Lindsey's house where more cop cars were pulling up. Ruth Buckingham running toward them in hysterics followed by the rest of the family.
"I wonder what's going on now?" Stevie thought allowed.

"I told you, he's been found out."

"He has not. I just...I need to go out there and see."

"No way. You got us both in trouble last time. I knew not to plot with you."
"Maybe I'll just have to tell Mom you smoked weed on the roof and said the smell was a annul across the street..."
"You wouldn't dare"

"Oh, but I would"

"What if I share?" Chris offered and Stevie looked thoughtful a moment.

"No dice." she said, opening her window. "See ya"
"Don't get killed!"

"I'll try!" Stevie replied as she hopped down. Jogging over to Morris he met her at the edge of the lawn. "Have you seen Lindsey?!" He was frantic

"N-no, not since the other night..."
"You're sure?" He placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Y-yes, I'm sure." Stevie too became panicked. "You don't think..."

"His mother is fearing the worst."
"I want to help," Stevie replied without hesitation

"Are you sure?" Morrison asked

"Of course. I'll help look for him!" Stevie jumped at he pulled her into his arms

"Lindsey has never had a friend before..."
"He does now" Stevie said, smiling softly as he pulled away. He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. She oils see the worry in his eyes. "We'll find him, Mr Buckingham."

"Please, call me Morris."
"He likes to take walks but he says he always stays on the sidewalks, would you mind taking a walk?" Morris asked

"Of course I will!"
She and Morris walk down the sidewalk, seeing if they can spot him. The community wasn't so large that he could not be found.
"Do you know when he might have left?"

"I don't know." Morris stopped, at a loss. How could he not realize his own son was missing? "He never leaves without telling us where he is going. He knows to come right back, not to take too long."
"Want me to look in the woods?" Stevie asked, they lived on the edge of the neighborhood which meant that a patch of woods was located behind their houses

"Would you?"

"Yeah, I used to go back there all the time."
"Is that a popular hang out?" Morris asked. Stevie shrugged, not wanting to tell them that kids form school would go back there to neck and smoke pot after school. "Your parents raised a good kid"

"Thank you, Mr B--Morris."

He smiled. "Thanks for helping in the search efforts. You see, my son was bullied at his last school and he didn't have a single friend. We moved in hopes it would be different here. At first, I worried. I thought it would be just a repeat of his last experience. People don't really understand him, but you've changed my mind."

"Everyone deserves a chance. No one should be alone" Stevie told him.
"I think Lindsey needs to hear that," Morris placed his hand on her shoulder

"I'll go look for him now," Stevie replied, jogging off toward the woods. She prayed that no one else had found him first...
She pushed through brush and the trees, going to the clearing. Thee were a couple of people there but what they were doing seemed innocent enough, to her anyway. She looked around, not seeing Lindsey at all.

There was a kid swinging on a vine like Tarzan himself but stopped as Stevie approached.

"Got any grass?" he asked.

"No, sorry" She felt uncomfortable under his gaze. "Uh...have you seen a guy around here? Curly hair, kind of tall. His name is Lindsey, Lindsey Buckingham."
"Oh Norman Bates! Yeah, he passed here a few hours ago, headed towards the creek." The stoned body smiled goofily, "Hey, are you sure about that grass?" He asked, reaching for her.

"Don't touch me." Stevie warned, the boy ignoring her as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "Get off of me!" She struggled, feeling him push her against a tree.

Out of no where the boy was shoved to the ground, Stevie looked to her right and saw Lindsey standing beside her, his chest heaving.
The boy stood and began to pummel Lindsey. Beating him to the ground as Stevie tried to save him. "Get off!" Stevie tried to pull the stoner away. Chris arrived seconds later after he heard the commotion and pulled the boy away from Lindsey who was curled up on the ground
"Is this him?" Chris asked.

"Yeah" Stevie said, still shaken up.

"Hey, are you okay?" Chris knelt down to Lindsey. "I'm not gonna hurt you or anything. I'm Stevie's brother. I'm Chris."

Lindsey moved a little, and Stevie worried something was really wrong. "Maybe we should get somebody"
"Let's help him back to his house," Chris took Lindsey's hand and tried to held him up. Lindsey didn't say a word, Stevie wrapped her arm around his waist as he used them for support. "Thank you..." Lindsey said softly as they emerged from the woods. He was in pain, that was for sure.

"I thought they said stoners, burn-outs and hippies are peaceful people." Chris tried to joke but Stevie didn't look amused.

"Shut up." Stevie looked at Lindsey. "Are you feeling okay?"

He shook. "Don't wanna go"

"What?"

"Don't wanna go back."
"Why not?" Stevie asked, Ruth and Morris seemed nice enough. Was their more to his story than a happy family? At this point Stevie knew that there was definitely something odd about Lindsey...

"Can't go back" he said this time and Chris stepped away.

"Maybe we should leave him alone"

"Why don't you want to go? Please answer me" He seemed to shy away and Stevie realized she was being too direct. The last thing she wanted to do was scare him off.
"Okay...I won't push you anymore...I'll tell your parents that you are okay." Stevie sighed. "Stay here and I'll bring you some water and band aids so we can clean you up."
"Don't say anything" he begs, suddenly grabbing onto her hand at his waist. "Please"

Stevie looked at him and for the first time she noticed his incredible eyes. She found herself smiling, they were so enchanting.

"We can't just say nothing, they'll catch on" Chris said, tugging her aside, finally breaking her eye contact with the boy.
"Lindsey, I won't say anything right now, but please let me go get you something for your cuts," Stevie begged

"Okay..." he looked toward the ground

"I'll be right back," she and Chris placed him against a tree as she sprinted off to her house and collected food, water, and band aids before returning to him
"This is a bad idea" Chris said.

"Knock it off, Chris. Not now."

Stevie tried to clean him up the best of her ability, helping him drink water. "Are you alright?"

He didn't respond, but she didn't push him as she promised.
"I'll sit here with him, you go back home," Stevie told Chris

"I'm not leaving you alone..." eyeing Lindsey

"I'll be perfectly fine."
"What am I supposed to tell mom and dad. I'm not taking the heat for you."

"Fine, don't say anything to them just like I'm not saying anything to Lindsey's parents. Play dumb, you should be good at that."

Chris huffed. "Fine."
"So Lindsey," Stevie sat in front of him, "it's just us now."
"Yeah," he said quietly."

"How do you feel?"
Lindsey shrugged. "You can talk to me, Linds. I promise, I won't say a word if you don't want me to." Lindsey shrugged again. "Okay"

Stevie sat by him for a while, wanting to be near him even though he virtually ignored her. After a few minutes of silence, he finally spoke. "Thanks" he said and Stevie smiled.

"You're welcome"
"Tell me about yourself," Stevie shuffled closer to him.

"I'm good," Lindsey shook his head, keeping ahold of his wrist

"Is it broken?"
He shrugged again. "Lindsey, if you're really hurt, we should see someone. You need a doctor." Stevie got up and he looked up.

"Stay" he said, worry in his blue-grey eyes. "Don't go, Stevie"
"Okay...I won't go right now, but your parents are really worried about you..."

"I'm not ready...."

"You can trust me."
"I'm not going" His worry was quickly turning to anger and just as her parents had to do for each other, she knew she had to diffuse the situation.

"Alright, alright. So what do you want to do about your wrist then?"

"I'm fine" he said, trying to use the wrist to reposition himself on the ground. He winced and Stevie was visibly concerned.

"If it's not broken, it's sprained and..." He was receptive so she stopped. "Thank you for protecting me back there."
"You're welcome..."

"You don't talk much," Stevie tilted her head to the side, studying him

"I don't have a reason to."

"Well now you do!" She smiled, "Friends are supposed to talk to each other."

"I've never had friends before..."

"Is that why you don't want to go back? Are you scared?"

He looked away, becoming shy. She continued to look at him, not wanting to miss any sign of communication. Finally he nodded and she touched his shoulder.

"You don't have to be scared anymore, Lindsey."
Staring down at her hand he hesitantly covered her hand with his. "My arm hurts..." he admitted quietly
"Can we go back now?" she asked and Lindsey's eyes stared into hers just long enough for her to see his fear once more. He was thinking and she chose to wait for him. She was learning more about him by the minute though she still knew nothing at all.
"Are you hurt?" Lindsey asked her softly, remembering the guy slamming her against a tree
"I'm fine" Stevie said. She wanted to focus on Lindsey. He was clearly in a worse spot than she was no matter how shaken up she still was.
"I'm sorry," he apologized, looking away. "S'my fault."
"No, it's not. That stoner creep has nothing to do with you."

"My fault" he repeated
"I don't blame you," Stevie smiled softly at him. "I want you to tell me about yourself."
"What do you want to know?" he asked. "I'm not that interesting."

"I'm sure you are" Stevie said. "Come on. You don't have to be scared. I won't tell anybody if you don't want me to."
"I-I don't know," he shifted nervously

"What's your favorite color?" Stevie asked

"Blue..."

"See, that's a start!"
He seemed to smile a little again. "You?"

"Hmm...that's hard. There are so many colors! Let's say mine's blue too. What do you like to do for fun? Any hobbies?"
"I draw...and music," Lindsey said quietly, smiling softly
"You're so creative! I'd love to see your work, Lindsey. What kind of music? Do you play, write...?"
"Just anything... I write a little..."

"Can I see it sometime?"

"Sure..."
"Great." The silence was awkward until his hand found hers again.
"I'm ready..." Lindsey said quietly, not able to bare the pain in his arm
"You're sure?"

"Yeah" he said.

"I'm proud of you." She told him and this time he really grinned, as if he'd never heard someone say that to him before.
"Thank you. I'm sorry again," he said softly

"It's no problem. Thank you for saving me before he could..."
"I...I don't wanna...think about that."

"Okay. Well, thank you anyway. Let's get back. I know your parents will be so happy to see you. They're worried sick!"
He nodded quietly, "Thank you..."

"Honey, you don't have to keep thanking me!" Stevie smiled, helping him off of the ground
He blushed, hearing her call him honey. Stevie walked ahead of him, pushing through the trees. She looked back, making sure he was following.

"Still doing alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, my arm hurts," he held his left arm

"We'll get you taken care of."
Just as they were about to emerge from the woods, Lindsey touched her arm. She turned around. "Everything will be okay."

"Uh..."

"What?" She looked like at him expectantly. He shook his head and continued walking through the trees into the full light of day.
"Lindsey!" Ruth shouted, pulling her son into her arms. "Are you alright?!" She checked him over, noticing his bruises and cuts. "What happened?" She asked Stevie
"Your son saved me. He's a hero, Mrs Buckingham."

"A hero? My Lindsey?"

Stevie nodded, giving Lindsey a proud smile, "He's my hero."