Fic: Doin' Time, PG
Title: Doin' Time
Author: Sun
Rating: PG
Summary: 14 year old Maggie gets arrested and meets our favorite thief in jail.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except Maggie and Nick.
Notes: This is an AU of my AU. Think of it as a what if Maggie and Darien had met as teens. I've also fudged with Maggie and Darien's ages. Maggie is 14 and Darien is 16 (in my original AU, there are 7 years between Maggie and Darien).
"You can wait in here while we contact your father," the officer told her, pulling the cell door shut behind him.
"He's not my father! And I'm not going with him!" she yelled at his back.
"He won't listen."
She spun around. In the next cell, a handsome young man was lounging on the bench. He looked a few years older than she was. He was thin and lanky, with messy brown hair. Only his brown eyes followed her as he watched her moved back and forth in front of her own cell door.
"Not from around here, are you?"
Maggie shook her head. "We're here for the festival. Nick thought it would be nice to get out of San Diego for the weekend."
The young man nodded and fell back to silently watching her
"Who are you?" Maggie finally demanded; her hands planted firmly on her hips. "What are you in here for?"
He laughed softly. "Direct, ain't you?" He sat up and leaned forward, still watching her. The way he watched her was making her vaguely uncomfortable. "You don't look like the sort of girl who gets herself arrested. What'd you do?"
"I hit someone."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "That's all? They don't usually arrest little girls for hitting someone."
"They do when the person you hit is the sheriff's son." Maggie leaned against the bars of her cell.
The young man guffawed. "You hit Matt Templeton?"
"You know him?"
"Of course I know him. We go to school together. First class asshole he is." His handsome face was even more so now that he was grinning ear to ear. "Why'd you hit him?"
"'Cause he's a first class asshole." She ran a hand nervously through her hair, catching on of the curls and twisting it around her fingers.
"What'd he do to make you hit him?" He leaned back again, stretching his long legs out in front of him.
"He called me a name."
"You hit him because he called you a name?"
Her eyes flashed angrily. "He called me a freak, okay? No one calls me a freak." She turned away from him and looked down the hallway.
"Hey," he called to her. She glanced at him over her shoulder. He motioned to the bench in her cell. "Sit down. You're going to be here a while." She glared at him a little longer before relenting. She sank down onto the bench. He held out his hand through the bars. "I'm Dare."
She placed her hand in his much larger one and watched as his hand enveloped hers as they shook. "Maggie."
"Nice to meet you, Maggie."
"You never answered my question," she said, still staring at their joined hands. "What are you in for?"
He chuckled. "I stole a car." Dare finally let go of Maggie's hand and she let it drop to her side.
"How'd you get caught?"
"I crashed." Maggie burst out laughing. Dare glared at her. "Don't laugh. I would have gotten away with it."
"Sure. If it weren't for those meddling kids and their damn dog." She continued giggling, ignoring his glares.
Dare got to his feet and walked to his cell door. He moved with the awkwardness of teenage boys who had a sudden growth spurt. "You want to get out of here?"
Maggie nodded, watching him with interest. He knelt down next to the lock. "Do you have a hairpin or something like that?" he asked.
She nodded and reached up to pull one of the bobby pins from the bun in her hair. She handed him the thin piece of metal and watched him reach around to the front of his door. He jiggled the pin in the lock for a few moments, listening intently on the other side. With a soft cry of success, the door swung open and Dare stood up.
He repeated the process with her cell door. "Come on." He held out his hand to her and she slid her hand into his.
"How are we getting out of here?" she whispered as they crept down the hallway. They passed two other cells, both of which were empty. Dare pointed at the emergency exit at the end of the hallway. "We'll have to run like hell once we go through. There's an alarm."
Maggie shook her head. "I can take care of that." Dare looked skeptical. Maggie placed her hand on the door and felt the electrical current that kept the alarm active. She made an artificial circuit and pushed the door open. The alarm stayed silent and she motioned for Dare to go through. When she stepped through, she let the door close gently before breaking her artificial circuit. "See? Easy."
He was looking at her strangely. "I'm not sure I want to know how you did that." He took her hand, this time without asking, and led her away from the station. "Come on. We don't want to hang around here."
They walked toward the crowds of the festival before Dare thought better of it. He made an abrupt turn away from the festival and toward the park on the edge of town.
"Where're we going?" Maggie asked as they changed directions. "Why aren't we going back to the festival?"
"Too many cops hanging around there. You want to get caught again?" She shook her head. He stared at her for a moment. "How old 're you?"
"Fourteen. How old are you?" Maggie pulled her hand from Dare's and slowed down.
He stopped and looked at her. "Sixteen."
"You look older." She tilted her head to one side. "Because you're tall."
He shrugged. "You don't." He glanced around for police again. "Let's get moving."
"Won't the police come looking for us?"
Dare shook his head. "They're too busy with the drunks in town. Plus, they know where they can find me." He started moving again.
Maggie had to hurry to keep up with Dare's long stride. She ended up moving in a strange walking/jogging motion that was uncomfortable. "Dare," she called, "can we slow down a little? I can't keep up with you."
He glanced over his shoulder and looked surprised. "Sorry." He shortened his stride and she was able to slow to a quick walk. "Who is he then?"
"What do you mean?" Maggie looked up at Dare.
"When they first threw you in the cell, you said he wasn't your father. Who were you talking about?" He reached for her hand again as they walked into a large crowd.
"Oh. My guardian, Nick. We got into a pretty big fight right before I had my run-in with the asshole." She moved closer to Dare as the crowd got bigger. He slid an arm around her shoulders so they wouldn't be separated. "Where're we going?"
Dare shrugged. "The park, for now. It's usually pretty empty this time of day and the cops will be too busy with the festival to patrol it." The crowd thinned out around them, but Dare kept his arm around Maggie's shoulders. "Where're your mom and dad?"
"They were killed when I was four. Car accident." They turned into Stanley Park and Dare led her to the new playground.
"Sorry." He sat down on a swing and pushed backwards. "So is he like your uncle or something?"
"Or something. What about you? Where's your family?" She sat on the swing next to his and began swinging back and forth, pumping her legs to make herself go higher.
"Here. My aunt and uncle live in town. My brother, Kevin and I, live with them." They swung in silence as the sky grew darker around them. Finally, Dare stopped swinging and turned to Maggie. "You hungry?"
Maggie realized she was starved. A quick glance at her watch told her it was past suppertime. She felt a stab of guilt when she realized Nick would be worried sick. She nodded. "Yeah."
"Come on. We'll go to the diner."
They wandered back toward town, keeping away from the crowds of the festival. Most of the people were gathering in the town square for the fireworks that would be starting soon.
"Hey look guys, it's the freak!"
Maggie and Dare stopped and looked in the direction of the voice. Matt Templeton was across the street with a couple of friends.
"Leave her alone, Templeton," Dare called back. He took Maggie's hand and started walking again.
Matt laughed. "How cute, the freak has a boyfriend and it's the criminal. I thought my father arrested you."
"How little you know," Maggie said, stopping and pulling her hand from Dare's. She turned to face Matt. "Nice black eye. You want another to match?"
"Do it and you'll spend the night in jail," Matt threatened. His friends laughed.
"You really are an asshole." She shook her head and walked away from Matt. Dare followed her, leaving Matt staring after them, his mouth open.
"Don't walk away from me, bitch!" Matt yelled. Maggie started to turn back around when something hit her in the back of the head. She fell to her knees with a groan.
Dare spun around and ran at Matt. He threw a punch just as he reached Matt, striking him across the face. He hit him again before Matt could recover and Matt fell to the sidewalk. Dare kicked Matt in the stomach and was preparing to do it again when he found he couldn't move. The other boys were also frozen in place and they all had looks of fear on their faces.
Maggie slowly got to her feet, her eyes glowing. "Dare, don't hurt him. It's not worth it." She crossed the street to the frozen tableau. She put her hand on Dare's arm and he found he could move again. "You'll only get in more trouble."
He looked at her. "Did you do this?" She nodded. "How?"
"I'll explain later. Come on." She pulled him away from the other boys. He kept glancing over his shoulder at them, but they continued to stay frozen. "Don't worry. They'll stay like that for a while. My range is pretty good."
After about 10 minutes of walking, Dare turned them down a residential street. He led her up to a small white house. "My aunt and uncle's house. They should be at the fireworks." He unlocked the door and let her in.
Maggie followed him into the kitchen. He turned on the light and opened the freezer. She sat down at the table and put her hand up to the spot where she had been hit. When she brought her hand down, there was blood on her fingers.
Dare set an ice pack on the table and started when he saw her hand. "You're bleeding?"
She shook her head. "Not anymore."
He pulled the first aid kit out from under the kitchen sink. "Let me look at it." He opened the kit and found the antiseptic. "This is going to sting."
"That's what Nick always says right before he does something painful to me," Maggie replied. The last word ended in a hiss as Dare cleaned the small cut on her scalp.
"It doesn't look like anything serious. Do you want to go to the hospital?"
She shook her head. "I'm sure it's okay." When he was finished, she gingerly set the ice pack against the spot. "Thanks, for, um, defending me."
"Like I said, Matt's a first class asshole. He deserves worse." He rummaged around in the fridge and started pulling out sandwich fixings. "What did you do to them before?"
"I can move things with my mind. That's how I fixed the alarm too. It's called telekinesis." She set the ice pack on the table and looked down, expecting to be called a freak again.
"It's pretty cool. Do you want ham or turkey?"
She looked up and he was smiling at her, his brown eyes still warm. "Ham, please. No mustard."
When he was finished making their sandwiches, he found a couple of cans of soda in the fridge. Dare handed one to Maggie and motioned for her to bring her food and follow him.
They went out in the backyard and across to a large tree in the back. There was a tree house tucked in the branches. Dare handed his plate and soda to Maggie and climbed up the ladder. He dropped a basket for Maggie to put the food in and pulled it up as Maggie climbed up. It was good sized tree house, furnished with a couple of beanbag chairs, a basket of comics and magazines and a box.
Dare settled into one of the chairs and motioned for Maggie to do the same. "My brother and I used to play in here a lot when we were little. Now I only use it when I want to hide from my aunt and uncle."
Maggie took a bite of her sandwich and leaned her head against the wall. "I wish I had a place like this to hide. I'm always watched."
"I can understand that. Everyone always watches me, waiting for me to screw up."
Maggie tried not to smile. "You mean like crashing a stolen car?"
Dare shrugged. "I was bored."
"You need to get out more. Get a girlfriend."
"Girls prefer guys like Asshole Townsend." He looked sad.
She shook her head. "No, they don't. Not all of them." She punctuated her statement with a huge yawn. "Sorry."
"Did you want to try and find Nick tonight?" Dare offered. She shook her head.
"I'm already in huge trouble. Might as well get some sleep, instead of being yelled at all night." She wriggled deeper into the bean bag, slouching down. "You mind if I crash here?"
Dare shook his head. "I was figuring of staying up here myself." He reached into the box and pulled out a blanket. "You can have the blanket."
Maggie scooted her bean bag closer to Dare. "We can share, doesn't bother me," she offered. He spread the blanket over both of them. He settled into his bean bag and looked over at Maggie. "Night, Maggie."
She smiled at him. "Night, Dare."
****
"Darien Gerald Fawkes, come down from there right now!"
Dare started awake, waking Maggie in the process. He groaned and she lifted her head from his chest.
"Who's yelling?" she asked softly.
Dare stretched and put his arm back around Maggie. "My uncle. I'm sure Sheriff Townsend's been by for a visit."
"I know you are up there, Darien. Get down here right now or I am coming up after you. And bring Magdalena with you."
Maggie gulped and sat up. "That means he's met Nick. Who's probably down there with him. I'm dead."
"You and me both." Dare straightened. "We're coming, Uncle Pete," he called down. "Listen, Maggie, I'm glad I met you."
"Me, too, Dare. Thank you for defending me. And for breaking me out of jail."
"Magdalena Elizabeth Beatrice Rourke, you come down here this minute!"
"That's Nick," she told him. "I'd better go. He'll come up here if he's mad enough." She leaned forward and hugged Dare. "Maybe we'll meet again someday."
He grinned. "Maybe." He grabbed her hand as she move to the hatch. Before she could climb down, he pulled her back to him and kissed her awkwardly. She blushed and looked down for a moment before she leaned forward and kissed him back.
"Bye, Dare." Maggie climbed down the ladder, ready to face her irate Keeper. Dare followed a moment later.
Nick and a man that could only be Uncle Pete were waiting for them at the base of the tree. Nick looked calm, but Maggie could see the anger simmering in his eyes. The guilt she'd been suppressing all night came flooding back and she burst into tears.
"I'm sorry, Nick," she sobbed. Nick pulled her into a rough hug.
"You have no idea what you put me through last night, Magdalena. Come on. We're going home." Nick put his arm around her shoulders and turned to Uncle Pete. "Thank you, Peter. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances."
Uncle Pete nodded. "Same here. Good luck."
"Same to you." He guided Maggie to a gate leading to the front yard. "You are in such trouble, young lady."
Maggie nodded absently. She could hear Uncle Pete yelling at Dare.
"What were you thinking? Stealing a car? Beating up the sheriff's son? And then you break out of jail with some strange girl? I don't know what's wrong with you, Darien, but if you don't straighten up . . ." His voice trailed off as she climbed into the car.
Nick was still speaking. ". . .breaking out of jail with a strange boy? He could have been anyone, Magdalena. He could have hurt you. And what were you thinking, using your powers in public? Anyone could have seen you. This Townsend boy was telling his father some wild story about you. You're lucky he's not pressing charges."
"I know, Nick. I'm sorry."
"You will be." He nodded grimly. "Just wait until Charlie hears about this. You're going to be grounded until you're 40."
Maggie nodded again and slumped down in her seat, letting Nick's words drift past her as she thought about the gangly boy who'd been her knight in shining armor. She hoped they would meet again someday.
Author: Sun
Rating: PG
Summary: 14 year old Maggie gets arrested and meets our favorite thief in jail.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except Maggie and Nick.
Notes: This is an AU of my AU. Think of it as a what if Maggie and Darien had met as teens. I've also fudged with Maggie and Darien's ages. Maggie is 14 and Darien is 16 (in my original AU, there are 7 years between Maggie and Darien).
"You can wait in here while we contact your father," the officer told her, pulling the cell door shut behind him.
"He's not my father! And I'm not going with him!" she yelled at his back.
"He won't listen."
She spun around. In the next cell, a handsome young man was lounging on the bench. He looked a few years older than she was. He was thin and lanky, with messy brown hair. Only his brown eyes followed her as he watched her moved back and forth in front of her own cell door.
"Not from around here, are you?"
Maggie shook her head. "We're here for the festival. Nick thought it would be nice to get out of San Diego for the weekend."
The young man nodded and fell back to silently watching her
"Who are you?" Maggie finally demanded; her hands planted firmly on her hips. "What are you in here for?"
He laughed softly. "Direct, ain't you?" He sat up and leaned forward, still watching her. The way he watched her was making her vaguely uncomfortable. "You don't look like the sort of girl who gets herself arrested. What'd you do?"
"I hit someone."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "That's all? They don't usually arrest little girls for hitting someone."
"They do when the person you hit is the sheriff's son." Maggie leaned against the bars of her cell.
The young man guffawed. "You hit Matt Templeton?"
"You know him?"
"Of course I know him. We go to school together. First class asshole he is." His handsome face was even more so now that he was grinning ear to ear. "Why'd you hit him?"
"'Cause he's a first class asshole." She ran a hand nervously through her hair, catching on of the curls and twisting it around her fingers.
"What'd he do to make you hit him?" He leaned back again, stretching his long legs out in front of him.
"He called me a name."
"You hit him because he called you a name?"
Her eyes flashed angrily. "He called me a freak, okay? No one calls me a freak." She turned away from him and looked down the hallway.
"Hey," he called to her. She glanced at him over her shoulder. He motioned to the bench in her cell. "Sit down. You're going to be here a while." She glared at him a little longer before relenting. She sank down onto the bench. He held out his hand through the bars. "I'm Dare."
She placed her hand in his much larger one and watched as his hand enveloped hers as they shook. "Maggie."
"Nice to meet you, Maggie."
"You never answered my question," she said, still staring at their joined hands. "What are you in for?"
He chuckled. "I stole a car." Dare finally let go of Maggie's hand and she let it drop to her side.
"How'd you get caught?"
"I crashed." Maggie burst out laughing. Dare glared at her. "Don't laugh. I would have gotten away with it."
"Sure. If it weren't for those meddling kids and their damn dog." She continued giggling, ignoring his glares.
Dare got to his feet and walked to his cell door. He moved with the awkwardness of teenage boys who had a sudden growth spurt. "You want to get out of here?"
Maggie nodded, watching him with interest. He knelt down next to the lock. "Do you have a hairpin or something like that?" he asked.
She nodded and reached up to pull one of the bobby pins from the bun in her hair. She handed him the thin piece of metal and watched him reach around to the front of his door. He jiggled the pin in the lock for a few moments, listening intently on the other side. With a soft cry of success, the door swung open and Dare stood up.
He repeated the process with her cell door. "Come on." He held out his hand to her and she slid her hand into his.
"How are we getting out of here?" she whispered as they crept down the hallway. They passed two other cells, both of which were empty. Dare pointed at the emergency exit at the end of the hallway. "We'll have to run like hell once we go through. There's an alarm."
Maggie shook her head. "I can take care of that." Dare looked skeptical. Maggie placed her hand on the door and felt the electrical current that kept the alarm active. She made an artificial circuit and pushed the door open. The alarm stayed silent and she motioned for Dare to go through. When she stepped through, she let the door close gently before breaking her artificial circuit. "See? Easy."
He was looking at her strangely. "I'm not sure I want to know how you did that." He took her hand, this time without asking, and led her away from the station. "Come on. We don't want to hang around here."
They walked toward the crowds of the festival before Dare thought better of it. He made an abrupt turn away from the festival and toward the park on the edge of town.
"Where're we going?" Maggie asked as they changed directions. "Why aren't we going back to the festival?"
"Too many cops hanging around there. You want to get caught again?" She shook her head. He stared at her for a moment. "How old 're you?"
"Fourteen. How old are you?" Maggie pulled her hand from Dare's and slowed down.
He stopped and looked at her. "Sixteen."
"You look older." She tilted her head to one side. "Because you're tall."
He shrugged. "You don't." He glanced around for police again. "Let's get moving."
"Won't the police come looking for us?"
Dare shook his head. "They're too busy with the drunks in town. Plus, they know where they can find me." He started moving again.
Maggie had to hurry to keep up with Dare's long stride. She ended up moving in a strange walking/jogging motion that was uncomfortable. "Dare," she called, "can we slow down a little? I can't keep up with you."
He glanced over his shoulder and looked surprised. "Sorry." He shortened his stride and she was able to slow to a quick walk. "Who is he then?"
"What do you mean?" Maggie looked up at Dare.
"When they first threw you in the cell, you said he wasn't your father. Who were you talking about?" He reached for her hand again as they walked into a large crowd.
"Oh. My guardian, Nick. We got into a pretty big fight right before I had my run-in with the asshole." She moved closer to Dare as the crowd got bigger. He slid an arm around her shoulders so they wouldn't be separated. "Where're we going?"
Dare shrugged. "The park, for now. It's usually pretty empty this time of day and the cops will be too busy with the festival to patrol it." The crowd thinned out around them, but Dare kept his arm around Maggie's shoulders. "Where're your mom and dad?"
"They were killed when I was four. Car accident." They turned into Stanley Park and Dare led her to the new playground.
"Sorry." He sat down on a swing and pushed backwards. "So is he like your uncle or something?"
"Or something. What about you? Where's your family?" She sat on the swing next to his and began swinging back and forth, pumping her legs to make herself go higher.
"Here. My aunt and uncle live in town. My brother, Kevin and I, live with them." They swung in silence as the sky grew darker around them. Finally, Dare stopped swinging and turned to Maggie. "You hungry?"
Maggie realized she was starved. A quick glance at her watch told her it was past suppertime. She felt a stab of guilt when she realized Nick would be worried sick. She nodded. "Yeah."
"Come on. We'll go to the diner."
They wandered back toward town, keeping away from the crowds of the festival. Most of the people were gathering in the town square for the fireworks that would be starting soon.
"Hey look guys, it's the freak!"
Maggie and Dare stopped and looked in the direction of the voice. Matt Templeton was across the street with a couple of friends.
"Leave her alone, Templeton," Dare called back. He took Maggie's hand and started walking again.
Matt laughed. "How cute, the freak has a boyfriend and it's the criminal. I thought my father arrested you."
"How little you know," Maggie said, stopping and pulling her hand from Dare's. She turned to face Matt. "Nice black eye. You want another to match?"
"Do it and you'll spend the night in jail," Matt threatened. His friends laughed.
"You really are an asshole." She shook her head and walked away from Matt. Dare followed her, leaving Matt staring after them, his mouth open.
"Don't walk away from me, bitch!" Matt yelled. Maggie started to turn back around when something hit her in the back of the head. She fell to her knees with a groan.
Dare spun around and ran at Matt. He threw a punch just as he reached Matt, striking him across the face. He hit him again before Matt could recover and Matt fell to the sidewalk. Dare kicked Matt in the stomach and was preparing to do it again when he found he couldn't move. The other boys were also frozen in place and they all had looks of fear on their faces.
Maggie slowly got to her feet, her eyes glowing. "Dare, don't hurt him. It's not worth it." She crossed the street to the frozen tableau. She put her hand on Dare's arm and he found he could move again. "You'll only get in more trouble."
He looked at her. "Did you do this?" She nodded. "How?"
"I'll explain later. Come on." She pulled him away from the other boys. He kept glancing over his shoulder at them, but they continued to stay frozen. "Don't worry. They'll stay like that for a while. My range is pretty good."
After about 10 minutes of walking, Dare turned them down a residential street. He led her up to a small white house. "My aunt and uncle's house. They should be at the fireworks." He unlocked the door and let her in.
Maggie followed him into the kitchen. He turned on the light and opened the freezer. She sat down at the table and put her hand up to the spot where she had been hit. When she brought her hand down, there was blood on her fingers.
Dare set an ice pack on the table and started when he saw her hand. "You're bleeding?"
She shook her head. "Not anymore."
He pulled the first aid kit out from under the kitchen sink. "Let me look at it." He opened the kit and found the antiseptic. "This is going to sting."
"That's what Nick always says right before he does something painful to me," Maggie replied. The last word ended in a hiss as Dare cleaned the small cut on her scalp.
"It doesn't look like anything serious. Do you want to go to the hospital?"
She shook her head. "I'm sure it's okay." When he was finished, she gingerly set the ice pack against the spot. "Thanks, for, um, defending me."
"Like I said, Matt's a first class asshole. He deserves worse." He rummaged around in the fridge and started pulling out sandwich fixings. "What did you do to them before?"
"I can move things with my mind. That's how I fixed the alarm too. It's called telekinesis." She set the ice pack on the table and looked down, expecting to be called a freak again.
"It's pretty cool. Do you want ham or turkey?"
She looked up and he was smiling at her, his brown eyes still warm. "Ham, please. No mustard."
When he was finished making their sandwiches, he found a couple of cans of soda in the fridge. Dare handed one to Maggie and motioned for her to bring her food and follow him.
They went out in the backyard and across to a large tree in the back. There was a tree house tucked in the branches. Dare handed his plate and soda to Maggie and climbed up the ladder. He dropped a basket for Maggie to put the food in and pulled it up as Maggie climbed up. It was good sized tree house, furnished with a couple of beanbag chairs, a basket of comics and magazines and a box.
Dare settled into one of the chairs and motioned for Maggie to do the same. "My brother and I used to play in here a lot when we were little. Now I only use it when I want to hide from my aunt and uncle."
Maggie took a bite of her sandwich and leaned her head against the wall. "I wish I had a place like this to hide. I'm always watched."
"I can understand that. Everyone always watches me, waiting for me to screw up."
Maggie tried not to smile. "You mean like crashing a stolen car?"
Dare shrugged. "I was bored."
"You need to get out more. Get a girlfriend."
"Girls prefer guys like Asshole Townsend." He looked sad.
She shook her head. "No, they don't. Not all of them." She punctuated her statement with a huge yawn. "Sorry."
"Did you want to try and find Nick tonight?" Dare offered. She shook her head.
"I'm already in huge trouble. Might as well get some sleep, instead of being yelled at all night." She wriggled deeper into the bean bag, slouching down. "You mind if I crash here?"
Dare shook his head. "I was figuring of staying up here myself." He reached into the box and pulled out a blanket. "You can have the blanket."
Maggie scooted her bean bag closer to Dare. "We can share, doesn't bother me," she offered. He spread the blanket over both of them. He settled into his bean bag and looked over at Maggie. "Night, Maggie."
She smiled at him. "Night, Dare."
****
"Darien Gerald Fawkes, come down from there right now!"
Dare started awake, waking Maggie in the process. He groaned and she lifted her head from his chest.
"Who's yelling?" she asked softly.
Dare stretched and put his arm back around Maggie. "My uncle. I'm sure Sheriff Townsend's been by for a visit."
"I know you are up there, Darien. Get down here right now or I am coming up after you. And bring Magdalena with you."
Maggie gulped and sat up. "That means he's met Nick. Who's probably down there with him. I'm dead."
"You and me both." Dare straightened. "We're coming, Uncle Pete," he called down. "Listen, Maggie, I'm glad I met you."
"Me, too, Dare. Thank you for defending me. And for breaking me out of jail."
"Magdalena Elizabeth Beatrice Rourke, you come down here this minute!"
"That's Nick," she told him. "I'd better go. He'll come up here if he's mad enough." She leaned forward and hugged Dare. "Maybe we'll meet again someday."
He grinned. "Maybe." He grabbed her hand as she move to the hatch. Before she could climb down, he pulled her back to him and kissed her awkwardly. She blushed and looked down for a moment before she leaned forward and kissed him back.
"Bye, Dare." Maggie climbed down the ladder, ready to face her irate Keeper. Dare followed a moment later.
Nick and a man that could only be Uncle Pete were waiting for them at the base of the tree. Nick looked calm, but Maggie could see the anger simmering in his eyes. The guilt she'd been suppressing all night came flooding back and she burst into tears.
"I'm sorry, Nick," she sobbed. Nick pulled her into a rough hug.
"You have no idea what you put me through last night, Magdalena. Come on. We're going home." Nick put his arm around her shoulders and turned to Uncle Pete. "Thank you, Peter. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances."
Uncle Pete nodded. "Same here. Good luck."
"Same to you." He guided Maggie to a gate leading to the front yard. "You are in such trouble, young lady."
Maggie nodded absently. She could hear Uncle Pete yelling at Dare.
"What were you thinking? Stealing a car? Beating up the sheriff's son? And then you break out of jail with some strange girl? I don't know what's wrong with you, Darien, but if you don't straighten up . . ." His voice trailed off as she climbed into the car.
Nick was still speaking. ". . .breaking out of jail with a strange boy? He could have been anyone, Magdalena. He could have hurt you. And what were you thinking, using your powers in public? Anyone could have seen you. This Townsend boy was telling his father some wild story about you. You're lucky he's not pressing charges."
"I know, Nick. I'm sorry."
"You will be." He nodded grimly. "Just wait until Charlie hears about this. You're going to be grounded until you're 40."
Maggie nodded again and slumped down in her seat, letting Nick's words drift past her as she thought about the gangly boy who'd been her knight in shining armor. She hoped they would meet again someday.