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"Yeah. Yeah. It's me." She said, a smile on her face. She couldn't say that she didn't miss Nate. But her memory of him had soon faded, with Nick constantly in the picture. She swiped a piece of hair from her tired face and smiled a bit brighter, some life actually returning to her eyes.

"U-Uhm, how have you been?" She exclaimed, hugging him awkwardly, but with a friendly tone.

"Fine I guess." he replied with a shrug. "Working her isn't too bad. And I have a nice little place just out of town." he felt a bit teased. Here he was, with a girl he loved, just saying her name drew back memories... Their dance, their kiss... And the breakup. Their was no way she still loved him, she had a little boy, that meant they mist be over. He looked at Jeffery, "What about you? How've you been?" he asked.

Bethany nodded with understanding, turning her attention back to the 4-year-old, who strolled around the place as if he owned it.
"Well, uh...I've been better." She said, looking at Jeffery tiredly.

He raised his brow then looked at Jeffery. "Aww, is the little fella' really that bad?" he looked back at Beth with worry, she looked utterly exhausted. "Beth... Are you alright?" he asked softly, placing his hands on her shoulders, because she looked ready to pass out.

"I'm fine...The little one just keeps me up a lot...And his father isn't too involved with him.." Bethany said, watching the small boy carefully.

Nate looked over at Jeffery, then back to his worn mother. "Well, my shift is over, could you and the lil guy come over to my place? If y'all want to." he asked hopefully.

Bethany looked from Nate to Jeffery, "Uhm...sure. His father doesn't want us back until the at least 3 more hours.." Bethany said softly.

He doesn't want them back? Nate thought, then he smiled, "C'mon.." he said softly. Leading them out to a cab. They took the yellow vehicle to a fairly large ranch style house which Nate called his home.

"Here buddy." Nate said, picking up Jeffery and putting him on his shoulders as if out of reach. He then stood protectively infront of Beth, A few minutes later, three big labradors came galloping up, bouncing and barking roughly. One yellow, black, and the other brown.

Bethany looked around the big house as she entered, it was so much nicer than the place that she lived in. Her place had water leaks, mice, it was old,dark and grey. And Nate' house was just...so much better. "Nice place." She murmured.

"Thanks." Nate said, still holding Jeffery on his shoulders. The three big dogs galloped around the humans and all filed up the stairs. Nate rolled his eyes, "It was a gift." he said. Heather's parents adored Nate, so, if he got a steady job, and kept it, they promised to buy him a decent home. He was tempted to sit Jeffery back down, but again, there cane his dogs. They where too wild to handle a little boy. All except Dallas, the brown lab. He looked thoughtfully at Beth, he couldn't help it. He still loved her. He had loved her since their dance, outside the barn. He remembered his first encounter with Beth... One of the school bullies had been picking on her, and at the time, Nate wanted to be a vigilante hero, like Atticus. He didn't like injustice, mostly because he had just got, legally, free from the orphanage. He had challenged the older, bigger teen in a fight, he earned a black eye but whooped the bully. and as they led him to the office, he attempted a last attempt at cocky flirtatiousness, the girls, for the most part rolled their eyes, all except for the shy little blond, who giggled at him.

Nate huffed with amusement and glanced one last time at the girl, woman, she wasn't a little girl anymore. She had a family, surely a husband who loved her. Little did he know, Nick wasn't tied down by his girlfriend, and he not once claimed Jeffery.

"Hey Jeffy? You like movies?" he asked, craneing his neck around to look up at the little boy, who he kept balanced carefully on his shoulders. All to keep him away from the giant dogs.

Jeffery nodded happily, playing excitedly with Nate's hair. "Doggies!" He replied, clearly showing no interest for the offering of a movie. "Doggies. Doggies. Doggies!!" He exclaimed, reaching down and trying to pat the pups' heads. But he couldn't even reach past Nate's shoulders. Still, the boy strained his left arm, leaning his head into it and stretching every tiny, little, finger. Bethany rolled her eyes and giggled a bit at her son. Although he kept her up at night, she simply adored him.

"He loves dogs.." she explained with a dragging yawn, "too bad we can't afford one.." Bethany mused. A couch caught the corner of her eyes, she looked at it, wanting to sit desperately.

Nate noticed Bethany, "C'mon." he said leading them to the couch and sitting down next to Beth (maybe a little too close.) Nate smiled and moved Jefferey from his shoulders, to his lap. "Dallas." Nate called with a small whistle. The big brown dog paused and split away from his pack and galloped clumsily over to Nate. Nate then carefully held Jeffery close to Dallas. He could reach out and pet him if he wished. Nate was ready to pull him away, if needed though, because Rocky (yellow lab) and Luke (black lab) where still in the house. They werent as well behaved around kids, and had bad habits of getting to excites, and unintentionally hurting them.

Dallas tilted his thick block head and his tail thumped happily on the floor as he sniffed the little human excitedly.

Jeffery squealed with audible delight and patted the dog roughly, playing with his ears and rubbing his head. Bethany, however, was asleep in than instant, to tired to keep herself awake.

Nate looked over at Bethany, a soft smile came to his face. "Here Jeffy." Nate said, gently sitting the toddler down, at Dallas's big brown paws. The dog wagged his tail and laid down infront of the little boy, but first he swiped a big pink tounge over the tot's face.

Nate got up and walked to the back door, he opened it and allowed Rocky and Luke to bolt out. The house instantly became quieter, that's what Nate was hoping for. He then took a blanket he had, draped over a chair and returned to the living room. He carefully covered Beth with the soft white blanket. He looked down at her for a moment, with sad eyes. I wish things hada' been different... He thought sadly, shouldn't have asked Chapin to get off... I shoulda just pulled my arm away from her then... There where lots of things Nate blamed himself for every day since that had happened, the biggest regret he had was: he never told her how he felt. He wished that he had told her: he loved her. Maybe then they could've turned things around. He sighed. Then he sat down in the floor with Jeffery and Dallas. Putting on a half hearted smile.

Bethany woke a few hours later, feeling slightly sluggish and groggy. She lifted her stiff neck and yawned, taking in a hug gulp of air as she did so. She blinked then, looking around and realizing what had happened. Bethany felt her phone vibrate, she fished around her pocket and found her phone. 4 missed calls from Nick made her skin crawl, 10 new text messages made a small sheen of sweat shine proudly from her forehead. All of the text messages were hostile, demanding where he was and how she was needed home immediately. She gulped. then eye'd Jeffery, still playing with the dog aimlessly.

"How long was I out..?" She asked in a gruff voice.