She was sitting in her wheelchair, as he was just finishing up the oil change. "I can't believe that you risked your life for this." It was obvious that she was not happy with her boyfriend.

"Alyssa, I said I was sorry, but I did not want to see the house that my parents worked hard for get blown to bits," Adam said, looking at the engine. "Besides I have wrecked enough of things in your life, I did not want to add anything else to the list."

Alyssa acted like she was appalled at his comment. "How exactly have you wrecked my life?" She said crossing her arms.

Adam paused before answering and brushed his curly blond hair out of his eyes with his shoulder. "I was driving the Cherokee that caused the, the... well, you know," he said. He still could not seem to be able to say the word "accident".

"Adam, is that what this is all about?"

Adam never answered, but his silence spoke for any words that he could have said.

"Look, I don't want a boyfriend that feels sorry for me and," Alyssa started in, but she was interrupted by Adam.

"I don't feel sorry for you like that. You are lucky that you are alive, but sometimes..." he said, but stopped. It was obvious that Alyssa had hit a soft spot.

"Adam, I am in this wheelchair because that is what happened. We had an accident," Alyssa picked up where Adam left off. "An accident that my uncle caused. But if you had panicked behind that wheel, we would have all been dead. You can not think of how things could have or should have been; we have to deal with what is real."

Adam hesitated and then smiled at her. He knew she was right, but he could not help but mourn his old self. He knew she had to at times too. The rest of the time was spent in silence. Adam would occasionally look over at Alyssa who seemed very content sitting in her chair watching him work on the SUV. Sometimes he would glance over at her and see her relaxing in the warm autumn sun. The sun would glimmer off of her shiny brown hair. She was definitely beautiful. Adam could imagine a life with her. Alyssa was beautiful, smart and very spunky. Adam was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice that Jason was walking up behind him.

"Almost done little brother!" Jason said, clapping Adam on the back. Adam was so startled he dropped the screwdriver and banged his head slightly on the hood. His heart just about jumped out of his skin. Alyssa just sat there giggling at her panicked boyfriend.

"Good Lord, Jason, are you trying to kill me," Adam turned around and faced his brother. He was not very happy.

"Sorry, I did not mean to scare you, but it was a nice added touch," Jason replied with a smile.

"What do you want? Can't you see I am busy?"

"Yeah, it must be hard work to stare into space with thoughts of only one thing," Jason said as he crossed his arms and winked his eye at Alyssa. Alyssa was trying not to laugh in support of Adam.

"What might that be?"

"Let me see, its name starts with an A and ends with an A."

Adam immediately blushed, but tried to keep a straight and serious face. "I am working on something. I was just thinking."

"Yeah," Jason said as he walked over and leaned against the Cherokee. "She is a beauty, who wouldn't want to drool over such a relic. Nice rust spot starting over here by the way. You better give it your tender loving care."

Alyssa as bursting out laughing by now and Adam was a red as his shirt. If that was not enough, Jason started to pat the Cherokee gently and gave it a small kiss on the bumper. That was the thing that took Adam over the edge. He playfully wrestled Jason to the ground, pinning him to the soft grass. He was about to really torture him until they both heard the most awful squealing noise. They both looked up and towards the noise, and stayed frozen in spot. It was their father pulling up in his sedan. They did not even notice that he left. Carl got out of the car and looked over at his two sons.

"What are you two doing now?" he yelled across the driveway. He began to walk towards his boys. "You have no business pinning your brother to the cool ground like that after what he has went through!"

"He was teasing me, we were just playing around," Adam said letting Jason up.

"Yeah, we were just wrestling," Jason said, brushing the grass off of his clothes. They could tell that their father felt like a fool for over-reacting. It was obvious he was having a bad day.

"What is wrong with your car? It scared us to death when you came up," Jason said. "We did not even know that you left!"

"I just had to run next door and borrow their extension cord since ours was burnt up. I guess my brakes are going bad. They were fine until this morning," Mr. Kramer replied with a sigh. It was apparent that the events of the last few days were getting to him.

"I will take a look at it. I just have to check the oil level," Adam said walking towards the Cherokee.

"No, I am going to call Randy and let him do it. You need to rest and I need him to fix that cruise control anyway. Plus Alyssa is here. I don't think that she came over to watch you work on cars all day," Mr. Kramer answered.

"That is no problem Carl. I have to leave as soon as he gets it ready. I have a big history test tomorrow and Clara needs help with her canning," Alyssa chimed in.

"See, I will look at it here in a few minutes, " Adam answered as he checked Alyssa's oil level and closed the hood. "At least the brakes, I can't do the cruise control."

"You can look at them, but I am still calling Randy. You are supposed to rest and that is what you are going to do," Carl said as he walked back to the house.

"I agree with that. You need to rest so you can get back to school by Wednesday. Homecoming is coming you know," Alyssa said with a slight grin.

"You would not want to leave a beautiful lady alone on Homecoming would you?" Jason chimed in with a grin. "She may find another prince."

"Don't you have something to do?" Adam sneered back.

"No."

"Well, then go and get the ramps for Dad's car and pull it up for me," Adam said looking at his older brother. "Please."

Jason turned with a smile and went to help Adam out. He loved to tease Adam about his new love life, especially since that is what he did to him with Kara.

After helping Alyssa into her Cherokee and spending some minutes of quiet time, Adam waved her good-bye and promised to call her on the following day to see how she did on her test. He knew that Miss Meade's tests were always brutal. He turned his attention to his father's car and began the task of removing the tires to look at the brakes.

About two hours later, while Adam was still working on the brakes and looking around, Jason emerged from the house dressed to impress. He was wearing kacki pants and a very nice blue paid camp shirt. He was even wearing brown leather shoes and his hair was neatly brushed back.

Adam thought that the leather shoes that he saw from under the car was his father. He knew that his father was taking his mother out for dinner that night. "Hey Dad!"

"Here you remind me that I am not your father and now that is what you call me!" Jason said sarcastically. "Adam, I just do not understand you sometimes."

With that, Adam rolled out from under the car and whistled at his brother. "You look great! What is the occasion?"

"Kara's parents have invited me to join them at the Terrace Restaurant tonight."

"Fancy, no wonder you are all dressed up!"

"Well, I do dress up more than you. Maybe you should try it. I bet Alyssa would like that."

"I am sure she would, but it is just not me."

"I forgot, you are the grease monkey. Would not want to mess that look up," Jason replied, referring to Adam's love for working on cars and being covered with oil and grease at times. "By the way, do you mind if I take your car? Ol' Blue is a little dirty inside."

Adam frowned because he was very protective of his Trans Am. "Just bring it back in one piece. At least it is being driven since I can't drive it for awhile."

"Thanks," Jason said. "By the way, Dad said to put the car back together. Randy is going to be here in an hour to pick it up. His wife is bringing him out since no one will be here except for you."

"An hour? I will try but my fingers are not cooperating too well," Adam replied looking down at his hands. "It is hard to adjust everything. He needs brakes, but I don't see why it is squealing like it did."

Jason felt bad for his brother. He knew that he was still adjusting to his new life and sometimes it did interfere with what he wanted to do. But in the past few weeks and through their last case, it seemed like Adam was gaining his self-esteem back. Jason was happy about that.

"You will get it. What are you going to do tonight with the house to yourself?"

"Chuck is coming over for a few minutes. He is bringing Pizza Hut pizza over."

"Wow, a special treat and it is not even a birthday."

"We have coupons thanks to Mrs. Cooper."

"If you need me, I have the cell phone from the van."

"I will be fine Jason, just go before you are late."

Not too long after Jason had left, Mr. and Mrs. Kramer came out on their way to dinner in San Diego. After making sure that Adam was going to be fine, they left for their 45 minute drive to the Bay Lodge Restaurant. Adam finally finished the car about 15 minutes before Randy picked it up. He did not stay long because he wanted to finish the job that night. Chuck brought the pizza around seven that night and the boys made themselves comfortable in the living room munching on Cheezy Poofs and pan pizza with pepperoni and mushrooms. They were watching "Smokey and the Bandit", taking turns saying lines from the movie and recreating the scenes. Then the phone rang and Adam went to answer it. Within seconds, the atmosphere and the world changed with that phone call. Chuck sensed that something was wrong immediately and ran into the kitchen to hear. By then Adam had hung up the phone and was reaching for the keys to the van.

"Wait, you can't drive. I will drive you," Chuck said stopping him by the door.

"Fine but we have to leave NOW!" Adam said in a demanding tone.

As they went out the door, Chuck kept asking what was wrong, but Adam was frantic. He finally got Adam calmed down enough to get an answer.

"There has been an accident. Dad's car went into the swamp. They think he is dead." Adam said between his bouts of hysteria.

As Chuck's old car sped down the driveway, a set of eyes was watching closely. Smiling at the rush of the night, the shadow knew that something had happened, something horrible and vile. Pleased that the chain of events had finally snapped, the figure disappeared into the pines, very satisfied with the moment.