"Are you sure you are ready to go back?" Aunt Sue asked worriedly. Sam rolled her eyes. She really wished Aunt Sue would stop fussing over her.

"Yes. It's been a year. I can't even imagine what the ranch looks like. No doubt Dallas, Ross, and Pepper have kept it running, but there was no way that nothing has changed." Especially since this time when she returned to the ranch from San Francisco, her Dad and Gram would not be there to welcome her back.

"Oh, stupid baggage claim! You know, I've always had this problem. By the time I finally find my bags they're already going around the other side!" Aunt Sue complained as she attempted to lunge after her baggage, just barely missing the handle. "I can't imagine what it has been like for Brynna to live in that house all alone. Must've been just terrible." Sam simply nodded. It has been a year since Sam lost her father and grandmother in a car accident. At first, Sam had been afraid of returning to the ranch after it happened, even when she was still in Nevada. The Ely family took pity on her and let her sleep in at their house. She was afraid of going home to Brynna, to the sadness. In the end, instead of returning home she decided to move back in with her Aunt Sue in San Francisco, California. Soon after arriving, Sam had already been fretting over Ace's well-being. She had asked Brynna about him the few times they had spoken since she left, but those calls were far from frequent. Sam and Brynna, once extremely close, had grown apart. They could no longer carry on a conversation about anything—not even horses—without a large amount of awkward lulls in the conversation.

Of course, a year in San Francisco had changed more than just Sam's relationship with Brynna. It had changed Sam. When Sam was in San Francisco, she didn't ride a horse once. Sure, at first it had been because she missed Ace too much, but as time went on she just didn't want to even think about horses. It was something that had been a part of her life in Nevada. It was too painful.

"Well here we are," Aunt Sue said as River Bend Ranch came into view. Sam looked up from the book she had been reading. Well, maybe reading isn't the word. The book was open, but Sam couldn't recall reading a single word. Hell, she couldn't even remember walking to the rental car and driving over here! To her surprise, it looked exactly as it had when she left a year ago. As the car pulled across the bridge and into the ranch, she saw it didn't look the same; it looked deserted. No one, save for the horses, could be seen.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" her aunt asked cautiously as she pulled the vehicle to a stop. Sam sighed.

"I guess we are about to find out, aren't we?" Sam replied cryptically.

She got out of the car and grabbed her bag from the trunk. As she made her way towards the familiar white house, she was flooded with so many different emotions. Of course Sam was happy to be back, it was her home for crying out loud! She grew up here! But she also once again felt the sinking, sad realization that her dad would not be there waiting for her when she walked into the house.

Truth be told, she was scared to see what had changed here over the last year. Grief and San Francisco had changed her. Sure, she looked the same on the outside; she still had her long, auburn hair and startlingly green eyes she had inherited from her mother. It was the Sam on the inside that had done the changing. In San Francisco, people had always told her she was wise for her age. She would always smile and tell them "sometimes life does that to a person." It was easy. It was simple. In San Francisco, no one ever asked questions because they simply didn't care. Well, most people, anyway.

Sam walked into the house and still saw no one. The house looked the same, although there was something about it that just seemed downright empty. It no longer smelled of her Gram's cooking. It was just empty. She walked up the stairs and down the hall to her old, familiar room, leaving her aunt standing in the living room. She opened the door and found that everything was where she had left it. Her collection of glass horses still stood on top of her dresser, frozen in place and dusty. Actually, everything was dusty.

"I bet Brynna hasn't been in here since I left," Sam said absentmindedly.

"Would she have any reason to?" Aunt Sue asked. Sam turned around to see her aunt standing in the doorway watching her. How long had she been there? Sam had not heard her walk up the stairs.

"No," Sam replied after moment.

"I found this in the kitchen." Aunt Sue told her, holding out a small piece of paper. Sam took it and read:

Sam-

I will be at the Ely's until 5. You can come over if you would like, or there is food in the refrigerator for you.

See you soon,

Brynna

"She is at Jake's house," Sam said, looking up.

"Well, what do you want to do? I'm sure the Ely's are excited to see you. Or we could go to that adorable little diner you used to love. If you really want, we could even stay in, I suppose." Aunt Sue rattled off options.

"Would you mind?" asked Sam. "We just got here." Aunt Sue nodded.

"The Ely's and the town will be here tomorrow." she said. Sam had a feeling Aunt Sue knew the real reason of why Sam was so reluctant to go. Truth was, she was afraid to face everyone. There were probably some people who criticized Sam for running off to San Francisco and leaving her grief stricken step-mother.

Half an hour later, Sam and Aunt Sue were sitting on the couch eating a frozen pizza and watching re-runs of One Life To Live, a soap opera they had both gotten addicted to recently. Brynna walked in two episodes later. She smiled at Sam and Aunt Sue, but the smile did not reach her eyes. It was easy to see that grief was still traveling with Brynna everywhere she went, and it was not being kind. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was really pale.

"Hello Sam. Hello Sue." she said.

"Hello Brynna." Aunt Sue got up and walked over to Brynna. "How are you doing?" she asked quietly. Brynna's reply was so quiet that Sam could not hear it.

"Hi Brynna." Sam said, standing up.

"Sam, how have you been?" Brynna asked.

"I've been alright." Sam replied.

"Sammy!" Cody, Sam's younger half brother, cheered running to give her a hug. Sam laughed and hugged him back.

"Hey Cody," she replied lovingly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here when you arrived. I was helping Mrs. Ely grade final exams. Brynna apologized.

"It's okay, really."

"Well, the Ely's are coming over tomorrow for dinner."

"Oh, okay." As if sensing the awkwardness in the air, Aunt Sue stepped in.

"Have you ever seen this soap opera, Brynna?" Aunt Sue asked.

"I'm not much into television…" Brynna replied.

"Well, it's great at taking your mind off of life. Samantha and I just got into it; we hunted down all of the earlier episodes."

"Hey," Sam interrupted. "I think I'm going to go upstairs and lie down for awhile. The flight kind of wore me out." Brynna and Aunt Sue nodded.

"Sam?" Sam looked up to see Brynna. "The Ely's called. They're coming over in a couple of hours, too." Sam nodded. "Just thought you should know. They couldn't wait to see you." Brynna quickly shut the door.

Sam listened to her walking away. Great, Sam thought. She really was not in the mood to see people, as emo as that may sound. Actually, that is a lie. It was not that she was simply was not in the mood to see people; it was more like she was afraid to. Last time she had returned from San Francisco, everyone saw her as the poor girl who got bashed in the head by a horse hoof. Now, she was probably known as the grief ridden teenager who ran off to San Francisco again leaving her grieving step-mother to wallow in self-pity, even though it was probably due to brain damage she received when she got bashed in the head by a horse hoof that makes her unable to be a decent human being. San Fran had taught Sam not to care about what other people thought, however, Darton was a whole different town. In fact, Darton is so small that everyone probably knew of her homecoming two weeks ahead.

Sam sighed. If she had to go through this nightmare, she might as well make herself look presentable. She decided to go take a shower. By the time Sam took a shower and put on fresh clothes, she had ten minutes until the Ely's arrived and they were always on time. She sat down on her bed and looked around for something to occupy herself with. Her eyes landed on the old guitar sitting in a corner. It was one of the few things that weren't covered in dust. Desiree's guitar, Sam thought. She picked it up and began strumming the familiar song she had heard come from the guitar many times before, singing the words in her head.

She said, here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Here's your one chance Fancy don't let me down
Lord, forgive me for what I do
But if you want out well it's up to you
Now don't let me down
You Mama's gonna help you uptown

A few minutes later, exactly at 7:00, Sam heard the sound of a pick-up truck crossing over a bridge followed by two car doors opening and shutting and the sound of ten pairs of feet jumping onto the ground. Sam stood up and walked out of her room.

She sat on the last step 20 minutes before someone finally noticed she was there.

"Hey Sammy girl!" she heard someone shout. It had to be Darrell because he was the only one who called her that. Right on cue, Darrell came rushing at her. He picked her up and spun her around. Sam could not help but laugh.

"Sam!" she heard someone else yell. Sam could not see who, however, because Darrell was still whirling her around. When Darrell finally put her down, she was immediately surrounded by what felt like tons of people. She could not see their identities yet because her vision was obstructed by her dizziness. She could hear laughing. Once the world became still, she could easily make out six Ely boys and…

"Jen?" Sam asked.

"I missed you so much!" Jen squealed. She looked so different. Her long, blonde hair was now cut to her shoulders and her glasses were gone.

"Did you get contacts?" Sam asked in disbelief. Jen nodded excitedly. "Oh my gosh!" Sam exclaimed

"Hey Sammy!" Quinn, the second-to-last Ely boy, greeted her. "Long time no chat. You have definitely grown up in the past year." he commented, looking her up and down. Sam felt her face heat up.

"Oh, Quinn, you leave the poor girl be!" Mrs. Ely scolded him. Everyone laughed at Sam's obvious discomfort. Sam edged away from Quinn, or at least she tried to. Instead, she collided with someone. When she turned around to apologize, she found herself face-to-face, or rather face-to-shoulder, with none other than Jake Ely.

"Hello Jake," she greeted the youngest Ely.

"How ya been, Brat?" he asked. There was that horrible nickname. He had been addressing her as 'Brat' for as long as she could remember. Sam glared at him.

"I don't know if you missed the memo 17 years ago, Jake, but my name is Samantha. Not Brat."

"Okay, Samantha." Jake mocked her. Sam glared at him again and turned her back on him. She began talking to Jen, and she heard Darrell and Jake's brothers 'oh'-ing him [A/N You know when a guy gets burned all of his friends are like "oooooh!" You get the point, right?]. The adults migrated to the front porch and the younger people sat around the living room catching up.

"So, Sam, why did you finally decide come back?" Jen asked, cutting to the chase. Jen never danced around things. She loved going straight to the point. Everyone quieted and waited for her to answer.

"What do you mean?" Sam asked. Sam had suddenly gotten very interested in her plate of lasagna that someone had handed her along the way.

"When you left, we all thought you were leaving for good," Nate said.

"What is this, an ambush?" Sam asked angrily. Everyone looked at her, startled by her outburst. Sam gave a frustrated sigh and rubbed her temple.

"You know, someone in San Francisco told me that life is like a one chord song. You can change the octave, you can strum a different melody, but it is always going to be the same chord and eventually you are going to be bored with it," Sam finally answered. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Sheesh Sammy girl when did you get so vague?" Darrell asked, breaking the silence. Everyone laughed nervously.

"So you came back because you felt like it? You just…came back because you were bored?" Jen asked.

"Of course," Sam replied quickly. Everyone looked at her. "I am going to go get something to drink." Sam said, rushing up from her seat on the couch and in to the kitchen.

"Is it just me, or did anyone else pick up on some strange vibes here?" Bryan asked.

"She is hiding something." Jake said, still looking at the door Sam had retreated through. Jen and his brothers looked at him.

"What do you mean, little bro?" Quinn asked.

"Something made her leave; otherwise she wouldn't have gotten so defensive. It must've been bad, too," he said.

"What makes you think that?" Nate asked.

"You know how stubborn she is. Nothing little would have driven her to up and leave her aunt. It had to have been big, and it had to have hurt her bad. You saw how she was when her dad and grandmother died. It torn her up. Even then, she wasn't sure she wanted to leave. Something drove her out of California." Everyone was silent.

"Or maybe she just wanted to come home! Because, you know, she is a person and can think for herself." Everyone turned to see Sam standing in the doorway looking rather angry.

"Sam-" Jen exclaimed. She stopped herself when she looked at Sam. She saw something she hadn't noticed before. Sam looked different somehow, there was something about her that Jen could not put her finger on...and then she saw it. Actually, they all saw it. They all saw how tired Sam looked. She had bags under her eyes, which already looked dead of emotion. She was extremely pale, and she had lost some weight; too much weight. She looked almost too skinny. Why had none of them noticed this before?

"Sam?" Jake looked at her. Sam looked down and rushed towards the stairs.

"Sam!" Jen yelled. Sam kept running. Jen, Jake, and Darrell ran after her. The adults walked in the room, having heard the commotion.

"What's going on? Where is Sam? Is she alright?" asked Brynna nervously, her eyes darting around.

"Well, she's upstairs," Nate answered slowly.

"Is she alright?" Maxine Ely, Jake's mom, asked.

"Isn't that the million dollar question?" Adam asked dryly.

[A/N] Hey! If you have read this before and couldn't tell, I'm revising this. I had it on a hiatus and have just recently regained interest in it. What I have planned for this story is 5 sequels to this [four full on stories and one one-shot] and a prequel. And I PROMISE on my Harry Potter book collection that I will get it down. I told myself I'm not allowed to work on any other full stories until this is done.

So, let me know what you think! Your input is always welcome. I'm not going to tell you not to review flames, but please keep it constructive.

Thanks so much : )

xxMeredith Glass

Yeah, now here's the same thing
That you heard 8 bars before
And if your just like me
I'm sure that you are bored with this chord.

But if I can make you stop and think
About the life your living in
'Cause you and I, we don't have long
So make the most before it's gone.

One Chord Song-Keith Urban