The bus pulled to a stop and the duo departed. Clearly, this was not the area where the Dyer's live. The houses were small and looked like they needed some fixing, but they weren't falling apart. A group was gathered at a bus stop. She could hear Dave sigh and mutter something under his breath.

"Don't you lot have anything better to do than loiter around a bus stop?" he asked as they started to gather around them.

"You bunch really have a nerve casually walking through this neighborhood without a care in the world. It can be mighty dangerous for a cripple such as yourself with nothing but your cane and your...sister?" He bent his face to get a good look at Sarah's. "Nah, there's no family asemblance."

"Resemblance." Sarah corrected out of habit before shutting her mouth due the glare it earned her. He turned his attention back to Dave.

"And your smart aleck friend has just doubled your toll. So pay up or we'll make it so that you have to use crutches." He grabbed his coat and pulled him closer. "You certainly look like you can afford it. You must be a pilot or something. Them's always wearing way too nice of clothing for what they are."

Dave rolled his eyes and hit his hands away.

"Then you should know that as a pilot, I'm used to dealing with much tougher customers than you. Go take your extortion scheme elsewhere. You've got nothing on pirates."

There was a click and Dave found a switchblade pointing at his chest. Sarah unconsciously took a step back only to run into one of the other ruffians and promptly restrained.

"That will cost you, cripple. Triple the price and you get roughed up so that others know to take us seriously. And if you can't cover that, we'll beat you until we're bored and take Ms. Dictionary here as payment."

"Ah, I can pay triple. After all, triple of nothing is still nothing." He didn't seem to pay much heed to the knife pointing at his chest. "So you have a deal."

"That's it. Frank, Jack, hold him. Don't want him squirming too much while I carve-"

Dave raised his cane and hit the leader square on the hand, causing him to let go of his blade. Sarah took the opportunity to slide through the arms of the one holding her. He hadn't been holding on all that tightly since she had been cooperative and she dashed away from him before he could grab her again. Dave picked up the blade.

"Anyone else want to challenge the cripple?" He questioned. "Because unlike you, I actually know how to hold a weapon. And it won't be that easy to disarm me."

No one answered and looked to their leader with the bleeding hand.

"Go on, get him!" He declared. "We outnumber him four to one! And he's got a bum leg, so it's more like four to one half."

"More like a quarter, since I only have one leg out of commission." Dave pointed out as he adjusted his grip on the blade. "But fortunately for you, I don't really have time to play. I’ll keep this since it's obviously too dangerous for you to have."

"Why you...!" But before the leader could charge him, the bus pulled up and some people got out and stared at the group. None of them looked particularly fight worthy, but they would be able to overwhelm the ruffians with numbers. In fact, one of the more tough looking people was starting to walk forward.

After doing some mental math, most of the gang fled. The leader was the last one to leave.

"If I ever see you back here again, cripple, you won't be so lucky next time!"

"Perhaps." Dave lowered the blade back down and stuck the knife in his pocket. "But he also forgot that a bus is scheduled to arrive here every twenty minutes and our bus was running about fifteen minutes late today."

After assuring some concerned people that they were fine, Dave and Sarah started heading toward the neighborhood the Dyer's were living in.

"Despite what you just witnessed, this isn't that bad of a neighborhood." He promised as they walked along. "It used to be a cozy middle class one, but when the economic downturn hit us ten years ago, this neighborhood was hit hard and has never really recovered since. It doesn't help that the gangs of the West End have started to move into the area. But most of the people aren't going to be like that."

Sarah debated whether Dave had incredible luck or if he was good at talking his way out of problems. This time was definitely luck. If the other bus had been late then they would've really been in trouble.

"At least he'll think twice about attacking someone he thinks is defenseless." Dave twirled his cane. "But good move there slipping out of that one's grip like that. Did you learn that the same place you learned how to shoot?"

"Actually, yes. But the escaping came more by accident. Kids will roughhouse, you know?"

Technically, the girls and boys weren't supposed to roughhouse together, but that didn't mean it didn't happen. And one of her older cousins found it amusing to use their height difference to lift her up at random times so she learned how to slip out of his grip. She never thought it would come in handy except to escape from her playful cousin.

"I should probably get in the habit of carrying my pistol on me again. I'm so used to having someone armed with me that I don't really think about it that much."

Sarah could see Ash being armed, though she hadn't seen any weapons on him before. The pirates had probably taken them. And Claire, she would probably carry something on her. She couldn't see Heather or Mel doing it though. Maybe they didn't all carry pistols.

"You're pretty good with your cane. Maybe you don't need a pistol."

Dave got a good chuckle out of that. "Yes but I won't always have this with me. People usually snatch it from me, thinking I can't stand or walk without it. They also think it has a blade in it though that hasn't been legal for at least thirty years. I'm not that old, you know." He twirled his cane. "What about you? Would you feel all right carrying a pistol? I won't make you if you don't want to, though I will insist that you carry something, even if it's just something that can be used as a club like Heather's creep stick."

"I think about it." She hadn't enjoyed accidentally shooting Captain Yager all that much. She wasn't sure if she could purposely shoot someone, even to save herself. But having something as a weapon did sound appealing, especially after having run into the ruffians by the bus stop.

She could tell that when they crossed a certain street, they entered a different section of the city. The houses here looked newer, were bigger, and each yard had a gate and fence in front of it. Yes, she could see the prim and proper Heather growing up here. Not even the largest houses in Sarah's hometown were this large. Most of them certainly didn't have fences around the whole property, usually only a small section where they kept animals or had a lake they didn't want anyone else using. They arrived at a house and Dave rang the bell at the gate. A butler came to it.

"Ah, Master David, we were wondering when you would be arriving." He opened the gate, which opened without a creak. "And the young lady with you must be Mistress Sarah. Mistress Heather has been telling us all about your...situation. And the General called shortly after he talked to you, Master David. He said to remind you to visit him this time around."

Dave grinned a bit and rubbed the back of his head as the butler led them to and through the front door.

"Well, it looks like we'll have plenty of time for that. Might go do it tomorrow. Though someone has to stay with the ship..."

"Davey, go visit your father." The voice came from a woman who bore a great resemblance to Heather, except older and her hair was a lighter color. "I'm sure Mel will gladly stay with the ship. Poor lad practically lives there. You think being a doctor, he'd find someone that would be willing to put him up for a few nights."

"Davey?" Sarah questioned.

"That's what everyone called me...when I was a child. I haven't gone by that nickname in years."

"You'll always be Davey to me." Mrs. Dyer remarked as the butler took their coats. "And you must be Sarah. Come into the parlor and have some tea. Heather and John Dear are already there. Do you like tea, Sarah?"

"Occasionally. I think I've only had hot tea a couple of times. I wouldn't mind some though."

Maybe it would help her unwind a bit. She hadn't really been able to eat much on the flight there due to nervousness over everything that happened in Paradis and she hadn't drunk much either. She didn't realize how dry her throat was until she found herself sitting in chair across from Heather's father with a cup and saucer. She sipped a bit and added a couple of sugar cubes, then sipped again and added a bit of honey.

"Pretty soon, you won't have tea." John Dear- Mr. Dyer commented before drinking some of his own. "Though I don't suppose a lot of Libans are hot tea drinkers. The weather is rather balmy for most of the year, isn't it?"

"In the part I live in, it can be." After drinking a bit more tea, she picked up a cookie. "I hope I'm not imposing on anything..."

"No, not at all!" Mrs. Dyer insisted as she sat down next to her husband and picked up her own tea cup. "We have plenty of room! We always welcome the company. Speaking of company, when will the rest of the crew be here, Davey? We're having roast tonight."

"I'm sure they'll be around by dinner. They're all doing supply runs right now. They'll have to take those things back before they come here." Dave had set his cane so that it was leaning against his seat. "So, Mr. Dyer, do you have any lawyer friends that might could help us?"

"I gave one a call, and he said that you’ll just have to hope that the red tape doesn’t take too long. But he also said that the one week notice was unreasonable and the Paradisian government would probably ignore that particular detail." He set his tea cup down. "But let's talk about something more pleasant. How are the grandkids coming along, Heather?"

"We're working on it, Papa. You'll be the first to know when it happens." Heather huffed a bit. "Really Papa, in front of the guests?"

"Yes, John Dear, it doesn't behoove us to talk of such private things in front of our guest." Mrs. Dyer looked a bit amused though. "Our youngest will have children when she has them."

"Perhaps I should talk to Ash when he gets here. I'm sure the talk I had with him last time was informative."

Heather rolled her eyes. "Oh Papa...Ash wouldn't even sleep in bed with me that night after that! So, don't you go saying anything to him about it again!"

Yep, the Dyers and Heather were a real close-knit family. Hearing them talk openly about such things reminded Sarah of the way her family was. While her own father would've cut her mother off from speaking about the subject a few sentences back, they would still poke fun at her oldest, married, yet still childless sibling. Although in his case, it was a matter of having enough money to support a baby, or twins, given their family's tendency for it.

After tea time, Sarah was shown to the room where she would be staying. It was a nice room with a good bed and plenty of space for the stuff she didn't have.

"We'll take you shopping tomorrow." Heather informed her. "You'll need clothes at the very least. I would suggest borrowing some of my sister's old clothes but I doubt they're too your taste. She has a very expensive taste."

"How many siblings do you have, Heather?" She asked as she set her bag down and put a few of the books on the empty bookshelf.

"Three older brothers, two older sisters. Though one of those is a set of fraternal twins, the ones only a little older than me. The other sister mentioned is the oldest, followed by my oldest brother, another brother, then the twins, and me."

"That's a lot of kids. I only had my older brother and then my little sister." She placed the last book in a proper place and started to put things in the desk.

"What can I say? Papa and Mama like kids. In fact, after all of us moved out, they started fostering other kids, mostly older kids who probably won't get adopted due to their age. They make sure they're well taken care of and get a good education or learn a valuable skill so they can find a job in the future. They don't have any fosters currently, so they'll probably dote on you. Please forgive them."

And as Dave predicted, the rest of the crew arrived just in time for the roast dinner. It was very good, almost better than what the university had served. Sarah went to bed so full and satisfied that she forgot to be anxious about the immediate future and had a pleasant sleep.