Emma knew the clichéd stereotype about being a cop's daughter, and she fit it to a tee. The fact that her best friend Kate was a preacher's kid, and neither of their parents were around very much, didn't help matters at all. The pair had learned early that the world was their playground, and no one had the nerve to turn them in. Until today.

Emma and Kate had decided to spend Emma's 18th birthday the way they spent most weekends- shopping. Shopping, for them, meant shoplifting. Emma and Kate were quite proud of the fact that they hadn't actually spent any money in a store for a couple of months now, preferring to challenge each other to see who could steal the choicest stuff on each 'shopping' trip.

Kate usually won, being much more daring, but today Emma had been damned determined to win. It was her birthday, after all.

Their biggest mistake, as Emma saw it, was leaving the county in which they lived, and in which her dad was the Sherriff, and trying their skills in the neighboring county's big city mall.

Because here, her daddy's name meant nothing.

"Please, sir..." Kate tried pleading with the store's manager, to no avail.

"I know, I know. It's your first time to do something like this, it was a dare, you've never done anything like this before, your parents will kill you if I call them, can't I just let you go this one time, you've learned your lesson and won't ever do this again."

His sarcasm shut Kate up, her big brown eyes confused. She was used to getting her way, based purely on her looks, with Emma's daddy as her back-up plan.

Emma wasn't sure if it was Kate's not understanding that her boobs weren't getting them out of trouble this time, or if it was the manager's been-there-heard-that eye-rolling that amused her, but she couldn't help the snort that escaped her lips.

Kate shot her a do something look, but Emma just shook her head at her friend, trying to tell her with body language that nothing she could say would help here. Now if they had stayed closer to home, instead of trying their skills here...well, that would have been different.

But Kate wasn't quite ready to give up just yet. "Do you know who we are? Who she is?" Kate carried on, desperate.

"Not a clue. And honestly, I don't really care." Was the manager's response, as he waited for the police officer he had already called to show up.

"Emma Hayle." She said it like it would mean something here.

He just looked at her, eyebrows raised, his look clearly saying, "Who?"

Kate kept on, trying to dig them out of this hole they found themselves in. A hole they were not used to being in. Damn, why had they left Catt county?

"Sheriff Hayle's daughter?" Kate insisted.

"No idea who that is, sorry. But she does look kind of like, umm, what's her name? The one always getting into trouble out in Hollywood? That redhead, the one who used to be cute? Only, taller."

Emma knew which actress he was referring to, there were only so many redheads, and she got compared to all of them over the years, but she didn't help him out with any names. She was determined not to open her mouth in here and give anyone any ammunition to use against her. Although, taller was not the word she was used to hearing when someone compared her to someone else.

"Sheriff Hayle's kid?" A new voice spoke up, pulling the girls' attention to the office door that had opened silently.

An older, grizzled-looking police officer filled the doorway, his tired eyes looked over the girls, and settled on Emma.

"No, she doesn't look like who you mean. She looks like that other one, the one who plays that author's daughter on that TV show. Only...bigger."

And there it was, Emma thought. That's the word she was used to- bigger.

Emma did stand inches above most girls her age, but it was that word, bigger, that most people settled on when they talked about her, trying to be nice. She knew that petite would never be a word she'd hear aimed in her direction, but she herself preferred words like statuesque, or shapely, to the harsher words she always heard muttered around her growing up.

Determination to avoid a discussion about her looks made her finally open her mouth.

"You know my dad?" She asked the question while trying to place the uniformed man in her memory. He didn't fit.

"No, not umm, personally. I have heard about him, though. Lots of, shall we say, weird goings on happen on your side of the county line, don't they?"

Great, Emma pouted. We've gone from discussing my Amazon-woman looks to discussing those rumors. Awesome. Next he'll be asking me if...

"So, your dad ever find any of those Sasquatches he's always going on about?"

"What? That's not...oh, never mind. Are you arresting us or not?"

The officer's face went from bemused, comparing her to famous redheads and teasing her about her dad, which she was used to, to seriously contemplating his next move.

The store manager jumped in, "We will press charges, officer. I'm tired of these damn kids coming here and thinking they can..."

"I think arrest may be a bit premature..." The officer said, interrupting. He continued with, "How 'bout we call your daddy the Sheriff up real quick? Let him decide, huh?"

"That's how this is going to go?" The manager got red in the face. "He has no jurisdiction in this county. Damn it, I should have called the state police instead of..."

"State troopers? For shoplifting?" The officer laughed. "Good luck with that. Now, if I'm not mistaken, this is their first offense, correct? Just do what you normally do. Take their pictures, pin them up on your wall of shame, and I'll call their parents. I'm quite sure that one's dad," he pointed at Kate this time, "will make it worth your while to stay quiet about this. And, if he holds true to what I've heard about him, he will probably buy those pictures off of you, as well. Come on girls, let's get you two home."

Against the manager's protests, the officer herded the girls through the office, out the front doors of the store and into the waiting patrol car. As they pulled away, Kate blew the manager a kiss from the back seat, and Emma just grinned, convinced that this, the first time they had actually gotten caught, would be swept under the rug, along with most everything they had ever done. She wondered how big the pile under that rug had to become before her daddy would notice the lump, but she was happy to hide it if everyone else was.

She rolled her eyes, smiling at her friend as Kate started to pour on the charm. So far, any time they had ever come close to getting busted, Kate's not-so-innocent looks and outrageous charm, coupled with the threat of upsetting Emma's dad, was enough to smooth over any hard feelings.

"So, Officer Hot Stuff, what do two poor, down on their luck girls gotta do to get you to let us out of this car and send us on our way?"

Emma rolled her eyes, still grinning. That line always worked, even on old guys, like this officer. They'd never had to actually back it up with anything, the offer usually made guys blush and fall all over themselves to please the gorgeous Kate, and the intimidatingly quiet Emma. They weren't quite sure what would happen if anyone tried to take them up on it, but so far the line, delivered with one of Kate's bright smiles, was all that was ever needed.

"Sorry Lucy and Ethel, you're in my county now. I didn't have you arrested, purely out of professional curtesy, but the only way you two are being released is to your parents, at the police station. You guys can cool it in the drunk tank until someone comes for you. It's conveniently empty right now, although I can't promise that it smells very good."

"Lucy and who?"

"Sorry, am I showing my age again? How about Thelma and Louise, then? Is that better?"

Emma looked at Kate, confused. Had he lost his mind? Kate mouthed to Emma, "He's as crazy as your old man!"

Emma nodded, her conviction that all would end well sliding into her stomach and starting to burn. No one had ever called her dad before. She turned panicked eyes back to Kate. Kate had always pulled them out of the fire, Emma usually only ever had to pull herself up to her full height, quietly give people that look, and let her name do all the work for her if Kate's boldness ever failed.

Actually having to face their sins, at a strange police station, waiting behind bars for their parents was new. Neither of them was looking forward to it.