Hey guys! I shouldn't start a new story because I'm already working on the third chapter for Under the Moonlight. But I noticed that every time Sonny goes to Wisconsin, it's for a sad reason, so I wanted to try something different instead.

Summary: It's summer time, and So Random! and Mackenzie Falls are going to Sonny's ranch for vacation. They soon find out that someone wants everyone gone; will they be able to make it to the end of the summer?

~*~

Home Is Where the Heart Is

-Welcome Back-

I stared longingly at the photograph of my family. It showed my stunning twenty-three year old sister, Stella, who had strikingly similar looks to my father with jet black hair and sparkling green eyes, and then Serena, who was like a mini version of me at five years old. My parents were hand in hand, looking happy as day and I was in the middle with Stella's and my mom's spare arms wrapped around me. Me, their little sunshine girl who made it big in Hollywood.

"Sonny, what're you doing?" I heard Tawni ask from behind me, I put on my best fake smile and turned to one of my closest friends.

"Nothing!" I breathed out, she knew me too well, that my smile was fake, so she tilted her head, looking sympathetically at me.

"Like I really can't see you looking at a picture of your family. I'm sorry you miss them so much Sonny, I really am, but Mr. Condor wants us in his office." I nodded and walked by her side glumly to Condor's office. When we walked in we were greeted by ten pairs of eyes, belonging to the rest of my cast, Mr. Condor, and the cast of Mackenzie Falls.

"Sit down, sit down!" Mr. Condor motioned to two empty seats with our casts and we sat looking nervously at each other. As much as it may pain Tawni to say this I really think she was coming around to being my best friend. "Well, as you know," He started, "every year we send our two best shows on vacation from late May to the end of August for you guys to have some fun while shooting's done for the season. But unfortunately budget cuts in the studio mean that we can't send you all to Bermuda or Paris or some other 'in' place. So this year we've decided to ask you for ideas of some places that are in a reasonable price of our budget." We all blinked at him, afraid to move. "Well go on, discuss!" He barked and we all huddled with our own casts.

Tawni was the first to speak, "You know, every year Mackenzie Falls always goes to the nice five star hotel and we're stuck in Sleep Inn, all because they're the number one show in the studio. It's so sickening that they think we're freaks just because we're funny and they're real actors. This is so frustrating!" She moaned, but then her face perked up looking at me.

"Tawni, are you okay?" I knew that look, she was thinking, like I did!

"Hey Mr. Condor, I have an idea!" Tawni pushed me aside and stepped right in front of the big man himself. I could see her smirking at the cast of Mackenzie Falls, we all laughed as their faces went pale. "Every year Mackenzie Falls goes to the nice five star hotels, while we're stuck at Sleep Inn." She began, repeating herself, "This year we all should get treated equally, and I know of a place that is super cheap!"

"Where is this super cheap place Tawni?" He asked uneasily, though I couldn't blame him. Sometimes Tawni's ideas were a bit too strange or queer.

"Wisconsin!" What?! I looked at the cast of Mackenzie Falls, who were too shocked to speak up. "It's simple." She stated, "Sonny is the new big star and she's super homesick. If she's all sad and homesick, you can't have her trying to do a comedy show, am I right? So if you want to keep up those ratings Sonny's been bringing, why not keep your star happy?"

I decided to pipe in, I for one loved the idea of going back home, and my family meeting all of my friends, oh and Chad. "Mr. Condor, it'd be really cheap, my ranch in Mason is huge. There's enough room there to fit the entire studio in there like twenty times. You'd only have to pay for the tickets to Milwaukee and a ride to get to my town. My family would be super happy to have us all there, and I wouldn't have to miss my sister's wedding in August!" I looked up hopefully at Mr. Condor who looked like he was seriously considering it.

"Okay then, it's settled. For vacation you're all going to Sonny's village." He nodded in finality and walked out. My home town Mason wasn't a village, just a population of three hundred, though compared to Los Angeles that is pretty small.

"Oh my gosh Tawni, thank you so much!" I cried, hugging my closest Hollywood friend who was laughing at me. We both smiled smugly at the infuriated cast of Mackenzie Falls. Then I remembered something, "Tawni, there's one tiny thing you should probably know before you explode on me." She looked at me skeptically. "I live in a ranch in Wisconsin, you know the place where you herd cows and raise horses and chickens and pigs?" She nodded, "Well my parents are going to want us to help them out on the farm, so I would bring some durable clothes." I closed my eyes, afraid for what happened next, but nothing did, just silence.

"Cool, I love horses." Tawni said shrugging, "Anyways my manager wants me to get into the roll of a cowgirl for this movie I'm auditioning for next year. Though, from the look on Chad's face, I'm pretty sure he's going to kill you. Well, later Sonny, I can't wait to go to Wisconsin!" She smiled honestly and walked away.

"Sonny, can I talk to you for a minute?" Chad motioned for me to come over. "You see, we real actors don't like the idea of the ranch, or Wisconsin, so we were wondering if you could—"

"No." I interrupted him; did he think I couldn't see what he was doing? He kept trying to get me to look him in the eyes so I would grant his wish. But there was no way I was backing out of this. "Chad, unless you were being the normal jerk you are and not listening to Tawni, I'm homesick, I miss everything about Wisconsin. No visions of Bermuda for you are going to make me back out of this!" I said triumphantly and walked away like Tawni did, I loved victory.

~*~

Turns out my mom was ecstatic to hear I was coming back home for a few months, Stella and Serena kept talking about how much the missed me and couldn't wait to see me and my friends again. As I walked into the large private jet Mr. Condor ordered for us (no wonder there were budget cuts) I couldn't help but squeal inside, I was coming back home! We all sat in down in the seats that formed a circle, I took my seat between Tawni and Chloe, the only one from Mackenzie Falls I could actually stand. I lived in Mason, Wisconsin, a small town (or village as most people call it) of three hundred in Bayfield County. Mason was the closest city to the border between Canada and the United States in the tip top part of Wisconsin, so it got pretty cold there; actually I think the lowest recorded temperature was around negative fifty-five degrees. "Oh my gosh guys, I forgot to tell you!" I completely forgot the wedding while I was babbling on about weather records in Wisconsin, "My sister's having a wedding a few days before we leave, so you know what that means, right?" I smiled, I loved weddings, when I get married I want a beach wedding with a white arch with rose vines covering it. And a petite white, sparkling, flowing gown.

"Does this mean I have to wear a dress Sonny?" Zora asked disgustingly, she was so strange sometimes.

"Zora, it's a wedding." I raised my eyebrows at her and shrugged the comment off, and I turned to Tawni who was busily sketching dress ideas for all of us. It was going to be a long plain ride.

~*~

I was right; the plane ride was like slow never ending torture for me. I was reminiscing on happy times in Wisconsin, (which were a lot of them) and dreaming about the town's annual Fourth of July festival with the bull riding and hunting games, and every year how I just couldn't get the courage to join the Sing Search. The Sing Search was kind of like a talent competition for singers and the winner was crowned Miss Mason, every year I was oh-so close to signing up, but every year I chickened out, afraid I'd get booed off of the stage. I was pretty sure that I was shaking the whole limo ride from Green Bay Airport to my family's ranch.

"Sonny, calm down, you're like a Chihuahua over there." Chad retorted dryly and snickered with Devon and Trevor, while Penelope, Portlyn, and Chloe rolled their eyes at him. I wasn't going to let him put me down, I was in too good of a mood.

My ranch was large, I mean really, really large. We owned about half of Mason with the ranch and the mountains. It belonged to my great-great-great-grandfather, who's name was Mason Munroe (hence the town name). There were mares, cows, chicken/roosters/hens, chickens, and pigs. In the summertime the cows grazed lazily in the cattle field, munching on the freshly grown grass, and the pigs stayed in the barn nestling with one another, the pigs who were just born one month ago in April were most likely bumping into the wooden fences, trying to roam around in the open fields. The chickens and hens and roosters were all in their coops bawk, bawk, bawking away. And the prized horses were in there stalls, waiting to be saddled up by one of the hands that we had who were usually out checking and fixing the wooden fences that the pesky deer kept breaking through to get to the grass. Our crops were in full bloom at this time of year with the cornstalks and vegetables slowly prying their way up to the ground.

My twenty-three year old sister, Stella, was usually out helping her fiancé (Woody) breed the horses. They lived in the cutest little cottage together; my sister's garden was probably full of red poppies and yellow and pink tulips. She loved to grow turnips and carrots for the legendary beef stew she made.

The main house was extremely large, I wasn't going to lie about that, it was more like a main mansion, and I was dead serious when I said it could fit Condor Studios twenty times. I knew just where I wanted everyone's rooms to be. My room was the largest of them all, and was connected to another room that was going to belong to Tawni. Chloe would be right across the hall from me, and Penelope's room next to hers. Then Portlyn would have the connecting room to Penelope. Nico was next to Portlyn's (hmm, wonder why) and Grady's across the hall from Nico's room. Trevor's room would be next to Nico's and across from Devon's (who Tawni was like totally in love with, but shh, it's a secret!) And then Chad's would be at the very end of the hallway, far away from me. I honestly wanted to uninvited him, but then I just know he would end up coming, because doing the opposite of what he was told was just how he rolled.

"Sonny, we're here!" Chloe said shaking my shoulder, she rolled down her window and looked at my home; I was back where I belonged, "Whoa, Sonny your house is like five times larger then Chad's!" She exclaimed staring in awe at my house.

"Larger then mine? That's impossible—oh my gosh." Chad's jaw dropped as he stared at my house, it wasn't that special.

I heard a familiar "Sonny?" and jumped out the car to be greeted by my parent's arms. "Hey guys!" I said warmly, then their grip around me tightened, "You guys are choking me." I said laughing (which is really hard to do if you're being hugged to death by you parents who haven't seen you in months.

"Jeez, and I thought my family was clingy." I heard Chad mutter.

"If I do recall Chad, your sister and parents wouldn't let go of you for twenty minutes at the terminal." I shot back, daring him. "Oh, mom and dad let me introduce you to my friends! This is Tawni, Chloe, Zora, Nico, Grady, Portlyn, Penelope, Devon, Trevor, and. . . . Chad." I growled the last part out.

"Okay guys, well c'mon in." My parents beckoned us, and we took our luggage and followed them into my home.

~*~

We all got settled in and introduced to Serena, Stella, and her (really cute) fiancé., Woody. We all sat at the dining table while my "aunt" (more like our housekeeper, but she's been around since Stella) Betsy served us all dinner in the extravagant dining room. When my dad sat down I saw the look on his face, his game face. It was time for him to start handing out the chores to us all. "You guys, I'm well aware that Sonny told you that we were going to be giving you guys jobs to do around here, we just can't have a bunch of healthy strong kids sitting around our house all day when they could be helping us and the hands around the fields." We all nodded and he continued, "So, each one of you is going to be given a job and usually you'll have one of the hands around to help you when you start up. After a while you'll get the hang of it and just go on your own, so I gave each of you a partner to work with to lighten the load a little. Checking on the fences need to be done with four people, and they need to be experienced, so Sonny will be doing that job with Tawni, Devon, and Chad."

"Dad, daddy, I'm not so sure putting me and Chad together is the smartest idea." I laughed breathily. He gave me the stink eye so I just sat back down.

"As I was saying, Portlyn and Nico will be milking the cattle with Buck, one of our hands. Grady and Penelope will be pulling weeds from the crops in the fields with Ham, and Zora and Trevor will be working in the chicken coop with Jimmy." By the end of my dad's rant, we had all finished our roast beef, mashed potatoes, and corn, so Betsy started clearing the table.

"I'd get a lot of rest if I were you guys," My mom said, "You're all going to be up at five checking starting your chores."

"Well, daddy, Woody and I are going to go, see you tomorrow." My sister pecked my dad on the cheek and went to the front with her fiancé, we were all starting to leave when we heard an ear piercing scream. We all ran to the front to see what is was and saw Stella crying into Woody's chest, in front of her was a decapitated cat next to a tree covered in blood words saying "Welcome back".

"Oh my gosh." I gaped looking at a disgusted Chad. "That's Stella's tabby."

~*~

Did you like it? I really have fun writing mystery stories. I know some parts were kind of drabbling, but I had to introduce you to the setting and Sonny's family. There's a lot of Chad & Sonny later, I just have to even it out with the suspense part. Sorry if the dead cat was a little, queer, but I really couldn't think of anything for the beginning of the killings (I'm not going to get into the gory stuff, I'm a vegetarian and I don't think even I can handle that). Please Review (: