Here's chapter 4! Hope you enjoy! :D mt and BD17

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Before The Flames

Chapter 4: The Campers and Their Visitor

There was a moment of stunned silence where the human couple looked at Gabriel and he looked back at them. He didn't know what to do and clearly neither did they.

"Uh, maybe I should go…look, you can have your uh money back if you want…but I doubt you want the clothes back." Gabriel held the 20 dollar bill out to the humans while simultaneously he tried to edge around them towards the door.

"Wait a minute now, hold on." The man came out of his startled state of shock. "Stick around a minute. Carrie will you come outside with me for a minute?"

"Of course." The husband and wife started walking for the door. "Just hang on one minute." The man looked back to say.

Gabriel had never understood that human expression; just what exactly was he supposed to hold on to?

Gabriel could hear the children playing in the campground, running around after each other with water guns squealing and shouting at each other.

Gabriel felt a pang for home and his sisters but ignored it to listing in to the conversation the rich human adults were having just outside the camper door.

"We can't turn him in. He might be in trouble, Doug. Besides its not like he was taking anything we couldn't easily replace; you were planning to throw out those clothes after the trip anyway, and what's twenty bucks?"

"Yes, but he's young, someone has to teach him that stealing is wrong."

"I'm sure he already knows and he had good reasons for taking the things. How about we just talk to him?" Carrie suggested.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt. He doesn't seem violent, but still I'm not letting him stay here around the kids."

"Of course not dear."

Gabriel went back into the bedroom where they had left him so they wouldn't know he'd eavesdropped.

"So am I in trouble? Are you going to call the cops?" He decided to play innocent. After all there was no way he was telling him he was taking a vacation from his werewolf pack, he was sure that would go over really well.

"No, no police, we just want to talk." Carrie gestured to the table in the front of the camper, would you like to sit down?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Gabriel sat. "You know, I cant really tell you anything you want to know."

Doug Roberts sat across from him beside his wife. "How about something simple? Your name maybe?"

"It's Gabriel."

"Gabriel, Gabe, it's a nice name." The woman smiled at him in encouragement.

"Don't call me that, Gabe I mean, my father…I just don't like to be called anything other than Gabriel."

"That's alright. That's fine, Gabriel." Carrie once again nodded her head understandingly.

"Are you a shrink?" Gabriel asked the wife bluntly.

She moved her head slightly, taken aback, her husband laughed. "No, she's not a therapist. She's just a mom and an amazing wife to a stubborn man. The job requires more patience and listening skills than even the most talented shrink."

"Doug." Carrie swatted at her husband, lightly and affectionately on the arm. Gabriel looked from one to the other. Why couldn't his mom and dad be like that?

"So, Gabriel, anything else you'd like to tell us?" Doug asked a smile still on his face, still holding his wife's hand.

"Well I'm kinda hungry, but that's all I really want to share."

"That's okay, how about I make some lunch and we talk later?" Carrie suggested.

"Okay." He was starving. It occurred to him that he really didn't need money for food when he had the forest but decided that a decent meal at a table would be nice.

"Kids, supper will be ready soon!" Doug called out the door to his children. "I'll get the meat on the grill." He added to his wife.

"Thanks honey." She got up to kiss him on the cheek.

Doug got a few packages of hot dogs and burgers out of the fridge and went out to the grill, Carrie started cutting up some fresh fruit.

"Need me to do anything?" He offered.

"Nope, we've got it under control, but if you want to go tell the kids to get washed up you can."

"Uh, they don't know me. Doug always has people from work over at the house, the kids won't be surprised to have a strange man show up at the camper."

"In their fathers clothes?"

"Just me, they won't think that too much into it."

"Okay."

Gabriel stepped out of the camper and walked towards the kids playing with their water guns and chasing each other. "Your mom wants you guys to come in and get washed up."

The little girl and the even smaller boy stopped chasing each other and came over to him. "Who are you?" The little girl asked.

"A…friend of your parents."

"Why do you have daddy's clothes on?" The boy asked.

Sure they won't ask questions. "I got mud on mine." That was partially true, he was sure there was no mud and dirt on the clothes he'd torn off back before he changed to run.

"Oh, well what's your name? You look a little young to be a friend of our mom and dad."

Gabriel decided to ignore the second comment the little girl made.

"I'm Gabriel." He stuck his hand out.

"I'm Kaile, I'm 8."

"Good to know." He turned to the boy.

"I'm Timmy, I'm four."

"Nice to meet you Timmy."

"So what are you doing here?"

Moon that girl was nosy, Gabriel couldn't help thinking. "I just stopped by for lunch."

"Oh, okay." Then the girl pulled the little boy after her to wash up. Okayyyy. Gabriel shook his head and followed them back to the camper.

Lunch was a messy affair, the little boy liked throwing food at his sister across the picnic table and even though several "Timothy Douglas Roberts! Do that one more time and you'll be spending the rest of the afternoon in the camper!" threats were issued nothing actually ever got done about it.

Finally Gabriel couldn't stand it. He took the boy's plate away.

"You want it back?" He asked as Tim wined. "Then stop throwing it across the table." He handed the boy his hot dog in a bun. "You eat that without throwing it and you'll get the rest of your food back."

No, it really wasn't his place but someone had to do something and he'd done the same thing to the triplets when they threw their food.

"Thank you Gabriel." Carrie smiled at him. "Do you have any younger siblings?"

"Yeah, three sisters, they're triplets."

"Really how cool. How old are they?" Kaile asked.

"Four."

"Same age as me." Tim gestured to his empty hand. Gabriel gave him back his plate. The boy ate gratefully.

"You're really good with kids Gabriel." Carrie complimented.

"Thank you, but its just because of my sisters. I practically had to-" Gabriel stopped talking.

"Why don't you continue?" Doug asked.

Gabriel decided some small detail of his life wouldn't hurt. "I raised my sisters basically. My dad isn't around and my mom's maniac depressive and can't take care of herself."

"Oh, that's terrible Gabriel." Carrie patted his arm and began throwing away paper plates and gathering up leftovers.

Eventually the kids went to play and Doug and Carrie invited him to sit with them on a couple of fold out chairs.

"So are you running away?" Carrie asked.

"No…I'm just taking a vacation, only for a couple weeks, and then I'm going back. I just need a break."

"We understand." Doug smiled at him. "So what do you plan to do on this vacation if you don't have money, food, clothes or transportation?"

"Um…wing it? I figured I'd do some odd jobs help people out for pay and get a cheap hotel room, pay for my food and some clothes. Its not like I planned on stealing everything I needed, I just needed something to get me going.

"Sounds like a plan."

"Yeah."

So then the inquisition was done and they just chatted. Gabriel hadn't ever really spent much time with humans. Most of the pack got home-schooled, sometimes going to human school in the nearby town every few years to make sure they knew all they were supposed to. But these two and their children were much different from the human kids and teachers he'd met in his few years of elementary school and high school.

He hadn't realized he's talked with them so long until the sun started going down and the kids started turning their water guns on fireflies, and the full moon came out.

Instantly Gabriel felt that luring pull coming from the luminescent orb in the sky. "I have to go now."

"Oh, well we're sorry you have to go Gabriel."

"Hope we meet again someday."

"Yeah, you too, uh, bye." He stumbled backwards, already feeling his bones unconsciously pull and break trying to fit themselves into another form beneath his skin.

"Here," Doug gave him a hundred dollar bill. "To help you get settled."

"Thank you so much." He nodded at Doug, then Carrie. "Bye kids." And then he raised from the campsite as fast as he could, taking off his clothes a few yards into the forest and tucking the money in a pocket, before letting the pleasant burn of the change sweep over him.

Well that was that :D Hope you enjoyed it! Reviews make our day! So please do! :D melissaturkey and BreakingDawn17