"But let me ask you this, what happens when a bitten woman has children?"
Adam let them digest that thought for a moment.
"I never really thought about it growing up," he said. "I always figured with Myra it was just some weird twin thing."
"She's your twin sister?" Simon asked, and Adam nodded. "I guess that would make sense."
"That's nice of you to agree with me," Adam grinned. "I'm embarrassed to admit that I held onto that belief up until a few years ago, when I heard about Michael's kids . . . things made a lot more sense after that."
Simon studied Adam's profile as he looked out at the night, his mood seemed to have improved from a few moments prior, though he still seemed to be lost in thought. His hair was just as black as Derek's, a bit shorter, it stood up more than fell in his face, and his sideburns suggested that unlike Derek, he put a bit more effort into his physical appearance. He thought he might like to try drawing him, if there was ever the time for it. Adam looked at him, and once again Simon was flustered to be caught staring.
"Gonna burn a hole into my head if you keep that up," he said with a twinkle in his eyes. Simon looked away, and his face heated slightly when he still felt Adam's eyes on him.
"Sorry, I guess that wouldn't be very good," he replied with a grin. "Derek would need a new werewolf teacher."
"Good luck finding one so late in the game," Adam retorted.
Derek watched the two of them, he wasn't quite sure how to feel about them getting to know each other. Simon had just asked Adam about his interests, and apart from his love of music he was interested in photography and apparently even went to school for it. Simon got excited when he recognized the name of the school that Adam mentioned.
"That place is nearly impossible to get into," Simon said. "I heard anyway."
"It's ridiculous," Adam replied. "I doubt that school was any better than any other art school in the world, in fact their departments were pretty limited in their focus . . . We're talking real old school."
"They're getting along really well," Chloe said quietly, and Derek huffed a little in reply. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Derek answered, then louder for Simon to hear him. "We should sleep now, Simon check your blood sugar."
"Blood sugar is just fine Bro," Simon answered.
"Do it anyway," Derek shot back, Simon sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Right," he got to his feet, then looked back down at Adam. "Good night, I guess."
"Good night Simon," Adam said with a gentle smile.
A few hours from first light it started to rain, a light drizzle which became heavier as the day progressed. Finally the group was forced to take what shelter they could under a large tree.
"Well this bites," Tori said bitterly as she hunkered down into her jacket.
"It does set us back a little," Chloe agreed. Derek stayed close to her, trying to keep her warm.
"Good opportunity for you though," Adam chimed in with a pat to Derek's shoulder. "The weather might add a day to the journey, but we can use all the time we have together, and the rain just gave me a good idea."
"You're going to have me meditate to the rain, or something aren't you?" Derek asked.
"Well . . . yeah," Adam huffed a little. "I mean unless you can show me you're ready for something else?"
Derek didn't respond, he didn't want to admit that he still wasn't quite getting what Adam meant for him to be doing.
"He could be ready," Chloe put in a little defensively. "He's making progress, you even said you were impressed with it." Adam looked from Derek to her, and held her gaze a moment before heaving a sigh.
"Learning control of any kind is difficult, and being able to make claws so soon is impressive, but that's not . . ." he trailed off while scratching his neck, trying to think of a better way to explain what he was getting at. "It's difficult, but it's also . . . kind of the easiest part? If that makes sense?" Adam looked at their confused faces, and sighed again.
"It's about connection," he tried again.
"Connection?" Chloe asked. Adam gestured at her with his hand, and gave a nod of his head.
"It's like . . . normally, you are the person, and then you are the wolf . . . they are both who you are, and you can accept that . . . but they still feel like separate things?" he paused at that, scrunching his face a little in thought, like he was trying to make sense of his own words, then he nodded. "Yeah, and they shouldn't have to be separate."
"What does that even mean?" Derek finally asked in frustration, though he thought that maybe he was starting to understand what Adam might have been trying to explain.
"You have to connect them," Adam answered. "Derek the person, and the wolf . . . I can tell you're close, and I wish I could just tell you the answer, but it's more of a self-discovery thing, as lame as that--"
A noise in the near distance cut Adam short, as both he and Derek looked in the direction it came from in alarm.
"Sounds," Adam finished.
"We gotta move," Derek said, as he and Adam both started urging the others to go deeper into the woods.
