Junior brandished her just rinsed toothbrush at Hunter. "If anyone is sleeping on the couch it's me. You've been up since I called you and you drove, what, thirteen hours, speeding? You get an actual bed."

"Really, it'd be fine on the couch," Hunter said for at least the third time.

From where he was already in bed across the hall, Stephan called, "Why don't you just share with me, Hunter?"

"Because you're hurt," Hunter and Junior called back as one.

Junior dropped her toothbrush in the cup next to the sink and strode across the hall into the bedroom. Hunter followed her. Stephan was sitting up in bed, tugging at the bandages around his ankle. "Yeah, I'm hurt. Believe me, I know I'm hurt. I've taken more painkillers today than I think I ever have in my life and it still hurts when I breathe, but, just, share the damn bed with me, okay? Nobody needs to sleep on the couch."

Hunter slid down the doorframe with a sigh. "I don't want to squash you."

"You won't squash me."

"I don't care," Junior said, pulling a comb through her hair, "I've shared a motel room with the two of you and neither of you snore. Can we just come to an agreement on who's sleepin' where?"

Stephan quirked an eyebrow at Hunter who then ran a hand through his unnaturally raven hair. "We can share."

"Great." Junior put down her comb, shut off the light, and flopped face down on her mattress.

In the near darkness, Hunter pulled off his green pants, dropped them on top of his bag on the floor, and climbed into bed with Stephan.

The next morning, the breakfast table argument over whether Ennis or Jack should go with the kids to Riverton was ended by Sue's pronouncement that, "I can look after a handful of horses and chickens and that skinny cat for a day or two, both of you go."

After breakfast, Jack and Ennis piled into Jack's truck while Stephan got into Hunter's top-up convertible and Junior got behind the wheel of her mother's yellow sedan, and the five of them headed for Riverton. Junior pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Jack's truck and Hunter's convertible were parked next to the curb, their occupants unmoving. Alma appeared on the front porch, frowning at the small fleet of vehicles in front of her house. Junior slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and shrugged a little. "Hey, Mama."

"Hey..." Alma replied absently. She was looking at the truck. "Jack's here?"

"Uh, yeah."

Alma set off across the still soggy front yard. By the time she was halfway across, the men had gotten out of the truck and Hunter and Stephan were watching curiously from the safety of the convertible. Alma crossed her arms. "Been a while, huh, Jack?"

Jack slid his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, uh, fourteen years I think?"

"Somethin' like that."

Junior shared a slightly nervous glance with her father from across the yard. Hunter carefully stepped out of his car and went around to lean on Stephan's door.

Jack toed at the squishy, wet grass. "I, uh, you know, I never meant for—"

"It's passed." Alma nodded once, a sharp bob of her head that made her hair swing. "Nothin' to be done about it now."

"Still. Didn't mean for things to happen like they did."

"I know."

Hesitantly, Jack held out a hand to her. Alma considered for a moment, then shook the proffered hand. Jack let out a breath. "I was more than half expecting you to smack me."

"I'm still debating it." She raised her eyebrows and stepped around him toward the red car. "I dunno what you all think yer doin' with the day, but I borrowed some crutches off my sister for Stephan."

"Honestly," Hunter said with half a shrug, "other than get here and get Steph's things from his parents' place, I don't think we know what we plan to do with the day."

Alma paused, shook her head, muttered something under her breath about men, and herded them all inside. "Figure out what you're doing, then go do it."

Crowded awkwardly around the dining table, a pair of crutches leaning against the back of Stephan's chair, the two men, two boys, and Junior sat, each waiting for somebody else to talk first while Alma glared at them from behind the ironing their arrival had interrupted. Hunter leaned his face in one hand. "So we get your stuff, then what? You have to live somewhere. You can't come live with me if you want to finish school here, you don't even have a car to live out of temporarily like I did when my parents threw me out."

Jack frowned. "Your folks kicked you out?"

"They didn't take kindly to me getting arrested in a raid on a gay bar. Long story for another time."

Stephan shrugged. "I don't know much past 'I'm not going back.'"

"There's that extended stay motel place down from the Chinese place we went to that one Christmas me and Jenny nearly burned the house down tryin' to help Mama with dinner." Junior lifted one shoulder. "Better than a car, I figure."

"Almost anything is better than a car," Hunter assured them.

"Okay." Stephan sighed. "I'm gonna need a job."

"Yeah," Ennis snorted, "but 'til you can walk you can't work."

Stephan nodded. "Can we just go get my stuff? I don't want my dad messing with it."

The rest of the table nodded, Hunter helped Stephan up onto his crutches, and they all filed toward the front door. Jack hung back a little to say to Alma, "Thank you, for your patience, an' all that."

"Get out of my house." There was no venom behind the order, just a firmness she didn't even have to look up from her ironing to convey.

"Yes, ma'am."

Junior piled into the back of Hunter's car for the short drive to the Clairmonts' house and Jack and Ennis followed in the truck. They parked on the curb. Stephan made a small despairing noise upon catching sight of a dark truck sitting in the carport and leaned forward to press his forehead against the dash. "Fuck Wednesdays." He took a breath and sat up. "My dad gets every other Wednesday off and he worked last week."

Junior chewed her lip while she and Hunter got out of the car. Hunter opened Stephan's door to help him out and hand him his crutches. She nodded toward Jack's just-arrived truck. "Worst comes to worst, my daddy fights dirty."

"I'm slightly disturbed by how comforting I find that." Hunter shoved his hands in his pockets. He was in blue jeans today but they were brighter than normal bluejean blue.

Ennis and Jack joined the little group next to Hunter's car. Jack nodded to Stephan. "So, we're here to get your stuff."

Stephan nodded and swallowed then glanced at the house. "I haven't got my key so here's hoping the door's not locked..."

The unspoken "otherwise my dad is gonna hafta let us in" hung heavily in the air as the five of them made their way across the small, patchy yard. Stephan tried the door, found it unlocked, and pushed it open. He was only a couple uncomfortable crutch-steps into the foyer when he froze. His father had stepped into the hallway from what was probably the living room. Stephan's knuckles went white on the handles of his crutches and Hunter set a protective hand on the small of his back. Mr. Clairmont snorted, his piggish face contorting in disgust. "So this is the queer little fucker you've been screwing around with, huh?"

"We're just here to get my stuff." Stephan sounded like he was having trouble keeping his voice steady. "Then we'll be gone."

"That so?"

"Yeah, that's so." Ennis slipped around the two boys to put himself between them and Stephan's father. Jack lightly pushed Junior and the boys, an indication to go on. Stephan led Hunter and Junior through the kitchen to another dim hallway and into his bedroom.

Stephan sat heavily on the mattress, wincing and putting an arm around his ribcage. Hunter cast his eyes around the room. "Kinda sucks that this's how I'm first seeing your room."

"Well, it's your last chance to see it, too."

Junior grabbed a duffle bag from the floor by the closet. It was the same one he'd taken when they'd gone to Cheyenne. "It does suck, but c'mon, let's pack."

She and Hunter had gotten most of Stephan's clothes crammed into the duffle and an old backpack they'd found when a bout of angry shouting about not allowing something under this roof rang muffled through the house. Stephan went white. The shout was followed by Jack venomously spitting back, "You don't want him in your house, fine, he doesn't wanna be here either. Let him move his ass out and I'm sure he'll be happy for you to never see him again."

Junior and the boys exchanged glances then redoubled the speed of their packing efforts. By the time the closet and dresser were empty, the duffle and backpack were bulging. Hunter picked up Stephan's schoolbag and swept the contents of the desk into it, followed by the contents of the nightstand drawer, which included a couple things Junior was just going to pretend she hadn't seen. Snippets of the men's tense conversation in the hall kept floating back to them in phrases they all tried to tune out. Hunter tossed some personal effects into a faded drawstring sack emblazoned with the name of the local elementary school. "How the hell did that letter bring all this on? I remember writing the damn thing, I don't think I even referenced sex or anything."

Stephan shrugged. "You said you missed me, and you mentioned the Haight. There was also something in there about hickies."

"You had a goddamn hicky!" Hunter shook his head. "This is bullshit."

Junior carefully pulled the Jackson Elementary sack out of Hunter's fists and continued filling it while Hunter stalked over to the bed, punched the mattress hard enough that it made Stephan sitting on the other end of the bed bounce a little, then crawled up to hug his boyfriend, mumbling what was probably an apology. Stephan scritched his fingers through Hunter's hair. "Still not your fault."

"Still bullshit."

Junior cinched the drawstring on the sack. "I think we've got everything, unless you really care about the Cindy Crawford poster."

The closet door stood open, revealing nothing but dust bunnies and a crumpled up old essay, the tops of the desk, dresser, and nightstand were clear, the drawers had all been emptied and—other than a rubber-banded shut shoebox from under the bed—everything had been crammed into four bags.

"Leave the poster." Stephan took the sack from Junior, threw it across his shoulders, and got up on his crutches. Junior and Hunter each shouldered a backpack, Junior picked up the shoebox, Hunter grabbed the duffle, and the three of them headed out of the room.

Ennis and Stephan's father were staring each other down in the front hallway, Jack leaning against the wall behind Ennis, arms crossed, the two of them hemming Mr. Clairmont into the foyer/living room space, away from the part of the house where Stephan's room was. Without a word, Jack took the duffle bag from Hunter and slung the strap over his own shoulder. The handle on the front door turned and Stephan's mother stepped in, wearing the watress's uniform of the one nice steak place in town. She stopped without closing the door. "Stephan."

"I'm just leaving." Eyes on the floor, he crutched forward down the hall toward the door, the others in tow. He was almost past his father when the man grabbed his crutch and yanked it out of his grip.

Everything happened in an instant. Hunter caught Stephan just barely before he fell; Junior grabbed Hunter's shoulder to keep him from overbalancing and letting Stephan fall anyway. Mrs. Clairmont shouted her husband's name and pressed herself tightly into the corner by the door. Jack knocked the crutch out of Mr. Clairmont's hand while Ennis gripped the man's arm and twisted it up behind him, bringing him to his knees on the floor. Ennis snarled. "Don't you touch that boy, you sonofabitch."

Jack quickly ushered the kids out past a still frozen Patricia Clairmont, Stephan clinging to Hunter to keep upright, face white. Ennis waited just long enough for them to get out the door before he let go and followed. Mr. Clairmont staggered to his feet and shouted out the door after them. "Yeah, you get outta here, you little queer! Don't you come back!"

Stephan turned, halfway across the yard, to shout back. "I won't come back! I never want to come back! I hate it here, I hate you! See if I care if I never see you again in my life, see if I care if you die!"

Somehow, Patricia had wound up outside, just a step from the door. She had her hands pressed to her face and was glancing anxiously between her son and her husband. Mr. Clairmont spit on the ground. "Far as I care you're dead already!"

Patricia inched away. Jack threw the duffle and the other crutch into the bed of his truck and pulled Stephan to Hunter's car and pushed him into the passenger seat before the shouting match could continue or escalate. Mr. Clairmont slammed the front door shut. Patricia squeaked. Ennis took the packs from his daughter and Hunter and tossed them in the truck. "My ex-wife knows a good divorce lawyer, you know."

She nodded slowly, staring at her own house as though she'd never seen it before. Ennis climbed into the cab of the truck. As both Hunter and Jack pulled their vehicles onto the street, a tall blond young man stepped out onto the porch of the house next door and watched them drive away.

A/N: So, I meant for this little story arc to be two chapters, maybe three, this here is the sixth chapter in the arc. The characters ran away with the story, oops. Anyway, despite the runaway characters, I do know where this story is going, and it's almost to the end. Once the story is finished, I have a sequel planned set in 2013. So that's what's going on. Please review.