A/N: I dumped almost all of this chapter... so now it's very short... Changes to come in the next chapter.

~~oooOOOooo~~

Night fell quite quickly over the waters and craggy hillside of Kalgan's Pool. There was barely a moment for Rose to appreciate a Pilbara sunset before the sky had shifted from a brilliant light blue to a deep star speckled sky. Much of that time was taken helping the ladies out with the barbecue dinner setup while the lads made a large firepit near the water's edge. With the dry wood and sticks that were scattered around the area, they quickly had a large fire roaring and whoomphing loudly.

For a long while, young Mark had watched, completely entranced by the shadows dancing across the craggy rocky edge of the high stone cliff. He spoke softly to his mother as a story teller making up a tale to entertain her. But he quickly drew tired and asked to go to sleep. Right now, he was snuggled up in his tent, with his protective wolf on watch at the doorway.

He wasn't the only one to have passed out from too much revelry and heat from the day. At least a third of the campers had crashed in various places and to various degrees of unconsciousness. Random newly formed and possibly one night only couples had peeled off to engage in some more private one-on-one drunken antics. This left a group of around ten people still milling around the fire. Jack, Martha. John, Joan, Alvin, Thuy, Cass, Steve, Mary, and herself.

John and Jack, who had really been at odds for most of the day, had seemed to bury the hatchet for now. Possibly because they were both close to total inebriation. Now they sat, arm over shoulder with Mary and Alvin, at the furthest edge of the fire in a small grouping singing along drunkenly to the strumming of Mary's guitar.

Very Koombayah…

She lifted her eyes up and over the fire on several occasions to look upon the group. Most of the time, they were focused only on each other and whatever song they'd chosen to sing. Once in a while, however, her eyes would meet those of either Jack or John, and she'd receive a friendly smile and a wave of invitation to join them. She'd signal a polite no by tipping her beer bottle in salute … a warm beer bottle. She hadn't actually drunk from it in more than an hour. But if she dared put it down or indicate that her bottle might be empty, a new one would be almost immediately put into her hand. She really didn't want to drink and get drunk like the rest of them…

And they were. The whole damn lot of them.

"Rose!"

She looked up to Martha, who was near the tents, crouched in front of a large metal cooler digign in half melted ice for a drink. "What's up?"

"Need another one?" she asked with a wiggle of bottle that was dripping wet.

She held up her own warm bottle and shook her head. "I'm fine, thanks. Still working on this one."

Joan gave a huffed laugh. "been working on that one for a while now, Rose," she said with a slur. "What's wrong, don't like Australian beer?"

Rose shrugged. She leaned forward on the rickety plastic lawn chair given to her by Alvin earlier in the day, and let the beer bottle hang between her knees. "Really more of a vodka drinker,' she admitted. "Beer is okay, I suppose, in small doses."

"Yeah, right," Joan answered with a tilt of her bottle toward the tent she intended on sharing with John. "There's a bottle of Smirnoff in there if you want a swig." She sucked back from her bottle. "But I don't' have any OJ or sprite to mic it."

"I'll be okay," she replied with a smile. "But thanks anyway."

"Yeah, no worries," she called back distractedly as she received a nudge of the shoulder from Cass. "Yeah, whatd'ya want?"

"Me'n the girls," she looked around the group. "We want the juice."

"On what?"

"You and Smith," she sang back, tipping her bottle around the group to indicate that she spoke for all. "We all want the details on you and him, and what he's got to offer a girl."

Martha and Rose blanched and shook their heads. "Actually, no," Rose muttered. "Not all of us. Much rather not hear it, ta."

Joan shrugged. "Not really much to tell you. We haven't had sex yet."

Alvin choked on his beer. "Hang on, what? You've been with him for weeks, now."

Cass tipped her beer at her. "And I've seen the hickeys on your neck after a date with him. Don't start playing coy and pretending nothin's happened with you two." She winked. "We know better. We see the signs of a good fuck having taken place." She sucked back a draw from her bottle and swallowed with a wince. "So spill. Inquiring minds want to know, and boxes need to be ticked."

Joan slumped back in her chair and let out a long moan. She then straightened up and leaned forward, passing a look toward the man in question before lowering her voice in a conspiratorial manner. "Look. Ask me tomorrow, alright. We haven't screwed yet, but I 'm plannin' on jumping him later on tonight. So keep clear of my tent, alight."

"Still not beliving nothing's happened yet," Alvin accused. He drew his fingers down his neck. "You're still fading from the one you showed up with on Tuesday."

"I didn't say we haven't made out and played with each other a bit," she countered. "And he's certainly got the foreplay down pat. Oh, God, his tongue and what he can do with it…"

Rose shuddered and quickly rose to a stand. "Excuse me," she blustered. Her movements were so quick that she kicked over her chair.

"You alright there, Rose?" Alvin asked curiously.

Her face creased. She really didn't want to admit that she didn't want to be privy to any part of this conversation, and appear to be a Debbie Downer. Instead she waved her hand and shrugged. "Need to pee. But carry on, I'm sure the sex life of Mr. Smith and his pretty girlfriend is far to important to put on pause until I get back." She looked to Martha with pain in her eyes. "Can you keep an eye on Mark?"

Martha nodded. "Yeah, sure. No worries."

The conversation started up again as she dodged around chairs and walked away from the fire. Jack lifted his head with protective question as he watched her leave, but she waved him down and mouthed that she needed to go pee. He gave her a nod and went back to singing with the others.