--
"You wanna tell me what's going on?" Dustin asked Shane as Jeff and his friends left. The others in the room slowly cleared out too, and they were left alone.
Shane had his back turned to him. "Nothing's going on."
He shook his head. "Not long ago you would have joined in, and now all of a sudden you're helping me out?"
Shane turned to face him slowly. "Dustin, I—" he broke off, looking away.
Dustin stared at Shane. "What is it?" He stood slowly. "Shane, the least you could do is talk to me."
He looked at him, his eyes full of . . . what was that? Then he came over to Dustin. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah," he said. "But—what is this? I mean, what are you trying to do? If this is some weird set-up or something—"
"It isn't," Shane cut in. "I swear it isn't. I was just trying to help."
"Yeah, and you did," he said impatiently. "And thanks, a lot. But I want to know why."
"It doesn't matter," Shane said. "I just didn't want you getting hurt, that's all."
"Well, you sure haven't been worried about that lately!" Dustin shouted. He grimaced as he felt a sharp pain in his side, and put a hand on the table to support himself. Shane came over, offering a hand, but he hit it away. "Don't." He took a shallow breath, looking at Shane. "I just don't understand. And you can't expect me to trust you."
"I don't," Shane said. "You shouldn't, really." He paused. "Dustin, you're hurt, you need to get taken care of."
"I'm fine," Dustin said. "I'm just, really confused."
"At least sit down," Shane insisted.
"Stop pretending you care," he snapped. But he sat down painfully. "You need to start explaining," he said. "What, did you change your mind about us now? If so, then shit, just tell me. And if not, then what the hell are you doing?"
Shane shook his head slowly. "I don't have anything to say to you, Dustin. I'm sorry." He turned and started to leave.
"Shane, just wait!" Dustin called. He coughed and held his side. "Shane, please just talk to me!"
But Shane kept walking.
--
Hunter met Kara outside the building, bags packed and ready. "Do you have everything?" he asked.
"Yep," she said. "Ready to go." She looked around. "I sure am looking forward to getting away for a little again."
"Me too," he said. "I never thought it would be like this."
She looked at him as they started walking. "Do you think you'll come back for next year?"
He paused, thinking. "I don't know. Probably not. I like it here, but it's just too much. I need to be around more."
"You run this place well though," she said. "Everyone says so."
"Everyone?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
She shrugged. "No one's ever said anything about the way you do your work. Just, other things."
"Yeah," he said. "I don't know, I have a while yet to figure it out, we still have to get through the rest of this year."
Kara rolled her eyes. "Don't remind me." She shook her head. "So, how long's this drive?"
"A few hours," Hunter said. "Pretty long. You might want to sleep the whole way, you know what great company I am."
"Mmm," she agreed. She took a deep breath. "You know it's weird, I've heard so much about these people I feel like I know them. But I don't even know what they look like." She elbowed Hunter lightly. "You never even showed me any pictures."
"Really?" he asked. "Guess I just never thought of it." He shrugged. "You wanna see, or do you wanna be surprised?"
She laughed. "Let me see, so I don't make an idiot of myself trying to keep them straight."
"I'll show you when we get to the car," he said. "I have some pictures in my wallet, you can look at them."
They left the grounds and went to the car he had, and Hunter opened the trunk, tossing his bags in and taking Kara's. "You ever been to the Wind Academy?"
She shook her head. "Nope. Heard about it some, though."
Hunter closed the trunk and went to the passenger door, opening it for her. "You'll like it. It's different." She got in and he went to the other side of the car, taking out his wallet before getting in. "Here," he said, handing it to her as he sat down.
He put the key in and watched her as she looked through the pictures. "Who is this?" she asked, holding it up.
Hunter felt himself smile involuntarily. "That's Dustin."
"I hate you," she said simply. He laughed and she turned to the next one. "What about him?"
Hunter moved to the middle seat and looked at it. "That's Blake, my little bro." She gave him a look and he laughed again. "What?"
"What is with you guys?" she asked. "Do you see what I see? It's like you were all engineered or something." She flipped through the pictures. "Dustin . . . Dustin . . . Dustin again." She smiled. "How many of these are there?"
He flushed a little. "He's camera-friendly. It'd be hard to keep him out even if I wanted to."
"But who would?" she asked. "Good thing there's nothing but pictures in your wallet." She looked down. "That's Tori, I guess?"
"Yeah," he said, taking the wallet and looking at the picture quietly. He shook his head and gave it back to her. "You might meet her too, I don't know what she'll be doing." He looked at the next one. "That's Cam and his dad, right before I left."
"These are nice," he said, flipping the page. "Who's he?"
Hunter paused a moment. "That's Shane and me."
Kara looked at him, then turned to a picture of them all, laughing a little. "When was this taken?"
The memories of the day came back to him as he looked at the picture. "Right after we defeated Lothor," he said quietly. Then he smirked. "We look awful, huh?"
She smiled, handing him his wallet back. "You looked happy."
"We were," he said. "It was a great day."
"I can tell," she said. She shook her head. "You must miss it so much."
Hunter tossed his wallet in the glove compartment. "Yeah, I guess." He moved back to the driver's seat and started the car. "We'd better get going."
He felt Kara's hand on his arm and looked down at her. She gave him a reassuring squeeze and smiled. "Okay."
--
Blake tossed his bag in the car and slammed the trunk shut. "I am out of here!"
Nick rolled his eyes as he watched Blake. "I'm starting to think you don't like us."
He shrugged. "Sorry, but you don't compare. At all."
"Thanks," he said wryly.
"I'll see you in a few days," Blake said. "I gotta get going."
"You sure are in a hurry," Nick said. "It's only been three months, you know."
"Uh-huh," Blake said. He got in his car. "See ya, man."
He laughed. "All right. Have fun."
Blake waved absently and shut the door, starting the ignition. In only a few hours, he'd be there. He couldn't believe how happy he was, it was ridiculous. He couldn't wait to see them all again, finally get to talk to them in person. It was going to be great.
--
Cam looked out the window for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. He hadn't gotten anything done, as much as he tried. He couldn't keep his mind on anything. They were finally coming today, they'd be there any time. Cam hadn't expected to be so excited about it, it wasn't like it had been that long, but the anticipation was building; he couldn't wait for them all to be together. He hadn't even seen Dustin in a while, or Shane and Tori either for that matter. They'd all been pretty occupied.
He heard someone at the door and looked up to see Dustin, looking just as tense as he felt. "Hey," Cam said.
"Hey. Can I come in?" he asked.
"Of course," he said. Dustin came in and Cam watched him. "You're looking a little better," he said. "How are you?"
"Better," Dustin said. He shrugged. "It was nothing."
"That's not what I heard," Cam said. "So, what's up?"
Dustin sat in a chair and sighed. "I'm just so freaked out, I can't wait for them to get here!"
"Me neither," Cam said. "It's getting kind of late, isn't it?"
Dustin looked at his watch. "Almost nine." He sighed. "Dinner's not coming along too well."
Cam looked at him in disbelief. It had never crossed his mind to wonder who was actually preparing Thanksgiving dinner. "Please tell me you're not making it?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but I'm having a little trouble. I haven't actually cooked anything yet, it's kinda early, but I think we might be ordering in anyway."
"To the Academy?" Cam asked, raising an eyebrow. He shook his head, then stood. "Come on."
"Where to?" he asked.
"To make dinner," he answered. "We'd better get started. You do have the turkey thawing out, right?"
"What do you mean?" Dustin asked.
Cam closed his eyes a moment, and then looked at Dustin. "Let's just see what we can get done before they get here, okay?"
Dustin nodded and stood slowly. "Sure."
They left and Cam cast another glance at the entrance, but no one was there. He sighed, shaking his head. That was all right, really. They were going to need all the time they could get.
--