"If I never hear someone scream fruit basket upset again, it'll be too soon," Ian muttered more than an hour later. They were on their way back to the cabin, with their boys crowded around them, laughing and shouting. According to Gary, who had excused them only minutes ago, they had ten minutes to get jackets or sweatshirts and get to the firepit before campfire started.

"It wasn't so bad, Brooks," River said, reaching down and grabbing Sammy's collar when the boy tripped, saving him from scraping a knee or something. "I think I even saw you smiling at one point…"

"That was a grimace of pain," Ian said, scowling. "I think I pulled a muscle when some kid ran into me."

"You're so full of shit," River said, grinning.

"Ooooo!" Sammy and several of the other boys stopped in mid-stride, looking at River with shock, and the Californian clapped a hand over his mouth, chagrined.

"You guys didn't hear that."

"I heard it!"

"Me, too!"

"Me, three!"

"Me, Fo-"

"Hey." River scooped up the closest – Bruce – and clapped his hand over his mouth before he could finish saying what he'd been about to say. He could feel the boy giggling behind his hand. "Hush, now, or you'll get me in trouble. You don't want to get me in trouble, do you?"

Bruce shook his head, as did the other boys.

"No."

"Good! Now get to the cabin and get your jackets."

River set Bruce down, and the boy scampered off up the hill with the others.

"Smooth, Hayden."

River scowled, shaking his head. He'd expected the kids to hear a bad word or two eventually that week, but he certainly hadn't expected him to be the one to say it.

Shawn grinned.

"They're not going to be hideously scarred, you know? I'm sure they've all heard that word before."

"Their ears are probably bleeding," Ian said, smugly. "And they're probably trying to figure out how to wash-"

"It slipped out," River interrupted, with another uncharacteristic scowl. "Must be the proximity to you."

Shawn laughed, and was then almost brained when he approached the cabin and the door crashed open less than a foot before he reached it.

"Shit."

Ian snickered; amused – especially since Shawn rarely swore – and River couldn't help but laugh as well.

"See? It's rubbing off on us… we'd better find some kind of anti-oath cream or something…"

"Uh huh," Ian said, heading into the cabin and for his own bed, still smiling. Just wait until Sam heard about this. He was going to-

"Ian?"

He was brought out of his thoughts by Sammy, who was digging through one of the many bags he'd brought with him. There were clothes scattered everywhere, an avalanche of clothing and crap that made Ian wonder how any six year old could possibly need that many clothes. He probably hadn't owned that much clothing in his entire life combined.

"What?"

"Can I sit with you at campfire?"

"Why would you want to do that?"

Sammy hesitated, uncertain what he meant, but Ian caught himself before he had a chance to say anything.

"Yeah. You can sit with me, if you want to." He couldn't imagine why he'd want to, but the boy's smile was relieved and happy. "Just wear a coat, or something…"

OOOOOOOO

The campfire pit was in one of the directions Shawn hadn't taken Ian and River, but when the bell rang it wasn't too hard to figure out where it was. All they had to do was follow everyone else as they headed down the hill behind the parking lot, around the outer edge of it, and then down towards what was a small lagoon.

"This is new…" Shawn said, looking around. When he'd been a camper, there hadn't been a lagoon, and the fire pit hadn't had the permanent concrete enclosure.

"They did it last fall," Danin said from behind them, causing River, Ian and Shawn to all look back at her. She was with a couple of her girls, who were bundled into light jackets against the gentle – but slightly chilled – breeze that had picked up. Also with her were several others, mostly the older kids (all of eight) and a couple of their counselors. "They dug out the meadow that was here, and then flooded it with the winter runoff from the mountain snow packs." She smiled, "They're going to have canoeing in here, I heard."

"Ah."

"I heard there are bears around here," one of the girls said, looking around. "I don't want to canoe where bears can swim."

"There aren't any bears in Colorado," one of the male counselors – a man named Hank who was being followed by a gang of eight year olds – assured the little girl with a condescending smile. "And even if there were, they wouldn't hurt you."

"Yeah," agreed another one. "Bears aren't aggressive."

"Tell that to my car," Ian muttered.

Shawn smiled.

"What do you mean?" Hank asked, frowning.

"I mean a couple of little bears scratched the shi- heck – out of my car last winter. And then dear old mom tried to take a chunk out of me…"

"What?"

"That can't be right," the other counselor said, frowning as well as they all came to a stop in the middle of the newly made trail that headed for the campfire. "Bears aren't aggressive… are you sure it wasn't a-"

"It was a bear," Ian said, immediately on the defensive since he knew he was right. "And it definitely wasn't trying to steal my pick-a-nic basket," he added sarcastically.

"But-"

"Show him the scar," River said, more to cut the argument short than anything else. He figured the sooner Ian was proven right, the better, since Ian was showing every sign of getting angry.

Ian scowled, but was apparently on the same page that River was, because he pulled up his t-shirt, revealing his stomach and chest to those who were standing there.

"Wow…"

He was well muscled, and lean – although a little pale – but what drew everyone's attention were the scars. Running across his chest were four perfectly parallel scars, obviously left by some kind of creature – and from the distance apart from each scar it was something big.

"See?"

Ian dropped his shirt, and contined down the trail, Sammy and Brian right beside him, but everyone else staring at the retreating back.