Jesse went round to the Beach House that evening for dinner with Steve and Mark. He told Steve about the gratitude of Mr Brenton and the tickets for a camping holiday.

"I'm not big on the great outdoors so here you are, an early birthday present," Jesse finished, pushing the envelope across the table to Steve.

"What, you're not coming with me?" asked Steve.

Mark also looked surprised. "You seemed keen in the hospital," he said.

"Yeah, I guess I was just touched that Mr Brenton had kept his promise," Jesse shrugged. "But it's really not my thing."

"Hey, who am I meant to go with?" Steve protested. "I won't have much fun on my own."

"Go with your dad," suggested Jesse, spooning pasta into his mouth. "You don't get to spend much one to one time together."

"Thanks Jesse, but I've got a busy workload coming up next week," Mark said.

"So have I!" Jesse tried.

"No you haven't, in fact you've got two days leave booked, I noticed on the rota this morning," Mark said with a twinkle in his eye.

"But that's for lounging at home in front of the TV," Jesse moaned. "It's not very relaxing going camping and walking for miles and fighting off the bugs."

"In actual fact the great outdoors can be very tranquil," Steve said. "You just need someone with a bit of experience to show you how to enjoy it." He smiled at Jesse, who pulled a face back.

Mark and Steve exchanged grins as Jesse ate a few more mouthfuls in silence and then sighed heavily before saying, "Well, all right. But you can put the tent up!"

X X X

The car journey seemed to take hours, but it was easier going once they were out of the city and away from the traffic jams. Jesse had come around to the idea more after calling to arrange the holiday and discovering that the campsite, although secluded, in fact entirely solitary, was already set up with a luxurious tent and had a small shower system set up, although hot water would have to be boiled over the fire. There was even a stove in case the campers couldn't get a fire going. Steve had grumbled quietly about it not being a proper camping trip with such comforts, but in truth he was pleased if it meant that Jesse was in a better mood.

The two friends arrived at last, with about an hour of light left. Jesse was impressed by the three-roomed tent, which had two bedrooms and a general area with a table and chairs, plates and cutlery and some games to while away the evenings, and oil lanterns to light when it got dark. The stove was located under an awning of corrugated iron a few yards away.

"Hey, you know this doesn't look all that bad!" Jesse called to Steve, who was lifting their luggage out of the car.

"Yeah, well I haven't had chance to look yet," mumbled Steve. "A hand would be good."

"Oh sorry," Jesse apologised, hurrying over and taking his bag into the tent. "I'll have this room," he declared.

Steve paused outside, taking in the wonderful scenery. They were pretty high up in the mountains, and only in the distance could signs of habitation be seen, though Steve supposed there could be other campsites scattered over the mountains. The air felt gloriously fresh after the pollution of the city and all felt very quiet. All around were tall trees and pine needles under their feet. Low scrub was dotted around.

"It's a bit nippy," said Jesse, rubbing his arms as he emerged from the tent.

"Oh, be quiet," Steve answered good naturedly, pushing past him and putting his bag in the other bedroom.

"I wasn't complaining," Jesse said. "Just making an observation."

"Well, we're high up," Steve said. "Hope you brought some layers." He dragged a chair out of the tent and set it down outside. He sank into it and absorbed the fresh views, taking deep breaths of the crisp mountain air. "This is the life, eh?"

Jesse looked uncertain. "It's very pleasant at the moment," he admitted. "I'll give you an answer tomorrow when we've experienced night and darkness in the great outdoors."

Steve chuckled. "Will you relax! Nothing's going to happen. You're in much more danger in the city than you are up here."

"Suppose so," Jesse said, finding a chair and joining Steve. The two looked out over the mountain enjoying the silence for a while.

Eventually Steve stirred. "Fancy a coffee?"

"I'd love one," Jesse said.

"Tomorrow I'll show you how to light a fire," Steve said. "And although this feels like cheating, I'm too beat after that long drive to bother doing it now, while we've got the convenience of a gas stove just sitting watching us from over there, so I'm going to boil the water on there."

"Wow, never thought you'd bow down to the easy way," said Jesse with a cheeky grin.

Steve gave him a light punch on the arm and went into the tent. He emerged with matches and a pan of water. "Amazing, we've even got bottled water!" he said. He set the pan on the stove and opened a hatch on the front. He struck a match, turned on the gas, and put the match into the stove.

A tremendous boom echoed around the mountain as the stove exploded in a huge ball of fire. Steve threw his arms up to his face as he was thrown backwards by the blast and skidded on his back across the pine-needled floor. The stove was ripped apart and pieces of metal flew everywhere, causing Jesse, who had jumped to his feet with a yell, to drop into a crouch with his arms above his head. He jumped as he heard a thud as a sharp piece of metal was driven into the leg of his chair right beside him.

As the explosion died away, Jesse leapt up and ran over to Steve, who was still on his back on the floor. "Steve! Steve! Are you hurt?"

Steve groaned. "I'm okay. Just bruised I think."

"Let me take a look," Jesse said.

"I'm okay," repeated Steve, but he let Jesse check him over, knowing that there would be no hiding any injury from the young doctor.

Jesse was looking concerned. "You can see all right?" he asked.

"Yes, I shut my eyes straight away. My face feels hot though," he said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Jesse looked guilty. "It's nothing really… You're burned on your face though, and your hands where you protected yourself. And a bit of debris from the stove is embedded in the back of your left hand. And…" he broke off into a laugh.

"What?" demanded Steve.

"Oh God Steve, I shouldn't laugh, I guess I'm just glad you are okay," Jesse said, then laughed again.

"What!" Steve said.

"Well, the blast sort of… I mean it… well, it singed away quite a bit of your hair," Jesse said, collapsing into laughter.

Steve reached up and felt around his forehead. A small band of hair had been burned to a crisp and disintegrated under his hands. "Oh great," he said. Then, "ouch!"

Jesse became serious. "I shouldn't have laughed. You know, those burns could be serious. We should go to the nearest hospital and-"

Steve interrupted him. "Aw come on Jess, we just got here. It was only a few seconds of heat, the burns can't be that bad. And I'm sure you have a medikit you can use to get this thing out of my hand."

"They're not really serious," conceded Jesse. "But if you want to stay free of infection and scarring you need to be careful with even minor burns. Come on, I'm the doctor. We'll cover your face with a damp cloth and I'll drive us back down the mountain."

"Of all the things to happen!" said Steve. "Okay, but we're leaving our belongings here or I'll never get you back up here."

"Whatever, but let's hurry before it gets much darker," said Jesse. "The road up here was pretty rocky."

Jesse helped Steve up although he didn't seem to appreciate the assistance. The cold cloth felt extremely soothing against his hot face. Steve was glad they didn't have a mirror because he could imagine that he looked horrific with a bright red face and an inch of hair missing around his face.

Jesse hurried him away from the tent, checking his burns anxiously. Even though he knew they were fairly minor, he was still full of worry from seeing his friend fly through the air from the stove explosion. He pulled out the car keys and stopped dead in his tracks.

"Steve," Jesse said slowly. "Where's the car?"