Chapter 82: Bathed in Moonlight

Guys, I'm kind of blown away. Like, the amount of support I got before I disappeared honestly made me tear up. I'm just... thank you.

And I would have let you all know I wouldn't be able to update for a while, but when the deadline rolled up I wasn't in any state emotionally to care. And then finals rolled around and, well, you know how that song and dance goes. For most of the past couple of weeks I've either been getting over my grief or studying or working on some sort of paper. It was just insanely stressful and this story just honestly fell on the wayside. And then I took a week off to relax and work some more on this chapter, and here we are. I'm sorry for disappearing on you, I was just really emotionally compromised and I couldn't really deal with a lot. But I'm a lot better now, so hopefully the next time I don't update, I'll at least let you guys know why. XP And thank you again for being so understanding.

That being said, this chapter was supposed to go up a few days ago, but I spent most of the weekend doing errands or looking for volunteer work. I'm actually going to visit family in Poland for a couple of weeks, so I really don't see the point in finding a job when I'm just going to leave soon after. (Plus, volunteer work looks great on a resume, especially in college). I'm not going to be leaving until mid-July, and then this story will go on another mini hiatus until sometime in September. I'll try to update at least once before I go back to school, but I can't promise anything.

With all that said, on with the chapter!

"My mother is not happy about the kitty."

Sam turned away from the cooler she was unpacking and frowned at him. "She doesn't want to keep her?"

Kevin gave a quick shake of his head. "No, she does actually. She just hates having to take care of her this weekend."

"I thought she was working from home this week."

"She is," Kevin affirmed. "Doesn't mean she wants to spend her time taking care of a cat."

Sam furrowed her brow before finally shrugging. "Taking care of an animal is a big responsibility. And you dumped it on her at the last minute, so she's probably feeling a little resentful."

Kevin awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I figured."

She gave him a soft smile and put a hand on his arm. "Hey, these things happen. And I'm sure she isn't too mad. You said it yourself, she wants to keep the kitten. Maybe she'll warm up to her while you're away."

Kevin chuckled a bit and pulled her into a side hug. "How do you always know the right thing to say?"

"Magic," Sam said in the flattest, most apathetic tone possible. And then she gave him a bright smile. "Or I'm just that good."

"Really? I think it's magic."

"Jerk."

"I know."

Sam quickly handed him a cooler and ordered, "Go take this outside."

"Sure thing." Giving her a sly wink, Kevin walked out of the Rust Bucket as Sam soon followed him, plates in hand. Both passed by Grandpa Max, who was busy grilling burgers on the barby and reminiscing.

"I only had enough charge for one ray blast, but I knew I was faster than a Plutonian…"

Both quickly passed by him to the picnic table. Sam quickly palmed off the plates to Carter, who was busy with the utensils. Evan was playing with the cups, refusing to let Gwen use her pitcher. Kevin quickly put the heavy red cooler on the table and turned towards the old man.

"Having fun, Levin?" Gwen asked him once she caught sight of the exasperated look on his face.

He turned to her, smirking a bit. "Pros of campouts: fresh air, barbecue burgers. Cons of campouts: your Grandpa Max's old Plumber stories we've heard ten times before."

"We haven't heard them," Sam reminded him, gesturing to herself and the other two Pride members at the table.

"And it's not like our families are close enough to actually get together like this," Carter told them. "I mean, we used to have Sam's family back in the day, but…um." She gave Sam a sheepish smile.

Sam gave her a light glare before waving the situation away. "Lots of stressors in my family that finally came to a breaking point. Long story, don't want to talk about it."

"So, yeah, we've never had an old timer regale us with stories of his youth," Evan quickly finished. "So, this is… nice."

"Normal," Carter added helpfully, nervously wiping her hands on her pants.

"And not as boring as you think," Sam told Kevin pointedly.

He raised an eyebrow at her and shaking his head. "Whatever." He chose that moment to walk over to the barbecue, where Ben was. Apparently the food was nearly ready, if the plate in the younger boy's hands meant anything.

Kevin hovered over the serving tray. "I thought you said you were going to tell a story about my dad." His hand reached over for an already cooked patty, only to have his hand slapped away by a spatula. He gave a cry of pain and held it to his chest, sulking.

"You know, a story's a lot like barbecue squid," Max told both boys as he flipped the burgers. "Can't rush either one."

"Squid?" Kevin asked incredulously. "I-I thought those were hamburger."

Ben leaned over to examine them. "Well, that does explain the tentacles."

Kevin decided just then to cup his hands like a cone, put it over his mouth, and yell, "Guys, we're having squid burgers! Someone get lots of ketchup!"

"Why?" Evan yelled back. "It's like calamari!"

"Trust me, it's not!"

"How is it not?!"

Whatever answer Kevin was about to yell back was lost when the earth suddenly gave a great shake. Leaves from the forest shuddered to the floor, whole branches snapping wildly before they too fell. The glasses on the picnic table trembled, nearly toppling over. The RV shook, the sounds of old metal creaking merely adding to the chaotic harmony of the natural event.

And just as soon as it started, it stopped, sending the forest into an eerie silence. Gwen quickly placed her hands over the glass cups, fixing everyone with her anxious gaze. "Whoa, feel that earthquake? What would that measure on the Richter scale?"

"A four, most likely," Evan stated. "Lots of shaking, but very little damage."

"We've been getting a lot of those the last couple of days," Sam noted, crossing her arms. She fixed Evan a firm glare. "Anything we should be suspicious of?" Carter then raised an eyebrow and fixed him with her own steely glower.

He made an offended noise and narrowed his eyes. "This was hardly my doing. California's got the San Andreas Fault, remember? Earthquakes are normal."

"But not this frequently," Gwen pointed out, hands on her hips. "The quakes are spaced too closely together. It's definitely not normal." Her own scowl joined the others.

Evan threw his hands up. "You make one natural disaster happen in the Caribbean and suddenly plate tectonics is your fault!"

"Let's just forget about it for now," Ben said, walking up to them. "Just because a couple of earthquakes happen doesn't mean it's anything weird or alien-related. And besides, we are on break." He gave them a grin and jerked his thumb at his grandfather, who was already back to fixing up dinner.

Everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time: no leads, plus natural disasters happening regularly all over the world meant there was no need to investigate. Add in the fact that the biggest reason why they were all at the campout in the first place specifically told them to leave it alone, and there you had the final nail in the coffin.

A grumbling sound suddenly echoed around them, and Sam put a hand on her stomach. "I don't suppose the calamari are ready," she wondered shyly, slightly pink in the face.

"They are!" Max quickly brought over a tray of said squid burgers and set it down on the table.

Everyone took one look at them before Gwen stated, "Condiments."

"Ketchup, we need ketchup," Kevin said, panicked.

"Mustard and pickles!" Carter exclaimed.

"I'll go grab that!" Evan took off like a shot towards the RV.

Max, amused, merely shook his head. "You kids just don't know what's good." As Evan came bounding over with the aforementioned foodstuff (how he got back so quickly was anyone's guess), the elder decided to continue his tales of heroism and adventure, which everyone tried their best not to tune out.

"…Zap! One shot took down the three of them!" Max said as they all prepared their individual meals. "Now all I had to worry about was the bomb."

"What kind of bomb was it?" Evan asked curiously.

"The normal kind," he answered evasively, a knowing look in his eye. Evan pouted.

Kevin lifted the top of his burger. "My food is staring at me."

Gwen gave him two condescending pats on the shoulder. "There, there," she added to rub it in.

Max suddenly let out a winded gasp and leaned over, eyes closed, face pale. "I thought you liked weird food," Kevin pointed out.

Eyes wide in alarm, Carter said, "I don't think it's that, Levin." Walking over to the old man, she quickly took out a penlight and flicked it on. Gently opening Max's eyelids, she shined the light in his eyes and examined them. "I'm not seeing anything that off," she murmured after a moment. "His pupils are dilating, but that could mean anything…" She stepped back as Max wearily rubbed at his eyes.

And then he screamed. Flailing out his arms, his entire body convulsing in what could only be intense pain, he collapsed on the ground. Slowly his breathing grew shallow, his eyes closed, and his body stilled.

"Grandpa?" Ben said shakily. And then: "GRANDPA!"

Carter threw off her arm warmers and knelt down, putting glowing hands atop Max's head. "I don't get it," she told them as she scrutinized him. "He's relatively healthy for someone his age, nothing should have set him off like that."

"It looked like he was scared of something," Sam said stoically, her eyes flashing red.

"You don't think…" Evan trailed off, face growing pale.

Suddenly Max stirred, his eyes blinking open. Ben and Kevin quickly helped him up. "Are you sure you're okay?" Gwen asked hesitantly as her grandfather got his legs back, blinking blearily as he did so.

Rubbing at his head, he said, "I'm fine, thanks. Just… just got a little dizzy for a second. And then he smiled. "Well, let's eat."

"You weren't a little dizzy," Sam snapped at him, fists clenched. "You literally screamed."

He furrowed his brow. "I did?"

"You don't remember?" Ben asked, suddenly looking small.

"No, I don't," Max admitted. "No wonder you kids were scared." He quickly clapped his grandkids on the shoulder and reassured them, "I'm fine now, so let's just put this behind us. The squid will get cold at this rate."

Skeptical, but willing to let it go for now, Kevin asked, "You got anything else we could add? You know, for variety."

"Well, I have some hamburger meat in the fridge," Max told him. "I could always cook up that."

Kevin was instantly at the Rust Bucket, opening the door. "Well, I mean, if you have it, we might as cook it, am I right?" He closed the door behind him.

Max shook his head, disappointed. "That boy has no sense of taste." He failed to notice the exasperated looks behind him.

Later that night

Ben was exhausted, but sleep refused to come. He kept his eyelids closed, smothered his ears with his pillow to drown out the sounds of the forest, but nothing worked. Normally he was fine camping, able to nap on the cold hard ground with practiced ease and have the sounds of late night insects soothe him, but tonight he could feel every pinprick of every gravel piece underneath his sleeping bag, and the noises coming from the trees were somehow loud and oppressive.

Huffing, Ben got out of his sleeping bag and quickly put on his jacket. He could hear his friends lightly snoring around him; they had all opted to sleep underneath the stars, without the protective tarp of a tent covering them. It wasn't like it was going to rain anytime soon, and the sky was so clear it seemed like a good idea at the time. But now the constellations shone too brightly, or was that simply Ben?

Whatever. Ben couldn't be bothered to wonder about that now. Quickly creeping past his slumbering friends, he walked past the RV and into the forest. A walk would do him some good, tire him out so he could properly get some rest. He was thankful that he and the others had gone to bed in their day clothes; the Pride didn't have a nudity taboo among them for some inexplicable reason, but Ben and Gwen and Kevin did. And quite honestly he didn't want to know how Carter would react to seeing him underdressed. Chances were she would have been thrilled, but he didn't feel like he was in a proper emotional state to enjoy it.

And that was it in the end, Ben thought bitterly. His mental trauma was getting in the way of his life, invading his sleeping patterns and making fun things like campouts almost an annoyance. Not entirely, thankfully- everyone needed a much needed break from the recent craziness and Grandpa Max had only been trying to help. It was calm, relaxing… but Ben couldn't help but feel like something was buzzing underneath his skin, slowly irritating him despite how happy he was trying to be. It was like the universe had told him no, he couldn't simply enjoy some much needed downtime with his friends, he had to angry and caustic. And then after what happened with Grandpa Max, he could feel panic and dread pump through his veins, shortening his breath even after his grandfather reassured them that yes, he was fine, nothing to worry about.

(Thank god for the breathing exercises and meditation techniques Isaac and Ventus had taught him. Just… thank god.)

Ben merely sighed deeply and continued on, circling around the campsite and taking note of any noticeable landmarks. The moonlight was weak, so he generated a tiny ball of electricity and let the halo shine around him. A few more feet, and he noticed a foot dangling right in front of him.

The foot was covered by a combat boot, the leg clad in snug blue jeans. Ben's eyes trailed up the thick branch to the familiar body lying on it, to the black Linkin Park tank top, the elbow-length purple and black striped arm warmers, to the now signature leather choker, and finally to a familiar diamond shaped face with wolf gray eyes. Her black hair was somewhat of a mess, most likely from sleep, especially the front bang that covered half her face.

Carter suddenly flipped around, her torso twisting so that she was upside down and facing him, her legs wrapped around the tree branch. Her eyes gave a mischievous glint that was only matched by her smile, and she said, "Spiderman kiss."

The situation was so odd Ben had to laugh. "What?" he asked, smiling widely and extinguishing the light in his palm so that both were bathed in moonlight.

"Spiderman kiss," Carter replied. "I want to try it." With that, she pursed her lips and closed her eyes.

Rolling his eyes affectionately, Ben leaned in so that their lips pressed together. Hers were slightly chapped and vaguely tasted of toothpaste, but they were soft and malleable against his own. He pressed a little harder, tangling a hand in her hair, and relishing the tranquil feeling that washed over him, destroying the buzzing sensation that had burrowed underneath his skin. Normally kisses with Carter felt like ice and fire and set his heart racing, but sometimes, like this moment, they felt like calm and warmth and a little bit like home.

Ben pulled away when he felt the experimental prods of her tongue against his lips. Smirking, he teased, "Someone's eager."

Pouting, Carter said, "Let me live my superhero fantasies." She then pulled herself onto the branch and flipped off it, easing into a three point landing. Standing up, she quickly dusted off her covered hands and turned to him. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Couldn't sleep," he admitted. "It's been a while since I've gone camping."

She nodded. "Yeah, I've never been camping myself. Never realized how loud the wilderness was." She cast a distrustful eye at the trees surrounding them.

Ben snorted. "I seriously doubt something's gonna pop out of the woods and attack us."

"You never know," she retorted. "This is, like, the basis for a classic slasher flick. Group of dumb kids go camping to escape stress and a murderous convict picks them off one by one."

"We're not dumb kids," Ben pointed out.

"No, we're dumb teenagers with superpowers."

"Gwen would not take kindly to being called dumb."

"She won't if you don't tell her."

"Ooh, sneaky," Ben teased, shooting her a smirk. Carter merely crossed her arms and stuck her tongue out at him.

And then she frowned a little and asked, "But seriously, is something bothering you? You seemed a little on edge today."

Ben felt his smile slide away, and he tried his hardest not to frown. "You noticed, huh."

Carter shrugged. "I almost didn't," she told him honestly. "You're a much better actor than most give you credit for. It's just that, no matter what, you didn't seem all that relaxed."

Ben put his hands in his pockets and leaned his shoulder on the tree next to him. "Well, you're not wrong." Carter waited patiently for him to continue, crossing her arms as she stared at him. Averting his gaze, he went on: "I don't know, it's just… Today was supposed to be a break from everything, but I can't help but feel like I should be doing something. I don't know if it's PTSD or something else, and it's just kind of irritating." He glared at the ground at that last bit.

Carter made a humming noise as she thought. "Did you feel like snapping at people at all today?"

"A little," Ben admitted shamefully. "I was able to handle it though," he added hastily. "It wasn't like it was anyone's fault, and thinking about it that way helped a lot."

Carter nodded. "That's good." She then sat down on the ground cross legged, her back to the tree, and patted the spot next to her. Once Ben was comfy, one leg stretched out while the other was held tightly to his chest, she explained, "I think this isn't just PTSD symptoms you're feeling here. Angry outbursts and irritation are normal, especially when triggered, but I think there's a little more to it."

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Nothing triggered a panic attack."

"Well, let's think about it." Carter held up fingers to count off. "We've been facing the High Breed and DNAliens for weeks now, along with other alien sightings. We're used to dropping everything to face them, and when the bad guys go silent for any extended period of time, we got antsy because we figured they were planning something big."

"And because I'm so used to that, I can't relax properly?" Ben surmised.

Carter nodded. "But the rest of us are in the same boat, and we're able to unwind no problem. But then you get shot and with all the drama that came along with it, you subconsciously think that any minute now you're about to get attack."

"So it's like a prolonged fight or flight response," Ben realized. "Like, say, when you come back from a bad experience that probably involved death or something trying to kill you, you find yourself still on edge despite knowing that you came back safe."

"Yeah," Carter agreed. "Fight or flight is a part of PTSD, so you weren't wrong before."

Ben sighed and ran his fingers through his bed head. "Well, at least we have that covered."

She shrugged. "It could be worse. You could be screaming at people."

He groaned audibly. "I really hate doing that."

She bumped him in the shoulder, sending him a slight grin. "Hey, you're handling this pretty well so far."

"But that also means that any second now, I'm due for a relapse."

"Well, yeah, that's to be expected," Carter said, shrugging. "Mental illnesses take a long time to get over. And just because you setback doesn't mean you're weak. You're still healing."

Ben sighed, frustrated, and then dropped his head onto her shoulder. She kissed his hair and he cuddled closer, closing his eyes and breathing in the scent of menthol. "I really hate this," he said quietly.

"I know."

"I really, really hate this."

"Wanna talk about something else then? To get your mind off it."

"…I think so, yeah." He then jerked his head up a little, a curious look in his eyes. "Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Carter raised an eyebrow. "Alright, then."

"Why don't you ever talk about your parents?"

She started, and Ben had to sit upright to prevent himself from falling. "Where did that come from?" she asked incredulously.

He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "I always wondered about them, and I remember how, even as kids, you never liked to talk about them. Like," he paused, gathering his thoughts, "I can understand why you don't want to miss people you don't even remember, but weren't you ever curious at some point?"

She stared at him for a good, long moment, before sagging her shoulders in defeat. "I knew this day would come," she moaned, kneading the heel of her palms into her eyes.

"I mean, I did say if you didn't want to-!" Ben started.

Carter held up a hand. "No, no, you have a right to know. All of you do, in fact, especially at this point. It's just… it's not something I like talking about."

"Yeah, well, you've all been listening to my complaints recently," Ben told her, shrugging. "I'd like to return the favor."

She gave him a small, thankful smile, before sighing heavily. "Okay, so you know how I was two when my parents died?"

"You mentioned it once, yes."

"Well, when you're that young, you don't really remember anything. Any memory you have at that age was most likely fabricated by your imagination. So, naturally, I don't remember a thing about my mom and dad."

"And from the sound of things, you were okay with that. For a while, at least," Ben stated.

Carter nodded. "I was. Cordelia and Isaac are insanely dysfunctional, but they do love me in their own way. Like, Isaac is always ready to give me a hug, and I could always trust Cordelia for good advice."

He gave a half smile at that. "Sounds like them."

She laughed through her nose. "They're not perfect, but they try. And for better or for worse, they are my parents. But I was pretty curious as a kid, so eventually I started to dig around for any info on my birth parents."

"You couldn't ask your grandparents?"

"Neither will say anything about their past children. I guess it's too painful." Carter then turned her face up to see the moon. "But they always kept files on them somewhere, and I eventually found them. As it turned out, my mother's name was Gabrielle, and she was over five hundred years old when she had me."

"Half-Immortals live that long?" Ben yelped.

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p.' "Longer."

"What."

"I know, right?" Carter turned to face him. "At some point, she had to give birth to the next vessel of Aquaria, so instead of going through the horrors of paperwork and having me as her magic-born child, she got knocked up by some guy she met at a nightclub."

Ben could feel the beginnings of a headache. "You're kidding."

"I wish." She shuddered violently. "A five hundred year old biddy looking for prey at a nightclub. Gives me chills."

"So what happened then?" he asked, trying to get back on track.

"Well, once Gabrielle gave birth to me, she palmed me off to my grandparents and disappeared. Apparently she did that once every century or so, going on some wild adventure, fighting vampires or something. They found her body two years later."

Ben stared at her. "Your mother just left you?!"

"Well, yeah, she didn't want me."

His mouth began to move, but no sound came out.

"What?" Carter shrugged her shoulders. "A lot of parents are like that. It happens."

"What-what about-?"

"My dad doesn't know I exist." She blew some hair out of her face. "As far as I know, anyway. Honestly, it's for the best. At least Gabrielle gave me to people who actually wanted me."

"But why did she-?"

"It was her duty," Carter stated. "There has to be four vessels at a time, and she was the only one who could have me. What she did was selfish, but she was forced into having me. Honestly, I think it's more selfish to make her give birth to a child she didn't even want than to not have one in the first place."

"Couldn't she have grown to love you?" Ben asked.

"She might have if she lived, but there's an even better chance that she'd just come to resent me," Carter pointed out. "But what's done is done, and I accepted it a long time ago. And I really don't want to continue this conversation anymore," she added, her rushed, anxious tone breaking apart her apathy.

"…fair enough," he conceded, his mind still buzzing from this new information. It explained so much, and it made Ben's heart ache just to think about it. So many things have been hurting him recently, and he was becoming exhausted with feeling so many things at once. It didn't matter if it was affecting him or someone else, he still felt so many tumultuous emotions and he was so tired. Would it honestly kill the universe to let him have a break from everything? To let him have a little bit of fun so he wouldn't have to think about anything?

Knowing the universe had made it their personal mission to fuck with him, Ben didn't wait for answer. In a flash he was climbing up the tree, scrambling onto a branch. "Ben, what're you doing?" Carter asked, standing up and facing him. Any leftover grief had been wiped away, replaced by confusion and amusement.

"Spiderman kiss," he told her, hooking his legs over the branch and flipping over.

"OW!" they both cried when their foreheads banged into each other. Ben's legs untangled themselves from the branch and he fell to the ground, his back taking the impact. Groaning, he sat up and, grabbing his aching forehead, quickly peered over at Carter. She was also on the ground, uncurling herself from some sort of fetal position, head in her hands. He quickly crawled over to her and asked, "You okay?"

Shaking her head to get rid of the disorientation, she said, "Damn, you've got a hard head."

Chuckling sheepishly, he answered, "That's what my cousin says."

Snorting, Carter flopped back onto the ground, hands behind her head, hair spread out like an inky halo. Ben took a moment to appreciate the way moonlight reflected on her skin before she said, "You know, if you keep hovering over me like that, the killer hiding in the trees will think you're trying to ravish me and then try to kill us both."

Ben then realized that he was, in fact, leaning over her rather precariously. It wasn't anything particularly scandalous; she was perfectly able to get away from him, and she knew it. But then he shifted so that both hands were planted on either side of her, right before putting both knees on either side of her thighs.

Hovering over her, so tantalizingly close yet so far away, Ben scoffed, "Like we can't handle one stock movie murderer."

Carter raised an eyebrow, moving her arm so that her fingers brushed a stray strand of hair from his forehead. She then ghosted the side of his face, smirking when she heard the little hitch in his throat that he tried to hide. "You sure about that?" she taunted. "Because from the sound of things you won't be able to handle me, much less a cliché horror movie trope."

Trying to regain some semblance of control, Ben said exasperatedly, "Are you going to keep teasing me or will you just try to seduce me? Because you can't do both."

He knew his mistake the second he said that, because her eyes darkened and narrowed, her smirk turning predatory. In the next moment Ben's world tumbled and spun, only to find himself on his back with his wrists bound over his head. She was sitting on his abdomen, two warm thighs trapping him on either side, and she leaned over, the scoop neck of her tank top giving him a sliver of a view of enticingly soft flesh.

"You think I can't do both?" Carter asked him, her voice low and rumbly and too close to his ear, his neck. "You really think that?" Ben gave a halfhearted wiggle of his wrists, but she had him in too tight a grip. And from the way his mind was fritzing from how her breath feathered at his too hot skin, he knew he was losing, and he couldn't bring himself to care.

He could only look up in growing ecstasy at her dark gray eyes and victorious smile. "Just watch me, Tennyson," she told him.

So he did, and more.

The next morning

Kevin slowly stirred in his sleeping bag, the sun beating down on his face mercilessly. Yawning, his eyes still closed, he announced, "I'll get the chow. Last time Max made breakfast we had scrambled eggs and eyeballs."

"Yeah, that's something to avoid," Sam replied, her voice still thick from sleep. One hand rubbed at her eyes while the other ran through the soft mess that was her hair.

"I despise mornings," Evan grumbled as he burrowed deeper into his sleeping bag.

"Really?" Ben said, unusually chipper as he stood up. "I've never felt better." Evan responded with a rude hand gesture and an acidic mumble.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news…" Carter began as she shrugged on Ben's jacket.

"And yet you usually are," Sam pointed out wryly.

"Yeah, I really need to stop that," the Goth admitted. "But still, someone has to point out that Max is missing."

"What?" Kevin took a look around to see that yes, Max was missing. Along with the Rustbucket. "Did he say anything to you guys?" he asked the Tennysons.

"No, he didn't," Gwen said, eyes narrowed and glowing pink. Once the energy fizzled out, she told them, "He's headed west."

"Then so are we," Ben stated. With that, the two of them ran to the Dodge Challenger. Sam made a noise of annoyance but briskly walked after them. Evan merely rolled out of his sleeping bag and mumbled bloody murder as he stood up.

Carter and Kevin were the last two to walk up to the car. "Any particular reason you're wearing Ben's jacket?" he asked, just a bit amused. "Considering you almost never do."

She looked up at him with a sly smile, cocking her head just enough for him to see the mottled skin down below her ear and down her neck. Kevin was about to comment something along the lines of, 'holy shit I never knew Tennyson had it in him' when he saw the look on Carter's face. It was a look of triumph and satisfaction, like the cat that caught the canary and devoured it with a bowl of cream on the side.

"Oh please, you think this is bad?" she scoffed at him. "Try and see Tennyson shirtless the next couple of days."

Kevin blinked slowly, quite honestly incredulous. "I should not have brought this up."

"No, you really shouldn't have." Carter's smirk melted into concern. "Come on, we have to find Max. I've got a bad feeling about where he's gone."

"You and me both," he muttered darkly as he slid into the driver's seat.

They're all each other's therapists. Because parents in cartoons are useless apparently! lol

I would say more, but let's be real, I've been repeating myself the past couple AN's. Let's just cut it short for today.

So, thoughts anyone?