"You know Miles, you were the one who wanted to see it in the first place," said Jesse, unnecessarily helping Emily over a fallen log as they trudged deeper into the forest. "You don't have to be such a pain."

"Come on, Jesse," said Emily, under her breath, "don't start something."

They were on their way back to the Tuck's old house. Or at least, what was left of it. Mile's had been the one who'd suggested the trip, but the entire way there, he'd grumbled incessantly, and mostly under his breath, so Jesse and Emily couldn't hear was he was saying. That didn't stop it from bothering them, though.

Miles ignored Jesse's comment about being a pain. He'd been ignoring most everything his brother had said during the trip.

"Miles…" growled Jesse, determined to have his say.

"Jesse," said Emily, looking him in the eye, "just don't."

Jesse sighed angrily, but he didn't say anything else.

After a few moment of hiking in silence, they arrived at their destination. The place had the same eerily feeling as last time, only somehow, this time, it was stronger.

Miles' grumbling stopped. He carefully made his way through the remains of his old home, occasionally bending down to pick up objects on the ground. He'd look at them for a moment, and then drop them in disgust.

Jesse and Emily didn't say anything. They couldn't really think of anything to say.

Finally, Jesse spoke.

"So, uh… the place isn't really what it used to be, is it?"

Miles laughed hollowly, turning back to face them. "No, it most certainly is not. Too bad."

He kicked a charred piece of wood over, and sighed.

"Right, well…" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I guess that's it. We can go now, then. But let's stop by the spring first."

"Why?" as Jesse, incredulously. His brother was acting very strange; first wanting to see the house, and then the spring… he new it wasn't going to make him feel any better. It would make him feel terrible, if anything.

"Relax, Jesse," said Miles dryly, "I'm just thirsty, and I don't feel like waiting till we get back to town."

"Okay…" said Jesse, eyeing his brother.

They set off for the spring. Emily was feeling very intrusive. After all, whatever had happened with the house and the spring… it had all happened before she was born. It had absolutely nothing to do with her. It was the Tuck's history, and she was now strongly feeling that she probably should have gone with Kaylie and Matt and let the brothers do this on their own.

"Hey," asked Jesse, under his voice, "you okay?"

"Oh yeah," said Emily, flashing him a smile. "Just thinking."

Jesse smiled back, and then went back to observing his brother. They were almost to the spring.

"So it wasn't your great-grandfather after all," said Emily as they reached the clear pool of water, indicated the "T" carved into the trunk.

"Nope," said Miles, kneeling next to the spring and cupping his hands to drink it, "that was Tuck." He slowly sipped the water out of his hands.

Emily realized suddenly that she was thirsty. The water looked so refreshing, so cool… she wanted to drink some.

"Oh no you don't," said Jesse, grabbing her arm and shaking it.

"What, what?" she asked, befuddled, looking up at him.

"You were looking at the water and licking your lips," said Miles, looking at her cautiously.

"Oh," said Emily, shaking her head, and then pulling the smile back on her face. "Don't worry, I'm not even thirsty."

"Good," said Miles, drinking some more water. "What about you, Jesse?"

Jesse scowled at his brother. "Not thirsty."

"Suit yourself," said Miles, shrugging. He stood up and brushed off his pants. Then he stood away from the tree and took a deep breath. Then another.

"Miles?" asked Emily, noticing his breathing. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Miles. "I just feel a little weird, that's all. Just… weird."

"Well, you wanted to come up here," grumbled Jesse, glaring at his older brother.

"What's that supposed to mean, Jesse?" demanded Miles, turning to face his brother.

"It's supposed to mean that you shouldn't have put yourself through this!" said Jesse. "You knew you wouldn't like seeing the house, and the spring…"

"So when did you start becoming all responsible?" growled Miles, taking a couple of steps toward Jesse.

"I'm just saying!" said Jesse angrily

"Well you didn't need to say!" Miles half-shouted, stepping forward and shoving his younger brother.

"What the hell, Miles!" demanded Jesse, shoving him back, harder.

The next moment, they were throwing wild swings at each other, and grappling, each trying to get the other on the ground.

"You guys, stop it!" yelled Emily, clenching her fists for lack of anything useful to do. "Stop right now! Dammit, stop acting like idiots!"

Miles and Jesse didn't stop, of course. They couldn't even hear her, the way they were throwing insults and profanities at each other. Emily just had to watch as the two of them tried to wrestle each other down to the ground.

Finally, so fast Emily wasn't sure what happened for a moment, Jesse slammed into Miles, and sent him hurtling to the ground. There was a cracking noise, and then Jesse got up off his brother, who was lying on the ground, his eyes staring up at the leaves of the trees above him.

As the adrenaline died down in him, Jesse's face went from angry to scared.

"Miles?" he asked frantically, moving next to his brother.

"Goddamn it, Jesse!" growled Miles harshly, shifting a little bit. "What the hell was that?" And then a look a pure terror spread across his face. Even Emily was scared now.

Miles put a hand behind his head, and brought it back. His fingers were sticky with blood.

"Jesse," he said, in a state of shock. "Jesse, I'm bleeding."

Jesse was in just as much shock as his brother. He couldn't even speak.

"What?" asked Emily, breaking the awkward (and slightly disconcerting) silence. "What's wrong? What?"

Jesse looked at her, his jaw hanging open. Then, without warning, Miles started laughing.

"Haha, I'm bleeding!" he near-shouted, his laughter ringing around the woods.

Emily was starting to think he was going insane.

"Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on!" she demanded, her glare switching between the two brothers.

Jesse seemed to have been given the use of his vocal chords again.

"We're not supposed to get hurt," he said, his eyes still wide. "I've fallen out of trees… the horse got shot… we've been bitten by snakes, cut right through our own arms… we just don't get hurt!" His face was still a mask of amazement. "It always came with being immortal, and whatever."

"Well… wow," said Emily, capturing the moment with that one word.

"You're telling me," said Miles, grinning giddily at her.

"Right, is it safe to assume he's completely insane?" Emily asked Jesse.

"No I'm not," said Miles, his face glowing. "I'm just mortal."

"And with a very nasty looking head wound," said Emily, grinning at him. "Come on, we need to fix that."

"Oh yeah," said Jesse, almost laughing. "I forgot your actually supposed to do something when you get hurt."

"Haha, very funny," said Emily. "Now let's get out of here."

They helped Miles up, and after making sure he wasn't dizzy, they started walking back to the hotel.

"Tuck's gonna love this," said Jesse, smiling.