Connor awoke the next morning to his brother's pained groans in the bed next to his. "Jaysus fuckin' Christ Connor why'd you let me drink so much last night?" Grumbled Murphy, "I feel like someone's been usin' me fuckin' head as a drumset"
"Lord's fuckin' name there, Murph, and ye know damn well I didn't let you drink that much, you did it all on your own." Connor barely opened his eyes as he shot an unsympathetic look across the room to where his brother was curled under the blankets holding his head. "Ye fuckin' look like death warmed over."
There was a muffled oath and a balled up sock struck Connor in the eye. Fucking lucky it didn't hurt, he thought, it's entirely too early to beat your arse.
"Murph, will you fuckin' go take a shower already, we got some stuff to discuss when yer done you arse." Connor jibed, knowing his brother was too hung-over to do much about his comment. After a moment he heard the sounds Murphy getting out of bed and the shower creaked to life. Rolling over, Connor buried his face into his pillow, ready to catch a little more sleep while his brother showered, but a loud crash followed by several more jolted him into wakefulness.
"Fuck!" He heard Murphy shout, "Where the fuck is it?"
With a disgruntled sigh, Connor got up and went to the bathroom to find out what the fuck was wrong with his brother. Standing in the doorway to the bathroom he saw the mess his twin had created, the entire contents of their medicine cabinet strewn everywhere, it was no wonder Murphy couldn't find what he was looking for.
"Jaysus Murph what the fuck's yer problem?" Connor asked annoyed, "I'm trying to fuckin' sleep out there and you're in here creating more noise then the running of the bulls in Spain. Fuck man." He felt his patience growing thin, as seemed to be typical of him lately.
"I can't find the fuckin' aspirin, what the fuck did you do with it?" Murphy bitched to his brother.
"What the fuck did I do with it? Ye're the one that used it last if I remember correctly."
Murphy saluted him grumpily with his middle finger and Connor rolled his eyes, "You and yer fuckin' hangovers man. Ya know, we aren't getting any younger, ya gotta slow down." There was truth in the statement, but Murphy seemed to ignore it every chance he got forcing Connor to take on the role of adult, and fuck, Connor was beginning to hate it.
"Fuck ye Connor. If you hadn't taken so fuckin' long to get to the fuckin' bar, I wouldn't have drank so much last night." Murphy spat, kicking angrily at the array of bottles on the bathroom floor.
"Murph it is too early to start fightin' with yer arse." Connor stepped a little further into the bathroom and saw the aspirin bottle laying on the floor by the shower. "Here's yer fucking aspirin." He said, picking up the bottle and tossing it at his brother's head, "now take some and have yer fuckin' shower, I'm gonna go make the coffee."
Turning on his heel, Connor walked out of the bathroom, contemplating slamming the door just for spite. But he decided against it, closing the door quietly, he wanted the upcoming discussion with his twin to go well. All the mission shit was finally getting to him and he knew that it was affecting Murphy as well. The tension between them seemed to grow more and more everyday, making them fight over stupid things, snapping at each other with no reason. More and more a little time away became a more tempting idea. Another loud crash and another violent oath from the bathroom made Connor shake his head.
Murphy could blame him for the hangover all he wanted, his twin would feel pretty foolish however when he found out that Connor had taken so long the previous night because he had been with Smecker, carefully arranging the details for a two week long stay at an out of the way dude ranch.
Sitting down at the table with a fresh cup of coffee Connor lit a cigarette and waited for his brother to join him. A few sips later, his twin emerged from the bathroom, looking considerably more human than when he had gone in. Ambling over to the coffee put Murphy poured himself a cup and took a seat next to his brother.
"I cleaned up the mess in the bathroom." Murphy said, taking a deep drink and Connor nodded, offering him the pack of cigarettes, the closest thing to an apology they would ever come.
"Listen, Murph," Connor said, flicking his lighter to life, allowing Murphy to light his smoke. "There's something that I want ye ta know, about last night."
Murphy's eyes widened, and Connor realized his mistake a moment too late as the blood from drained from his twin's face. "Ye got hurt and I missed it. . . ." he whispered, stricken.
"No, no, no," Connor soothed, "nothing like that. . . ."
"Well last night while you were waiting for me I called Smecker," Connor caught the aha look on his brother's face, and smiled, he knew that Murphy knew perfectly well there was no long way home. "Anyway," he continued, "I told him we needed to get away for a while to relax."
"So ye've been planning without me have ya brother?" Laughed Murphy his eyes alight. "Leave it to you to get the planning done all by yer lonesome."
"Aye, well, I am the big brother after all." Connor said, dodging his twin's hand, laughing. "So I talked to Smecker and he mentioned a place in Utah that has horses, biking and offroading. I thought maybe we could do a little bit of everything, we could leave tomorrow and stay for a couple of weeks, if ye still want ta go." Connor watched his brothers' face carefully for a reaction and was relieved to see the delighted excitement in his twin's eyes.
"Really? We can leave tomorrow? That's fuckin' brilliant Conn!" Murphy whooped as he leapt across the table to hug his brother, knocking him over in his chair.
"Ooof, Murph!" Connor playfully slapped at his brothers' backside shoving him away as he did. "Jaysus boyo I didn't think ye'd be this excited about it."
"Shit man we're taking a fuckin' vacation. How the fuck can I not be excited about it?" Chuckled Murphy, getting to his feet, "I'm gonna start packing now, um right after I …oh shit . . ." Murphy leapt up off his brother and ran out the room.
"Murph, hey Murph, you okay? Ye'd better be over that fuckin' hangover by tomorrow." Yelled out Connor after his brother. His only answer was the sound of his brother retching from the bathroom
Fuckin' Murphy and his fuckin' hangovers. Connor laughed to himself and thought that maybe going to breakfast wasn't the best idea after all.
The next day, with their plane tickets and new identities in hand the McManus brothers boarded their flight to Utah the next day.
"Hey Connor what are we doing first when we get there?" Murphy asked as he settled into his seat.
"Smecker said something about meeting up with an old friend of his, Matt something or other, that runs one of the offroad shops there." Connor replied, grinning. "This Matt guy knows all the good spots in Moab, at least for offroading, said he'd loan us a Jeep and show us the ropes."
Murphy returned his brother's grin, turning to look out the window, trying to keep still. He knew it was going to be a long flight and if he allowed even half of the excitement he was feeling leak out, his brother would probably kill him mid-flight, just to shut him up.
He was glad he had come up with the idea and grateful that Connor had gone along with it. This was just what they needed, a chance to get away for a much needed vacation, away from their missions, away from the evil in the world, and away from being the Saints. They could finally be themselves where no one would recognize them. He looked over at his brothers' relaxed features and knew that they both felt the same thing.
"First though lets check in and get settled, find out what there is to do and go from there, okay?" Connor said and Murphy nodded his head in agreement.
The plane began to taxi down the runway and both brothers winced as the changing altitude made their ears pop. Looking out at the perfect blue of the sky, Murphy felt his eyes getting heavy, his normally boundless energy easing into the relaxation he had been so desperately craving.
At least I won't have to listen to Connor bitch about how I won't sit still, he thought, drifting off to sleep.
Several hours later, and a well deserved nap, Murphy awoke to his brother shaking him.
"Murph, wake up man, we're about ta touchdown." Connors voice floated over him and he came out of his slumber easily, rubbing his eyes.