Dave and John spent the rest of the afternoon goofing off around the town. Boys would be boys no matter what the age. After some rough housing at a river they found and wandering across the fields, the two trotted back to the cabin smeared with mud and probably in need of showers. Rose greeted them as they banged noisily through the door.

"I don't recall rooming with two pigs," Rose commented. She moved forward and blocked any attempts to escape. "Shoes off."

"We aren't that bad" John protested with a roll of his eyes. He obeyed, tugging off his shoes and socks.

Dave didn't and met Rose's gaze with an even stare. Rose returned it and there was something about her gaze that made him nervous. Fuck. He hated that Rose could intimidate him. She was so damn good at it. Then John barreled into Dave's legs trying to balance on one foot and nearly knocked him over. Dave stumbled and shoved John over, forcing him to the ground.

"Jesus fuck, Egbert. Sit your ass down and do that."

"Ack! Gross, you pushed me right into all the mud you just stomped off."

Dave suppressed a laugh which wasn't too hard with Rose staring him down like that. Annoyed, he rounded on her. "What?"

"Why, precisely, did you put our phone in a drawer?" she demanded.

"He did what?" John asked from the floor.

Dave tensed slightly, squaring his shoulders back. "Because it kept ringing and it was pissing me off."

"You broke it," Rose countered. "I needed to use it for my research and now I can't. I had to walk into town and pay to use one."

"Boo hoo."

Rose's gaze hardened. "I also do not approve nor appreciate your meddling in the relationship of my friend. I'm aware you have issues with the matter but playing the role of a jealous ex is not the way you should handle it."

"Fuck you, that wasn't it," Dave snapped defensively.

"What wasn't it?"

Three heads craned up to see Jade approaching them. They had all gathered quite conspicuously by the door so it was only a matter of time before they drew her attention. She was wearing a long nightgown with her long hair tied back in a braid. It hung over one shoulder but she brushed it back as she walked over to them.

"I found out why our phone is broken," Rose replied curtly.

"Oh. Did Dave do it?"

"Wow, automatically blamed."

Jade giggled, smothering it behind her hand. Dave rolled his eyes behind his shades. "No, I wasn't doing that. It's just that Rose suspected it was you."

"Okay look," Dave cut in, "before I continue to get accused of being a bigger asshole than I already am let me set it straight. The asshole who kept calling was Jade's boyfriend."

Jade stopped laughing and looked surprised. "What?"

"I'm aware. John told me," Rose said dryly. "That's why I-"

"Shut up. I ditched the phone because I know Jade didn't want him contacting her here."

There's was an awkward pause. John hopped to his feet and shuffled over to Rose, who looked confused. She glanced between Dave and Jade before her gaze settled on Jade. She quirked an eyebrow at her. "Is the true?"

"What's up, Jade?" John asked more neutrally.

Jade looked quite stunned, staring with wide eyes at Dave. She dropped her gaze to her feet after a few seconds and a deep frown tugged at her lips. "Well, um... It is, actually. But Dave, I never told you that."

"I heard you talking about it on the trip over. On your cell with one of your friends." One of several Jade had made outside the four of them. Dave got along with precisely none of them though to be fair he didn't get along with anyone else John or Rose were friends with either.

Jade furrowed her brow in thought and a slow look of realization crossed her face. "Oh! On the bus... I thought you were asleep." Suddenly her cheeks turned faintly red and she fixed him with a gaze that made Rose's look much less scary. "How much of that conversation did you hear?"

Dave took a subtle step backwards. "Enough."

"Dave!"

"Fuck, I was sitting right next to you. What do you expect?"

"You were suppose to be sleeping!"

"Well... I wasn't."

"Agh! I can't believe you!"

"Wait, back up," John interrupted. "You didn't want Elliot to contact you?"

"This isn't anyone's business!" Jade snapped. She threw up her hands and whirled away in a huff, storming into the living room. The trio listened to her stomp up the stairs and into her room.

"I'll add stalking to your list of ex boyfriend behaviors."

"Lalonde, I swear to fucking god..."

John sighed and rubbed his temples. He slipped away from the two arguing siblings and followed Jade's path up the stairs. He felt a little guilty trailing some dried mud across the floor from the cuffs of his pants as he moved down the fall. The girls had rooms on the second floor while the guys slept in the rooms downstairs. Jade had left her door open but she was sprawled face down on the bed. Hesitantly John knocked on the partially open door.

"That better not be you, Dave," Jade said, voice muffled in her arms.

John cleared his throat and in his best impression of Dave replied, "No Miss Harley I am totally lame and not cool enough."

There was a pause before Jade's quiet laughter broke the silence and John grinned. She rolled over and propped herself up to stare at him. She was smiling though she still looked troubled. John entered without waiting for permission and plopped himself down on the edge of the bed.

"You didn't sound anything like him," Jade snickered.

"Yeah, I know. I'm not very good at impersonating uncool douchebags. I'll keep trying."

Jade stifled another laugh. John smiled, decided he liked it better when she laughed, but then tentatively asked, "What's going on? I mean, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to but... I guess I'm just a little worried."

Jade hesitated and John could almost see the war she was having in her head. Then she let out a long sigh. "I told Elliot that I didn't want him to contact me on this trip. I told him I just wanted this trip to be between the four of us and no one else. He said that was really selfish of me and... I don't know, maybe it is. But he was really mad about it... Really jealous. I told him to just deal with it. Actually, we... have been having problems lately. So I really wanted to be away from him."

"Oh man, I'm so sorry to hear that."

Jade was his best friend and sister so of course John truly meant that. However a small part of him was shamefully glad. Dave was also his best friend and seeing the rift Elliot's existence had caused between the two of them was hard for him to watch. He just wanted them both to be happy. Rose had told him in her Rose-like way that happiness was generally never the same for two people. John had told her to stop being so depressing.

Jade shrugged. "It's okay. It's complicated. Um... I don't think I really want to explain what happened beyond that."

"That's fine," John replied with an understanding nod. "Just don't be too hard on Dave, okay? I know he's an idiot but I think he was really just trying to help you."

"Hmph... I know but it's none of his business. He shouldn't meddle like that."

"I think that's just how he shows affection. Kind of like a cat."

Jade giggled again. "A cat?"

"Yeah! They're... you know, catty."

"John, that was terrible."

"But it's true! Except Dave isn't actually catty he just... does stupid things he thinks are meaningful but everyone else gives him weird looks for it. Like leaving dead things on your front porch."

"Oh my god, John..."

"He means well but-what?"

Jade bit her lip but she couldn't hold in her laughter, breaking into a fit that sent her flopping back onto the bed again. She decided that perhaps he had been spending way too much time around Rose. Though on second thought perhaps Jade needed to make a request from her to properly teach John how to psychoanalyze instead. As it turned out, for all her skills in that area, Rose had been less successful than John in helping out her sibling. So unsuccessful that Dave had just retreated to his room and locked the door.

"Please stop acting like a ten year old," Rose called through the door, exasperated.

"Nope."

Rose rubbed her forehead. "You're really going to just sulk in there for the rest of the night, then?"

"Yup."

"And no amount of coercion will convince you otherwise?"

"You got it."

Rose tapped her finger to her chin. She turned on her heel and paused halfway toward the living room. Silently, she counted to herself, five… four... three... two...

The door abruptly swung open. "Don't you fucking dare."

Rose quirked a smile and turned back around to face him. "That's what I thought."

Dave stomped past her and darted into the living room, Rose casually following. She watched as he began gathering the photographs and scrapbook he had left laying about, muttering profanities under his breath. She sighed and leaned against the doorframe, watching him half amused but still mostly frustrated by his refusal to talk.

"There's nothing to talk about and I can't believe you had the thought to ruin all this hard work for your own twisted game. You're sick, Rose. Sick and twisted."

"At least I'm not ten."

"Fuck off. I just said there's nothing to say. What do you want me to say?"

"Then let me do the talking."

Dave said nothing but he didn't protest either. So Rose continued, "You have two choices. Kick your feet and mope or be honest. At this point, unfortunately for you, I'm making the choice for you. I'm tired of seeing the former so I'm forcing you to do the latter."

Dave snorted. "This should be good."

"Spill the truth to Jade or I'm going to make you live in the woods for the rest of the trip."

Dave stared at her. Rose stared back. There was a long pause in which Rose knew the gears in Dave's head were turning frantically to try and decipher if she was serious or not. Or course she wasn't but if Dave's poker face was perfect Rose's was even better. The trick was to make him believe it some way or another. Considering this cabin belonged to Rose and this vacation was mostly Rose's treat, she very well could get him kicked out. The silence was broken by John who took this moment to wander in.

"Hey, I-oh. Uhhh."

"Think about it carefully," Rose said and then she was gone, retreating up the stairs.

John blinked and Dave finished gathering his stuff. Fuck. Okay, he knew she was bluffing. She had to be. There was no way John or Jade would let her banish him to the wilderness. ... Well, there was no way John would. Right now Jade would probably leave Dave stranded in a desert. The point was that he would die if Rose did that because like hell he knew how to survive outside human civilization. Tucking the book under his arm, Dave stepped up to John with a serious frown.

"You're going to take Rose to that weird festival thing, right?"

"Huh?" John sputtered, caught off guard. He blushed faintly and scratched the back of his neck. "Well... I thought about it, but I don't-"

"Do it."

"Do you really think I should?"

"Sure. She totally digs you."

Partially a lie. Dave really had no idea. What he did know was John was the only person who really succeeded in getting her to loosen up. He also knew she was less guarded around John than she was around himself or even Jade.

"Okay, I will," John finally decided, beaming.

"Then do me a favor."

"What?"

"Keep her busy."

Dave shuffled out, leaving John to puzzle over what exactly that meant. As Dave returned to his room to dispose of his stuff and then retreated to the bathroom for a shower, he decided that if Rose wanted to play that game he would play it too.

The next day saw a change of pace in Jade's nightly disappearances. Instead of it happening at night it happened during the day. Although Jade had told her friends she was heading off she had also not told them where nor had she invited any of them to follow. So, naturally, Dave followed. Ignoring the fact that Jade was still unhappy with him as well as the fact that he was proving Rose right by adding "stalker" to her list, he went anyway. If there was one thing Bro had taught him well it was how to sneak around unheard and unseen. And hell, Dave was still really curious about this. And maybe a little worried given her reoccurring sadness he'd observed during their trip. Unfortunately for Dave he lost her at some point and, not really up for a scavenger hunt, he retreated to the river he and John had goofed off in the other day. It was overflowing and muddy from all the rain they had been having. Judging by the horizon it looked like more rain might be sneaking up on them soon.

Left with little else to do, Dave made the journey back to the cabin to fetch his camera. Then he made the trek back to the river. Although the surrounding wilderness to the town was large fields of tall grass, a small river wound through the hills. Following it as he and John had done the other day had lead them to a little wooded area that seemed to stretch further than any of the fields. Neither of them had ventured much into the woods for fear of getting lost but the river was in a relatively safe spot. Plus it was summer so the thick green of the trees were buzzing with life. In short it was a great opportunity for photographs of nature which Dave admittedly enjoyed taking. He'd never admit it if he was asked.

Snapping pictures of the trees, a few feathery assholes and the way the sunlight reflected off the water, Dave heard something splashing noisily upstream. Different from the sloshing he was doing wading in the shallower part of the river, it sounded like a larger animal. Dave just hoped it wasn't a bear as he followed the river up the slope. It turned out to be a bit steeper than he thought it would be. When he finally made it over the incline he found a much larger pool of water that broke the river in half. Unfortunately Dave was not paying much attention to the water. The sound he thought had been an animal turned out to be Jade. Jade, who sure wasn't wearing any clothes, and standing turned just slightly so that Dave didn't see everything but he got an eyeful either way.

Dave discovered right then what his training had been for all those years: it was for making hasty getaways. When Jade felt him there and whirled around, eyes widening when she saw him, Dave sprang into action and got the fuck out of there. Sort of. He took refuge behind a large tree that was just near by. And just in time too, it seemed, for the tree was instantly pelted with rocks. Big rocks from the sounds of the impact.

"Dave!" Jade screeched and he could hear her moving in the water, presumably closing in on his location to kill him. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? Were you spying on me?"

"Holy fuck, Harley, come on. You're killing a poor innocent tree here," Dave protested, wincing as a large stone slammed into the bark near his shoulder. He jumped and edged away, wishing he could somehow acquire the power to meld with the tree itself. Also for some reason his face felt very hot.

"That's not the only think I'm about to kill!"

"Shit. Okay look, calm down. I know this looks really bad but I swear to whatever higher being is sitting fat and happy in the clouds that it isn't what it actually looks like." Except for the fact that he had originally set out to spy on her, but that had been to see where she was wandering off to, not get a peep show. He wasn't that much of a creep.

The barrage of rocks finally stopped but Dave didn't dare move. When she didn't answer he hurriedly continued, "I was downstream taking pictures of rocks and shit. I heard you and thought you were a deer. I was gonna snap a sweet picture. Maybe add some dead guys around the hooves. Call it Bambi's Revenge: This Time It's Fucking Personal."

"Promise?"

Dave started and turned his head, looking up. Jade was standing near him on the other side of the tree, peeking out. He could tell she was dressed in her bathing suit now. Although this wasn't any better for his libido it did at least make him less likely to get murdered if he saw her in it.

"Christ. How lowly do you think I am? That you think I would sneak around snapping pictures of nude girls like some fat pimply pervert who lives in his mom's basement hurts me. It hurts my feelings."

Jade quirked a smile at him. She held out her hand. "Camera."

Dave grumbled but removed it from around his neck and handed it over. Jade shuffled away and Dave sprang to his feet, following after her as she scrolled through the pictures.

"Hey, you deleted the ones I took!"

"They sucked."

Jade made a face at him and sat down on the shore. Dave plopped down beside her and smiled faintly, watching her face as she intently scrolled through the pictures. They sat in silence for awhile and Dave was weirdly content with that. Normally silence made him uncomfortable. It was the reason he always had to talk or have music blaring. The silence in this moment, though, felt right. Yet after a few minutes Dave broke it anyway.

"You're not going to find anything," he chuckled.

"I'm just making sure. I don't know what you're up to anymore with the stunt you pulled last night."

Ouch. Dave felt that irritating thing called guilt sneak up on him again. "Oh, come on. You're not still mad about that, are you?"

Jade huffed and shoved the camera back into his hands. "A little, but it's okay. Just don't do stuff like that."

"I wasn't actually trying to eavesdrop, you know."

Jade drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She rested her chin on one knee and stared at the water wistfully. "I know."

There was a pause before Dave broke it with an awkward, "Well. Sorry, in any case."

Jade turned to look at him and Dave willed himself not to get flustered. "For doing that shit. And for today."

"Oh... Hehehehe."

She turned away and stifled a laugh and Dave felt his ears burn from embarrassment. No, fuck. He hated feeling like such a goddamn idiot even though he knew he was one anyway. At least when it came to her and he scowled at her poor attempts to not laugh at him.

"I guess you found out my secret," she said.

"Your... oh, shit. This is where you've been going?"

Jade nodded. "I really like to swim, actually. I use to swim in the ocean all the time back... home."

The way she said that was almost bitter. She lowered her gaze and Dave saw that familiar forlorn expression on her face. It was the one that he'd seen a lot during this trip. That expression that was really bothering him. He thought maybe he should ask. Now was a good a time as any and he really had been wanting to talk about this.

Instead what came out of his mouth was, "Did you skinny dip there, too?"

Jade flushed and punched him in the shoulder. "Fuckass!"

Dave didn't even bat an eye. "Hey, I need sufficient fuel for my Harley sex fantasies. Just tell me yes or no and my imagination will take it from there."

"Dave!" Jade laughed and shoved him. She was plenty strong though not quite strong enough to knock him over. He pretended to fall anyway, flopping gracelessly on the sand.

"Is this a bad time to ask if you want to chill at that festival this town of hippies is throwing?"

Jade perked up instantly at that, back straightening and eyes widening. "Really? You'd go to that?"

Dave bent his arms behind his head and remained sprawled on his back where he had fallen. The sun had disappeared behind a particularly dark looking cloud. "Sure. There can't be a party without a proper Strider style crashing."

"Okay," Jade replied with a wide smile. "I would really like to go but John and Rose didn't seem interested and I didn't want to go by myself."

"Cool, then let's do it."

"Thanks, Dave."

Dave shrugged and gave no outward hint of the joy of his success. Even if technically it was John's success because it had been his idea for Dave to go with her. He closed his eyes behind his shades. He hated that tight sensation in his chest that happened every time he thought of her. It was some kind of weird combination of happiness and pain. These were the types of emotions Dave had spent most of his life learning how to suppress. For the most part he succeeded but not when it came to Jade. It had been like that since the were younger.

"Hey, Jade."

"Hm?"

"I know you're going to roll your eyes at me and that I've done a really shitty job proving it to you, but… you can tell me shit. You know that, right?"

There was silence. Dave sat up and looked at her. Her head was bowed, long hair hiding her face. When she didn't move Dave slowly lifted her camera and flashed a picture. She started and looked up at him, surprised. Then she scrunched up her nose. Dave chuckled and lowered the camera.

"Right?" he repeated. This was important to him for some weird reason. Actually, no. Not some weird reason. A very good reason. The more he saw Jade looking kind of forlorn and sad the more he felt like she was keeping something from him. From John and Rose, too. She shouldn't do that because they were her friends. He was here to try and fix her problems if he could. He couldn't do that unless she told him.

"I know," Jade replied and she smiled warmly. It looked genuine enough, but… "You better delete that picture."

"Nah."

Dave slipped off his shades and hooked them on the front of his shirt. Jade poked her tongue out at him and Dave was tempted to do it right back but refrained, mentally shaking himself. How lame would that be? A rumble of thunder shook the sky and both of them glanced up. Jade quickly scrambled to her feet. Dave watched her hastily fetch a shirt and towel from behind a small rock. She slipped the shirt over her head, sadly hiding her bathing suit underneath it. Rain was starting to fall so Dave climbed to his feet as well. He tucked his camera into his shirt, hoping it would make it until they got inside. Together they ran back towards the cabin. Half way there it started to pour so they hightailed it as fast as they could downy he winding paths. They made it but were thoroughly soaked anyway. Jade was laughing and Dave was not amused as they stomped onto the porch and underneath the safety of the overhang.

"Figures Lalonde makes a vacation for us and it rains most of the time," he complained, shaking water from his hair like a dog.

Jade had her towel but it was soaked too. She giggled and wrung out her hair, still panting from the run. She was beaming though. This time Dave decided she really did look genuinely happy.

"Is your camera okay?" she inquired, shuffled over to him.

Dave glanced it over and shrugged. "Looks it."

She smiled and stared out at the rain. Dave watched her instead of the rain.

"Dave… about what you said before…"

"What about it?"

Jade took a deep breath. She turned and started a little, peering up at him. Dave had shuffled a little closer to her than was probably appropriate without even realizing it. Her cheeks turned a little red but she didn't move away.

"It's… not good news. I didn't want to say anything but it isn't fair for me not to. So I-"

The front door swung open. Another boy was standing there. A boy that should definitely not be here. His dark eyes widened at the two of them. "Jade?"

Jade hastily put distance between herself and Dave but she did not approach the boy. She somewhat recoiled back, looking very unpleased. Dave even more so.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," he growled.

It was Elliot