The empty tumbler in Hunter's hand felt like a lead weight that he was struggling to keep a grip on. Slowly he bought it up to his face and looked at the lamp across the room through the bottom of it, the fumes from the glass tickling his nose as the shape of the shade kaleidoscoped through the cut glass. He resisted the temptation to throw it at the wall or into the fire only to watch it splinter and shatter on the hearth like he'd done a few days ago. He knew that it was pointless. A pointless task to finish up another pointless day.

He didn't like who he was becoming. Hunter had a reputation built on being the dependable go-to guy for all his friends and a lot of his co-workers. If there was an uncomfortable truth he'd be the one that would spit it out and try to clear the air. If someone needed to hear more than mindless platitudes from a friend he'd be the one with the balls to do it. Watching the dim light refract through the additional haze of the bottle of whiskey he'd already sunk he wondered just where that guy had gone.

Thoughts filled his mind of just getting a cab to the hospital, demanding to see Shawn and fronting it out. He wasn't sure how he'd get round the nurses but he was almost willing to try. The moment he went to prop himself up out of the chair was when that idea seemed the most ridiculous. His empty stomach had made the alcohol hit his system quickly and sapped the energy he thought he had.

Instead he decided to do something else he'd been thinking about. He grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket and flipped it open, hitting dial as the highlight was over the name of the person he wanted to speak to already. After a few crackly half rings there was a click at the other end and a sleepy sounding voice grumbled out of the silence.

"Hunter? It's...it's 3am. What...is Shawn ok?"

"Shawn's fine. Just peachy. Better than fine. He's good. Great. Well, he used to be..."

"You been drinking?"

"Ahh, I had a glass or two. Noth...not much. Just skipped dinner. I'm a little tired."

Adam listened intently to the voice at the other end of the line and his heart sank fast in his chest. The wishy washy stumbled over words clearly gave away the amount of liquor in his friend. He knew why Hunter was drinking but still couldn't bring himself to think that it was okay. Like most guys on the road he too had tried to find solutions in the bottom of a bottle but always found that it made things worse. In fairness he wasn't sure how it could get worse for Hunter and Shawn but he suspected that as their relationship was one step from over that the drink wasn't going to forge them any new ties, rather soak and shred those that remained.

"So, did you sort out the thing with the photos yet? I'm sure they were..."

"No."

That one word alone was enough to rationalise to Adam the rest of the conversation he expected to have. He still didn't have the answers that Hunter was looking for, hadn't yet found the ability to say that from where he stood the evidence was pretty damning if it was all to be believed. With a deep sigh he gathered this thoughts and mentally tossed a coin as to whether or not he should even try to help, failing to see the sense in getting himself dragged into a mess that only the drunk on the other end of the phone had the power to rectify.

"And Shawn? He's still none the wiser?"

"No. I, err...kinda tried to ask but Vince called and then he was sleeping and... Addy, I don't want this to be it. I don't want any of it to be true. I can't ask him because if he says yes...I don't... I mean, I don't..."

The piteous sound of sniffling from the other end of the phone made Adam screw his eyes shut tight as if somehow that would make it stop or at least prevent it from registering in his own brain. Hunter didn't cry. He hadn't so much as shed a tear when they put his father in the ground, the man he spent his entire life living up to and loving. He'd spoken unfalteringly at the funeral, shaken as many hands as he could and then went about his life as normal. From the outside at least he was tough as nails. Adam was fairly sure that the heartbreak was absolute for it to break the man he realised he only thought he knew.

"Hunter, you've gotta ask him. Going on like this is gonna kill you both. If its true, well you'll just have to deal with that. If its not you're shuffling yourself over the edge for nothing. I know its hard but you're going to have to deal with this. Get it done. Have at it with him."

Hunter's silence was stifling even on his own end of the call. He knew Adam was right. He'd known it all along, it was just hard to even think about broaching the subject. Yesterday had been the closest he'd gotten to actually getting there and he had some glimmer of hope that fate had interrupted him just in time to save him from accusing Shawn of what he considered a heinous crime.

The issue left behind was that even if it wasn't true then he'd never know without asking. Any rendezvous that had taken place between Chris and Shawn has done so under his radar so how could he just leave it be and take it for granted that his intended eagle eyed approach would save him from further humiliation? In truth he knew that it couldn't. He'd have to do something, say something and that Adam was right. Adam was always right.

"You think if we'd been together you'd have done something like this to me?"

The question came out of Hunter's mouth with little coaxing. He'd thought about how he'd hurt Adam ever since he'd come to his side at the hospital on that cold, damp morning. It was clear that he was hardly asking the question that the words represented. Inside he was asking if Adam was still interested. He needed to feel good, to feel wanted after weeks of being a wreck. He also knew that if Adam was close enough he'd have invited him over and maybe let more than a few drinks happen. Desperate times called for desperate and hand poured measures.

"Hunter, I can't answer that. Things change and people change. When I was with you I was a starstruck kid. I thought the world of you and I still have a lot of time for you now but if you're asking me how the years inbetween would've gone then I really can't say. All I do know is that you moved on to someone you really love and I just keep trying to do the same."

With a sigh of resignation Adam knew that nothing he could say would make a blind bit of difference to the way Hunter felt. It wasn't about him or what they'd had. Every partly slurred word was all about Shawn and about the pain the whole thing had left his friend to deal with. He heard Hunter start to speak again but spoke over him, trying his best to sound authoritative and like he knew, or at least believed, in what he was talking about.

"I'm only gonna say this once Hunter and I want you to listen. Shawn is your everything. I get that, I really do. As a friend I want you to be happy but I can't make this right for you. Nobody can apart from you. You hold the cards, you've got all the evidence and until you get the balls to do anything about them then this is how you're gonna wind up feeling, night in and night out. My suggestion to you is that you sober up, pull your finger out of your ass and go ask Shawn at the first chance you get before you drink yourself into an early grave or break your heart wondering. I'm not out to hurt you but you've got to do this before it eats up what's left of you."

The silence that met his statement gave Adam fair warning that his words were still sinking in. He let almost a minute pass during which he heard little other than some muttering and then eventually a quiet voice broke the deadlock.

"I know you're right. I just needed to be told in a certain way I guess. Thanks man, for...for everything..."

Hunter barely waited for the acknowledgement from the familiar voice before he snapped his phone shut and tossed it onto the couch. Adam was solid and dependable as ever. He made sense and talked it too. Through the mist that clouded his thoughts Hunter promised himself that tomorrow would be the day. Test results or not, tears and tantrums or not, the break of day would make the decision for him. Hunter never went back on a promise. He just hoped that when the sun set in a little under 24 hours time that he'd be able to say the same of his lover.

The wide beams of bright sunlight were streaming through the gaps in the drapes where he'd so idly pulled them together. It was the heat that finally woke him as they cast straight across his face, propped as it was on the arm of the chair where he'd fallen asleep last night. Attempting to move he heard his body grumbling at him, the pains in his knees at the forefront of his mind as he attempted to straighten them.

Slowly levering himself up Hunter headed for the bathroom, forcing himself into the shower for the first time in almost 3 days. The constant pounding of the hot water felt good on his skin but was not agreeable to the dull ache behind his eyes and between his temples. The drink hadn't had that effect on him in a few weeks and he wondered if finally he'd had too much which caused the thudding or not enough to keep the thudding away.

Once thoroughly washed and freshly dressed he couldn't help but feel a bit brighter. One pair of comfort fit jeans and a well worn merch t-shirt later and he was finally beginning to look and feel somewhere close to human. His clean mane of hair was tied back and his facial hair trimmed to within an inch of its life. Looking at his reflection in the mirror he was starting to see the makings of someone he knew, someone he realised that he missed being. The only giveaway was the pink tint to his eyes and although he considered using the standard issue 'promo day' drops he resisted, preferring to try the route of fruit and water for breakfast to bring his body back to normal.

As he drove towards the hospital he tuned the radio away from the dreary country channels and listened to the more mainstream station, singing along with the latest songs that he didn't realise he knew the words to. It was as he joined in with the sweeping syllable at the crescendo of some recent rock number one hit that he realised that just the thought of sorting his life out was making a difference. He chose not to let his brain wander into territory where that life would change so fundamentally, knowing that the day would be hard enough without that as a complication to the good start he'd made.

Once the engine was off and the keys out he grabbed his jacket and the envelope from the passenger seat and headed towards the entrance. As he stepped up the kerb outside a body moved into his path and obstructed it. Looking up he saw a familiar face that did little other than smile blandly back at him. Paul.

"So did you come here to finish what you started?"

"Paul, I don't know what you're doing here man but just not now. I got things to do."

"Oh I'm sure you have. I heard what happened to Chris which, for the record, was nothing to do with me. I think they're looking at the wrong man, unlike myself."

Paul eyed Hunter suspiciously, waiting for the crack in the mask, the dead giveaway smirk he more than expected to see but found nothing. All he saw was Hunter shrug his shoulders casually.

"Think what you like. Now just get out of my way. I told you, I'm busy."

Hunter waited for Paul to move his solid frame out of the way but soon realised that it wasn't going to happen. He sidestepped to the left and then back to the right only to find his path still blocked on both occasions. As Hunter raised his arms to push Paul out of nothing more than frustration the envelope slipped from his hand and landed on the floor. He quickly bent to retrieve it but not before its presence had been noted.

"Today? Hunter, you pick the worst times."

The slow and knowing chuckle that followed the words was deliberate on Paul's part. He looked at Hunter's confused expression and for a moment he pondered whether or not to tell him what he knew. He soon decided on balance that it would cause him more problems in the long term to keep quiet. Letting a smile spread wide on his face and with a knowing slow shake of his head Paul gestured with his thumb over his shoulder.

"You do know he's in there right?"

A/N: So I'm carrying on with this as I intended, I decided to finish it or I'd kick myself when I looked back on it. This is maybe one of my favourite chapters so far and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out so again, thanks for all the kind encouragement from my much-loved readers that made me not ditch this when I was so down on it all!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the continued reads and reviews, they're much appreciated :) I'd say this story has got a few more chapters to run and then will be done, the next is written and may well make it up this weekend :) Thanks again all :)