Kimbra's feet hit the pavement as the night sky lit up with an array of colors from the northern lights. She walked all the way into town, but it didn't help ease her troubled mind. She knew she shouldn't be out this late, but she couldn't stay in that house for another minute.

The scientist stopped walking and tilted her head up to look at the sky. Just to look at the northern lights for a moment. Just to think.

Dinner went well, better than she had expected.

Grandma Carter only smacked Adam twice throughout the whole meal. She didn't even scold Loren as much. Bud had actually started to fit in with the family. Him and Loren swapped stories about St. Canard. Jax begged Ace to take him to see the big city someday. It was a perfectly normal evening at the table despite the event from earlier.

Yes, dinner went well, really well.

Until Ace brought up his Huntington's results.

Negative.

He had tested negative for the Huntington's gene. He joined Al and Aspen in never succumbing to the horrid neurological disease. That only left her and Adam not knowing. The walls were quickly closing in, suffocating her.

You're getting older, you know. Symptoms usually manifest in your 30's or 40's. Each year, you inch closer to it starting. You'll end up just like your mother.

Everyone at the table congratulated Ace. Well, everyone except her. She sat there, picking at her food with a fork. No one noticed her silence, thank god. Having to explain that would lead to a meltdown and a massive fight. Kimbra didn't want to have an emotional outburst in front of her entire family. It'd be unfair to Ace. She waited to cope when everyone else was asleep. When she could sneak out of the cabin and head into town.

So, she turned to what she knew best. Alcohol. She wanted to drink until she forgot how to spell Huntington's. She wanted to numb the ache in her chest. There was not much more she could do.

The smell of alcohol and cigarettes hit Kimbra in the face as soon as she stepped through the door of the bar. The red neon sign outside flashed O'Malley's. It was the only bar in Brittleburg. A sorry excuse for one, but better than nothing. An old jukebox in the corner loudly played Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen. A group of older men, sitting at a round table in the back, sang along at the top of their lungs.

Kimbra squeezed into the only vacant seat at the bar.

To her left, sat Adam. He didn't look up from his glass that he had been staring mindlessly into. "You took long enough to get here."

A huff. "I had to wait until everyone else was asleep."

Because they'd ask questions that they wouldn't like the answers to.

He finally looked at her with a childish smirk. "Aw, you're afraid of your daddy scolding you?"

She rolled her eyes. "You're ridiculous."

"Why did you ask me to come here anyway?" Adam looked around the room as he leaned against the bar. "You know, I think this place is gross."

"Because," Kimbra flagged down the bartender. "I want to talk to you."

She ordered a beer which the bartender, a white mink, quickly brought back.

"You know, my ski resort has a much cleaner bar." Adam gave an apologetic look to the bartender, who glared at him. "Lovely place you have here. Loving the awful smell and all the obnoxious drunks. Very classy."

The mink ignored him and walked off to tend to another customer.

"Because there's so much noise in here that I can't think. I don't want to think right now, Adam. I want to drink and forget."

"Is this about Ace's results?"

"Yes, it's about Ace's results!" Kimbra took a long drink before speaking again. She set the bottle back down, hard, onto the counter. Not caring if she broke it. "Did you know he was getting tested?" Irritation pricked at her.

He hesitated. "Well…yeah."

"And you didn't think, oh, I should mention this to Kimbra? Did you?" She finished off the bottle, and quickly ordered another. Growing more irritable by the minute.

"Okay, first off, yes I thought about calling and telling you. I thought about it several times!" He rested his elbows on the counter and winced as his little sister downed another bottle. "I don't think you should be drinking that much."

"You aren't my dad."

"No, but I'm your older brother and I care about you."

"Well, maybe I don't want anyone to care about me."

"Kimbra don't," he stopped her. "Don't do this to us again. I thought we moved past your little outburst phase."

"It's not an outburst phase." Kimbra drank the next one a little slower, and set it back down, keeping her hand around the bottle. "It's… I don't know what to call it."

They stopped talking for a bit. The both of them looked at their drinks, thinking about what to say, or what not to say. The jukebox had begun playing an Elvis song, something Kimbra had grown accustomed to hearing due to Bud. Her mind couldn't process the words, they blurred in between conversations around the room.

Maybe I am drinking too much.

"Does Bud know about the whole…?" Adam spoke first. He gestured at Kimbra, trying to find the words.

"About the fact that I'm a ticking time bomb? That I might have the thing that our mom suffered from before her death?" She stared at him for a moment and then took a deep breath. "Yeah, Bud knows. I told him before we started dating."

"And he didn't run off?"

Not yet.

She shook her head. "I think he really loves me, or at least… I hope he does."

"I think you should at least consider getting tested for him."

"Why?"

"I dunno, like…you might get married…"

It's way too soon for that.

"Stop trying to get me married off."

"I'm being serious. You should at least do it, so he knows."

"What if I do have it?" She ordered another bottle. "I don't… I don't want him to leave me."

"Oh no, now we're getting to the crying drunk Kimbra phase."

"I'm not crying!" She punched him in the ribs, a little harder than he would have liked.

"Ow! That's it, I'm cutting you off. You're being very violent right now."

"I don't care." Kimbra spat the words out at him.

"See? You're being immature."

"You're immature. You…butthead."

"You can't even come up with a good insult."

"Fuck you," she prodded a finger in his chest. "I'm the best at insults. Like… your face is dumb."

"Kimbra, please listen to me."

"Okay, I'm listening." She turned her back to him.

"The other way."

Kimbra turned back around on the bar stool, facing him. "Ok, what?"

"Mom told dad before they got serious that she had Huntington's. He knew what he was signing up for. It's not fair if someday Bud decides to marry you, and you don't bother finding out whether you have it or not."

Bud would never want to marry her. That was absurd. Marriage? Her? Absolutely not. Never going to happen. She wasn't made for settling down. Kimbra Diane Wulfe would never be someone's wife. End of story. It was too early into their relationship for that sort of talk anyway. They had just started dating.

Even if he wanted to marry her someday, he would never stay. Not if she had Huntington's. Bud wouldn't want to deal with that. He wouldn't want to take care of her when she became unable. He wouldn't want to see her suffer and eventually die in her 40's to 50's.

He would never stay.

"I said I don't want to talk about it anymore." She bit back bitterly.

Adam rested his chin on his hand and sighed. "You and I both know that drinking doesn't solve anything."

"It keeps me from hurting so much. I don't want to think about mom or a stupid disease right now, I just… I don't want to think or feel anything." She explained her point of view rather bluntly. "It's not hurting anyone."

She knew the last line was a damned lie. Yet, she said it out loud to try and reassure herself that she was okay. That this was okay.

"I promised not to tell anyone you had a problem because you swore you would get help for it."

"And I did."

"I know, and I'm proud of you. But Kimbra, you can easily fall back into that if you aren't careful. Let me take you home, okay?"

"Okay," Kimbra sniffed and stood up.

The bar spun a little. She stumbled a bit before Adam caught her by the elbow.

"Let's get you home and to bed. We'll talk about this later."

'Meet us in the living room. We need to talk about Kimbra.- Adam'

That's the text that Bud woke up to. It came from Kimbra's phone, but it obviously wasn't her. He replied with an, 'okay?' And checked her bedroom to see that she was, in fact, gone.

Bud waited in the living room. His hair looked as if he'd run his fingers through it a million times. Dark strands stood up in every direction. He had paced back and forth in front of the large windows countless times, anxiously waiting.

He stopped once the sound of the front door opening and closing echoed into the room.

Kimbra walked through the doorway, and she saluted him unevenly. "Mr. Flud."

What the hell?

Bud took a few steps closer until he was standing in front of her. "Are you drunk?" Upon further inspection, he concluded that yes, she was.

Kimbra giggled and shook her head. "No, I'm not."

"You are!"

"Shhh," Kimbra pressed her finger against Bud's mouth, shushing him. "Don't tell daddy. He doesn't like it when I drink. He thinks it could turn into a real big problem, ya' know? Says I'm too much like him in that department."

Why couldn't she just give him a straightforward answer?

"Kimbra," he grabbed her wrists, trying to force her to look at him. "Have you been drinking?" He wanted to hear her say it.

She only replied with a whine and an attempt of pulling away from him. Bud didn't let her go, and looked over to Adam (who stood awkwardly in the living room entrance).

"Sorry, uh," Adam gestured at his sister. "We fell into the topic of Huntington's and she… she does this when she wants to stop thinking about it."

"She drinks."

"She's gotten better with it, with the antidepressants and therapy." Adam rubbed the back of his head. "Ah, crap, I shouldn't have told you that. I'm the only one she's ever told."

The news stung a bit. Bud thought Kimbra had told him everything. She wiggled uncomfortably in his grasp, still trying to get away. The CEO loved her dearly. He just wanted her to be okay.

"I didn't know that."

"No one does," Adam looked away with a grimace. "Not even dad knows."

Bud let Kimbra go, but immediately scooped her up and held her in his arms. "I'm putting her to bed, I'll be back. I want to talk to you."

"Oh, uh… okay," Adam's face gave away his discomfort. "Night Kim."

"Shuddup you…" Kimbra's nose scrunched up as she sleepily (and drunkenly) tried to come up with an insult. Her words trailed off into incoherent mumbling.

Adam made a face. "She's a mean drunk."

"She's mean even when she's sober."

He laughed. "Right you are."

"Are you ready for bed?" The hound glanced down at his girlfriend.

Kimbra gave an indistinct noise in response, the sound muffled due to her face being pressed into his chest.

"I'll take that as a yes." With her still in his arms, Bud quietly went up the staircase and made his way into her bedroom. He did his best to step with ease, so he wouldn't wake Loren.

Having to explain to the author on why his daughter was wasted and why Adam stood downstairs would be a pain. And a pretty bad impression for Bud's first time at the Wulfe house. He might not be invited back next year if Loren found out.

His hands brushed against purple hair as he laid Kimbra down in the bed. Being in her childhood bedroom made him wonder what she was like as a child. As a teen. If they would have been friends or something more if they had met back then.

Probably not. Because you're a foggy three, and she's a clear ten. You're lucky she's even dating you now.

"Goodnight sweetheart," he pulled the blanket over her body.

Kimbra didn't give in to sleep too easily. "Come to bed with me," she held her arms out. She still had that sleepy tone from earlier, but was fighting against it.

His eyes crinkled the slightest bit. "You're drunk, and we're in your father's house. I don't think he'd approve of such a thing." Her behavior was cute, funny, even at the moment. But her reasoning for over drinking wasn't.

This isn't healthy for you. You can't keep doing this, Kim. It can't become a habit.

"Pleaseeee?" She practically begged him.

Oh, don't give me that look.

He almost pitied her at that moment. Almost. "Sorry, darlin'. Can't."

She dropped her arms with a pout.

"Go to sleep, I'll see you in the morning. We'll talk then." He leaned down and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

Kimbra opened her mouth, but he couldn't tell what was being said. She began drifting off to sleep, mumbling under her breath once again. Bud pressed a kiss against her forehead and quietly left her bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

She does this when she wants to stop thinking about it.

Those words embedded in his mind like a thorn.

Once Bud stepped back into the living room, Adam immediately stood up from the couch. Nervous. Like he had gotten into trouble. Which he sort of has.

Bud pointed at the couch. "Sit."

Adam obeyed without a word. His hands fidgeted in his lap as he struggled to keep still.

The CEO sat in a chair across from him. "What happened? Why was she out drinking, and why were you there? I want you to tell me everything."

"Kimbra had texted me to meet her at O'Malley's around midnight." The Samoyed began to explain. "So I met her there, and we talked."

At least she'd had the decency to call someone to be there with her.

"Why did she want to meet you at a bar so late?"

"Dinner had upset her…"

Bud shrugged. "Couldn't be worse than the previous one."

"It's…not that." Adam tapped his fingers together. "Ace testing negative for Huntington's had upset her pretty badly."

"I figured she'd be happy for him."

"Oh, no, no it's not like that! She is happy for him. It's just…" Blue eyes shone with an uncertainty. Adam wasn't sure if he should spill out Kimbra's emotions to a man he barely knew.

"Just what?"

"A reminder for her. That she might have it ."

Right. Offspring of those who have Huntington's have a fifty-fifty chance of inheriting it as well. She always brushed off the topic, saying she didn't want to talk about it. It never registered in Bud's mind that Kimbra was very upset over it.

"Aren't you all at risk? Since it's genetic and your mom had it?"

"I know you're probably mad at her and all, but Kimbra is just…scared." Adam said, thinking out loud rather than actually answering Bud's question. "Please don't hold this against her. She really likes you, and I don't want her screwing up something just because she's bad at dealing with her feelings."

Bud leaned forward. "Adam, answer the question."

It made Adam shift uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeah but… Al and Aspen tested negative years ago," he glanced over to the mantle, where the urn sat. "We made a pact when we were young to not think about it. Just hoping if we ignored it, it'd never rear its ugly head."

The water salesman wasn't sure how to feel. He'd never had to deal with something like that. It was hard to grasp. Hard to understand. Hell, he probably never would. And he was more than okay with that. It sounded like torture.

Adam spoke again, once he realized that Bud wouldn't. "Bud, it's bad. It's an ugly disease, and I hope you never find out how horrible it truly is."

Bud clasped his hands together and merely looked away, to the window where snow softly fell. "I don't see how your father managed through it. With losing your mom and all to it."

"He had to, he has five kids. He didn't have much of a choice."

Way to go, Bud, you're being insensitive. Do better, moron.

"I'm truly sorry about that."

"Kimbra took it the hardest," Adam shook his head, trying to wipe the painful memory from his mind. He cleared his throat. "Don't… don't tell her we had this talk, okay?"

"I won't."

"Thanks," he stood up. "It's comforting to know she has someone back in St. Canard to look after her."

"I love her, of course I'm going to look after her."

That made Adam smile. "And please — don't tell her I actually care about her. She'd never let me hear the end of it."

So, that's what you really think of her. You actually care.

"Again, your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks. Night, Bud."

"Good night, Adam." Bud watched as the canine left the room. Leaving him alone once more.

He should have gone back to bed, considering the time. His mind wouldn't let him. It repeated what Kimbra's brother had said, over and over. Bud sat back down in the chair, resting an elbow on the arm rest, and his chin on his hand. Letting his other arm hang off the chair.

She does this when she wants to stop thinking about it.