It were a right mess of days. Then again, it always were, right? He woke up in the driver's seat of his RV with his keys hanging from the visor and about four or five beer cans empty and about him. It wasn't that he drank and drove, just what with the cold that he liked to sit front row when he looked out and where the glen was. Besides that, people didn't bug him if the inside lights of his camper weren't on.

Phone buzzed. Five new messages. Eight missed called. "Feck." He rubbed his eyes and saw that there weren't more than 5% battery left anyway so he plugged it into the charger which fed outta the dash like a haphazard wire. He shoved the beer cans off himself and they made a sort of hollow bell sound when they clacked against each other. It were gonna be cold outside, weren't it? He glanced around himself and spied his coat. His whole body splayed out like a cat stretching when he reached and nabbed his jacket offa some inside hook tah his caravan. Then he were pulling on the jacket and climbing out of the RV.

He didn't gah tah the bonfire like he were usually in tha mind to do. Instead he walked the glen shore, remembering one of the last times he and his da talked along the bankside. It were strange ta feel uplifted and crestfallen simultaneously. Stealing a look over his shoulder like he were hiding it, he lit up a cigarette and inhaled.


Since the commotion of their return the night before, Levi hadn't had a chance to visit with Mark for the debriefing. And as he thought about that word, he snickered to himself. Mark wouldn't appreciate that joke, so he decided to keep it to himself. Once he'd eaten and had a decent cup of coffee, he left his RV in search of his oldest friend. The closer he came to the edge of that nearly frozen lake, the more nervous he'd become. He had a lot to unload onto Mark and he wasn't sure how he'd take the news. When he got close enough, he lifted an arm to wave hello. "Mark!" he called out with a smile on his face. "He's going to kill me," he muttered through gritted teeth.

The ground crunched under his boots, the frost not yet left the blades of grass. "Hey, man," he stepped up and nudged Mark on the shoulder. "You get my text?"

Mark looked like he might be nursing a headache, or a hangover. Though honestly that was gettin' tah be the constant look of him, but it were always accompanied with a salty smile. There was a tip of his head to Levi, he looked passed him as if trying to gage for trouble and then turned tah face the lake, "Glad tah see you come back in one piece. I weren't real sure what tah make o' the favor which was asked. You got a smile about you, that say enough tah me. I hadn't checked me messages yet."
"It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be," he confirmed and turned to face the lake. He wanted to skim a stone or kick a rock or do anything to get rid of the gitters in his stomach. "State had the burden of proof and they had squat on the kid. He's sleeping pretty back at home with his circuit." Hands were shoved into his pockets and he sighed. "So whoever called in the favor now owes you a big one. I did this pro bono for him."

"Yeah? Well, you's was always smart so that was destined." The state. The burden of proof. These were terms, ideas, that he looked like he understood and absorbed as his eyebrows lowered with every bit that Levi said. It was gettin' apparent, though, that the man was nervous. Levi had taken to callin' him Boss, he'd noticed that the last few rounds they spent time together. It was like a separation, naht that it felt spiteful or anything. Just like something happened, a shift on the insides, so to speak.

"S'good tah have a favor. I'm already in the need tah call upon it so it were like a Christmas present for all." Funny, that it was him that was gonna broach the looming static which was there, "You got somethin' on your mind, Levi?"


There was an awkward silence that followed his news and Mark's acknowledgement of it. He was trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. Mark was his best friend and to not know how he'd take the news was terrifying. "Yeah, well," he bit his lips and then blew out a breath. "How about over some coffee?" He was stalling, hoping that inspiration would strike him.


"Feckin' coffee?" Mark blinked at him and then turned his shoulders a bit to look at Levi, 'Wut? Is somebodys h dead? Cause coffee sure as Hell ain't gonna change that and I don't wanna be leaned over a cup like some blubbering idiot surrounded by strangers. Yah got somethin' brutal tah say I rather take it now in the morning hangover." His blues were hard at that moment. Like little pinpoints of ice that stayed on Levi and asked him not to grease him up with bullshit. Mark got greased all the time, he weren't wanting it from this man.


"Ok ok," he chuckled and held up his hands in surrender. "Well you know I treated Billie pretty rough," he blew out his breath and put his hands back into his pockets for warmth. "I wasn't myself and I feel pretty bad about that."


"Yeah, she naht looking too better for it. She's bein' a little shipwrecked but... I think she's strong enough. She'll hold her head up, naht drown and yah know... pick someone bettah for her when she's ready for it." Mark hadn't thought they were a match. Too much turmoil. He'd had that relationship before and for some people that lasted years before both parties were worn down to bones and had nothing left to offer each other but tired looks and indifference.

"I heard some word of it. Naht a break up anywhere go smooth or easy." Mali would remain the elephant in the back of the conversation for as along as Levi allowed it. Maybe the whole one. He wasn't planning on mentioning her.

Levi looked over at Mark, his lips bit to keep from replying. He saw when the light went on and Mark put two and two together. He then nodded his head and his smile grew more naturally. "Well this went much better than I ever imagined. In one version you slit my throat and shoot me in the balls," he admitted. "Thanks, Mark," his voice dropped and he nudged Mark with his elbow again.


"It naht my business much who do who," he said with a small shrug of his shoulders, "We had a spinster or two growin' up that I suspect jist had girlfriends and not just girls who was friends." Mark wasn't his father's generation. In some ways, Levi's timing had been right for it. With the older generation there was more snubbing and worrying about if. Mark, though? He was a bottom-line kinda guy. If the work got done and things happened right, a person could be purple with orange spots.

"I'm guessin' Billie dan't know. You want me tah tell her or... whut?" It was something that could hurt a girl's esteem, sure enough. With Billie losing weight like she was, he weren't sure if this would bring her relief or if it would be another blast tah her.

"No, she didn't know, doesn't know." He shook his head and went back to staring at the lake. "I mean to tell her, apologize to her. It wasn't her fault. I shouldn't have tried to play house. It's just... she was throwing herself at me and it was easy, you know? I thought that maybe if I was with a woman that I've always known..." he shrugged. The plan had failed miserably. "But it's on me, Mark. I did the damage, I need to start the repairs."


"I won't say a word tah her then, it's business between tha two of you." Which was how he preferred it, really. Mark didn't like bein' in the middle of something personal, even if it was his sister and best friend. She might even find relief in it, might even come to think that the fallout weren't on account of her, but other things.

He turned his head away to yawn against his shoulder and then jammed both his hands in his jacket pockets in the hopes of working up some warmth that were there, "Is that what been weighin' on yah?"

"Good, good," he murmured and nodded his head. He had an idea about how to go about apologizing to Billie, if she'd even talk to him. He looked to Mark when he yawned and that encouraged a yawn and stretch out of Levi. "Yeah, ever since Quinn showed up I wanted to tell you everything, because I always tell you everything." As evidenced by the texts to Mark about banging Billie. "But I didn't know how."


"I figured. Usually I'm havin' tah tell yah tah shut it and naht tah tell me what's on your mind." Mark gave him a smile that said he were teasing. Levi really weren't that silly with his gabbing, naht like some folks he was having to deal with, anyways. His eyes went past their shoulders, to tah light of a dying or newborn bonfire that caste an orange color on what woulda been a grey and blue evening, "I get what yah mean, though, about naht knowing how tah put somethin' into words for other people." It was the best ways to summarize often how he were feelin'.

"You noticed that?" Levi quirked a brow at Mark and then laughed at the tease. He nudged Mark again and then laughed out loud. He felt lighter than air and like he could do cartwheels around the lake! "Not everyone will take the news well, but so long as I have your support..." he shrugged. "I'm really glad you didn't freak out. I've never been so happy, Mark. I don't have to hide anymore." He offered Mark a bright smile then.

"So listen, I was thinking."


"Feck, how long I known yah? You think I don't got ears or eyes on yah? Especially when it was you and BB?" He shook his head at him as if disappointed and turned so that his frame were facing the bonfire, "Nah, naht everyone will, especially naht the older types but you got position over 'em you if you wanna press it."


"I do want to press it. I think Quinn could be a real assett to the camp. He's already bagged a huge elk. It's in the stew, it's in the burgers, it's in everything. He can hunt and wants to hunt for us." He bit his lips and put his hands into his pockets. "What do you say? Can he become one of us?"

"What? Become one?" Mark wrinkled his nose at the idea. It was disdainful and theere was a small shrug, "Let 'em hang around a bit. Yah got the rose colored glasses on right now. He give yah a year then he's as good as a brother. I dun mind him bein' here jist..." there was a small shrug. Mark was more hesitant about bringing a stranger in the fold than dealing with homosexuality.


Levi nodded his understanding and deferral to Mark. It was his camp and Levi wasn't going to belabor the point. "There's something else you need to know," he blew out a breath and rocked on his feet. "He's a werewolf. We're going to Kentucky for Christmas and taking Keirra with us. It's some wolf related thing with his ex. That's a whole other story that's a mess." He waved his hand and shook his head as if he could be rid of it by doing so.

"What?" Mark spat on the ground and then frowned. That was more upsetting than anything else. He looked at Levi and shook his head, "You know that they be a cursed people, the werewolves? And that it's naht like a piece of paper yah sign tah be part of them? Yah playin' with fire, Levi. I'm naht aiming tah have my camp infected." Infected, like an illness were afoot.