Chapter Text
Nico wishes she was asleep right now. That's what she always does when they get on the road, just conks out until they stop again, but the drive to the bodega Alex spotted last time they drove through a town is only about an hour away, and it takes Nico at least a half hour to fall asleep, so there's no use. So she's leaning her head against the window, idly watching the trees blur together from the speed. Alex always drives a bit too fast for her liking.
"Hey, so, I just want to tell you guys that we're getting rid of the gun." Alex's voice is apprehensive, like he thinks they're going to be upset with him, but honestly, Nico is relieved. Guns really freak her out.
"Good." she says, and Alex's eyebrows go up.
"What, that's it? Chase, you too?"
"You didn't see how Gert was when we got back, Alex. She was shaking like a leaf and Jesus, just seeing her cry like that...................I don't ever want her to feel that way again, and if that means getting rid of the gun, that's what it means." Chase says seriously from the back of the van. He's got a book in his hands, but it's one of Gert's prose filled monsters, so she doubts he's actually reading it.
"Yeah, guns just freak me out. But the psychological part is messed, too. Hey, how'd Gert convince you? 'Cause I know you wouldn't think to get rid of it on your own." Is that mean? Maybe, but she doesn't care much. Being nice to Alex really isn't at the top of her list these days.
"Thanks." He says sarcastically. "And she was just really persuasive, and her arguments bet every reason I had to keep it."
"Sounds like Gert." Chase says fondly, and Nico can tell he's smiling.
They park in an alley near the bodega, and when they go in Alex heads straight for the walk in cooler.
Nico wanders the aisles with her hood up, trying not to feel vulnerable without her makeup. She grabs a six premade sandwiches, half for them to eat on the way back and half to bring back for the girls, and a bag of Maltesers for herself, because they are chocolatey balls of deliciousness that Nico is obsessed with.
She meets Chase over by a basket full of CD cases that he's rooting around in, and asks, "Looking for something in particular?"
"I'm seeing if there's anything Gert would like in here, some ABBA or a Selena disc or whatever, I wanna bring her back something." She's getting a toothache from how sweet that is. It also gives her an idea.
"Oh, do you think there's a Beatles disc in there? Karolina loves them." She sticks her hand in the bin and roots around, but no dice. Chase finds an ABBA greatest hits one, though.
Alex meets them at the cash with a few cases of Madjacks and a bottle of Smirnoff. Chase pays, using his fake ID with his dumb fake name on it, wow, Mason Greyback, could he be more of a closet Teen Wolf fan?
They drive back, Chase and Nico singing along to ABBA to annoy Alex.
"Mamma Mia, here we go again, my, my, how could I resist you," She sings, wiggling her shoulders and singing into her water bottle like a microphone.
"Mamma Mia, does it show again, how could I have let you go," Chase sings back, and he's actually pretty decent. His voice is kind of indie-rocker, but it's clear, and there's no real edge to it.
"Guys, I'm trying to focus on- oh, shit." Rain starts to pour, and it doesn't occur to her why that's bad until she remembers- Karolina, Molly, and Gert are back at the campsite with absolutely no shelter. They'd packed up everything before they left as a precaution.
"Fuck, drive faster, Wilder, I want them out of this weather as soon as possible." Chase says, all silliness from before gone from this voice.
"I would, but I really don't want to get in a crash or get pulled over, both of which would be pretty high-risk situations."
"Stop talking like a test evaluator, just drive as fast as you can that's at a safe pace." She says grumpily, but she can't help it. She wants to get back to Karolina so she doesn't catch a cold.
They drive and drive, but luckily, the rain starts to slow after about a half hour. The drive back feels impossibly longer than the drive there, and it's irritating Nico.
They finally, finally get back.
And that's when everything goes to shit.
~~~~~
Gert's mind is cloudy from pain as the van rolls back onto the campsite, and she presses her face into Molly's shoulder to block out the noise so her headache doesn't get worse. She's pretty sure she has a concussion, but it's not like she can do anything about it besides having her glasses off, making everything blurry.
She makes sure not to move her arm as she squints at the shapes coming out of the van, but it doesn't hurt any less as she forces herself to sit up, and she swallows a sob. Molly did her best with half remembered first aid courses and the few bandanas they had lying around, but it's definitely not a quality sling.
''Woah, what happened? Oh my god, your arm," a scared voice says, and she's pretty sure it's Nico.
"Wait, what about her arm- fuck, Gert." That's Chase. She'd recognize his voice anywhere.
"She fell from a tree, and it was at a really bad angle, so we're pretty sure it's broken." Molly says, and Chase comes and sits down beside her. She turns toward him, and even blurry and through the immense pain, he's beautiful.
"Hey, baby," he says softly, "do you want to show me?"
"Yeah, okay," she whispers, voice hoarse from crying.
She feels his fingers fumble with the knot at the back of her neck, and his other hand goes gently to her elbow. When the fabric falls, she hears him make a choked noise at the sight of her arm, which is basically just one big bruise. She hears Alex curse, and Nico blowing out a breath.
"Okay, it, fuck, I know it looks bad," she blurrily sees him pull on his goggles, "and I'm betting it hurts like a bitch, but it's a clean break. As long as we splint it, it should heal properly." Chase says, and his voice is carefully level.
She nods, then lets out a hiss from the pain, and her other hand goes to her forehead, stupidly trying to press the pain back.
"Shit, do you have a concussion?" Chase asks, and she makes a squeaking noise that could probably be interpreted as a yes in some languages.
"This day just gets better and better," he mumbles, and she laughs softly.
"Okay, I wanna get you to the van so you have a place to rest once I splint it, can you stand?" His voice is still so soft, like he's afraid speaking any louder is going to make her brain burst, but to be honest that's probably what it would feel like, so she's grateful.
She stands, and the rush of blood to her head makes her cry out in pain and almost fall over, but Chase catches her.
"Okay, so that's not going to work. Molly, would you help carry her?" She feels Molly scoop her up, being careful of her arm, and from there to when she's set down in the van feels like a blur.
She hears Chase rooting around for something, and what she thinks is Molly asking, "What are you looking for?"
"When we went to...............day I picked up.........arm brace............we needed it." His words buzz in and out like static, but Gert thinks she gets the gist.
She feels Chase settle next to her, and she leans into him. She could really go for a nap right now, to be honest.
"Woah, hey, no sleeping." Chase says, gently shaking her good shoulder to keep her awake. She whines, but he just shakes his head and says, "You've got a concussion, you can't go to sleep. Here, take this," He says, putting a Tylenol in her hand and handing a bottle of water to Molly. Molly tips Gert's head back carefully and puts the bottle of water to her mouth, Gert takes a sip, then swallows the pill with it.
Chase gently takes her bad arm in his hands, taking a rod, or something, Gert can't really see it that well, and placing it
next to her arm as he ties a bandana around it. He's still wearing the goggles, and without her glasses they look like big bug eyes. It's kind of funny, and she'd laugh if she wasn't in so much pain. He wraps the brace over the splint, and she hears the sound of Velcro as he presses down the straps.
"That's about all I can do, we can't give her anything stronger for the pain until the concussion is gone. And she can't fall asleep, again because of the concussion. How'd this happen, anyway? Like, full story." Chase wraps a careful arm around her waist, and she rests her pounding head against his chest.
"I was being a dumbass and tried to climb a tree because I wanted an apple, and I made it a competition, again, because I'm stupid-"
"You're not stupid, you're just impulsive. And it's not even your fault, anyways, Karolina's the one who didn't do anything until it was too late." Molly says, her voice quiet but still raging.
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, she apparently totally blanked on the fact that she can fly when I was about to fall from twenty feet above ground." It's not that Gert is mad, or anything, because it's her fault for even going up there in the first place, but she's kind of mad.
"Can I fight her?" Chase says, and Gert knows he's only joking, but she still flicks his chest with her good hand.
"No, don't. She feels bad enough. She's apologized about three hundred times in the past two hours." It kind of made her headache worse, actually, just the constant repeat of I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry.
"Hey, I should probably test how bad your concussion is, will you sit up? It'll only take a second." She sits up, and he makes her follow his pointer finger passing in front of her face with her eyes.
"Okay, that's pretty fine, now basic questions to test memory retention, um, okay, what state are we in right now?"
"California."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"What is your place of birth?"
"San Francisco."
"Wait, really?" He turns to Molly, who nods.
"Before I was adopted, yeah. Next question?" She's staring to feel more alert and less sluggish, even if her head is still pounding.
"What is the name of the current U.S. President?"
"Ugh, are you gonna make me say it?" Molly snorts, and Chase laughs softly.
"Okay, I think you're good. You're gonna have a pretty awful headache for a while, and I want you to stay awake for a few more hours just to be careful, but I don't think there'll be any lasting damage."
"Sounds good to me." She says, leaning back against him. "Where'd you learn all this stuff, anyways?"
He rubs a hand up and down her back and says, "Oh, you know, just an amalgamation of Boy Scouts, team sports, and first aid training." She laughs a little at his word choice. She gets what Molly meant when she told her a while ago that they're starting to merge into one person.
"Amalgamation. You're starting to sound like me."
"No one I'd rather sound like."
"You're so sweet."
"Okay, this is getting kind of sappy, and I feel like I should go do damage control, so I'll leave you alone. Chase, you'll take care of her, right?" And it almost sounds like a double entendre, like she's asking him something else, too.
"Yeah, of course I will."
She curls closer and says, "If I wasn't in so much pain right now," she pauses to yawn, then continues, "I'd probably say something about not needing to be taken care of."
"And then I'd say something about that being part of a relationship, taking care of each other, and you wouldn't admit I'm right because you never do, but you'd stop arguing."
"I admit you're right about some things." She feels very drowsy, and Chase is so warm and sturdy, she wishes she could just fall asleep.
"Oh, yeah?" He says, amused. "Like what?"
"Uh, your Avril Lavigne clone theory is not one of them, because I know that's what you're thinking." They stayed up talking when she couldn't sleep a few nights ago, and turns out her boyfriend is totally a conspiracy theorist. She traces designs into his chest idly, little hearts and stars and suns.
"I'm just saying that she definitely got replaced, I mean, if you just look at the little things she's totally different."
"Okay, baby, I believe you." The pet name slips out before she can stop it, but she finds she likes the sound of it. So does Chase, apparently, from the way he lets out a little heartsick hum.
Stupidly, she tries to move her arm, and she hisses in pain. "Ow, fuck, I'm so stupid."
"You're not, though. When I broke my arm the first time I kept trying to, like, gesture, and it hurts like hell every time."
"Great, so looking forward to that. And I am stupid, I did this to myself because I wanted a fucking apple, is that not stupid?" She looks up at him, and he's got that concerned look in his eyes.
"You shouldn't say that type of stuff, Gert."
"What do you mean?" She's pretending she doesn't know what he's talking about, because she really doesn't want to go into her Deep Seated Insecurities with a concussion and a just broken arm.
"I mean that you're not stupid, like, at all, and just because you made what in retrospect was a bad choice doesn't mean you should place all the blame on your own shoulders."
"Yeah, I guess. Hey, will you read to me, or something?" Wow, what a smooth subject change. "I really don't want to fall asleep." She yawns for emphasis, and he nods.
"Okay, we have a total of like, three books, what do you want me to read?" He says, amused.
"I think I picked up Les Mis when we went to Walmart."
"Sounds like you," He says, with that stupid smile on his face that means he's trying to hide that he's laughing at her.
"Hey, don't be rude. Anyways, it's like," she yawns, "right over there."
Chase grabs it and opens it one handed, squinting a bit in the dim lighting, then starts to read. "Chapter one, M. Muriel. In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D. He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see of D since 1806........." Chase has a good storytelling voice, not too over the top, slow and smooth. She likes his voice just in general, actually.
After a while, she starts to fall asleep, and Chase taps her cheek to keep her awake. "Hey, come on, you need to stay up."
"Yeah, I know. Sorry." But she's yawning. It's really hard to stay awake when all she wants to do is go to sleep and not wake up until everything stops hurting.
"Hey, guess what I bought for you today."
"What did you buy?"
"An ABBA disc. Rooted around in the bin forever for it, too." That's so nice and thoughtful, especially since she's only said once or twice how much she loves ABBA, but he must have been paying attention. The thought kind of makes her heart melt. She tilts her face up and kisses him softly, her good hand on his cheek. It's a slow kind of kiss, warm and sweet.
She pulls back with a smile and he asks happily, "What was that for?"
"For thinking of me."
~~~~~
Karolina has never felt this guilty in her entire life, and she can't say it's a good feeling.
She sits at the fire, twiddling her thumbs as she watches the flames, resolutely blocking out how hard Molly is glaring right now. Nico is sitting on Karolina's other side, trying to get her attention, but the heavy weight of guilt in her chest is making her fade in and out, too sucked into her own head.
She just feels so awful. One of her friends is hurt, and it's because of her.
"You know, I don't think she's that mad." Nico says, rubbing a hand up her back, but Karolina shakes her head.
"Nico, I'm the reason her arm is broken. And she has a concussion. Just look at the way Molly is acting, of course Gert would be upset with me too." She says dejectedly.
Nico leans in and whispers, "Can I tell you a secret?" Karolina nods, and Nico cups both hand around her ear so she can whisper, "Molly is an over protective fourteen year old who's older sister just got hurt. She is not the basis of reactions to Gert's injury. Seriously, just go talk to her. She'll probably be more mad if you avoid her." She's right, Karolina knows she's right. The only time Karolina has ever seen Gert dance around anything was the mess with Chase, and that's dealt with now.
She sighs, standing up and reluctantly making her way to the van, where Gert and Chase have been for the past hour or so. Gert might be asleep, but probably not, because Chase is over protective and Karolina read somewhere that you shouldn't sleep for a while after a concussion, and Chase's jock brain probably knows a thing or two about concussions.
She knocks at the van door, and when there's no explicit protest, slides it open carefully. She finds Chase reading quietly to Gert, who looks like she might be asleep. "Hey, is she asleep?" she whispers to Chase, who's eyebrows go up.
"She better not be. You're not, right?" His voice takes on a worried tone as he nudges her, and her eyes flutter open.
"I was just resting my eyes, or whatever. But no, I'm not asleep." Her voice is groggy, though, and half her face is still pressed into Chase's chest.
"Well, if you're not asleep, can I talk to you? It's, um, it's important." She still has a grip on the door, tapping her fingers against it.
Gert sits up and must see something in Karolina's eyes, because she says, "No, yeah, totally. Chase," she says, turning to him, "I think this is probably going to be more of a......." she trail off, gesturing between herself and Karolina with her good hand as she does so, "would you be a doll and go make sure Molly's calmed down?"
"Yeah, yeah, I can do that." He kisses her shortly, then pulls away as gently as he can and clambers out of the van.
Karolina climbs in and sits where he just got up, maybe a little farther away, though, the two of them were pretty much stuck together with Gorilla Glue.
Karolina blows out a breath, trying to avoid having this conversation, but Gert is not having it. "Okay, Karo, get on with it, seriously."
She sighs and digs her nails into her palm as she says, "I feel awful that this happened to you because of me, and I want you to know that there was no malicious intent, and that I really was just in shock, and-" her voice starts to get high and watery, no matter how much she tries to supress it, and Gert puts her good hand on Karolina's arm.
"Hey, calm down, it's okay." She says quietly.
"But it's not, you're hurt, and it's my fault, and-"
"Karolina. Chill out. Is it kind of your fault? Yes. But it's also kind of my fault. And the tree's fault. And the apples fault. And about a bajillion other things. Okay?"
She nods, then says, "I get it if you're mad. I'm not saying you can't be. I'm just making sure that you know that it wasn't on purpose, okay? It was totally fluke, and I froze up, and I am so, so sorry." She turns to look at her, and Gert looks just about as teary as she's sure she does.
"Oh, Karo," Gert scoots closer, wrapping her good arm around Karolina's waist, "don't cry. Besides, you're too pretty to stay mad at." Karolina giggles, and wipes at her eyes.
"I really am sorry, you know."
"Oh, really? I couldn't tell." Gert says sarcastically, and they both laugh. It feels settled, like the guilt has almost drained out of her, and when they all eventually go to bed (barring Gert and Chase, who wants her to stay up just a bit longer. Gert looks annoyed at this, but complies) she sleeps easy.
~~~~~
When Chase wakes up the next morning, his arms are empty, and he's cold. Freezing, actually. Is this what it's like to sleep alone? He's gotten so used to sleeping with Gert every night (not like that, shut up, brain) that waking up without her feels unnatural. And what is she doing up, anyways? She's injured.
He sits up, grabbing a sweater because again, freezing, and grabs his jeans to pull on as he quietly gets out of the van. He tugs them on, pulling up the zipper and doing the button, then slides the door shut again, as carefully as possible. He turns around and sees his girlfriend trying to make breakfast with one hand and the leftovers of a concussion with a dinosaur continuously distracting her. And, listen, most of the time Gert is the smartest girl he knows, but come on.
He ambles over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing a kiss to her shoulder.
She giggles a little and says, “Good morning.”
“Good morning. So, is it just me or weren’t you told that you should be resting? Not fumbling your way through making breakfast?” She’s trying to make pancakes, which is turning out as well as you’d expect.
“I’m not fumbling!”
“You’re a little fumbling, babe. Come on, you don’t need to be doing this, you, like, just broke your arm.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be useful! I can do stuff one handed, you know.” She says defiantly, as the pan catches on fire. He snatches it and grabs the half empty water bottle she’d used to make the mix, pouring it over the pan. He looks back to Gert, who’s eyes are wide as dinner plates, and gives her a look asking if she’s sure, absolutely sure, she can make breakfast. She sighs.
“Fine, okay.” She flicks off the burner, mumbling about wasting a good match, and leans back against him. “I’m just trying to be useful.”
“Baby,” he says, pressing a soft kiss to her neck, and she hums, “the most useful you are to anyone is when you’re healing and resting, not making your injury worse.”
She sighs and says, “Yeah, I know, I just hate being hindered by- hey, don’t laugh at my word choice.” She says poutily, and he smiles bright.
"I can't help it. You're just so you, you know? Like, I don't know anyone else who would say that." His voice sounds unbearably fond, even to him.
"I can't tell if that's a compliment or not."
He presses a kiss to her jaw, and says quietly, "Definitely a compliment." It comes out more intimate than he'd planned, and Gert shivers.
"If you guys are doing couple shit right now I don't want to see it! Separate for the sake of my innocent eyes!" Alex says as he steps out of the van, backwards. Gert steps away from him, leaving a good six inches of space between them, and suddenly Chase has an urge to physically fight Alex.
Gert lets out a little sigh and goes to cross her arms, then seems to remember what she's doing and hisses in pain. Chase puts a hand on her back to steady her, and she smiles at him warmly. It makes him feel lit up from the inside.
"Hey, Gertie Guts, how're you feeling?" Oh my God, Alex is about to get his ass kicked. Gert hates that nickname.
"Alex, I will kill you with no remorse." Gert says darkly, and Alex takes a step back to ensure his safety.
"What do you mean, Gertie Guts?" Alex teases, and Gert rushes at him with a yell. Chase holds her back just in time, wrapping an arm around her waist tightly as she struggles.
"Chase, come on, he has to die." Old Lace raises her head, as if the mention of murder woke her up. That bodes great for the rest of them!
"Or, you could find a better way to exact revenge, later, and Alex can go through today without getting his throat slit." Gert struggles again, trying to wrestle out of his grip as Alex slowly backs away, and okay, this calls for drastic measures.
Chase scoops her up in a bridal carry, and she stops struggling in surprise. "Chase."
"Gert."
"Chase."
"Gert."
"We get it, you both have names. I'm gonna go look for firewood, be back later!" Oh, good call. Gert can't kill him if she can't find him.
Gert sighs in disgust, then drops her head against his shoulder. "One of these days, I will fight him."
"With what? Your one good hand and yelling?" He readjusts his grip, but doesn't really move.
"Yes. Also, I might just sic Old Lace on him." Yeah, sure. Gert always threatens to do that, but she never actually does.
He hums, not really agreeing or disagreeing, and she says quietly, "By the way, the fact that you can just pick me up is definitely hot and you're free to do it anytime you wish." She's blushing as she says it, and her fingers tap against his chest.
"Oh?" His voice cracks, and she bites her lip. Fuck.
"Are we playing the strength game? Chase, you're gonna lose!" Molly says as she comes barreling out of the van. She runs towards Old Lace and scoops her up, her eyes going golden as she lifts the dinosaur like she's an empty cardboard box. This, of course, makes Old Lace roar in surprise, which Chase can just tell wakes everyone else up. He loves Molly, but damn her and her cheeriness in the mornings. They were having a moment.
"Molls, put my dinosaur down!" Gert says, and Molly sets Old Lace down, screwing her nose up at Gert.
"Hey," Gert says to him, patting his chest, "Would you put me down? I wanna change out of my pyjamas."
"You need help?" He says as he puts her down as carefully as possible. He is definitely not alluding to anything, nuh-uh.
She snorts. "Nice try, Boy Scout." Fuck, sound the alarm, he's been caught.
"What? No, that's not what I- I mean, I just-" She raises her eyebrows and waits him out, seeing if he can come up with anything.
"Okay, Chase, totally, I believe you." Her eyes clearly say she doesn't as she pats his arm, and she lets out a little laugh as she goes to change.
He swings his arms and blows out a breath as he watches her go, then turns to his Fistigons, right on the fold up table where he (stupidly, that really wasn't a good decision on his part) left them last night. He's been trying to adjust them properly since they left, making the stream of flames more directed and the blowback less throw-you-across-the-room.
He sets up against a tree a ways away from the campsite, mostly out of sight, the Fistigons on top of a very large book that probably belongs to his girlfriend for balance.
He kind of stops paying attention to everything around him as he works on them, tweaking adapters and screwing bolts tighter and fixing wires. He could probably do this shit for hours, it's just so interesting to him. It's like the one thing that he could do any time, anywhere, and he's glad he's found something like that, because he knows it's hard sometimes to find something you're really and truly interested in, but this is His Thing.
Gert sits down next to him with her copy of Les Miserables that they started reading yesterday, not really saying anything, just opening her book one handed and starting to read. It's nice, doing separate things together. Like, Gert could be reading literally anywhere, but she decided to come sit with him.
Probably because they're dating, and everything, but still.
He finds himself distracted by her, every few minutes glancing at her, making sure she doesn't notice. She looks good today- well, Gert always looks good. She's wearing a dark skirt with her favourite flannel and a tank top, and her hair is fluffy and curly as usual. Chase always wants to run his fingers through it. She's got her socks pulled up to her knees again, and her boots are only kind of tied properly.
After a while, she snaps closed the book and asks, gesturing to the Fistigons with her good hand, "So what are you trying to do here?"
"Well, I'm trying to get the fire to be more streamlined and fix the blowback problem, because I'm kind of tired of being thrown ten feet whenever I try to use them," she laughs at that, and Chase feels kind of proud of himself, "so what I'm doing is........" He goes into a long over complicated explanation that would make even Alex's eyes glaze over, but Gert doesn't look bored. She looks completely attentive, like she's actually hearing every word he's saying, and for someone that's spent the majority of the last two years in a group of people where his role was to be vapid and attractive, it feels really, really great.
When he finishes, she squeezes his arm. "That is like, ridiculously cool." She wrinkles her nose and says, "You know, I could never get a handle on science in school. Everything else went great, but science I just couldn't get the hang of."
"If this was three weeks ago, I'd have probably offered to tutor you in science just so we could be alone together," he admits, and she huffs out a laugh. Chase loves her laugh, but then again, he also loves her smile and her voice and a thousand other little things. He's not in love with her, not yet, but it feels like an inevitability.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't have shown up as payback for- oh, fucking shit, ow, that hurts." She starts breathing through the pain as she tries to keep her bad arm completely still, and Chase puts a hand on her back to soothe her.
"Okay, I've got you, just keep breathing," he says softly, trying to help in the only way he can. He moves his hand up and down her back, and she lets out a little whimper from the pain. Fuck, he hates seeing her like this.
He keeps doing his best to comfort her while the pain, presumably, becomes more manageable, and she leans into him, her hair tickling his nose. The Fistigons lay all but forgotten at his side.
"I'm trying to pretend that it doesn't hurt as much as it does, but fuck, this is awful." She breathes, and he presses a kiss to the top of her head. He knows how she feels. Whenever his father gave him a new bruise, Chase always did his best to ignore the pain, no matter how hard it was. He didn't want anyone to know, didn't want anyone to ask questions, and it's not like the people he was around cared all that much anyways. He doesn't want Gert to ever feel like she has to put on a show for him, or any of them, for that matter.
"You don't have to, you know. Pretend, that is. We're here for you, I'm here for you. You don't have to act like everything is fine when you're in pain." He wraps his arms around her carefully, speaking into her hair.
"Yeah, Chase, okay." She scoots closer to him, throwing her legs over his and resting her head against his chest. It's quiet for a while, until she says, "I feel like I should tell you something. It's not a bender or whatever, don't worry, but I just don't like keeping things from you."
"Okay, go ahead." He'd be worried, but Gert would never keep something huge from him. She's not fantastic with secrets.
She takes a deep breath, steeling herself, and says, "I lied before. I did know my mom. She's not just a name on a piece of paper. I was adopted when I was two or three, so I don't remember her all that well, but I do remember that she knit, which is why I picked up that stuff? At Walmart? I wanted to, um, feel closer to her. I know, it's stupid, I-"
"It's not stupid, baby," he interrupts, "I get it." And he does. If he was adopted, he would definitely want to feel connected to his birth parents, especially with their situation. He strokes her hair as he talks, running his fingers through her purple curls.
She hums and says, "You can keep doing that. Feels nice." Gert often just tell him when she likes what he's doing, preferring straightforward compliments over the little hums of satisfaction he leans towards. He likes to think it's one of the differences that make them so good together.
Because that's the thing, right? He and Gert are not very similar, like, at all, and they've only been dating for a hot minute, but being with her feels like the most natural thing in the world. It's like everything's brighter when she's around, even on his worst days.
"What are you thinking about, hm? You look all pensive." Pensive. Another quintessentially Gert word.
"I'm thinking about how great you are." The words slip out of him by accident, probably due to how honest Gert has been making him feel, lately. One day he's going to open his mouth and all his secrets will pour out, just because she asked.
"Oh. You're really great, too, you know." Gert, he's found, is sometimes uncomfortable having the compliment spotlight pointed at her unless she feels like it's warranted. "You're all smart, and kind, and handsome." He blushes, his cheeks going red as raspberries.
"Well, if I'm handsome, then you're a fucking knockout." He doesn't expect her to suck in a breath and look up at him like he's crazy, because she must know, right? How beautiful she is?
"You don't have to bullshit for the sake of a compliment, Chase." Her eyes are hard, and her voice sounds.......hurt.
"I'm not, though?" But he can tell she doesn't believe him.
"Look, I know I'm not the prettiest girl out there, or whatever, but it kind of hurts my feelings that you're messing with me like this." She won't make eye contact as she tries to stand, but Chase pulls her back onto his lap, making sure she's looking at him.
"Gert, I'm not messing with you." Her face screws up, but he cups her jaw as he continues, saying, "You're literally the most beautiful girl like, ever, I'm not messing with you. Everything about you is gorgeous, from your light-up-a-room smile to the shots of gold in your eyes, to the way you laugh, and how soft your hair is, and your voice, I love your voice, Gert, and how your noise scrunches up sometimes, and- mph!" Gert surges forward and kisses him, hard, like she's trying to translate how that made her feel through the press of her lips against his. Her good hand goes to the back of his neck, her fingers twisting gently into his hair to pull him closer. He slips his tongue into her mouth, and she lets out a little moan. It's probably the best thing he's ever heard.
She starts moving in his lap to throw her leg around his waist, her lips never leaving his, and then, holy fuck, she's straddling him. His hands go to her waist, gripping her gently, and she starts to pull at the hem of his hoodie, trying to get him to take it off. He pulls back, just for a second, to tug it off as quickly as possible, taking off his shirt while he's at it, then he comes back to her again, pressing his mouth against hers as her fingers scrabble against his bare chest. And the fact that he's the only one shirtless here, well, that's just not fair, is it, so he starts to ever so gently slide her flannel down her shoulders. His hands trail down her arms as he helps her take it off, making sure she doesn't hurt herself by trying to just tug it off like he can tell she wants to. Her hand goes back to his chest, and she starts to kiss her way down his neck, stopping at his earlobe and nipping at it. He lets out a breathy moan, so she does it again, then moves just below his ear and starts sucking. It is, quite possibly, one of the best things to ever happen to him, just under him and Gert getting together and having sex with Gert. Weird how they all involve her, huh? His fingers dig into her hips as Gert bites down, just a little, then runs her tongue over the spot as if to sooth it.
"You know," she says hoarsely, the puff of air against wet skin setting off something in the pit of his stomach, "you could do something with your hands, right?"
"You sure?" Because he has to check. He doesn't want to cross any lines that will push her away from him.
"Baby," she breathes, and oh, does he love the sound of that, "you've seen me naked, I think I can handle your hands on my ass." Okay, that is so not what he needs right now, being reminded that they've had sex, because, you see, Chase is trying very, very hard not to get a boner.
He slides his hands down carefully, and she kisses him again, moaning into his mouth as he squeezes lightly. He has to stop himself from moving his hands under her skirt, keeping them over the thin fabric instead, because he doesn't want to push too hard.
She pulls back from him, just a little, and asks, voice pitched, "Help me with my shirt?" He's already nodding, sliding his hands to her waist again and tugging up on the tank top gently. His fingers ghost across her bra as he pulls it up, and Gert sucks in a breath. He pulls the shirt over her head and out of her arms, and suddenly nothing else in the world is real except Gert Yorkes sitting in his lap, wearing nothing but a neon green bra, and yep, he's got a boner now. Whoops.
He lets out a shaky breath and licks his lips, and Gert says, amused, "Your pupils are so dilated right now that I can only see, like, a ring of hazel." Her voice is breathy as she runs her thumb across his cheekbone, and he smiles.
"Yeah, well, it might have something to do with my super hot girlfriend sitting in my lap with no top on, just maybe."
"Just maybe, huh?" She teases.
"Just maybe." he leans in and presses a kiss to her neck, and she hums in pleasure.
"Hey, you know how you've been-" she pauses to let out a giggle keen as he ghosts his fingers up her bare side, so he keeps doing it, and her fingers dig into his chest as she continues, "You know how you've been annoying about wanting to see my tattoo?" He wouldn't call it annoying, but yeah, okay, he's asked about seven or eight times. In the past four days. So he kind of understands what she means.
"Yeah, possibly. Why? You gonna show it to me?" He can't stop smiling, and she runs her thumb over his dimple.
"Hmm, I don't know......." She teases, and when he pouts dramatically, she giggles and says, "Okay, okay."
She pulls up on the waistband of her skirt, then pushes up the bottom of her skirt to reveal a tattoo on her hipbone in small dark writing. It's written in cursive, and split down the middle, one side in English and the other in Spanish.
In love you have En el amor como
loosened yourself agua de mar te has
like seawater: I can desatado: mido
scarcely measure the apenas los ojos mas
sky's most spacious extensos del cielo y
eyes and I lean down me inclino a tu
to your mouth to boca para besar la
kiss the earth. tierra.
He brushes his fingers against it without realizing, and Gert shivers. "That's Pablo Neruda, right?"
Chase probably shouldn't know who that is, based on, like, everything about him, but he's kind of into poetry. Don't tell anyone, though. Back home- not home. Back where he used to live, he had a small collection at the bottom of his bookshelf, and he liked to read through them sometimes, when he felt sad or alone.
"You know who Pablo Neruda is?" Gert looks confused but pleased, and it makes his heart feel warm.
"Hey," he jokes, "I can be cultured!"
"That is not what I was saying."
"Are you sure?" He asks, pressing a kiss to her neck, "Because I don't think you're sure." He kisses his way down her neck, stopping at her collarbone and sucking lightly, and she lets out a breathy moan. He trails his hand up her side, running his fingers against the bottom of her bra, and asks, "This is okay, right?"
She smiles, kissing him shortly and nodding. He slides his hand up oh so carefully, and she kisses him again, this time more passionately. He squeezes lightly, testing for her reaction, and when she moans into his mouth he does it again, a bit harder this time. These sounds she's making really aren't helping him get rid of his boner, but he doesn't really care.
And then everything is ruined.
"Yo, lovebirds, lunch is ready!" Nico's voice is far away, but still loud. Lunch, though? Damn, they've been out here a long time.
Gert pulls away from him with a wet pop! And she looks surprised, almost, like she'd forgotten anyone else was around. And then she looks down.
She laughs, just a little, and asks, "So what are you gonna do about that, huh?"
He helps her put her shirt back on, and they walk back together holding hands.
"Hey, so, how obvious is it that we were just making out?" Gert asks quietly, and he looks her over. Her lips are swollen, she's got about three different hickeys, and her hair is a mess. He smoothes his hand over her hair, and she leans into his touch.
"Pretty obvious, honey."
She smiles sweetly, ducking her head and saying, "Honey. I like that."
When they get back, he sets the Fistigons down and grabs two bowls of soup for him and Gert, then realizes Karolina is looking at him with a look that can only be called scandalized.
"Did you guys have sex in the woods?" She says, voice strangled, and Chase chokes on air. He hears Gert make a similar sound from behind him.
"No, uh, no, why would you think that?"
"Because you guys were out there for a good two hours, Gert looks infinitely more relaxed, and, don't be surprised, you look like you just fucked." Nico says, and Molly elbows her. Good Molly.
"Well, we didn't. Also, get your witch nose out of my business, Minoru." Gert says, and she sounds far more composed than he is as she takes the bowl out of his hands and sits down.
"Yeah, that!" Chase says, sitting down next to her and nodding more than is necessary.
Alex snorts, and Gert sticks her tongue out at him.
Lunch is later than he thought it was, and a few hours later it starts to get dark. And that's when Alex breaks out the alcohol.
Molly and Gert don't drink, though he can tell Gert really wants to, but the rest of them are making sure she doesn't, because drinking concussion can go really bad, really quick. Plus, she's on antibiotics, and alcohol and medicine don't mix very well.
"Hey, so, what was with Karo's reaction to the very idea that Chase and Gert had sex?" Alex asks. It's clear that the two beers he's had are starting to shine through.
"It's the heavily religious upbringing." Gert say bluntly, and Chase snorts. She's leaning her head on his shoulder, not because she's tired, though, she's said so herself. Honestly, Chase would expect her to be tired, from what's happened to her as of late, but she just looks relaxed. It's a good look for her.
"No, it's not!" Karolina squawks, and they all laugh. Everything is funny when Chase has a little alcohol in him. Well, not everything.
He looks down at Gert, at the way her skin seems to glow in the firelight, and how soft her hair is, and his heart feels warm.
"What?" Gert asks softly, looking up at him.
"Nothing," he says, tucking a fallen piece of hair behind her ear, "you just look really beautiful right now." She blushes so hard it's visible even in the firelight, and she looks like she's about to say something, but Alex interrupts her.
"Can you guys stop being all cute and shit, let me be single in peace."
"Rot in loneliness, Alex, I'm in a happy relationship and I'm gonna be sappy as I want about it, thanks." Gert says, and Alex sticks out his tongue at her.
"Okay, I'm using 'rot in loneliness' as my go-to insult for the next three years, thanks, Gert," Nico says, and Karolina laughs like it's the funniest thing she's ever heard.
"Hey, can I have a sip of that?" Gert asks, and he raises an eyebrow at her.
"You really shouldn't be drinking, Gert."
"One sip of your 5% alcohol content Madjack isn't going to kill me, Chase." He hands it over, and she takes a sip from it, then hands it back.
"I just worry about you, especially with what's happened, and stuff. Sorry, I know it can be annoying."
"It's not annoying, Chase. Nothing about you annoys me, okay? But........I can take care of myself. You know that, right?" She's close, so close he can see the fire reflecting in her eyes. It makes her look otherworldly, like everything about her is golden and it's just peaking through now, an hour before the New Year. He nods, and she lets out a small sigh of relief.
"Guys." Nico says, and they both turn towards her. "I totally get the whole young love thing, but y'all need to tone it down, or take a walk, or something. We're drinking, here. Not being all lovey dovey. Pick one." Nico is kind of a mean drunk, and she's very blunt, especially under the effects of the vodka she's been sharing with Karolina. The moment Alex brought out the alcohol, she'd snagged it, refusing to share with anyone but her girlfriend.
He and Gert look at each other and shrug, and Gert says, "We're gonna take a walk. Molly, as the only other sober person here, please make sure our friends don't do something stupid." Molly, who's using Old Lace as a foot rest, looks up from her book and nods, then dives back in. She's so smart. All his friends are so smart.
He finishes off his second Madjack, Gert grabs a radio and a lantern, telling Old Lace to stay with Molly, and they walk into the woods together, hand in hand. Hey, Into The Woods. He went to see that movie with Gert once.
He starts singing it under his breath, "Into the woods to da da da, da da da, da da da da, Into the woods-"
"Chase. Are you singing Into The Woods right now?" Gert says, amused. He watches their hands swing between them, entwined tightly.
"Maybe?" Gert laughs and ducks her head, and suddenly he's overwhelmed by how much he likes her. He feels so warm inside whenever he's around her, like his heart is a hot pocket and she is a microwave. Okay, he might be a bit drunker that he thought.
"You are such a lightweight."
"Uh, that is offensive! I am not a lightweight."
"Except that you are."
"Are not."
"Are to, lightweight." She starts poking him in the chest as she repeats the word, "Lightweight lightweight lightweight lightweight- mph!" He cups her face in his hands and kisses her quiet, and her fingers curl into his shirt as she kisses back. He pulls her closer, sliding his hands under her shirt as they make their way up her back, and that's when she separates from him.
"Chase," she says regretfully, "you're not sound of mind or whatever right now. I don't wanna like, take advantage of you or something." He snorts, but nods.
"I can still hold your hand though, right?" She laughs. It's the best sound in the world.
"Yeah, Chase, of course." She sticks out her hand as they start walking again, and he grabs it, twining their fingers together.
"I like that you say my name all the time." He admits. "It feels more intimate, or something. Is that stupid?"
She looks at him, and her eyes are soft. "No, I don't think it is."
"Hey, I don't think I told you exp-explic- wait. Ex-plic-it-ly. I don't think I told you explicitly earlier, but I really like your tattoo." She swings their hands as he talks, smiling that gorgeous smile of hers. As soon as they started walking, he'd taken the lantern and the radio from her and clipped them to his belt. He probably looks ultra lame, but they're small, so it's not that big of a deal, and soft country music is playing from the radio.
"Thanks, Chase." They walk in silence for a while, just enjoying each others company until Gert asks, "Do you ever get annoyed with yourself for being too nice?"
"What do you mean?"
She pauses, and her lips purse up as she decides what to say. "So I forgave Karolina, yesterday, you know, for her whole part in-" she lets go of his hand to gesture to her other arm, then grabs it again, twisting their fingers together, "even though I'm still kind of upset with her. And as I should be, you know, but I just can't bring myself to be the cause of tension within the group, because I'm always, constantly thinking, is this the straw that breaks the camel's back? Is this going to be what splits us up for good? And I know how that'd go, too, Nico and Karolina splitting off, then me, you, and Molly, and Alex would be all alone, and how could I live with myself knowing I did that to somebody? Fuck, I never realized holding grudges and being petty was a luxury before." He nods, but she keeps going. "There are so many things I never realized were luxuries before we left, like, a warm bed, not having to care about things, like, before if someone was upset with me, I didn't have to care because I could just ignore it, but I can't do that anymore, and the thing where suddenly everyone goes to me for advice, like, what's up with that? I'm a fucking mess, but I can't just be that anymore, because people are counting on me. No one used to do that, except maybe Molly, and speaking of Molly, do you ever worry about how this is gonna effect her? She's so young, and she has to deal with all this? Talk about childhood trauma, and-"
"Babe," he stops her, putting both hands on her shoulders, "you're spiraling."
She sighs and moves closer, resting her head against his chest. ""Yeah, probably. Sorry. I know it can be, um, aggravating, when I do that. I just can't help it sometimes. Sorry, again." One of these days, he's going to find the person who taught her she had to apologize for her emotions and hurt them Badly.
"You don't ever have to be sorry." He wraps his arms around her waist. "I'm not trying to stop you, I just know where it can lead." He holds her there while she calms down, letting her breathing slow. He's not going to mention it tonight, but Chase really, really thinks they should find a way to get her her meds.
"Hey, um," she says, muffled against his chest, almost like she's scared to say it, "I know this kind of contradicts what happened today, you know, earlier, but...............I don't think I want to have sex again until we find a place to stay, and get settled, and stuff. I just don't want to have sex for the second time ever in the middle of the woods somewhere, you know?"
"No, I get it. It'd be the second time for me too, and, uh, I'd kind of prefer a bed next time, if you know what I mean."
Gert looks up at him, surprised. "I was your-? But you said, I mean, you implied that- hm. I'm gonna stop stuttering my way through this now. You agree, that's what's important." She nods to herself, then rests her head back against his chest.
He runs his fingers through her hair absently for a while, until she pulls back to look at him and says, "Wait. I just realized something. That day we found out about Old Lace, you said 'trust me, I'd know' about whether there was a naked girl in the basement.................You hadn't actually seen a naked girl. So you were literally talking about porn." OKAY, CAN SHE CHANGE THE SUBJECT NOW, PLEASE.
He lets out a squeak that could probably be interpreted as a yes, and Gert cracks up.
"Stop laughing at me..........." he whines, but that just makes her laugh harder.
"Okay, but baby, you realize how funny that is, right?" She fiddles with the strings of his sweatshirt as she talks, and he has to admit, that, just maybe, it's a little funny.
"I mean. Objectively, yes, but I still don't want you to make fun of me."
She laughs again, ducking her head, then reaches up and presses a kiss to his cheek.
"What was that for?" He asks happily.
"Nothing in particular," she says, and her eyes are warm. "I just wanted to."
The radio changes to a song he's loved practically forever, Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine, and he says, "Hey, I love this song."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, it's really nice. Do you want to dance, maybe?"
Her eyes are soft as she agrees, and he takes her good hand in his and pulls her to him, swaying to the music. She rests her head on his shoulder as they sway, and maybe it's the dim lighting, or how warm Gert is, but this is the most calm he's felt in a long time.
"You know, I never thought this would work out, you and me." Gert admits quietly.
"Really? Why?"
"I don't know. Neither of us was making a move, and there’s that thing where you're like, way out of my league, and everything, so-"
"Gert," he interrupts. Why does she keep saying stuff like that? She's so beautiful, and amazing, and intelligent, he doesn't get it. "If anyone's out of anyone's league here, it's me. You're like, the best girl in the whole world, you know that?"
She looks up at him, and her eyes are wide and filled with warmth. She kisses him softly, and it feels like she's trying to say something with it, but his brain is kind of fuzzy, so he can't figure out what.
She pulls back, resting her head back against his shoulder and whispering "Thank you."
"Any time."
He hears the radio announce that it's five minutes to midnight, and he says quietly, "You know that thing that people say, about how the person you're with when the clock strikes twelve is the person you'll spend the year with?" Gert nods, and he continues, "Well, I'm glad that I'm with you, is all I'm saying."
She looks up at him, and says, "Me too, Chase. No one I'd rather be with."
He presses a kiss to her cheek and teases, "Really? Not even, like, Frida Kahlo? Come on, I know how much you idolize her." When they were about thirteen, Gert watched the film about her life, and consequently became obsessed with her forever.
"Nope. Still you." He blushes, but she can't see it in the dim light. She looks up at the stars, bright and twinkling, and says, "Wow. They're really beautiful tonight, huh?"
"You know what else is beautiful?"
"This is totally going to be a line, but I'll bite. What else is beautiful, Chase?"
"You." She giggles, ducking her head and mumbling how she knew that's what he would say.
The radio starts to count down, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and when they shout ZERO, he leans down and kisses her softly. It feels like everything he's ever wanted, kissing her under the stars with the promise of so much more to come.
They walk back a little later hand in hand, and when they return everyone but Molly is more than a little tipsy. There are hugs and resolutions and dramatic declarations of how much they all love each other shared, and they end the night by closing everything up and turning in. And with Gert in his arms, and his family around him, he feels at peace.
~~~~~
Alex decides they should leave that afternoon, mostly because this area is almost starting to feel safe to him, and a false sense of security is so not what they need right now.
The girls and Old Lace all curl up in the back, and he and Chase sit up front, him driving and Chase working on his Fistigons. It feels uneasy.
He and Chase don't have the greatest relationship, okay? They're just totally different people, even if they have a lot of the same interests. Chase put it best, when he said, 'And now we make fun of kids like you.' He was right. They may have been friends before, but after the split it feels like there's a weird layer under every conversation they have.
"You know, if you want, you could go back and sleep with Gert," he says when Chase yawns, trying to fill the silence.
"Nah, I'm trying to get this finished. I'm trying to fix the blowback problem, but nothing's working. And besides, I'm too keyed up to sleep."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know, I just feel really overwhelmingly happy? I think it's the whole new year thing."
"And you and Gert finally getting together after, what, eight years?"
".......................That too."
The van falls silent again, save for Old Lace's snoring, and Alex turns on the radio to replace the need for conversation he feels rattling around in his bones. He feels antsy.
"Happy New Year from us at Wired! And now some not so happy news from the wife of Victor Stein, owner of NEMO and tech mogul. In a recent interview, after being asked to report on her husband's health, she told Wired that due to the news of their son's apparent hand in the murder of Destiny Gonzalez and the kidnapping of fourteen year old Molly Hernandez, his condition has steadily worsened, and she is unsure of his ability to recover-"
Alex comes back to himself and shuts off the radio as Chase starts hyperventilating, and he thinks he sees tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"Woah, okay, calm down, it's okay, shhh," Alex says, carefully patting his back. He does not know what to do in this situation.
"It's not okay, Wilder, my father is dying!"
"Yeah, but isn't he, like, a really shitty person?" Oh, wrong thing to say. Chase is full on crying, now, tears streaming down his face. Alex pulls over on the side of the road, cars honking at him as he does so, but he doesn't care.
"I know, I know he's a shitty person, that's what makes this worse! He literally beat me up at least once a week for my entire childhood, and now that he's dying I, what, suddenly care? Fuck, I hate this." And oh. He never knew about Chase's father before, but looking back on how Mr. Stein treated Chase when there were other people around, being an abusive shitface makes sense.
"He's your father, of course you care," Alex says, repeating Gert's words because she is so much better at this then him, "even if he is a mega douchenozzle." That makes Chase laugh a little, and it seems like, maybe, he's calming down.
"Do you want me to get Gert? It kind of seems like you need one of her hugs." She gives, like, the most comforting hugs ever.
"I don't really want to bother her with this." Chase wipes at his eyes, and his shoulders shake.
"Dude, she's literally your girlfriend, I don't think she'll mind." He's still got a hand on Chase's back, rubbing up and down awkwardly.
"No, she just said last night that she doesn't-"
"What's going on?" Gert's voice asks groggily from the back. "Why are we stopped?" He sees her sit up through the rear view mirror, running a hand through her hair.
"Uh, nothing, Gert, go back to sleep." But Chase's voice is watery as he says it, and Alex can tell that Gert doesn't believe him.
She stands, stepping over a sleeping Molly to lean over the seat, trying to get Chase to look at her. "Chase? Honey, what's wrong?" Wow. Alex didn't know Gert's voice could go that soft. She tries to put her hand on Chase's shoulder, but he flinches.
"I.......It's nothing, Gert. I'm, um, I'm fine."
"Alex, what happened?" Gert asks quietly.
He sighs and says, "I turned on the radio and they were talking about his dad.......and how his condition is getting worse."
"Dude!"
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. Hey, do you want to get out of the car for me?" Seriously, did Gert get replaced by a bodysnatcher?
Chase nods and opens the door, hopping out, and Gert climbs into the passenger seat to follow him, telling Alex, "Don't worry, I've got this."
He can't see them, but he can hear them faintly through the open window.
"I really shouldn't be bothering you with this, I'm sorry, I-"
"Hey, shhh, what are you talking about? Why would you be sorry?"
"I'm talking about how you said you didn't like comforting people, and like, I get it, I do, which is why I didn't want to worry you with this, you've got enough to worry about-"
"Chase. That is not what I was saying. I was saying that it is sometimes stressful to have people rely on me, and that does not apply to you. We're dating. We're supposed to rely on each other." Alex has a feeling he should probably be tuning this out right now, but his dumb drama loving brain isn't letting him focus on anything else. "And yeah, I do have a lot of things to worry about, but that shouldn't make you feel like you can't come to me, and I am so sorry that I made you feel that way." Alex's rom-com loving ass is so billeting for an I love you right now, but it doesn't come. It strikes him that Gert and Chase could be the stars of any one of his favourite rom-coms and he'd probably watch it over and over again. Also, he know that romantic comedies probably aren't the most manly thing in the world for him to be watching, but they make him happy.
They keep talking, but it's quieter, and easier for him to tune out, now that he's closed his eyes and is projecting When* Harry met Sally onto the backs of his eyelids.
A little later, Chase climbs back in the van, Gert getting in the back and lying down again. Chase something cheesy about not letting the bedbugs bite, and Gert laughs softly, then seems to fall asleep.
"So are you, uh, better now?" He starts the car again and turns back onto the road, cringing as he asks it, because that is possibly the most fucking awkward way to ask that, Jesus Christ.
"I think so, yeah. I'm sorry for kind of freaking out on you back there." Chase picks up his Fistigons again, tweaking a wire.
"No, no, I get it. Our parents are bad people, but it's hard to let them go and see them for what they really are when you're thinking about, like, Band-Aids on scraped knees and them helping you with your homework. Letting go is hard." He keeps his eyes focused on the road so he doesn't get emotional.
"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Hey, Wilder, I'm really tired of this weird tension we've got." Chase says, out of the blue. "Do you think we could stop fighting over dumb bullshit and agree to be friends?"
He sticks out a hand, and Alex takes a hand off the wheel to shake it. "Yeah," he says, smiling, "I think I'd like that."
~~~~~
Molly is finally, finally exploring.
Every time they stop in a new area, someone else jumps the gun first, but this time the minute the van stopped and they jumped out, she ran for the trees, yelling, "I'm exploring the area, be back in an hour!"
Gert had sent Old Lace to accompany her, because her sister is nothing but overprotective, but she loves her prehistoric best friend more than she loves herself, probably, so it's okay.
She runs through the woods at top speed, the adrenalin keeping her from getting tired, and Old Lace keeps up, seeming to enjoy having a running buddy. She runs so fast that the trees start to blur, and all she feels is joy, joy, joy-
"FUCK!" She yells as she trips over something, flying through the air, then rolling once, twice, three times in the dirt before stopping.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" She says, rubbing at her shoulder as she sits up, Old Lace nudging her and making distressed noises.
She stands, limping over to see what she tripped on, and huh. That's weird. "What the..........." She says to herself, kicking at what appears to be........a front step? Like, to an actual house.
She looks to the pile of boulders in front of her, investigating the cracks in between them, and in the dark she sees bright red paint. Okay, what is going on?
She swings her arms to prepare herself, then takes big steps towards two of the boulders, fitting her hands between them and splitting them. And, woah.
The house seems to be pretty big from what she can see, hidden by the ginormous boulders, and, weirdly enough, it seems to be in good condition?
"Old Lace, follow me," she says, cautiously opening the door. It creaks, but otherwise nothing jumps out at her. She steps inside, expecting rot and grossness, but there's............nothing. The walls are painted a cheery blue, and the floor is stone tile. There's a few empty frames hanging on the walls, almost like someone was moving in and hadn't totally set up yet. It's kind of dark, but she can still see from her flashlight and the sun shining in. She keeps walking, turning into the living room, which has a big couch and a recliner already set up, the coffee table piled with a few brittle magazines. She looks closer, and they date back at least twenty years. The furniture is dusty, but when she sits on the couch cautiously it doesn't break under her. She leaves that room, heading down the hallway until she reaches a kitchen, with a fridge and oven and cupboards and everything. It all looks super old, but definitely still usable one Chase and Alex get their hands on them. She runs a hand over the counter, a thick layer of dust coming off on her fingers. She opens the fridge, oven, and every cupboard, looking for signs of rot or dead animals, and other than a few spots of mold, it looks miraculously fine. It's like the whole house was just put on pause. Her best theory is that someone had the whole house set up, but there was an earthquake? Maybe? that's what it seems like.
She turns down a hallway of six doors, and when she checks the first four they're bedrooms, and, okay, the mattresses are a little gross, but nothing a thorough cleaning won't fix, and each room has a little night table and lamp. She checks the fifth door, and, holy crap, it's a bathroom! It's a really ugly bathroom, the walls painted a garish colour, but there's a shower! With grime and mold and everything, but nothing Mr. Clean can't fix! The toilet is kind of gross, though, and she'll have to get Alex to check if it actually works, but it could! The next room is a linen closet of sorts, filled with blankets and towels that smell like mothballs.
Only when she and Old Lace are making their way back through the house does she truly realize: Molly has found them a permanent place to stay! No more sleeping out of a van!
When she leaves, she pushes the boulders back together with a grunt and starts running back to the campsite, her excitement making the small pain in her leg fade completely.
"GUYS, GUESS WHAT!" She yells as she tumbles back onto the campsite. Nothing is really set up yet, which is good, seeing as their about to move all their stuff into their NEW HOUSE!
"What's up, Molls?" Gert asks, looking concerned as she helps Molly up.
"I found us a house!"
Everyone starts talking at once, all of them excited, confused, and wary. They're so loud that Molly can't hear herself think.
"Guys, shut up!" She yells, and they're mouths all snap shut. Even Old Lace is quiet. "Everyone is going to get in the van and follow me, so I can show you what I'm talking about." They all quickly agree and hop into the van, Chase at the wheel driving as slow as humanly possible to keep pace with her. When they reach the boulders, she stops, holding out her hands, and they all get out.
"Fuck, that is huge." Alex says in awe, and Karolina elbows him for cursing.
"Yeah, and watch this," Molly steps in front of the boulders once again, slipping her hands in the cracks and splitting them wide apart. "We have a house now."
Everyone gasps audibly, and she hears Nico say, "Holy shit."
"Yeah, so, I was just looking around and I tripped over that front step, there, see," She says, pointing to it, then ushering the others to step closer as she opens the door, "and when I saw what was near it, I was like, 'why not check this out', you know, so I split the boulders, and there's this house." Gert is the first to walk through the door, Chase and then the others close behind, and Molly lets Old Lace in before stepping inside and closing the door behind her. "And so I looked over everything, and it's kind of dirty, but no dead things! And there's a bathroom that isn't totally disgusting! Chase and Alex are probably going to have to do some nerd crap to get the water pressure and oven an fridge working again, but I really think that we can live here."
The rest of them are quiet as they look around the house in a pack, and she waits for them with Old Lace in the living room, picking at one of the magazines.
Gert and Chase return first, hand in hand, and Gert says, "Okay, it's going to take some serious cleaning, but holy shit, Molls, I think you've found us a permanent place to stay."
The rest of them come back soon after, raving about how they've finally got a roof over their heads, and even Alex, who Molly would expect to focus on every little problem, looks excited.
They spend the rest of the evening unpacking the overstuffed van and finding a hidden place for the van, which is easy enough. She pushes the boulders closed from the inside, and then they get to work. Her and Gert pack up the cabinets, singing along to music on the radio, while Chase gets started on the appliances and Nico and Karolina fit the beds with the musty blankets from the linen closet. Alex figures out the water situation, somehow, and it kind of seems like it's running on hopes and dreams, but it works!
They all split to their rooms for the night, Gert and Chase and Nico and Karolina sharing, the six of them promising to do more cleaning and go out to buy lightbulbs and other things in the coming days.
Molly flops down on her bed, clutching Elian to her chest as she wraps herself in a blanket.
She's home.