So Go Get Your Shovel {Jamie/Amy}

[LIAM HENDERSON]

It had been decided that going to Grandma Jen's for Jamie to shift had been a relitively good idea after his last close call in the park where he had chased a dog into the street and clipped a car. That was enough for Liam to decide that Central Park was in no way fit for a werewolf. The next day, tending to Jamie's wounds he had suggested the idea of taking him to the woods for the next shift. Surprisingly--that went over pretty easily as well. Then again, Jamie would have a giant playing area with better game to hunt, and no worry about people.

Though, it did raise a mighty big issue. And that issue went by Grandma Jen. They decided to go a few days early, to spend normal time to her, hint at it--and break it slowly. They had even brought some double insurance in the form of Amy to make sure nothing went too awry when Grandma Jen had to witness the shift. For now, it was just the four of them. Unsurprisingly, Jen had taken to Amy right away. Jen only two grandchildren, and one one of them was a girl. She loved having Phoebe around, and as it were--she had taken Amy right under her wing as well.

This actually scared Liam a bit when the two would share private jokes, or glance at he and Jamie and just burst into laughter. Grandma Jen may have been an older woman, but that was just the age of her body. Jen had a young mind, and wasn't set in old ways. She had always been ahead of her time, and even now she seemed a little too far to reach. Grandma Jen was also very observant where Liam wasn't, and therefore had noticed the different way Liam seemed to look at Jamie. Or the way he moved around him. Liam, of course hadn't taken any note of this.

Only one day there, and Amy had become the golden child. It suited Liam just find, because he knew that when Grandma Jen had taken a liking to someone, they had a friend for a very long time. The evening was filled with laughter and happiness. If someone thought Liam and Phoebe cooked well--Grandma Jen took the cake. In fact, she was the one that had taught her grandchildren. So they were good, but she was the original sourse. Phoebe was the next best, followed by Liam. They all took her instruction to heart, but there was something special about Grandma Jen's cooking.

With full stomachs, they all crawled into bed. Liam got the cot next to a bed; the room he and Jamie had always shared on visits for as long as they remembered, while Amy got the other guest room. Liam and Jamie were use to sleeping in seperate rooms, and sleeping with the door shut--but being in Jen's sort of woke up something deep down inside Liam. He wanted that door open so he could hear the comforting, quiet sound of Jen's snore and the soft light filtering in from downstairs. He also liked the comfort of having Jamie not too far. It was different now, but there had been times when one of the boys would have a nightmare, and the other would crawl in. They had grown far past that phase, but there was something rooted in the foundation of the house that made Liam only comfortable if he shared the room with Jamie.

That night, he had fallen asleep strangely easily. Though, Jen's place was the most comfortable place he could imagine, and good food could relax you. So when Liam slipped into sleep quicker than usual, he didn't exactly question it. However, he wasn't slipping into sleep. In the dark, green eyes bled to blue and he slowed his breathing--watching Jamie for signs of movement. She had already tried to smother the stupid wolf with a pillow, and that hadn't worked. She tried to throw him off a balcony--that hadn't worked either. The various accidents around the house also didn't work. Red was not a one trick pony, and the time she had sitting in the back of Liam's mind, she began to formulate a plot.

Waiting until Jamie's breath evened out, she slowly, eeeever so slowly made her way out of the bed. Wolves had superb hearing, and she wasn't about to risk being caught. It took her a bit of time to get Liam's body out of the room without a sound, but it paid off as she slipped out the door and damn near slithered down the steps.

Quietly, Red crept out the front door, and wandered to the side of the house to the gardening shed. She rummaged in the mess as silently as possibly, before she found the rusty shovel she was looking for. The pillow hadn't worked, the balcony hadn't worked, and the various accidents around the house hadn't worked either. Time for Plan C, and the most dramatic one. With a glance to the black sky, Red took off into the woods. She pushed Liam's body over the raised tree roots, making him duck and weave through the trees. Red knew the woods, she was familiar with them after so long. It was a second nature, and she knew when Liam's feet hit a soft patch of dirt, that she found her place.

She had to move quickly, because Liam always had a knack for waking up at the worst times. Red frantically dug the hole, using a loose tree root as a rope so she could pull herself out. She dug as far down as she could. The wolf could jump, so it had to be deep enought that he couldn't ricochet up the walls, and wide enough that Jamie wouldn't be able to worm his way up the sides.

Tossing the shovel out, she grasped the root to pull herslef out, then started weaving leaves over the opening, stepping back to admire her handiwork. In the sunshine, the leaves would look out of place. But in the night sky, it matched perfectly. Carefully, teting her footsteps, Red edged around the side of the hole, and crept back into the house. Just as quietly as she had slipped out of the house, she slipped Liam's body back into his bed and let him take over. Let them have their fun and games during the day tomorrow. But the moment the sun started to sink, Red would try again. And this time, she had quite a bit of faith in herself. This time, it would work. This time, Jamie would die.

Outfit!

[JAMES KENNEDY]

Going to Gramma Jen's had actually been an idea that Jamie had gone for instantaneously. He was all about Liam's grandmother, and from a wolf's point of view, her home and property was fucking perfect. That was without even considering the car incident, or the fact that his first set of full moon shifts had been ridiculously eventful. That did not, however, mean that he was thrilled about telling Gramma Jen about his little condition. He loved that woman and she adored him, so why would he want her to know that he was some kind of freak monster? Having Amy come with him helped a little, just because she already knew and had somehow gotten more supportive of him and his various inadequacies as a result of knowing about his freaky habit.

Yes, because that's how he saw it - it was a condition, an illness that made him a freak and kept him from functioning even as much like a normal person as he'd been able to before. He missed classes and screwed up on homework during his last full moon, then had to play catch-up like crazy to try to make up for it. It was just a terrible thing to have happened to him, and on top of the strange 'accidents' he'd been trying to dodge and Liam's attacks, his mood just wasn't the best. He'd found himself wondering after a glass that had apparently been very precariously balanced on the shelf by the weight of the cabinet door came crashing down on him when he opened it if any of it was on purpose. He'd never been that accident prone, but then Liam was there having a nervous fit over the broken glass and trying to see if he was okay, and he dismissed the thought just because it didn't seem to make sense. That didn't mean anything else made sense, though.

Going to Jen's, beyond having a safe and exciting place to shift, promised a safe place for Jamie to just be. Gramma Jen's home was all warmth, comfort and safety to him, so there would be no accidents and Liam would never try to hurt him. Gramma Jen's made everything right in his world again for a little while, and Amy's presence only increased that; Amy knew about the times Liam had hurt him, and she wouldn't let anything happen anymore than Gramma Jen would. Jamie was safe here.

That didn't mean he wasn't at all nervous about sharing a room with Liam. They always did, had even had the habit of crawling into each others' beds in the middle of the night because of a nightmare when they were younger, but this time, Jamie was a little bothered by it. He didn't say anything and talked himself into falling asleep as quickly as possible and not thinking about whether or not he'd wake up with a pillow over his face, and when he instead woke up to sunshine pressing through the curtains, it was with a relieved kind of happiness, very simple and just glad that nothing horrible had happened. That easy pleasure was interrupted just a little by the fact that his senses were apparently on overdrive with the full moon approaching, the smell of sweat, forest and dirt strangely strong in his nose. Why didn't everything else seem that much fresher and obvious?

His nostrils flared and he leaned a little in the direction of the smell, followed it to Liam, but that made no sense because his best friend was sleeping and had been there all night. His senses had to be on the fritz because of the full moon coming on. The more he paid attention to them, the worse they'd be, so he could really only blame himself. It wasn't like he didn't have better things to smell than the woods on Liam, which really just made him want to head out into the trees himself, since the oh so wonderful scent of breakfast was coming at him from downstairs in the kitchen.

"Oh, my god. Breakfast," he murmured, Liam's strange smells forgotten as Jamie shook him a second to wake him up and then shot out the door with a quick, "get up, breakfast-time!" called over his shoulder. He was staaaaaaaaaarving.

[LIAM HENDERSON]

If only Liam knew the stress he was putting Jamie through just by being around. Liam was well aware of certain things tha t were amiss about the house. Jamie kept having accidents, and even if he wasn't the most graceful--it was uncharacteristic of him to break glasses, or to trip and fall as often as he was. Only, Liam couldn't remember blacking out, so that didn't make sense either. Unbeknownst to Jamie, Liam had scheduled himself an appointment with a psychiatrist in order to at least try to figure out what was happening. Jamie kept swearing up and down that they were just accidents, but things just weren't adding up. Liam knew he was doing something, he just couldn't remember what. And the last thing he wanted to do was do something irreversible to his Jamie.

All of this however was lost to sleep and a dream that would turn him red once he awoke. Which was relatively soon, because Jamie was shaking him. Liam's green eyes open and blinked tiredly in the dim morning light. He sat up and ruined his face, "What?" he asked hoarsely. He looked up just in time to see Jamie dip out the door. Liam's nose decided to wake up then, and the angel of breakfast finally hit him right in the face. Sweet merciful Jesus. Normally he was the first one up; and when they were younger, it was Liam that tried to rattle his best friend awake. Liam scrambled out of bed, puling his jeans on over his boxers and tugged a shirt on before swinging out the door after Jamie. He wasted not a second as he hopped down the steps, and followed on Jamie's tail (GEDDIT?!?!) To the kitchen.

"Oh my God, Gran." Liam started at the table. Oh, she was a quick one. The table didn't contain breakfast, it contained a feast. Pancakes with a jar of hot syrup, waffles alongside, a covered bowl of piping hot eggs, a plate piled high with bacon and sausage, biscuits and gravy. Liam states at the spread, then at his grandmother who was at the counter, twisting an orange in the squeezer. Fresh orange juice to boot.

"Well, you told me that Jamie's appetite had grown, and I wasn't too sure what Amy likes. I hope I didn't go overboard." With the look on her face, it was very clear that Grandma Jen did not give two shits in a bucket if she went overboard. The smug little smile on her lips was eerily similar to the one that Liam wore occasionally when kicking Jamie's ass in Munchkin.

Liam wasn't one to wait for an invitation and he grabbed a plate and started to fill it up, taking a little bit of everything. Once his plate was loaded, he began shoveling food into his mouth like a ravenous wolf. Get it? Because Olley is funny.

[JAMES KENNEDY]

No, Jamie didn't have the slightest clue that Liam had scheduled a visit to a psychiatrist, but he'd have been pissed if he found out. He was suspicious of them, despite not really having much reason to be, and he didn't trust Liam's situation to be something that a shrink could take care of. Jamie's only real interactions with counselors, psychiatrists or psychologists (he honestly didn't really know what the differences between them all were, just that he wasn't fond of them) had been as he grew up, when he'd end up talking to one about 'life'. Basically, they wanted to make sure he wasn't adjusting badly because of his situation, and he wasn't stupid; he had problems and he knew he did, but he could fake out a mental doctor like a pro. He also hadn't really talked to one since before Liam left him behind in California, the last visits being over Liam's attempted suicide, so he hadn't been humoring such terrible coping strategies. Still, he was a good faker, so he could have done it.

Liam wasn't so much. If Liam went to talk to one of those people about the blackouts he was having, it could get ugly. That was why Jamie didn't want Liam to go to one, and actually, part of that was entirely selfish of him; if Liam was drugged up or worse, committed, Jamie would be without him. He didn't want that. Actually, he wasn't sure if he could handle it, so to know that Liam had done it without telling him would make him crazy, not to mention the hurt. He wanted Liam to trust him to know his limits and to help figure it out. He didn't want to lose Liam in some other way. Getting his ass kicked every now and then was better than being alone, as sad as that was.

Of course, he wasn't entirely alone, was he? There were those two other wolves that he'd met out in the park that night, but he still wasn't sure what to make of them. It seemed awesome and he was excited about it on some level, glad not to be the only freak that could do it, but did that mean there were more than just the three of them? Were there other crazy things going on that they hadn't known about? He didn't like that idea one bit. Fortunately, it was too early in the morning for such thoughts, and so once he slid into a chair at the table, he put all of his focus into that delicious breakfast Gramma Jen had laid out, grinning at her mention of his appetite having grown and more than happy to dig right in. Unsurprisingly, he took a generous portion of the meat for starters and only after he'd killed a few slices of bacon did he bother with the rest of it.

"You're so good to me, Gramma," he told her happily, not about to say a damn thing about how much she'd cooked, and only hesitating a moment or so when he realized that Amy wasn't there for breakfast. His brows furrowed and Jen seemed to realize what he was going to ask before he swallowed the last bite he'd taken so that he could speak.

"You're welcome. Amy already ate. Just because you boys were lazy and stayed in bed didn't mean the rest of us did. She's going into town with me today, so you boys will have to keep yourselves occupied until we get home. It'll probably be dark by then, so please turn on the light when the sun starts going down," she instructed, and Jamie nodded, digging back in and then glancing Liam's way.

They had to occupy themselves this afternoon? That actually kind of sucked, since they didn't have any game systems or internet, and it was supposed to rain again, but they could figure something out. They'd brought books, just in case, and hadn't Liam brought Munchkin? They'd figure something out, though Jamie was really itching to go outside. Maybe before it started raining, they could? "What do you wanna do today?"

[LIAM HENDERSON]

If only Liam knew. It wouldn't be the first time Liam had gone for counseling--they hadn't helped in the past, but int he past he hadn't been blacking out...he hadn't been...well. This, whatever this was. He didn't want to keep hurting Jamie. No matter how okay Jamie was with it, Liam wasn't. Looking across the table as Jamie piled up his plate, Liam watched his face carefully. The face that he had bruised, and couldn't remember. It was cheesy to say, but Jamie was perfect. The fact that he, himself was capable of hurting someone that important to him...it wasn't right. Liam would gladly lock himself in an institute if it meant keeping Jamie safe.

Liam tore his eyes away, and looked down at his plate before glancing at Jen. Another perfect person. Jen was nothing but sweetness. Kind, gentle, and a little bit on the scary side. Not physically scary, but it was frightening how much this woman knew just by looking and watching. She didn't have to say anything about it either; Jen was one of those people that just with a look, or a twinkle in her eye--you'd know she was onto you. That's how she had looked at Liam when Liam followed Jamie up the steps to bed last night. "You spoil him, Grams. That's what you do." Liam grinned, and picked up a piece of bacon. He always had teased Grandma Jen about her fondness for Jamie. He was grateful for how she took him in though. His parents hadn't accepted him, couldn't stand the little runt that their faggot son had hung around for for years. But Jen took Jamie in the first time she met him like he had been her grandson all along.

"Wh--lazy?" Liam twisted around, trying to see the clock while a biscuit hung from his mouth. "I don't think that word means what you think it means, Grams. I can lean out my window, yell that I've made steaks, and about two seconds later--Amy's knocking on my door. That girl does not take food lightly." Liam gestured his fork at his Grandma, before spearing a piece of egg and bringing it to his mouth with raised brows. He chewed silently, holding the half of his biscuit in his fingertips while he worked on his eggs. He turned the full effect of those vivid green eyes onto Jamie while he spoke, considering the question for a moment while he took a slow bite out of his biscuit. His eyes pulled from Jamie, and he glanced out the window at the cloudy sky. "Not much we can do if it starts to pour. The soil's kinda loose out here, so it'll make brutal puddles." He said thougtfully, finishing off his biscuit while he sat up, and scooped a few more pieces of bacon onto his plate.

"We could watch a movie. Play Munchkin--or rather. I mean, get your ass kicked in Munchkin. Read. Study." Liam shrugged, and bit into the crunchy piece of bacon, and grabbed his orange juice and took a sip of it before biting back into the bacon. "Yahtzee, Monopoly. We can always just be lazy and watch the rain. It's kinda nice to be away from all the fancy electronics though. Kinda reminds me of coming over here when I was a kid." Oh, it reminded him. But he also didn't have a use for those fancy electronics. He used his computer for browsing, and chatting purposes. But the only two people he chatted to were here with him, and the only two people he really called were here also. "Take your pick, dudeman."

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