Chapter 22

"You ready?" Nick asked, leaning against the doorframe, eyes narrowed, as Marcus slipped the case off the bed and onto the floor.

"Yeah, I think so." He acknowledged, surveying the scene — it looked bare, now. It was someone else's room, now. He looked up, saw Nick's thoughtful expression. "What's wrong?"

"I'm... I'm a little worried about letting you go back, to be honest." He admitted. "You've been away for three months, and... we all remember how that ended."

"With me getting a girlfriend." Marcus managed a gentle smile. "It's... I feel fine, Nick, really."

"I know... but you felt fine last time we sent you away there."

"I'll be looking out for him, this time." Shawna told him, peering round the doorframe. "You ready, my mum's downstairs in the car."

"Nick... last term... like Shawna said, it was about shouting something out, wanting to be heard." He admitted, with a shrug. "I... going back for the guitar, writing the letter... they were all about communicating, not about jumping off a cliff. I couldn't do it, when I got there..."

"Were you building up to it, though?"

"I don't think so... I thought I was, but really... I don't think I could have done it."

"That's... I'm still going to worry."

"I'll keep you updated." Shawna promised him, with a tight smile, worried herself at what Marcus might do when they got back.

"Well, don't you forget about yourself, you've got your own issues to deal with..." Nick pointed out to her, giving her a hug for the thought.

"It'll be easier for me," she told him, "I'll have him nearby... I'll let you know, I promise."

"Thank you."

"Are we going?" Marcus interrupted, quietly. "I mean, if you're finished... I'll be fine, really." Nick just smiled at him, shaking his head, and Shawna took his free hand, pulling him out and down the stairs.

"Is your mother going to be OK driving back on her own?" Nick asked — again.

"I'll be fine, Nick." She assured him, getting out of the car as they moved out into the drive, opening the already packed boot for Marcus to heave his case in. "I'll be stopping off overnight at Jackie Hendersons, anyway, so I don't have that far to go on my own tonight or tomorrow."

"OK." He nodded, finally giving up. "You want us to check on Lotty at all?"

"She's staying with friends tonight... honestly, Nick, you'd think we were still twelve year olds. I can cope..." Ally nudged him in the ribs with her elbow as he started again, and he just nodded again, turning back to Marcus as he settled his backpack into the back seat of the car.

"Where are you going?" he muttered, quietly, as Marcus headed for the front seat.

"The car... ?" He hazarded a guess, wondering what Nick was getting at.

"Your girlfriend's sat in the back..." Nick pointed out, with a slight grin. "Aren't you going to join her?"

"She gets travel-sick." Marcus pointed out. "I don't want her throwing up on me..." Shawna, sneaking up behind him, gave him a slap on the arm.

"I got travel-sick once, on a coach, on the way back from a theme-park, after you insisted on stuffing me full of toffees." She pointed out, indignantly.

"Alright, I'll sit in the back..." he offered, reaching back in to move his bag.

"No, you sit in the front if you want... I wouldn't want you to feel threatened by puke." Bag in hand, he stood by the pillar between the two doors, staring at her.

"Front or back?" he asked, gnawing gently on the inside of his lip.

"No, you choose." She stared at him, archly, leaning against Nick with her arms crossed. "Do you think you're safe with me in the back, or do you think I'm going to throw up on you again?"

"You've not gotten travel sick in years." Her mother cut in, finally catching up to the conversation.

"In that case," he ventured, opening the front door to throw his bag onto the seat, "I'll sit in the back."

"So you think it's safe?" Shawna smiled, piling in ahead of him to sit behind the driver's seat, where there was less leg-room.

"Hell no." he muttered, and Nick cracked up as he joined her in the car, trying in vain to get him to repeat what he'd said.

Marcus smiled, a little nervously, as they entered the flat, finding the others waiting for them all broad smiles and bright eyes. Elspeth and Briana hugged Shawna to within an inch of her life while Tony just offered him a coffee.

"Nick and Ally not coming in?" he asked.

Marcus shook his head, lugging his case to his room. "No, they didn't bring me up, Ally's got a heavy workload this week."

"And my Mum wants us to get settled in plenty of time for him to be ready for our evening out." Shawna added. "Is everything planned."

"Oh yes." Elspeth assured her. "We have a table booked for seven-thirty, and Tony and Lorraine are staying with friends for the weekend."

"Is there anyone that doesn't know about this?" Marcus asked, frowning.

"Sorry, Marcus, but it's pretty well known by now." Briana sympathised. "More important than that, though... how are you?" He looked up, looked up into hesitant faces, and thought back to when they'd last seen him.

"I'm... I'm good." He smiled, a genuine warm smile, as much for their concern as how things had gone over the holidays. "But then, Shawna's been talking to all of you over the holidays, so you knew that already."

"Well, she has a history of seeing what she wants to see where you're concerned." Briana pointed out, getting an indignant cry from Shawna. "We didn't think she was wrong this time, but..."

Elspeth wrapped him up in a hug. "Tense up all you want, Marcus, this is for me not you."

"You're crying..." he noted, looking around for help.

"You scared us, all of us." Briana pointed out. "We've tried to keep up to date, but... we still worried. And we're going to worry for a while..."

"But today, we're having fun instead." Tony cut in, seeing things getting bogged down. "At least... we will be."

"But?" Shawna settled down into the sofa, staring up at him as he perched on the back of the chair.

"But... I've got some bad news." Marcus shuffled over, dropping into place beside Shawna who scooted over to sit on his lap and free up a seat. "Did you hear the McCann building had a fire over the holiday?" Shawna and Marcus just shook their heads. "Well, most of the science labs are out of commission for at least the rest of this term, probably into next term too. They've arranged alternates, but they're across the city on the other campus."

"That's going to be a tough journey every morning." Marcus sympathised.

"That's... that's sort of the point. They've offered us alternate accommodation, too. There are halls over there, and they think they can get most of us into places."