Chapter 26

"Morning?" Elspeth hurried a few paces, tapping Marcus' arm gently as he walked by.

"Yes." Marcus confirmed, nodding once and continuing on his way, leaving Elspeth trailing in his wake for a few steps, until he suddenly stopped and she was forced to step quickly sideways or run into him.

"That wasn't a question, was it?"

"No, just... you know... 'Morning'." She gave a little wave with it, smiling gently, but Marcus just nodded.

"Sorry, I'm... in a sort of a 'mode'."

"A mood?"

"No, a mode... a pattern of thinking."

"Heading for the police station?" He nodded. "Mind if I walk with you?"

"Don't you have a lecture?"

"I'll skip it. Someone should go with you, Hope's looking after Shawna for you."

"Thank you."

"For the walk, or Shawna."

"Both, I guess."

"How are you?" she managed, slinging her bag over her shoulder, shoving her hands deep into her pockets. Despite the fact that the worst of the snow had melted, she still had a thick woollen scarf pulled up high around her ears, but Marcus strode along in jeans and a shirt with an open denim jacket over the top.

"Tense." He shrugged, after some thought. "Connor's been telling anyone who'll listen about the agony he's in, apparently."

"You don't believe him?"

"I've broken bones before, it's painful, but it goes away within a week or so. After that it's just annoying until they get the cast off."

"I've never broken anything, touch wood." Marcus just shrugged, and continued, leaving Elspeth struggling to find something to talk about.

"How's Shawna?"

"Quiet." He admitted, and for the first time in the conversation she saw something in his face that wasn't just resigned determination; worry. "It's not like her... back home she was happy, but she isn't here. I don't know if it's..." he flicked a glance her way. "I don't know what it is, but she's quiet."

"We... she told us about Connor." Elspeth admitted. "Hope, Bri and I."

"That might be why she's quiet... she said it was embarrassing."

"I guess that might be part of it... there's probably more to it than that."

"Probably." He admitted. "I don't know what to say to her."

"None of us do, we just... we're just there, I guess." He nodded, shrugged, and carried on his relentless trudging walk, head down and hands in his pockets.

"So how are you?"

"You asked that already." He pointed out.

"I know, but I didn't really get the answer I was looking for."

"What were you looking for?"

"I wasn't asking about today, I was asking about... sort of... well... in general, really. How are you?"

"Worried."

"About Shawna."

"Yeah." He looked over, saw her fiddling with the tassles at the end of her scarf, and slowed down. "What is it you're worried about?"

"I'm not worried."

"You only play with things like that when you're worried or it's Brianna's hair." He pointed out, raising a blush.

"Alright, a little worried. About you. Everyone's worried about Shawna, you're right she's quiet, but they all seem to have forgotten what happened to you last term. Even you seem to have forgotten."

"It's done." He shrugged. "I was... I didn't think it was going to happen, and then suddenly it did. I was wrong."

"Just like that? Everything changes?" He nodded, with a shrug. "You don't... worry? That it might go back to that?"

"It won't. If something happens and Shawna and I don't work out, at least I'll know it's possible. That was the problem, last term... I convinced myself it wasn't possible."

"And Bleak Hill changed that?"

"No, not really... being home over Christmas changed that. Being around Shawna... being with Shawna... it changed the way people spoke to me, people I've known for years. They were talking about me like I was... not normal, but... like they could see how someone might like me."

"We've been telling you that all year."

"But you'd never seen me at my worst... until Bleak Hill, and then I left."

"I suppose... we were right, though."

"You were." He smiled, gently, and turned back over her shoulder. "Look who it is." Shawna and Hope shuffled hurriedly through the slush to catch up, and Elspeth smiled to see a twinkle in his eye.

"So you're OK, then? In yourself, I mean?"

"Yeah," he assured her, waiting for the mismatched pair to catch up. "I'm fine."

Hope, Elspeth and Shawna sat, nervously, in the foyer of the police station, feeling the quizzical looks from each of the policemen that came through as they perched at the edge of the hard, plastic seats.

"There isn't a waiting room, it's not a train station." The desk-sergeant had explained to them, with an amused smile as Marcus was led away, leaving them with no option but to wait.

"How do you think he's doing?" Shawna asked, for the fourth time, as the clock ticked on again marking three-quarters of an hour since he'd been called.

"He'll be fine." Hope assured her with a lot more confidence than she felt. If it were just the caution they'd expected she was sure he'd have been out by now, but none of them were experts on the inner workings of a police station. "He didn't start anything, did he? Either time... they know that, by now."

"Is that going to be enough?" Elspeth wondered, quieting as a policewoman walked past them, and trying not to stare.

"It should be..." Hope tried again, when Marcus appeared at the door, quiet and subdued, a faraway look in his eyes.