The morning sun had finally risen high enough to keep the area warm as Graham drove the narrow road into the woods. Phoebe was still half asleep in the passenger seat next to him while Spencer and Mike stared blankly out the windows. They'd all been up much later than they expected to be. Mike, impatient as always, had been the one to force them all out of bed.

Amy and the others had already left by then. Occasionally, Graham thought he could see their car just ahead. Moving through the trees that occasionally forced the road to change course. The large two story cabin finally came into view. More cars were lined up along the side, including Amy's little jeep. Graham could see Amy herself struggling to lift a large cardboard box out of the back as he parked.

"Need some help with that?" Spencer shouted as they stopped. His sudden burst of noise startled Amy and the box dropped from her hands.

"Not anymore, you carry it," Amy huffed. She crossed her arms across her chest and nudged the box with her foot. "You better not have broken anything or Moira will be pissed."

Spencer rolled his eyes and jumped out of the car. He peeked inside the box and nodded appreciatively. "Gotta love coming face to face with a box full of chocolate. Now, how exactly would these break?"

"I was more concerned about this," Amy said, lifting a glass bottle of a dark liquid from under the chocolate. She shoved the box into Spencer's arms and waved him inside.

"No, no it's fine, I'll get the bags," Graham called. The truck beeped and he headed with Phoebe to the back. "I'm half tempted to leave his stuff out here until he remembers it." The two of them started loading up on their own bags and the bags of groceries.

"Sounds like a great plan," Mike muttered as he reached between them to grab more bags.

Between the three of them, they managed to empty the truck. At least, almost empty. One suitcase still rested towards the back of the truck bed. They all shared a sly smile and Graham locked the truck. "We'll see how long it takes. Any bets?"

"Depends on if Scarlet is here to keep him distracted," Phoebe muttered. She cast a nervous glance at Mike. "Guys don't think with their big boy brains around her." The bag of groceries shifted in her hands as she pulled out her phone. The signal bars flickered between one and two, sometimes dropping to zero entirely.

"When they said totally disconnected, they meant it," Mike muttered, looking over her shoulder.

Ahead of them, the cabin door opened and a woman with long brown hair stepped out. Her boots made loud thunks as she ran down the steps and towards them. "There you are! Cass and I were wondering who'd be the last ones up."

Graham rolled his eyes when Mike elbowed him in the side. He hadn't let go of his idea to leave the night before. The only reason he'd finally stopped arguing the next morning was because Spencer had pointed out the crumbled trail on their way up. While the path had still been wide enough for the car, it would have been easy for a tire to slip in the dark. That didn't mean he'd entirely given up on proving his way would have been faster.

"Are we the last, Nora?" Phoebe asked, noticing Mike's not so subtle annoyance.

"Devynn and Brian are still missing. They probably won't show up until tomorrow," Nora answered. A man ran out from the door behind her.

"Graham! Mike!" He ran at them, knocking the bags out of Graham's hands as he grabbed him in a hug. It was a bone breaking hug that left him breathless. Thankfully he moved onto Mike a second later.

Nora's hug was far less aggressive. She helped him wrangle the bags and showed him and Phoebe inside. "The rooms are upstairs. Most of them only have one or two beds so either double up, use a sleeping bag or grab a couch." The couches in question were two L-shaped sectionals and a smaller loveseat. They were currently covered in bags and jackets as well as someone half asleep across the smaller of the couches.

Phoebe nudged Graham's side and nodded at the couches. "Wanna hide out down here with me and talk shit about everyone?"She threw her bags onto the floor between the blue couches and the mahogany coffee table. The man on the couch jumped up to half sitting.

"You guys have met Gio, right?" Nora asked.

"Yeah, we ran into him with Moira and Amy last night," Graham replied. He nodded at Gio, raising a hand to wave. "We all hung out at that little festival, or whatever it was." He moved to sit in the space Gio cleared off for him. "You guys left early."

Gio nodded, pursing his lips for a second. "That's my fault. I get anxious about being places on time." The man's brown hair was in a mess from sleep and the seam of the couch had left a red mark down the side of his face. "I practically walked through the door and collapsed on the couch."

"It was funny to watch," Nora said as she held out coffee to Gio and a cup of tea to Graham. She and Phoebe settled into the second couch.

They all glanced out the window when a flurry of activity went by. Cass was running after Mike, carrying an armful of what looked like dirty white pillows and a case of beer. They raced by several times with similar armfulls, nearly knocking Moira over on one of their passes.

"What the hell are they doing?" A sudden voice in the living room startled all of them. The slender brunette standing by the stairs was looking out the window with her eyebrows raised so high they were hidden under her thick bangs. She walked over to lean out the window and whistle for their attention. No one paused long enough to answer her.

Nora reached out and pulled her back by her shirt. "Scarlet, you're going to break the window frame if you lean on it like that," she warned. It looked like she was repeating a well memorized line as she reprimanded Scarlet.

"Are you going to push me around the entire time we're here?" Scarlet whined. She halfheartedly acknowledged the others in the room, eyeing Gio  a little more than the others.

"Am I going to keep you from destroying my family's cabin in your attempt to have everyone's attention solely on you?" Nora asked dryly. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I am."

Sensing an argument coming, Graham casually stood and shuffled to the door.

Phoebe, who was in direct sight of both Nora and Scarlet, looked at him desperately but the door closed behind him a second later. She kept watching him with growing annoyance as he walked by the window. Slowly, so as her meaning wasn't missed, she pointed at him and then dragged her finger across her neck.

Around the corner in the cleared area they considered to be the backyard, Mike and Cass were setting up the padded bases in a rough diamond. It was a good deal bigger than a backyard considering it was in the middle of a forest. There was a section closer to the house that had been carefully lined with bricks in a herringbone pattern. A fire pit rested in the center with a stack of logs nearby.

"Hey, your fiancé is about to kill Scarlet," Graham called out to Cass.

He muttered something under his breath and set the beer he was about to open on a glass topped table. "Can you believe that's who she wants as her maid of honor? I have never seen them alone together without at least one fight breaking out," he said as he ran by.

"Tell them to come out! We need more bodies on the field," Mike shouted after him.

"What exactly are you guys doing anyway?" Graham asked, nudging one of the bases into a better place.

"Graham, don't ask stupid questions. You've played enough baseball to recognize a diamond," Mike said. "Cass and I brought bats so we're gonna play. Devynn was supposed to bring his too but we can make two work."

"Count me out." Graham immediately started backing away. A ball left by the home plate nearly made him trip. The pause in his steps was enough for Mike to catch up and grab his arm.

"Graham, it's ok. We're in the middle of nowhere, no reporters, no one cares about your father here. We just want a fun game," Mike said quietly. He kept a gentle hand on Graham's arm to keep him from running off. With the other hand, he lifted a blue colored steel bat off the ground. Mike held it out to Graham. "I know you've missed it."

The black grip was well used but carefully maintained. It fit in Graham's hand just right. His forefinger brushed against the cold steel just above it before he curled his fingers tightly around the grip. The muscles in his arms bunched and relaxed as he tested his hold on it. He had missed it, that much was obvious.

"Is he gonna play?" Scarlet shouted excitedly as she ran up to them. The others, Spencer's, Moira and Amy included, we're just behind her.

"Scared you'll lose without him?" Nora taunted. She kept close to Cass who grabbed another of the bats.

"Um, yeah. I didn't play baseball," Scarlet said. She grinned and tossed a ball which forced Nora to let go of Cass so she could catch it. "But I'm definitely going to hit a homerun."

Mike whistled loudly to get their attention. "Can we get onto picking teams or are we going to taunt each other all day?"