Timothy M.

Well done Adrian, I'm glad he stood up for Cas. And Cas' cousin is actually pretty cool too. I bet he has a fit over his stupid family driving Caz away. And Onin will be pissed with them for upsetting his soulmate. I hope he growls at them, LOUDLY.

I was dragged out of my dreams by my need to visit the bathroom. When I returned to bed, I tried to go back to sleep. It was only 5:30, and Jacob was snoring happily next to me. I snuggled up to him and even deeply asleep, he responded by turning towards me and putting his arm around me. I lay in his embrace, feeling loved and secure, but sleep eluded me. I began thinking about last night. We’d had a nice family meal together, with lots of talking and laughing, so different from back home.

Did Merrick remember to message Audra? From his sleepless night she wasn't able to offer much comfort on Jenson's state of mind. My guess is that the treatments mentioned are meant to bring Kel out of his mindless state and hopefully give him a more permanent mental presence. Or perhaps he's like those zombie patients in the film, the ones who could catch a ball by reflex and got brought back to an aware state by an experimental medicine. For a while... Unfortunately, whenever that happens Kel turns violent, or perhaps he tries to kill himself and hurts those who prevent him, in his desperation. Now, while I feel sorry for Jenson, who is overcome with grief, I have to admit I feel relief for Kel. One of my greatest fears is ending up a 'vegetable' ie with no mind or awareness. Physical disability - that I could cope with (as long as it's not blindness), but being robbed of my mind... So if Jenson has been keeping Kel alive for more than a hundred F... years, because he couldn't let him or his guilt go, then I'm gona be seriously But I hope there is another explanation.

I think Merrick should make Audra his ally in cornering Jenson. She must be so fed up with her brother avoiding the issue. But perhaps the L word can finally crack the shell.

I gather from one of your replies that source feeding is an act of intimacy and trust. But is it also restricted to be done with another vampire? Was Kel originally a non-vampire? I'm probably way off, but that's what comes to mind, when the request to be bitten acts like a cold douche on Jenson. On the other hand I'm glad Merrick refuses to ignore or let Jenson ignore what is between them. He is right, they need to talk - and Jenson should stop avoiding Merrick and provide some of those answers he used to give his friend.

Ehm, I may have read too much earth magic fantasy, since the situation seems clear to me: The old caretaker was dying. He didn't want to. He entered into an unholy pact with something evil. His life got prolonged, but the garden paid the price. When Hudson destroyed the root, he removed the evil influence over the caretaker. (Did you notice his soft smile?) The caretaker wil now die, and as his last act he transfers the remains of his earth power to Hudson (the green flash). Guess who'll be the new caretaker?

Damn, Kalandor beat me to it. Oh well, that's the price of reviewing late, lol. My favorite quote was: Michael Sr. looked at his son. “Well, if anyone knows about taking it slow, it’s your uncle Mike.” He is so right, Ace took it so slow, Deuce gave up on the game, threw down his cards and walked away. I can still remember the agony of that first chapter! Anyway, once again the chapter title points at more than one aspect. The big reveal - the obvious one being the joined hands of Nate and Bodie. But another one was Bodie's understanding of Nate's small wrist scar - and that he has one of his own ! But that was not all, because M&K both revealed some quite intimate stuff, Michael about how he and Kendall had to go through a tough spell to find each other, and Kendall about his bad dreams as a teen. Oh, and Nate told his grandparents about Bodie. and of course he'll be invited to Nate's birthday. I can just hear Colleen saying: "Just like my big boys." I wonder what baby name she come up with for Bodie. I loved the Nodie interlude, but I'm glad we're getting some Ace and Deuce too. They are the best.

Aaand the new player takes over the game and trumps the discrete parental outing in the previous chapter, going all out to win this set. Others have commented on how Nate and Bodie could substitute for M&K, not only in looks but also in the instant connection. But of course they differ in knowing right from the start that they're gay and may be more than friends in the future. My guess on why Michael wanted to talk to the owners: To give Nate and Bodie some time together, but also to ask whether an earlier take-over date is possible, so Nate can be on the same bus as Bodie when he starts school. Oh, and I can't wait to have those three cowardly friends of Bodie confronted with M&K when they pick up the boys from school now and then.

Gah, I'm way behind on my reviewing, but luckily for me, everyone else have covered all the main points, so I can focus on the chapter title and note. Learning a new game can be applied to more than one aspect of the chapter. There is the obvious one of being a father of a teen or even two, for a little while. Then there is dealing with Bodie's mom outing him and at the same time saying he's had a hard time. Michael had to make up his own rules for that one on the fly, so he needed to talk it over with Kendall afterwards. I'm not surprised he was relieved to hear he'd played his hand the best way. And finally he has to figure out how to support Nate and Bodie in developing a friendship - and perhaps more, without letting on that he knows about Bodie, and that he has outed Nate to Mira. I'm not surprised the chapter note says 'Are there instructions for this?' since I can easily imagine Ace and Deuce desperately trying to work it out. But the beautiful thing is that both of them only have to look into their own hearts and past, in order to know what to do.

I did wonder when I saw that number... I've read Circumnavigation too, and it's EPIC !

Yup: bedre sent end aldrig. Glad to see you didn't get caught by any left-over zombies from Halloween.

Ehm what happened to this week's Wrap Up? did the zombies get you all ?

Thank you tim and welcome to Clueless Camping aka CC. I'm delighted you liked the first chapter and felt the romantic ending was worth the wait. Nice that you could relate to EAB, although I'm sorry you're losing your ash trees. I hope you'll keep reading and I look forward to your comments. Don't forget to check out the story forum for pictures and more info.

Tillykke med fødselsdagen from your Danish reader. (or one of them, lol)

Haven't we had a scary clown prompt some time ago? Something about fainting ? Anyway, I'm almost relieved there was no First Line prompt to distract me from the CC twins. And I'm sure my Hungry Birds are too. PS don't forget to make topics in the prompt forum.

I remember being worried and at times scared during most of the story.

The other option is cold-sleep as you travel, but there are problems with that too. I always found terraforming interesting, but cave dwelling makes sense too. And later generations would not know what they missed, in relation to surface dwellings and blue skies. I loved the cameo appearance of Bortai.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. Yes, Russ is lucky in his mom, but I also think she feels she has to make up for packing him off with no explanation at all. The question is what kind of compensation she will offer Evan ! He, he, I'm sooo looking forward to writing the scene where Evan and Russ brings up the idea of sharing a house.

Thank you for telling me this, AC. I'm sort of half proud and half humbly glad, to have my story evoke such powerful feelings in you. To be honest I think you're justified in your interpretation. Russ definitely hurt Evan by refusing to even entertain the idea or acknowledge it as desirable. More than the illness of Russ and him being held back a year, this contributed to them drifting apart. Not by much compared to normal brothers but in relation to their previous bond, the gap was significant and distressing. Perhas more to Evan than Russ, who sort made himself numb. Russ has seen himself as weak and a victim, but now the veil is being ripped from his eyes piece by piece. It's not painless, but the hope is that in the end their twin bond will be stronger and better. Be assured that I treasure your words as the compliments they are.

Thanks, Drew, now you made me too.

I hope you mean reading of the blog reviews as well as the stories themselves. I'd love to get more feedback on the reviews. What other guys? So far I only got encouraging noises about my TIMID blog. But one entry doesn't make a blog, lol.

You're welcome, and thank you too. As for the omitted part of your comment

Thanks for your trust, my friend. I'm not sure they are all suitable for your gentle soul, but at least the reviews may give you an idea.

Not only the 'Later' but also the 'I give' with the unspoken question 'Do you receive?' had me Merrick's tactics towards Jenson are brilliant, but I almost feel sorry for the poor vampire being kept on edge during the whole walk.

Eventually is the key word here, since I do plan to write more reviews. Other than that...