How Severus Spends His Summer Hols

AN: This chapter has a tissue warning. Well, this chapter is liable to irritate a few people, but that’s just the way it goes. So here’s a heads up. If you do not want to read the aftermath of the phone call Damon and Grant received in the last chapter, don’t read this one. You can skip it and pick up again at 102. To me, this is an intricate part of the story so I put it here instead of a side bit. It is not Harry and Severus centric, but then again in the real world Echo wouldn’t revolve around them either.

For the person who wishes to know if someone else is writing with me, the answer is yes. Unbroken_halo is co-authoring and has been for the last several chapters. I was at a point that I was going to bring in the purple thumb of Merlin and squash Echo, but now I’m having fun again.

Yes, I realized much later that I flubbed on the Hogsmeade/Echo comparison, but *shrugs* I’m human, it’s been fixed and we go on.

For the readers that want to know about the aftermath of the phone call, this chapter deals with it and it is good I think. Anyhow, we thank everyone that reads it and we hope you enjoy it.

Things Fall Apart


Damon led Grant into the kitchen. "Go get the portable and we'll listen together." He picked up the phone Harry had laid on the counter and waited for Grant to return before speaking with the other man.

Grant all but ran into the living room and grabbed the portable, returning to his husband's side and reaching out to take the older man's hand. Shaking and nervous, Grant pressed the receiver button to allow him to listen to the conversation and held the phone to his ear, his eyes wide and focused only on Damon.

Damon took a deep breath and held out a hand to his husband. "Captain Richard, this is Col. Wolffe. What can I do for you this fine Sunday?"

The Captain introduced himself and got right to the point. "I had a bit of trouble locating the plot you spoke of last week when you called. It seems that after two years, because of the limited space, graves are exhumed and the bones are cremated then placed in a mausoleum."

Damon could hear some papers being rustled and he looked at Grant.

The smaller man's eyes widened and his face paled. His baby had been dug up? It had to be a mistake. He began to rock on the balls of his feet, one hand over the mouthpiece. A low keening sound was starting in his throat; he swallowed and managed to speak. "Where is my baby?"

Damon pulled Grant close and cradled him in his arms. He tucked the younger man up under his chin and balanced the phone between his ear and shoulder. "Captain, where's my daughter?"

Richards strained to hear the second voice and snapped to attention when Col Wolffe's demand came across the wires. "That's why I am calling sir. Apparently there were two infants buried that year. Our files are incomplete. They only way we can identify which remains are yours is by the notification numbers you were given when the party was buried."

Grant sobbed in relief, "554671." He repeated it over and over again under his breath as he let his husband deal with the man on the phone. His baby was going to come home. He clung to Damon, pressing his face to his husband's chest and sobbed silently.

Damon's heart unclenched. "554671." He repeated Grant’s words and squeezed the other man tighter to him.

Richards made a note on the paper. "Very well, then. The remains will be on their way as soon as possible but you will have to first make arrangements with an airline that will allow human remains on board." He gave Damon the name of a few reputable airlines. "Once the arrangements have been made, have them contact me in Okinawa and we will send your daughter home."

Damon thanked the other man and hung up. He dropped the phone to the table and wrapped both of his arms around Grant. "She's coming home baby. First thing tomorrow, my Grant. I will call them."

************************

Grant lie on his side on the bed he shared with his husband, his eyes open and staring at the wall in front of him. He'd not moved since Damon had carried him in yesterday morning and laid him down after they'd returned from the family plot and little Amelia had been laid to her final rest. The small man's mind was blank; all he could feel was a deep aching loss that would never be filled. He didn't want to speak, eat, listen, nothing, he just wanted to lie there and stare at the wall while the tears flowed from time to time unchecked.

Damon stood in the doorway to their room watching his husband grieving yet not at the same time. He had been extremely overwrought after the phone call on Sunday while their extended family had been there. Had it only been a week since that day; it seemed ever so much longer as he watched his husband slowly begin to waste away. He sighed and walked away to the kitchen that was still filled with food as if Amelia had only passed just yesterday not forty some years ago.

He sat at the table not knowing what to do or how to go about making it better for his Grant.

Max pulled up to the old white farmhouse and got out of his truck and made for the kitchen door of the Wolffe's home. He knocked softly, seeing Damon sitting there at the table.

Damon looked up and nodded then waved the other man in. "Hey, Max. Pull up a chair." He kicked out one of the table chairs and sat up straighter in his own, waiting on the man to settle his large frame at the table.

Max came in and settled his long frame on the kitchen chair. "I wanted to come by and check to see how you both were doing. Is Grant any better?" he asked quietly. The house itself was deathly quiet. Normally there would be the radio on over the sink and most likely the sounds of the television, not to mention the laughter and good-natured bickering between the older couple. Now the only sounds he could hear were the clock ticking in the kitchen and their quiet breathing. It was unnatural.

He thought back to the past Sunday and when he'd sedated Grant heavily and helped Damon get him under the blankets when the smaller man couldn't stop screaming and crying. He winced as he remembered Grant reaching up and tearing handfuls of his waist length hair out by the roots. Severus had taken Harry away immediately at the Healer's request and he'd had Allie take Sarah home as well.

He hated to say it, but Grant was shutting down.

"No." Damon didn't mince words. "He hasn't moved except to go to the bathroom. He is still refusing to get out of bed and eat. I've barely gotten some water down him." He met the healer's deep blue eyes. "I don't know what else to do, Max."

"How much weight has he lost?" Max asked. He hated the next suggestion he was going to make, but he didn't see any other way around it.

Damon shook his head. "I don't know, he struggles like a wildcat if I try to move him. And at night when we got to bed he lays there stiff as a board when I put my arms around him." He rubbed his face then looked at the other man again. "I was considering calling Magpie today... or Mourning Dove because I just don't know what to do and it's killing me to watch him like this."

"May I see him?" he asked. "I'd like to scan him if you don't mind."

Damon sat back. "Be my guest. He's still and you most likely won't ever see him that way the next time you examine him."

Max nodded and stood, pausing to give Damon's shoulder a brief squeeze. "I promise not to try to move him," he said as he walked out of the kitchen.

In the bedroom, he let his eyes adjust to the dim light and looked at Grant lying on the bed motionless. He rounded the end of the bed to the side where the man was curled up and looked down at him. "Grant, I'm going to do a quick scan to see how you are doing physically. If you don't want me to do this, I need you to tell me now," he said clearly and waited to see if the small man would respond, he knew how much Grant hated being treated for anything.

Grant lay there unblinking, staring at the wall as if he'd heard nothing, and quite possibly, he hadn't. He was locked into his pain and grief, not finding a way to let it go. Max ran his wand over the other man and whispered several spells as he did so, waiting to get the results. He closed his eyes and sighed sadly as he read the glowing letters in the air. Grant was willing himself to die.

He walked back into the kitchen and sat back down in the chair he'd just left. Licking his lips, he began. "Damon, I would like to admit Grant to the hospital."

Damon stared at Max. "Why? What's wrong with him?" He reached across the table and grabbed the Healer by his lapels, pulling him closer. "What's wrong with my husband?" He growled.

The red head took Damon's hands in his own and gently untangled his fingers. "He's lost a lot of weight that he can't afford to lose, he's dehydrated badly, his kidneys aren't working right, and Damon, and his heart can't take this. He's too thin, he could go into cardiac arrest at any time, he needs to be admitted," he said gently but firmly. He grabbed the older man's arm as he tried to push back from the table.

"Don't, Damon, there isn't anything you can do here at home," he said as he pulled the man back into his chair. "You aren't going to be able to order him to get better."

Damon shook his head. "No." He blinked. "Why can't we set him up here like you did me, when we had the motorcycle crash?"

There were times Max hated being a Healer and this was one of those times. "Damon, if his heart stops, there has to be someone there able to restart it," he swallowed, not wanting to say the next words, but he knew he had to. "If something isn't done, Grant is going to die, Damon."

Damon stared at Max, looking for a way through the fog that had begun in his mind. Somewhere there was a way out of this but the expression on Max's face never changed. His mouth and jaw was set in a hard line that he had rarely seen on the jovial man and he wanted to hit him and make him change the diagnosis that he knew for himself was true. He gasped out a sob and looked to the floor as he placed his hands over his face. "Alright,” He said softly. "Do it."

Max pulled the older man to him and held him in an embrace as he spoke softly. "Do you want me to drive you both in, or do you want me to call an ambulance to take him?" He would give nearly anything not to be having this conversation right now. The sight of the small man wasting away in the bedroom had made him want to scream out his own pain and fear of losing someone vital to his life. He honestly didn't know what would happen to Damon if Grant passed.

Damon swallowed and wrapped his arms around the big man for once in his life feeling like he was small again and his Da used to hold him. "Drive us, I don't need a lawsuit because he suddenly got a burst of energy and decided to deck an orderly." He backed out of Max's arms and looked up at him. "We may have to sedate him again to get him out of here. Do we need to call Sev?"

"You may want to let him know what's going on. I'm going to call the hospital and let them know we are coming and have a room ready for him," he answered as he took out his mobile phone and punched in the number for the hospital, letting Damon use the house phone to call Severus.

Damon dialled the number to the Overlook slowly even though it was programmed into the speed dial. He sighed as the first rings came across the lines. What the hell was he going to tell Severus?

Severus picked up the phone on the second ring, Harry was in the bedroom napping and he didn't want to wake him. "Hello?"

"Sev." Damon nearly sighed with relief. He didn't know what he would have done if Harry had answered the phone. "Max is here and we are going to... fuck... we have to admit Grant to the hospital."

Severus immediately sat up straighter at the sound of Damon's voice and then the words hit him. "Hospital? Alright Da, what do you need me to do to help out? Go to the bar? Watch the house? Would you like me to come there?" he asked as he summoned a pen and notepad to him there in the living room.

Damon shook his head. "I don't know, son. Max said he's going to die if I don't do this and I don't know what else to do." He sank down onto the couch and hung his head. "I don't know what to do."

"Damon, listen to me. You do everything Max tells you to do. I'll call down to Cutty's and make sure all is taken care of and then I'll be at the hospital. I'm going to leave Harry home. We aren't going to let anything happen to Grant, understand me?" he said as he wrote a note to Harry letting him know what was going on and he didn't know when he'd be home.

Damon nodded even though once again Severus couldn't see him. "Alright but don't leave Harry alone. Call someone to stay with him." He looked up as Max moved beside him. "I have to go, Severus. I'll see you after a while." He hung up the phone and looked up at Max. He searched the healer's face. "Sev's on his way."

Max nodded and put his hand on Damon's shoulder. "The hospital is expecting us. I can't do much to sedate him, so let's hope for the best. We'll take my truck. Are you ready?" he asked as he helped the man to his feet. "Can you carry him?"

Damon nodded and squeezed Max's hand. "Yeah, I think so. Merlin, I never thought I would be doing this to my own husband; it was bad enough with Mom when Da passed." He sighed. "Let's get this over with. You going to be able to drive if I have to fight with him in the back of the truck?"

"Don't worry Damon, I'll be fine, you just hold on to him and let him know he's alright," Max said as he led the way to the darkened bedroom. "We'll get him back Damon, we'll get him back."

Damon nodded and walked around Max to sit on the bed next to Grant. He stroked back the long hair from his face. "My Grant. We have to leave and go with Max alright." He bent over and slipped a hand under the other man's neck to support him.

Grant turned his eyes to Damon, a question in them, but he didn't speak, just feebly pushed at his husband's chest. He shook his head and tried to pull back as he felt himself be gathered in Damon's arms. He was exhausted and weak; he couldn’t fight him.

Damon hefted him into his arms and shook his head. He pressed a kiss to Grant's forehead and looked over at Max. "Let's go."

Max got them safely to the hospital and Grant checked into his room within the half hour, shooing Damon out so they could do what they needed to in order to care for the small man. Max came out of the room after about twenty minutes and found where Damon was pacing in the small waiting room.

"Damon, I think you might want to call his family now."

Damon blanched and sank down to the Waiting Room chair. "Why? What happened?"

Max pulled a chair around to face him and sat down; grateful the small room was empty. "You said before you were ready to call Mourning Dove and his sister. Maybe they can help, I don't know, but they might... They might want to be here," he said softly, not finishing the last sentence, he didn't want to say it. "You'll be able to go into see him shortly, but don't get pissed. We had to strap him down."

Damon stood up and bellowed. "WHAT?!?" He took off running down the hall to get to Grant's room.

Max was up and the days he'd played football in college served him well as he grabbed Damon and pulled him back. "Hush, old man, and listen to me," he muttered through clenched teeth, aware that the nurses and a few patients were watching them. He pulled Damon back into the waiting room and shut the door, warding it locked and silent.

He turned the other man loose and waited for him to settle down. "He ripped out the IV lines we started and became combative. We had to do it for his own safety Damon, not to harm him."

Damon seethed and crossed his arms over his chest. "I want to see him. My husband does not act like that when I am around. He knows better than that. I don't put up with it." As embarrassed as he was about being taken down in mid-flight, he needed to tend to Grant. Needed it like the air he breathed; His sub didn't act like that; Grant had never acted like that in all the time they had been together.

"If you can keep him quiet, then the restraints will be removed while you are with him," the healer said as he waved his wand at the door. "I'll take you in to see him now and I'll undo the straps while we're there." He waited for the older man to step out into the hallway before he ushered him to Grant's room and motioned the nurse out as he opened the door.

Damon looked down at the prone man strapped to the hospital bed. His heart clinched at the marks on his man that hadn't come from him and shook his head. "Dammit, Grant." He growled at the younger man. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?"

The small man's eyes were closed, but he was struggling, pulling and straining against the straps that held him down. He heard Damon's voice and calmed almost immediately, relaxing against the bed.

Max shook his head as he watched. It amazed him sometimes at the depth of feeling the two had for each other; he knew it was something he'd most likely never have with Allie.

"Grant, I'm going to unbuckle these now, but you have to leave the IV in your arm. Damon is here and he's going to sit with you for awhile," he said as he began to undo the fleece-lined cuffs from the slender wrists.

Damon stood at the head of Grant's bed and laid a hand on the younger man. "I'm here, Injun." He twined his fingers into the dark strands. "I'm trying, Pet, but you keep pushing."

Grant reached up and laid one small hand over Damon's and looked up at him. "I want Grandmother," he whispered hoarsely and closed his eyes, his hand still atop his husband's. He needed someone to help him mourn his children. He'd not been able to when each had died; he'd been surrounded by the White world and no one to help him.

Damon stared at him. "Alright Injun. I'll get her on a plane as soon as I can. You know Rachel will have to come with her, right?" Not once since they had been married had the other man asked for his kin. "You are going to have to stay alive for me to get her here." He leaned closer to the bed and whispered in Grant 's ear. "Cause if you die on me Injun, I will come after your ass. I'll have Mourning Dove reincarnate you and then beat you to death myself then do it all again."

A little smile played on Grant's lips at that and he squeezed Damon's hand. "Thank you Master," he whispered and rolled to his side, curling up into a foetal position.

Damon ran a hand over the dark hair, crawled up into the bed and wrapped himself around the other man. "Please Grant, don't leave me." He kissed the back of Grant's head and held the small man to him. "Behave for Max, please baby. He wants to help. Let him for me... please. I'll get Mourning Dove as soon as I can."

Max had heard the quietly spoken plea and watched as Damon wrapped himself around his husband. He bent down to speak in the older man's ear. "I'll call Sev and have him call out there. We'll get them on a flight if we have to Apparate out and load them on ourselves. You stay here with him and let us do this for you." He wrapped his arms around both men in a clumsy embrace.

Grant relaxed his body in his husband's arms, he'd been promised his grandmother was coming and then he could do what he needed to.

Damon shook his head. "I'll get her. I don't want Rachel here to make things worse, Magpie and Mourning Dove have always helped us." He kissed Grant again. "I need your word Injun, you'll be here when I get back and that you will let Max care for you while I get Mourning Dove. I'll do my best to keep Rachel out of it."

"Bring Mom back," Grant whispered as he let his husband's hand go. "Hurry." He may not get along well with his mother, but he knew he needed her for this, he just hoped she wouldn't make it anymore painful than it already was.

Max nodded and stepped back. "I'll take good care of him, you just hurry, alright?" he said as he straightened up and looked to the doorway where Severus was standing. "Sev's here now, do you want me to take him down to the waiting room?"

Damon nodded; what his Indian want he got even if he had to hogtie and bring Rachel out here himself, he would. He kissed Grant's face. "Sev's here baby, do you want him in here with you?" He sat up and looked to the door and held out a hand to Severus, motioning him into the room.

Severus entered the hospital room and nearly did a double take as he looked down at the little man lying in the bed. Grant looked so horrible, he was instantly glad he'd decided not to bring Harry with him. He flicked his gaze to Damon and gave him a weak smile. "I made sure Tom has everything under control at the bar for awhile. I explained to him some of what was going on, he wanted me to tell you to take all the time you needed, he'd be there."

Damon nodded and pulled Severus into a crushing embrace. He pulled back and searched his face. "Don't let him die on me, Severus."

"I won't Da, I promise," he said. "Now go and get back as soon as you can. I'll call and make the plane reservations for you. Are you going to apparate out or what? Would you rather have a port key instead?"

"I will be faster for me to apparate. I'm going to Magpie first, she can run interference between Rachel and I." Damon hugged Severus to him and looked back at Grant. He bent and kissed the smaller man one more time and tugged his hair lightly then walked out of the room.

He made his way to the apparition point behind the hospital and then concentrated on the res, Magpie's trailer most prominently, and winked out of sight.

Damon stumbled when he reappeared at Pine Ridge and shook his head to get his bearings. He started for the trailer, wobbling slightly. He hadn't eaten that morning and it had been a while since he had made the trip across the states like that. "Magpie!" He bellowed not really caring any longer who heard him. "Maggie May!" Damon called out her nickname from him.

Grant's little sister heard what she was sure her brother-in-law yelling and stuck her head out of her door curiously, no one else dared call her Maggie May. "Damon Wolffe, is that you?" she called out and squinted in the early afternoon sun. What in the world was that white man doing in her front yard?

Damon grinned. "Maggie May." He looked up at her and ran the rest of the way to the trailer. He pushed his way into the house and wrapped his arms around her then kissed her and held her out at arms length. "No time to waste, Magpie, we have to get back to Grant." He swallowed and looked at her. "I brought Amelia home and we buried her with Joshua the other day and now there's something wrong with Grant. He asked for Mourning Dove ... and Rachel."

The small woman, a near carbon copy of her oldest brother, pushed Damon to sit in the armchair he was close to. "Sit down Damon. You have to tell me what's wrong with him. Mom took Grandmother up to Oglala to visit one of her friends. Do you want me to call to see if they are there?" she asked as she shut her front door to keep the heat in. She couldn't believe Grant was actually asking for their mother, it must be serious.

Damon shook his head. "I have no idea what's wrong with him. Max informed him he was going through menopause as few weeks ago. Then he asked me to bring Amelia home and they called last week and we had the burial and he hasn't eaten since then." His face wrinkled and he covered his face. "Max said he was going to die, Magpie. I had to admit him to the hospital this morning, Sev's with him now." He stood and grabbed her hand. "Come on, we are going to Oglala." He began to drag her out of the house.

The stout little woman yanked back on the man and looked at him.
"Damon, Mom took my car. Didn't you notice it was gone?" she asked as she pointed out the window to where her little station wagon was normally parked. She didn't know much about the time Grant had been with Damon when he'd lost his children. Unfortunately because of Rachel and her stubbornness, she'd lost nearly fifteen years with her brother. She knew he'd lost children because their mother had mentioned it while ranting about Grant marrying Damon, but Grant had never spoken of it himself.

"Brother, did Grant get to grieve when the babies died?" she asked softly. It sounded like her brother was going through what he should have years ago.

"I'll apparate us. Come on, Maggie May. I can't stand around and waste time." Damon pulled her out of the trailer and moved further out so he could have no interference to use his magic to get them to Oglala.

He sighed as he pulled her into his arms back at the point where he had apparated in. "I thought he had. I came home when he lost Joshua. He and mom buried our boy in the family plot. We were in Japan when Amelia was born." He swallowed hard and tried not to tell her to shut up with her questions. "Hang on to me, Maggie and concentrate on where we are going in Oglala."

Maggie wrenched out of his arms and smacked him hard. "Neither of us know where we are going Brother, you can't do that," she muttered as she stalked back to her door. "They will be back soon, you need to come in and sit." Once in her small trailer, she went to her kitchen and pulled out a few pans to make the other man some lunch, she'd heard his stomach and knew he was getting irritable.

Damon stared at her and placed his hand on his cheek where she had smacked him. He followed her back into the trailer, mutter about Injuns and their mouths. "Where's the phone, then? I'll need to make plane arrangements if you won't let me go get them. Merlin knows, I am not apparating Rachel, especially if she starts her bitching." He watched her for a moment. "I'll leave her ass here if she says something about him. Be prepared to leave as soon as Mourning Dove gets back."

Maggie just stabbed a fork towards the phone on the kitchen wall and went back to the piece of meat she was cooking. She had no idea what their mother was going to do or say when she saw Damon. Things had been better in recent years, but never what one would call warm. As soon as she had the food at a stage she could leave it, she went to her bedroom and put clothes and other personal items in a tote bag, not sure how long she would be gone, but she would stay for as long as her brother needed her.

She came out of her bedroom, setting the bag on the coffee table and nudged Damon's arm. "Watch the food, I'm going over to Lee's and tell him I'm leaving," she said as she put a heavy sweater on and walked out the door to go across the road to her brother's.

Damon sat at the table and as soon as Maggie had left cast a stasis spell on the food. There was no way he could concentrate on the meal and make flight plans and not burn down the whole Reservation. He was in the middle of making the handicapped reservations for Mourning Dove when the trailer door opened again. He didn't bother to look up but took the spell off the food. "Maggie May, I'm still on the phone, but the food hasn't changed a bit."

"It's not Maggie, Brother," said a deep voice from behind him.

Damon cast the spell on the food again, finished his phone call, then looked up from the paper and grimaced.

Grant's younger brother stood in the doorway looking down to where his brother-in-law was sitting. "What has the winyan gone and done this time?" he grunted, his dark eyes cold and filled with disgust. He'd never gotten along with his brother, had blamed him for their father running out on their mother. Hated him for being different, for demanding the attention of the Elders, for escaping life on the reservation. Hated him because he didn't know him.

"Still Water." Damon sighed and closed his eyes. He stood and wrinkled his nose as if there was something foul in the air. He met the Indian's eyes that were nothing like his husband's. "My Grant has done nothing. He needs help and requested Grandmother then Magpie and Rachel." He swallowed and tamped down his rage, now was not the time to get in to a tussle with Lee over past prejudice

"He always was a white man's whore," the tall Lakhota sneered. "Something happen and you can't fix it, Brother? I don't think Mom and Grandmother need to be going anywhere, go find some other Indian to fix him." He was spoiling for a reason to teach his older brother a lesson, but if he wasn't here, his husband would do just as well.

Damon glared at the younger man. "You will keep a civil tongue in your head when you are talking about your older sibling. I don't give a damn how you talk about me but you will not malign my husband." He took a deep breath. "Magpie says he needs to grieve for our children. I am here to make certain he gets what he needs." He was trying for Grant and Magpie's sake not to pound the other man into the dirt like a tent peg.

Lee looked at him in surprise. "Something happened to Little Bird?" he asked cautiously. He may not have cared much for his brother, but he'd taken a shine to the young man they'd adopted and he'd hate to think something had happened to him.

"No, Little Bird is with him now." Damon sighed. "Our natural children; the ones we lost early in our marriage. I didn't know there was something apparently that needed to be done."

Lee was silent, he'd not known his brother had lost children, no one had told him anything. "Yeah, there's all kinds of ceremonies that have to be done to see to their spirits," he said feeling a little numb. He looked at where Damon was sitting and pulled out the other chair, sitting down heavily. "I'm sorry Brother, I didn't know."

Damon nodded and sat down as well. "I have reservations for Rachel, Mourning Dove, Magpie and I to catch a plane as soon as they get back. Magpie wouldn't let me Apparate out to get them and we have to get back as soon as possible." He got up and began to pace the tiny kitchen. "Merlin, how far is it to Oglala? Why aren't they back yet?"

Lee thought for a moment and nodded to himself. "Make me a reservation too and then we'll go get them in the truck," he said and looked to see if Damon was going to argue with him. He wouldn't blame him if he did, after all he'd always been a bit hostile towards the white man his brother had married, but this was something that involved his niece or nephew and he was going to do what needed to be done. Grant wouldn't know the ceremonies for the men.

Damon narrowed his eyes at the other man. "Why should I? You've been nothing but an ass towards my Grant. I don't think you need to be there to upset him. I want him better not worse off."

"Because Grant needs a male relative there to do certain ceremonies and I don't think you know about them, either way, it was my niece or nephew Brother, I need to be there. I'm his closest male relative," the younger man said and looked at Damon. "You need longer hair for this."

Damon took a deep breath. "Why don't you tell what I need to know then because like I said I will not have you taunting him into his grave. He's almost there all on his own." He eyed the other man. "Why do I need more hair?"

Lee shrugged and looked at the other man. "Can you Sing? If you can, I'll write everything down for you," he said. He had no idea what Damon was talking about with Grant nearly being in his grave, but even though he didn't get along with the older man, he didn't want to see harm come to him.

"We cut our hair as a sign of mourning, Brother."

"Sing? You mean do magic like Grant does sometimes?" Damon shook his head. "I use a wand but to Sing like Grant no, I can only feel it when Grant and I join."

He looked horrified for a moment as he thought about Grant's beautiful hair. Then the image of the younger man ripping it from his scalp suddenly made more sense. He took out his wand and flicked it at his head. Long, curling, blond locks flowed down his back. "Now what?"

Lee watched and nodded his approval as Damon's hair grew out, pulling an elastic from his pocket he tossed it to the other man and motioned to his hair. "Will your boy want to be part of this?" he asked. "If you can't Sing, I'm going. I won't give Grant trouble, on my honour."

Damon nodded and put the elastic in his teeth while he clumsily braided his hair. It had been thirty some odd years since he had done this and Sev's wedding hadn't counted. Grant had braided his hair the night before. He wrapped the elastic around the end and ran his hand over the clunky braid. "Sev will most likely want to be there, yes." He eyed the other man. "I am serious Lee, one cross word out of you and I will not hesitate to put you in your place in front of Rachel and anyone else watching." He sighed, "Hand me the phone and I'll add a ticket to the fare and we can go."

Grant's brother stood and handed the phone to Damon. "I'm going to get packed, when I get back we'll go get them. I'll bring a piggin’ string for Mom, we're going to need it," he said, the barest hint of a smile on his face. He wanted to have a few words with his sister and find exactly what he'd not been told about Grant's deceased children; he didn't like his family keeping secrets from him.

Damon shook his head and dialed the airlines once again. His stomach boiled and he tamped it down as he added the fifth ticket to his credit card.

Rachel Rainwalker steered the station wagon back into the spot where her daughter parked and shut the engine off before she noticed that both her younger son and daughter were having an animated discussion in Rachel's yard while Magpie held a suitcase the older woman owned. Hoping that they had a good excuse for what they were doing, she opened the car door and stepped out, motioning to her mother to stay put for a moment. "Hey, what are you two doing?" she called out as she pulled her jacket around her tighter.

Lee looked at his sister and shrugged. "You tell her, I'll tie her up," he muttered as they both turned to face the woman.

Magpie looked at him and shook her head. "No way, you are the baby. I'll go inside and we'll get Damon to tie her up."

"Chicken shit," he muttered and looked at his mother who was looking back pretty much the same way she had when he'd wrecked her car. "I didn't do it."

Rachel snorted and looked at her daughter. "What is going on, I asked," she demanded and then looked up to see a white face looking out at her from Magpie's trailer. "What... Who the hell is that?" she demanded in Lakhota as she stared back at where the face had been.

Damon opened the door to Magpie's trailer and stepped out. He had thought he heard the Medicine Woman's voice. "It's me, Rachel." He said softly. He eyed her as he walked down the steps and over to the car then leaned down to the passenger window, rapping on it lightly.

When it rolled down he leaned in close. "Mourning Dove, I need you to come back with me. Our little girl has come home and been laid to rest. Magpie says he needs to grieve now and has asked for you."

The old woman in the passenger seat squinted and peered at the pale face in front of her. It was the face of the man that made her little Hummingbird so happy. She reached out one gnarled hand and let it rest against the stubbled cheek. "How is Birdie?" she asked softly, she was the one and only person that could ever use the name Grant was born with and not feel the lash of the proud man's tongue.

Rachel watched her son-in-law leave her daughter's home and wondered where Grant was at, Damon never visited alone. She looked to Magpie for an explanation and found her daughter opening the hatch of the station wagon and putting her own bag and Rachel's in the back, Lee was tossing a bag in as well. What was going on?

"Hummingbird has decided to start his flight to the homelands and I would beg of your help to get him back. It's not his time to go." Damon knelt beside the car and took her ancient hand. "We must make haste Grandmother. I have the tickets waiting on us as soon as we can get to the airport. Little Bird is with him now."

Mourning Dove understood exactly what was being said and patted Damon's hand. "I don't have anything packed and it's over an hour and a half to get home Damon," she said and looked down at the clothing she was wearing. It would have to do and she would find what she needed there. "I need to let them know I'm leaving before we go."

The elderly woman leaned over to the driver's side and looked up at where he daughter was standing. "Get in, we are going to the airport," she said and motioned Damon to the back seat. Magpie looked at her mother and climbed in the car as well. Lee shrugged and got behind the wheel.

Rachel looked at her family as they all jumped to do as her mother commanded. "What is going on? We are going nowhere unless someone answers me." She spat this out in Lakhota and glared at Damon.

Damon ignored her and climbed in to sit behind Mourning Dove. "We can call them from the airport, Grandmother and I will purchase whatever it is you need. Little Bird will brew your potions." He smiled weakly. "Wren is progressing nicely as well."

Mourning Dove leaned over her grandson to yell out at Rachel. "Your child is ill and needs us, get in the car!"

Magpie opened the door beside her and motioned to her mother. "I packed your bag and it's in the back, Mom."

Rachel glared at them all angrily and pointed at Damon. "I want to talk to you," said and then pointed to the side of Magpie's house.

Damon closed his eyes and patted Mourning Dove's shoulder. He got out of the car and walked to where she had pointed. He didn't even wait for her to open her mouth before laying into her. "Before you open your yap, I want you to know that I didn't want you to come along. However Grant is dying, he is wasting away from not grieving and he asked for you." He eyed her. "If nothing else I will make your last years on this earth miserable by coming back and taking Magpie away if he is gives up before we get back." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, what did you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to know why Grant didn't come," she said and glared up at the man who had taken her child from her so many years ago. "Why didn't he grieve then?"

Damon returned her glare. "Because you threw him away and he turned his back on his traditions. I tried damn hard to help him stay in contact with Magpie and Mourning Dove." All the years and his own grief poured out of him as he did not hesitate to tell her exactly what she had done to her son. "But you never gave up, at every step we took forward; you reached out and jerked him back two, until finally he wanted nothing more to do with you. It wasn't this white man that took your son away it was you." He closed his eyes and swallowed. "Grant isn't here because he has forgotten himself," He met her dark eyes and gave the final shot. "He's dying and it's all your fault."

"Your white magic can't fix him, is that it?" she sneered. "Finally something from his people is good enough for him?" She glared at Damon and then turned back to the car. "I won't allow a child of mine to die from stupidity."

Damon reached out and grabbed her arm. "My white magic didn't do this to him and you are wasting time by being a bitch." He resisted the urge to slap the sneer from her face. "I can fix him but he will never return to you. It's not stupidity; it was his way of surviving you. You have crushed his spirit and I WILL NOT LET YOU KILL HIM, NOW." He bellowed at her, beyond caring that she was the Medicine woman and an Elder.

She turned and fixed him with a look that spoke volumes of how she felt at her oldest child being taken away to a world he knew nothing of and forced to live in a foreign manner for nearly all of his life. She leaned in close to him and spoke softly. "You didn't have to take him so far away. Let me go, I need to tend to my child."

Damon leaned away from her. "I only did what he asked of me and I have given him everything you demanded of me fifty three years ago. You did the rest yourself." He dropped her arm and walked away.

Silently he got back in the car and sat next to Maggie. He had tried, more than tried for Grant's sake and he would not do so any longer. The woman was unmovable when it came to her oldest son. He looked up and found Mourning Dove's clouded eyes staring at him in the rear-view mirror and he sighed. "I apologize, Mourning Dove. I just wanted to do what he asked of me." He told her softly.

Mourning Dove listened to the resigned tone of Damon's voice and nodded. "He didn't ask you to fight, did he?" she asked and then turned her head at the sound of another car door opening and closing. She smiled to herself as she realized her daughter was going to do right by her oldest child. "We need to leave, don't we?"

Rachel leaned back against the seat and turned her head to look at Damon. "I hate to fly," was all she said.

Damon shook his head and then nodded. "Yes Grandmother, time is of the essence. Max made that perfectly clear."

"So do I." The blond man answered, not bothering to look at Rachel. "But for him I would fly to the ends of the earth and back again to get him whatever his heart desired." He swallowed and looked out the window as the reservation grew smaller.


**************


Allie had rented a minivan to pick them up at the airport in Wheeling and the drive to the hospital was a strained one. No one talked much and what was said, was said in as few as words as possible.

After Allie dropped them all off at the door, Rachel looked around and then looked at Damon. "Take me to him... please."

Damon nodded. "Do nothing to upset him because I will bodily remove you from this place. This is my world now and it's the only thing keeping him alive." He told her quietly and turned leading the group into the hospital. It had been a long twenty-four hours and he was certain it was not over. He held the elevator door for them and punched the button to take them up to the ICU floor.

Severus sat next to Grant's hospital bed, one hand stroking the dark hair gently as he waited for Damon to return, hopefully with Grant's family. He wasn't exactly certain what had to take place, but he knew he'd do what he had to. He'd received a call from Damon while they were enroute to the hospital, so he knew they would be there any time and he kept reassuring Grant that they were coming.

Damon walked down the corridor and stopped them just outside the Unit. "They'll only allow two people in with him at a time. Make a decision now who's going first because once I am in there I am not moving again. Severus will come out and sit with you or take you back to the farm house if you like." He looked at each of them in turn and waited for them to come to a decision. Personally he was hoping Mourning Dove would come. Grant had asked for her first.

Rachel stepped forward, running a nervous hand over the sleeve of her sweater. "I want to see him."

Damon sighed and nodded then led her into Grant's room. He knocked softly and cracked open the door. "Sev? My Grant?" He opened the door slowly then looked back at her. "I am warning you now, he's not well Medicine Woman and you only have yourself to blame." He entered the room, walking softly.

Severus stood up as Damon and Rachel entered. "He's not changed any since you left, Da. Hello, Grandmother," he said as he bent down to place a kiss on the small woman's cheek. "If you don't need me Damon, I'm going to go home and check on Harry for a little while. Call me if you need me." He gave the older man a quick hug and then slipped out of the room.

On the bed, Grant lay as he did when Damon had left him, curled up on his side, eyes closed and mouth slack.

Damon crawled up carefully into the bed and ran a hand over his husband's head. "I'm here, my Own." He kissed Grant's cheek and wrapped his arms carefully around him, willing strength into the younger man. "I brought them like you asked. Rachel is here right now." He whispered across Grant's ear and ran his fingertips across his husband's pallor skin.

Rachel rounded the corner behind Damon and then Little Bird was in her line of sight. His kiss was just a breeze on her skin as she looked for her eldest. She could hear Damon's voice but she was unprepared for how pale and withered her son and his spirit was. She turned from the bed not wanting to show her horror and fright at what he had done to himself.

This was his fault for turning his back on his tribe. She swallowed and took a deep breath and spoke to him in his native tongue. "Look what you've done to yourself, winyan... my son."

Grant didn't open his eyes at his mother's voice, but he heard her. He leaned back against Damon's warm body and shivered. "I know... always making trouble for you," he rasped out.

Damon glared at her. "What did I tell you, woman?" He leaned forward and kissed Grant's brow, wrapping his arms tighter around the small frail frame. He turned away from her and focused on Grant. "Mourning Dove and Magpie are out there as well would you like me to send her to get them for you."

Rachel matched Damon's glared and eyed her son. "Why did you wait, winyan? You know what needed to be done." Again she spoke to him in Lakhota, wanting to hear it from his own mouth that she was the reason he had done this to himself. She felt for certain he would finally denounce the white man for speaking to her like that when he needed her.

Spidery fingers reached out for Rachel's hand and when Grant couldn't find it, his hand dropped back to the bed. "It's good you came. You can Sing your mistake Home now," he said sadly and then sighed.

Damon glared at her and then kissed Grant once more. He eased out of the bed and grabbed her arm. "I warned you." He began to drag her from the room. His throat worked and he desperately fought the tears forming in his eyes. The only reason he had brought the bitch to Grant was to help him. He hadn't realized Grant knew he was going to die and wanted to say goodbye. He jerked open the door, looked back at Grant. "My Own, wait for Mourning Dove." He said softly. "Please... Grant... for me."

He looked back at Rachel. "Go get Grandmother. I don't want to leave him."

Rachel yanked her arm back from Damon and marched back over to the hospital bed where she took hold of the frail shoulders and forced Grant up into a sitting position. Holding him up with one hand, she tipped his chin up with the other and smiled down into the fever bright eyes that looked up at her sadly. "Don't you know by now Hummingbird, a winyan's work is never done as long as you have a man in your home?" she chided gently. She realized that her child hadn't been asking for help, but a way to say goodbye. "A Rainwalker woman would never let their man suffer because they wanted to be lazy."

Grant's dark eyes sought out Damon. He swallowed and his eyes rolled back up into his head and he slumped forward onto Rachel.

Damon roared and flew across the room, slapping the nurse call. "Grant! Grant NO!"

Rachel gave the man an exasperated look and sat down on the edge of the bed with her child in her arms. "He only passed out Damon, stop acting like a chicken with its head cut off," she said and got Grant a little more comfortable in her arms, rocking him as she had long ago. "Go tell the nurse he's alright, but we need to get him home soon."

Max burst into the room with a crash cart and stared at the sight before him. He had been stopped by Severus and warned the older man had returned with Grant's relatives. Now he began to dig in his scrub pockets for his wand to take down Damon because the older man was slowly approaching Rachel with his hands held out and aiming for her throat.

The Indian woman had her back to them and was cradling Grant in her arms, rocking and singing to him in the strange native tongue like they had used at Severus' wedding. Max grabbed Damon and brandished his wand at him. "Don't, Damon. Don't make me use it."

Damon growled at him and lunged again for the Indians on the hospital bed.

Max grabbed him for the second time that day, wondering when in the future Damon would remember and slug him. "If you don't calm down, I'm going to 'Stupefy' you and you are going to take a nap, understand?" he asked softly as he held onto the struggling man. "You can't help Grant by acting like this."

Waking in his mother's arms, Grant held onto her sweater, whispering, "Help me do what I have to, Mom, please."

Rachel nodded. "Calm your man, Hummingbird, before your Healer has two patients. We need him to get us to your home."

Damon glared at Max and struggled more. "You didn't hear what they said Max. She's going to take him away from me."

Grant reached one hand out to Damon and waited for him to take it.

Max cautiously let go of Damon, ready to grab him again if he did something stupid. "No one is going to take your Grant away Damon," he said as he watched them.

Damon grabbed Grant's hand like a lifeline. He knelt beside the bed and searched his husband's face then laid his head beside the other man. He swallowed and rubbed Grant's hand along side of his face.

"I did like you asked, My Grant. Don't leave me now." He looked up into the dark eyes. "Please."

Rachel rolled her eyes and dropped one hand to the top of her son-in-law's head. "Hush boy, we just have to take him home so we can do the ceremonies, they can't be done here. Tell him so he stops blubbering," she said and nudged her son.

Grant opened one eye and looked at his husband, hurting inside because of the pain on Damon's face. "We have to go to the house, baby, just the house."

Damon glared at the older woman and pulled away from her then turned to look at his husband. He nodded and kissed Grant's cheek. "Promise me, my Own and I'll get you whatever it is you need."

"I can't leave you yet, Damon, too much to keep me busy," Grant said and smiled wanly at his husband. "But I have to do this first. Take me home."

Rachel looked at Damon and nodded, "He'll be alright. Bring me his clothes and you go do whatever it is you have to do to get him out of here," she said as she laid her son down on the bed and smoothed his snarled hair back from his brow.

Damon stood and pressed a kiss to Grant's brow. He turned to Max and nodded. "Make it happen, Max. Give me all the papers to sign. I know that I am taking him out against Doctors orders. Blah, blah, blah." he swallowed and looked back at him husband. This was something he could control and had control over. He would make this happen for his Injun even if he could do nothing else right.

Max looked at Damon and crossed his arms. "I'm sorry Damon, but he can't leave. Not yet. I have to see that he's going to care for himself. He's starving himself to death," he said and waited for the man he respected to fly off the handle at him.

"Leave the IV in him then." Damon demanded and evoked the one rule he thought he would never use with Grant. "You can't keep him here. His traditions forbid this and I am turning custody of him over to the Medicine Woman of his tribe."

Rachel looked up at this and nodded then looked down at her son. She didn't want to win like this. She turned to the Healer and spoke to him. "If you see him eat voluntarily, will you release him without argument?" she asked and raised a hand to shush Damon. "If he can't do this, then we can't do what has to be done until he is stronger."

Damon glared at her and then looked at Grant. He turned back to Max and waited on the Healer's answer.

Max shook his head, slowly. He didn't know why he bothered sometimes. Damon and Grant were a force of their own and nothing to be trifled with. He hadn't won a round with them, yet, in nearly twelve years of being their Healer. "Only if the IV line stays in him as well. One meal will not bring his strength back up and he has to keep it down."

"Damon, would you ask Mother if she has wasna in her bag? I know she was eating some earlier," Rachel said as she took Grant's hand in hers. She knew her little winkte had a taste for the patties and probably hadn't had any since he left home.

Damon made a face and nodded. Grant would be having a heart attack if he remembered correctly what was in the Native American patty. When Grant had left the Reservation long ago, he had vowed not to eat any foods from there again citing that they were unhealthy for them both. Damon had been inclined to agree however there was very little evidence of diabetes or some of the other health problems Americans had from over eating. It wasn't until the White Man had introduced them to the reservation and began 'taming the savages' that things had gone wrong.

He swallowed and left the room only to run into the old woman with Magpie on her arm. In her hand she had a Ziploc bag filled with the wasna and a bottle of water.

Damon smiled at her and nodded. "I knew you would know what to do Grandmother."

The nearly toothless, blind, old Indian grinned at the white man and patted his cheek, then handed him the horn and the water. "Birdie needs this, Killdeer, make certain he drinks the water as well." She patted his arm and pressed him back to the room. "You tell Birdie, I'm tired and I want to watch that big TV I know he has for you. It's time to go home and stop this foolishness."

Max's eyes widened and then his nose wrinkled as he looked at what the old woman had in her hand. "Do I even want to ask what that is?"

Rachel took the food and water from Damon and sat back down on the edge of the bed, pinching off a small piece and working it in her fingers to make it more pliable before pressing it to his lips. "Eat, little one."

Damon shook his head. "No, you don't. All you need to know is that it's high in protein and not loaded with sugar." He shivered and remembered the time Grant had given him some when they had gone camping once. "Let's just leave it at that."

Grant opened his mouth and chewed, his eyes opening as he realized what he was eating. He swallowed and reached for more, but the bottle of water was pressed into his hand instead.

"Drink and then more," Rachel said as she worked the next bit in her fingers for her son. He swallowed the water and reached out for the food hungrily. It had been a lifetime since he'd had this and it tasted so good.

Satisfied that Grant was going to eat, Max nodded and nudged Damon to follow him out to fill out the paperwork.

Damon walked with Max and nodded at Magpie and Mourning Dove. His Grant was going home and they were going to fix him. He didn't know what all that entailed but he would do his damnedest to get his Grant back. He turned to the counter to sign the release forms and didn't notice the tall Indian sneak past and into Grant's room.

Grant finished drinking the bottle of water and as he set it down, he saw his little brother standing at the foot of his bed. "Why are you here?" he demanded in a low, harsh voice, not wanting to get anyone else involved yet. The nutrients from the wasna slowly began working through his body and the desire to see his Mourning over had given him a purpose again. He wanted to go home.

Lee gasped as he took in his older sibling's appearance then cleared his throat. "I've come to pay my respects to your child, Hummingbird. You need me to Sing for the baby." He looked away from Grant and then asked softly. "Was it a bad a labour, thanke'?"

Grant looked at him in disgust and turned his head to the window. "Was years ago, nothing for you to bother with." He had no idea why his brother was suddenly showing interest in something that happened forty some years ago.

Lee got a confused look on his face and stepped forward again. "Then why did Damon just come? Why haven't you already sent for us?" He looked at his mother and then back at his sibling. "What took so long for you to grieve, thanke'?"

Grant swung his head around to look at his little brother. "You are going to Sing for the four children that never took their first steps, shunkaku? You who would rather spit on me than offer me water? Why did you come?" he spat tiredly.

Lee stopped. "Four?" He asked shocked. "Damon only mentioned the one." He looked at his mother. "Why was I not told?"

He looked back at Grant. "I didn't know, Hummingbird."

Rachel didn't say anything, only got up and walked out of the room, leaving her children alone. Grant watched her go and then looked at his brother again. "It was when I was dead to you and my children didn't matter," he said and then wiped at his eyes. "I wish..." he shook his head. "It doesn't matter what I wish."

Lee stared after his mother and then looked at Grant. "I wasn't told Hummingbird and it was wrong to keep it from me." He said softly.

"Just call me Grant. Hummingbird is no more," he said softly and nodded to the chair next to his bed. The man that was his brother was also nearly a stranger to him. After Lee had turned five, he was sent to live with their Uncle in Kyle so he would have a man's influence as he grew up. All Grant could really remember of his brother were the taunts and digs at him for seeing a white man. He felt as if so much of his childhood had been stolen from him by a genetic hiccough. In the years that Grant had begun to visit the reservation again, Lee had stayed his distance from him and he'd never had a chance to get to know his little brother beyond the anger.

Lee sat down and looked at Grant. "No more? You cannot just separate your spirit, thanke'. Look what it has done to you."

Grant slid back down in the bed and turned onto his side to face Lee. "No one here knows who Hummingbird is. I couldn't do what I needed to do when... I couldn't mourn my children then and it's eating me up inside. It has been for many, many years. I grieved with my husband; I thought it was enough. It isn't," he said, staring at the wall. "I am sorry no one told you. I thought they had and it was simply something else for you to hold over me."

Lee shook his head. "Killdeer does. He would have helped you all you needed to do was tell him. He would have made it happen for you, Grant." The Indian smiled. "He went to bat with Mother. Grandmother cackled the entire time she and Killdeer were talking." He leaned closer to his sibling. "Did you not notice his hair, thanke'? He fought with me as well to get Magpie to you."

Grant smiled sadly. "He was not with me for two and the other two were in Japan, shunka, Damon is a good man and good to me, but there are things he cannot do," he said and pulled the blanket up over his thin shoulders. "I'm surprised she came."

"Japan?" Lee cocked his head and looked at Grant. "You have flown far and wide, Hummingbird and I know you are still in there otherwise you have never called for Grandmother. Give your white man more credit. He's doing his best with things he understands not." He reached over to pat Grant's shoulder. "Mother will do what's right. Killdeer and Mourning Dove have made it so."

Grant looked at his brother and raised one delicate eyebrow. "Shunka, you have to stop watching Star Wars, you are not Yoda," he chuckled as he remembered Maggie telling him of Lee's fascination of the Lucas films. "Thank you for coming to Sing with Damon, it means a lot to me. I don't know how we are going to do this; I know the men cannot be in the house with us. Mom will let us know, I suppose."

Lee shook his head and laughed. "A little green man, thanke', I think not." He looked at his sibling. "There is a place for Killdeer and Mother and Grandmother will find it for him. He will see to that." He stood. "We must go soon, Hummingbird. Too much time has passed and you need to repair your spirit. Both you and Killdeer will be better off for it."

****************

Once they'd all gotten to the Wolffe house and Damon had carried his small husband in and laid him on their sofa, Mourning Dove pulled the ex-Marine to one side. Sitting him down in the kitchen, she took one of his hands between her own and rubbed his fingers gently. "Child, you have done a good thing for your Birdie, but we aren't finished yet," she began as she looked at him through her rheumy eyes. "You need to pack some things and say good bye so we can begin. Lee is going to lead you and your boy through what you need to do."

Damon blinked at her. "But I am coming back tonight after the rite? Yes?" He stared at her and he knew in his heart that she was sending him away but he couldn't make his brain understand that. He grabbed his hair and pulled it forward. "Crane told me this is what I needed to do. You can't send me away from my own home, Grandmother."

She took his hand out of his hair and patted it gently, saddened that her grandchild had never explained any of their traditions with his husband. "It is not simply one ceremony, things will take place over the next few weeks," she explained. "The women and the men are separate to grieve. Are you able to stay with your boy? I think we'll have Crane bed down in the barn. You need to be ready to go soon."

Damon shook his head at her. One of his greatest fears was happening and nothing he could do was stopping it. Rachel was finally going to get her son away from the White Man. "No, Grandmother I...I can't leave. She'll send him Home. I know she will and then I'll have lost him." He grabbed her hand. "He's all I have left, Grandmother. Please. You've never sent me away before."

Mourning Dove sat back and looked at the man in front of her, what on earth was he thinking was going to happen? "Killdeer child, your Grant is home, no one is going to make him go anywhere else. Would you feel better if you stayed in the barn? You can call him everyday," she soothed trying to get the big blonde to calm down.

Damon shook his head. "You don't understand, Grandmother. Grant told her that he asked for her so she could Sing her mistake Home. I can't let her do that." He searched her ancient face. "Please, Grandmother."

It made sense then what Damon was afraid of and the old woman got to her feet, pulling Damon to his. "Come with me and we are going to settle this nonsense now," she said firmly as she made her way into the living room where they found Rachel standing behind where Grant was sitting in his chair, a comb in her hand. Grant had his head bowed and his mother worked another bit of grease into his hair before combing that section out. Mourning Dove pulled Damon around and pushed him to sit on the sofa. "Now talk to them both," she ordered and sat down next to him.

Both Rachel and Grant looked quizzically at them. "Damon, what is it?" Grant asked as he reached out to hold his husband's hand while his mother tugged the comb through his hair.

Damon grabbed Grant's hand and searched his face. "She wants to send me away from our home." He said softly. He didn't know why he had this seemingly irrational fear that if he walked out the door within a few days he would be burying his husband. He raised the other man's hand to his cheek and then turned to kiss his palm. "You asked her here to Sing you Home and she said she would." He closed his eyes. Thirty-seven years had passed since they were separated and he wasn't willing to let Grant go that easily. He had been an ass and abusive and failed Grant many, many times but he loved the younger man with his heart and soul. "I'll follow you if you leave me behind."

Rachel's harsh bark of laughter cut the silence in the living room; she looked at her son-in-law and shook her head before nudging Grant's shoulder. "See, I told you our work is never done when you have one of these in the house," she chuckled and then dipped her fingers back in the little pot of grease.

Grant shook his head at his husband; poor Damon looked so lost and confused. "No my husband, she was telling me I had to stay, that I need to be here to take care of you," he said as he cupped his husband's stubbled cheek tenderly. He stroked his thumb over the other man's cheekbone and drew him to where he was kneeling on the floor in front of him and he could stroke Damon's long blond hair. "You spelled it long, thank you."

Mourning Dove looked at the two of them and then at her daughter, she would advise that Damon stay, but stay away from them when they had their ceremonies, but it would ultimately be up to Rachel.

Damon moaned softly as Grant's fingers brushed over his cheek. "Any thing for you my Own, my All. You know that." He laid his head on Grant's lap and just breathed in the scent of the other man. "Tell me what I need to do, Hummingbird." He looked up into Grant's eyes. "I'll go if you wish me to but promise me you'll be here when I get back."

Rachel looked down at the couple and nodded to her mother. She was worried about how her son-in-law was reacting and the effects it might have on Grant.

Grant leaned down and whispered in his husband's ear. "Stop calling me Hummingbird, I hate that name and I'm hungry." He ended the whisper with a kiss to his man's cheek and sat back up so his mother could finish combing out his hair. He rarely put grease in his hair to make it shiny and realized how much he'd missed it.

Damon looked up at his husband and grinned. "If I have to be Killdeer then you have to be Hummingbird." He stayed on his knees, the mischievous grin still plastered on his face, then bent at the waist to the younger man. "You wish is my command," his smiled widened. "My Hummingbird. What would you like?"

Grant didn't say anything for a moment, but a look of longing was on his face. "I'd like the roll of cookie dough in the freezer please and a spoon," he replied and looked innocently at his husband. "And I've not called you Killdeer, so knock it off."

Damon stared at him. "In our freezer?" He snorted. "You have got to be joking me. The only things in there are the fruit pies that you make for me and your frozen chickens."

The small man rolled his eyes and muttered, "Look under the bag of peas."

Damon stood and made his way into the kitchen. He opened the freezer and lifted the bags of frozen vegetables and stared at the rolls of cookie dough that were hidden in the back. Chocolate chip, Sugar, White Chocolate macadamia nut, Peanut butter cup, Fudge chunk, M and M bits, and even plain peanut butter cookie dough sat at the bottom, hidden under the healthy foods. He took a deep breath. "Which one would you like, my Own?" He said sweetly.

In the living room, Grant grimaced and got to his feet slowly, making his way into the kitchen to stand next to his husband. He looked in at his bootlegged stash and then up at his husband. "I'm in trouble, aren't I? I'd like the peanut butter cup please," he said as he waited for Damon to reach in and get the frozen sweet, hoping that he wouldn't notice the Snickers bars that were in a baggie under the cookie dough.

Damon looked at his husband and reached in to pull free a log of cookie dough. Something else caught his eye and he pulled a bag of candy bars as well from the frozen goodies. "You and I will be having a discussion later, Injun." He said softly. He place the candy bars under his arm and handed Grant the cookie dough. "Go back to your seat, My Own and I will bring you a spoon." He walked out of the kitchen. "Magpie, Rachel, Mourning Dove, Lee would you like a candy bar?" He called as he wandered back into the living room.

Grant went back into the living room, rolling the tube of frozen dough expertly between his palms to thaw it enough to dig out with a spoon. He wasn't looking forward to owning up to his stash later and hoped Damon didn't take a notion to search the rest of the kitchen. Magpie eyed the sweet in Grant's hands and snorted. "Sweet tooth got you in trouble again?" she laughed as he sat back down in the chair and used his teeth to tear the end of the tube open. She could well remember how much trouble he'd gotten into growing up by snitching sugar from the canister in the kitchen. Grant looked up and followed Damon with his eyes as he came back into the living room. "Are you mad at me?" he asked softly.

Damon shook his head and presented him with a spoon. "No Pet, I'm not but I'll hear no more about my diet." He pressed a kiss to Grant's forehead. "I am happy to see you have an appetite again." He pulled the smaller man into his arms and squeezed him tightly.

After a few bites of the treat, Grant set it to one side and rubbed his stomach. "I'm finished," he said and reached out once more for his husband's hand, glad that he'd gotten the man to calm down some. "Damon, can you stay with Sev and Harry?"

Damon nodded. "I think so but let me call them to be certain first." A look of pain crossed his face and he met Grant's eyes. "It's almost time, isn't it?"

Grant nodded sadly and leaned forward to lay his head on his husband's shoulder. "My husband, I will come for you when it is over, I promise," he said and wiped at his eyes. He knew he was going to do some very difficult things that would only be made worse because he was separated from his husband. "I'll call you everyday, alright?"

Damon wrapped his arms around his husband. "You had better." He leaned closer to whisper in Grant's ear. "I love you, my Grant. Get better for us, baby." He kissed the side of Grant's face and closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of the other man.

Mourning Dove motioned to Lee and the man stepped forward and tapped his brother-in-law on the shoulder. "Come on Brother, we need to go and let them do what they must." He pulled Damon to his feet and led him out of the room as one of the women began an eerie chant that sent shivers up the spines of both men.

"Do you have a sleeping bag I could use?" Lee asked as he followed Damon to the bedroom where he was getting some clothes together. He knew he had to keep the other man out of there from now until his mother closed the period of mourning.

Damon nodded and pointed to the linen closet in the hall down from their bedroom. He grabbed the phone and dialled the Overlook once more as he continued to stuff clothes in a suitcase. A wail sounded from the living room and the hairs on the back of Damon's neck stood up and he had a whole body shiver.

Harry picked up the ringing phone and winced as he heard what sounded like banshees on the other end of the line. "Hello? Hello?" he said loudly and held the phone away from his ear a little.

Damon groaned. "Harry!" Damon yelled over the increasingly louder wailing. "This is Damon. I'll call back on the cell in a mo. Get Sev because I need a place to stay." He hung up the phone and grabbed his bag and his leathers and entered the living room to find Lee.

Lee was waiting just outside the living room and put a hand out to stop Damon. "We can't go in there just now." He turned and called back into the other room. "Mom, we need to come through."

The voices in the living room quieted and Lee grabbed Damon's arm and pulled him through quickly, not giving the other man a chance to look around and exited through the kitchen.

Out on the back porch, Damon looked around at his farm and shook his head as the eerie wailing reached his ears once more. He headed for the barn and opened the doors, made certain the door to the playroom was locked before he slung a leg over Grant's Sportster. He pulled on his gloves and looked at Lee.

"Sev lives not too far up the road from us about twenty miles or so. Do you want to follow me in Grant's car?"

Lee nodded and set the sleeping bag down on one of the work benches and looked around the barn for a comfortable place to sleep, noticing an old sofa setting further back against the outside of a stall. "Care if I sleep on the couch?" he asked and jerked his head towards the piece of furniture before taking the keys to the little car from Damon.

Damon shook his head. “Yeah go ahead, make yourself comfortable. Don't mind the mice." He pulled on a helmet and looked around the barn before looking at Lee again. "You'll be able to find your way back after dark? When night falls here it's black as the Ace of Spades."

Lee nodded and walked over to Grant's little car and climbed in behind the wheel, following Damon to The Overlook. He paid careful attention to landmarks and anything else he thought he might need to use in order to find his way back down to the farm his brother and brother-in-law owned.