Lean on me

Who: Gabe and Nate
Where: phone, then Gabe's house
When: Late afternoon

After Nate left Cassandra's his priority was to call Gabe, check up on him, hopefully get to talk to him somewhere private. He didn't go home, instead just parked the car somewhere close by and lit up a cigarette while he thought about just what to say. How much did Gabe know? How the hell was he going to explain all this shit. At least he could talk, he hadn't been all that good at that on Friday night at Gabe's house. He took a deep breath, then dialed Gabe's number, waiting through the dial tone.

When Gabe answered the phone, he'd been resting on the couch in his living room. The tv was on, but the volume was so low that his mother couldn't hear it. He could. Sure, it was soft, but he could follow it if he directed his attention towards the tv. Gabe didn't find this miraculous. He found it creepy, and he wondered just what else he could hear if he put his mind to it. What had he been hearing that he didn't realize no one else could? The phone ringing seemed loud, even though it was just on vibrate. "Hey," he answered, seeing Nate's name on the screen. "How's it going?"

"Okay, considering everything," Nate replied, taking another nervous drag of his cigarette. "I think we, you and me we kinda, we should talk. About what happened on Friday. We definitely need to talk." So much for subtle. "Are you busy right now?"

"No, just... listening to the clock," Gabe said with a small frown. He'd heard a clock tick before, but not when it was in the other room. "You wanna drop by? Mom's just running errands, so I'm hanging out." And thinking. He'd been doing more thinking lately than he cared to detail.

"You think she'll be home soon?" Nate asked, already pulling out of the parking space to head over to Gabe's place. "Because, we kind of need to talk in private..." He wondered if Gabe knew anything about what he wanted to talk to him about and the mere thought of bringing it up was giving him an early onset of ulcers - or at least that's how it felt.

"She'll be a while," Gabe said, then hesitated. He had the feeling he knew what Nate wanted to talk about, and before his friend tried to jump in and break the news to him, it would probably be nice if Gabe gave him a heads up on what he already knew. "She knows I was bitten by a werewolf, if that's what you're worried about," Gabe said softly. "We're calling it a car accident."

"Shit," Nate sighed, relieved that he didn't have to sell the fact, convincing Gabe that he wasn't crazy. "Okay so, what else do you know? I mean... Your mom is obviously in the know. Fuck, let's talk about this in person, cool?"

"Cool," Gabe said, nodding to himself. This would definitely be easier in person. "I'll see you in a few," he added, rising from the couch to get himself put together. He needed a few minutes to gather his thoughts anyways. It didn't seem worth it to hide anything from Nate, who'd actually witnessed the event, so that made things easier.

"Yeah, be there in a few," Nate agreed and hung up. He arrived at Gabe's house just a few minutes later, stubbing out his cigarette before heading up to the house. It was weird to be back there, seeing again the scene of the crime so to speak. "Hey," he said quietly when the door opened, smiling faintly at Gabe. "Hope this isn't a bad time or whatever. I wanted to call sooner but... yeah."

"Hey," Gabe said, opening the door for Nate and letting him in. He'd very carefully put on an undershirt, specially bought a few sizes too big. It made it easier to pull on over his shoulder, which was still bandaged over the stitches, but at least he wasn't wandering around shirtless today. "It's okay. Yesterday was kinda... hard. Today's better, I guess. How're things with you?"

"Yeah," Nate said quietly. "At least you're not totally in the dark here." He shrugged off his coat and got his boots off before coming in, feeling pretty damn awkward. "Listen, I don't know if your mom... she's not here, is she? How much does she know?"

"Still not here," Gabe said with a little smile. "She's the one that told me... what it was. I don't really know how much she knows. We haven't talked a lot about it, since... I've got a month to figure it all out. I did talk to Claire, though. She was the one that actually determined I... what... what it means for me." Gabe wasn't sure what he wanted to say here, not sure what Nate knew, or what was common knowledge on a subject he struggled to accept as reality.

"Okay, just... be careful who you talk to," Nate told him. "Someone's passing out flyers in town, about you know, if you need help. Don't call the number. There's a lot of hunters in town and, things are just kinda fucked. You need to stay safe and..." He trailed off, grinning faintly. "Okay, I'm going off at light speed here, sorry. You wanna sit down or something and talk?"

If there was one thing that was going to freak Gabe the fuck out, it was the idea that he would now be in danger of being hunted down. It had been bad enough when he'd thought he was a threat to Drea. "Yeah, let's sit," Gabe said, moving over to the couch. Taking a seat, he pulled one of the pillows into his lap to wrap his arms around. "I haven't been out of the house, except to go to the hospital, and mom insisted that we go to Ishpeming. Claire's the only one I've told. I was pretty much gonna tell people it was a car accident, that I took the window out with my shoulder or something. Got stitches. I need a story for why I'm on the bench in hockey."

"Yeah, that's good and, real smart to go somewhere else," Nate said with an eager nod. "Shit man, this is a lot to take in but you're... yeah. You're infected and you're going to need to stay safe and keep it a secret." He bit his lip and wondered just how the hell he could have said that a little more delicately. "I know - I've known someone who was the same, and he... he had this cage like thing in the basement, it's doable, okay?"

"I'll need a cage?" Gabe asked, growing more uncomfortable with the situation. He hadn't thought about what to do on the full moon yet, figuring he had lots of time, but a cage? That was worse than being called infected, which gave him flashbacks to 28 Days Later. While he wasn't becoming some crazed zombie-like creature, he might as well have been. "I guess I hadn't thought that far."

"Yeah, I don't blame you," Nate said with a sympathetic frown. "But yeah, you do. You'll... you'll be like that thing from sundown to sunrise on a full moon.. You'll need something that'll keep you safe. And - you know - everyone else. I can help you but it'll... It'll be hard to do this discreetly now, since everyone's on alert for wolves. Might be safest to do the shopping somewhere else, somewhere a bit far away from here." He paused, the technicalities could wait, Gabe looked pretty much mortified by now. "Listen, Gabe... This isn't the end of the world, okay? I went to school with a guy in Austin, he showed me... he had this really secure kennel and he's lived with it for years." So, that was all a lie, but he wasn't about to tell Gabe Cassandra's secret, even if it was a secret they now shared he couldn't betray her confidence. Not until she decided Gabe could come talk to her.

It was feeling like the end of the world again, like he was now a dog that needed to be shoved into a crate once a month. Kennel, cage, whatever he wanted to call it. It still served the same purpose-- to keep people safe from him, because next month he would be the one ready to rip everyone to shreds. "How do you build a human size cage strong enough to hold a werewolf?" Gabe asked, remembering how he'd kicked the monster, only to have it take a couple steps back. It had been strong. "I mean, it's not like I can just buy something like that at the store. And if everyone's alert? I-I don't want someone hunting me down." Gabe paused, thinking about Nate's friend and the tactics he might have used. "Could you maybe email your friend and put him in contact with me?"

Nate nodded. "Yeah I can do that and... yeah, it's possible, I've seen it. He had it built for him but obviously it was under better circumstances. No people around looking for signs of infection for one. We'll figure something out, I'll do everything I can to help, okay? We could take the van for a weekend road trip if that's what it takes, go somewhere far enough away to buy what we need. Maybe we can find somewhere that's already... I don't know, abandoned but sturdy. Like the old orphanage? There's gotta be some kind of boiler room or something that could hold..." you. He furrowed his brows as he thought about it, his mind going a hundred miles a minute. "You're not alone, anyway. Your mom already knows her shit and I'm here too, when you need help you just call me."

"The morgue has a basement," Gabe said softly. Oddly enough, he'd feel safe at the morgue. It wasn't the kind of place people just wandered into, like the orphanage, and he'd spent enough time there with his mom that it didn't creep him out too much. "I don't know if my mom knows her shit, but she knows more than I thought she did. It's all still pretty new to me, though, and I... I never thought I'd be a part of it." It was one thing to practice white magic with Claire and her mother, and quite another to no longer be completely human. Magic hadn't changed him; the bite had.

"Yeah?" Nate asked, about the basement, then frowned again at Gabe's words. "It's not going to be easy but so far... You haven't hurt anyone and if we do this right, you never will. If we do this right, you'll never get hurt either, not by this." He almost told him how much worse it could be but that wouldn't help Gabe feel better so why bother? Telling him how the werewolf could have killed everyone close to him before infecting him - like it had Cassandra... There was no point to it. "Just be careful who you tell about this."

"Of course," Gabe said, nodding in agreement. He'd told Claire, but he trusted her, and he knew she was aware of what was out there. While he trusted Kyle, he didn't think Kyle would believe him, and that was a good enough reason to hold off for now. The number of people he was willing to tell was rather small, and he'd have to think about it before he let anyone else in on this one. "Anything else you think I need to know? Like... urgently?" Gabe asked.

"I don't know," Nate said quietly. "There's a lot of shit but I think I've covered the bases. Don't draw attention to yourself, the town is crawling with hunters and uhm... Don't trust people with the secret yet or even just with the fact that you got hurt. Don't call that number on the fliers. If there's someone you want to know, maybe run it by me first. I could talk to them first and find out the lay of the land."

Gabe wasn't entirely sure that it was necessary to run it by Nate first, if he wanted to tell someone. He wasn't going to tell him about Drea, and other than that there was just-- "Charlotte," Gabe said thoughtfully. "I'll probably tell Charlotte." And he wasn't going to explain why either. "But that's really it. I'm gonna tell everyone else I got in a car accident, if I have to say anything at all. The hockey team'll know my shoulder's hurt for that reason, since I'm not up to swinging a hockey stick right now."

"Yeah, it is a good plan," Nate agreed with a small nod. "I didn't know you were friends with Charlie, like... that close, I mean. You sure telling her is a good idea?" Kavin had apparently trusted her with his secrets so she seemed to be trustworthy but Nate still wasn't sure that was the best of ideas. "Maybe you should stick to need to know basis for now, while everything is this flammable."

"Yeah, I'm close with Charlotte," Gabe said, a touch annoyed. "If I'm going on a need to know basis, then she's one of those that needs to know. I only have a handful of people that I'd trust with something like this and she's one of 'em." And he didn't have to justify himself to anyone! As much as he didn't think anyone needed to know, he needed a few friends on his side that could help him, and Charlotte was at the top of that list. Gabe's ears perked up as he heard his mother pull in the driveway, not entirely sure if it was loud enough for Nate to hear or not. "Mom's home."

Okay creepy, Nate didn't hear that at all and he could probably attribute it to Gabe's changes. "When I say need to know basis, I mean the people who need to know to help you," he said in a firm tone. "Anyone else can wait until things quiet down around here. There's just too much risk of people overhearing, someone slipping up, anything. You don't want that."

He wasn't going to argue with Nate over who he could tell and who he couldn't. Charlotte could help him, he was sure, but he didn't have any reason to explain that to Nate. He was starting to think Nate wouldn't have wanted him to tell Claire, if he hadn't already told her. "I get what you're saying," Gabe said, dropping the subject because it was his decision, not Nate's.

"I should go," Nate sighed since it was obvious Gabe was tense now and irritable, also his mom was home and Nate didn't deal too well with parents. He got up and ran his fingers through his hair, worrying at his lip for a moment before speaking again. "If anything is wrong, doesn't matter what or you feel like someone might be onto you, even if you're wrong... Just, call. I can help." Hesitating again he finally asked what had been kind of gnawing on his brain since it happened. "Are you going to tell Kavin?"

Gabe felt bad for cocking attitude, but he wasn't exactly calm himself. He'd been dealing with more than just being bitten, even if he was the only one in town who gave a shit about Chrissy. He was irritable, tired, and upset on and off, so hopefully Nate would forgive him. "Sure, I'll call," Gabe said with a sigh. He trusted Nate, that was certain, even if he wouldn't have told him before this all went down. "I hadn't been planning on telling Kavin," Gabe said, lips turning down. "You think I should?"

"If you want then... Let me talk to him first, okay? Clear the way?" Nate was pretty sure Kavin wouldn't do a thing to hurt a friend, but he needed to be sure. If he was right, Kavin might be able to help - keep an ear to the ground, see what was up with other hunters around them. "I think he... might be of help. Just a gut feeling."

Gabe wasn't so sure, but he nodded anyways. He'd never discussed anything of this kind with Kavin, which made him uncertain if he should. He didn't know what kind of reaction he'd get, but then Nate was closer to Kavin than he was... which was odd in itself, seeing as how short a time he'd been there. Then again, some people clicked, just like he and Claire. "Let me know what you think there," Gabe said. "I don't know what kind of stuff he knows and I don't wanna freak him out or anything."

Nate just nodded at that. Not like he was going to tell Gabe that he had nothing to worry about there, that Kavin already knew plenty. "I'll be careful," he promised and gave Gabe a small smile. "You gonna walk me out?" He asked then, making a move for the door.

"Sure," Gabe said, rising from the couch. "Thanks for coming over. It's been a hard couple of days and I don't always know how to feel about it all." It was quite the understatement, but he didn't want Nate to know that he'd been falling apart yesterday, aside from the visit from Claire. Everything was changing, and it was changing fast. It was all he could do to try and keep up.

"Like I said," Nate told him as they walked to the door. "Call me and I'll come over, for whatever. I... kind of know what you're going through. Not quite but, kinda. So just... If you need to talk or just need to get out of the house, drive somewhere, anything..." He let that hang there and grabbed his coat, putting it on.

Gabe was curious how Nate could possibly know what he was dealing with, but didn't press too hard. If it was anything like his own situation, then Nate would hopefully tell him in time. "Yeah, definitely," he nodded. "I... I may need your help with this cage stuff. Just give me some time to... get used to the idea. Then maybe we can road trip for a day," Gabe said with a little smile. He was trying not to freak out about the cage. It was hard not to. Gabe stood at the door, his hand on the knob, waiting for Nate to finish putting on his coat. "And you'll talk to your friend, right? The one who's like me? Give 'em my email address or something. I'll text it to you. I'd like to hear from them."

"Yeah I'll do that. And... I'd definitely feel better road tripping for that over a weekend to be honest," Nate mumbled, crouching down to get his laces done. "But you know, I'm a little paranoid at best, I think. Everything's just so damn crazy right now and... shit, just... just knowing there's all these hunters and people searching for the infected. It's scary shit."

Hunters. Gabe wasn't even aware of them in town. He didn't know how to spot them, but apparently they were all over the place. Dean had been worried about them to, for Lullaby's sake. Now Gabe had a much better idea of how that felt and hated the way he'd handled that situation. He hadn't known, though. He hadn't understood. "Yeah, scary shit," Gabe agreed softly. "Paranoia's fine. I'm right there with you." He just needed to get his head straight first, and then maybe he'd be better at addressing the issues.

"Just think of it this way," Nate said softly as he got up. "You have a month to figure things out and by the time that... that happens we'll have it sorted, okay? I'm not about to jump ship here. I'll be there for you." He grinned awkwardly and nudged Gabe in the shoulder. "It's the least I can do for the whole wallpaper fiasco, right?"

Gabe was glad Nate had picked his good shoulder to nudge and he laughed softly in response. "Well, I appreciate it. I'd be lost if I didn't have such knowledgeable friends. This is really all new to me," Gabe said. He was sure Nate had figured that out by now, with the fact that he was asking all sorts of questions. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, man. Thanks for dropping by."

"Yeah well, not like shit like this happens to just everyone," Nate said with a sympathetic smile. He opened the door and winced at the chill outside. "See you at school, take care, man." With a small wave he made his way outside, hugging his coat tightly around himself and hiding his hands in the sleeves.