107 - Morning Walk

*Critter, you know how to do the IIV, and you know how much medicine to give her. If you need more, call me. - Doc*

Darkness had only seen Camille like this a few times since she had moved to Louisiana nearly three years ago. And the longest she had been out had only been for about six hours. They had passed twelve hours overnight and she still had not moved. She still lay in the exact same position that he had laid her in yesterday when they got back from the park.

Critter was in the kitchen where he prepped the saline IV to be administered and let Darkness know when Tink needed to be taken away. Tink eyed the blonde man with a snarl as Darkness fastened the harness around his sleek body. With a final warning growl, he let the dark man guide him away.

He took the dog down to the beach of the lake and they walked along the shoreline. Removing the leash from the harness, the Doberman Pinscher was allowed to explore on his own. As they were headed back towards the house, Nicki came and joined them. Holding his arm out, his teenaged niece moved to his side and rested his arm on her shoulders.

“Good morning,” he told her as she leaned into his side.

“Morning,” she replied. “Do you ever get like that?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I get a little more sleep than she does, and we have different diseases that cause our insomnia. Stress makes hers worse and then that happens.”

“Does it happen very often?”

“No, maybe once or twice a year,” he whistled and Tink trotted back to him. Leaning down, he snapped the leash back on the harness. Holding the leash out to her, he asked, “You want to walk him?”

“Yeah,” she took the leash. “We were never allowed to have a pet. Mom did not want to clean up after them.”

“I know that sometimes it’s hard to tell, but I promise, your parents loved you.”

She nodded as they started up the stairs to the deck at the back of the large house. “I know they did. They tried to do right by us, I know this. They wanted the best for us and pushed us. But sometimes, it felt like they wanted too much from us.”

“That may be all parents,” he admitted as they crossed the deck, and he placed his hand on the door handle. “They want their kids to do better than they did.”

“Do you?” she asked.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head, “I want you three to be happy and to know that you are loved. I want you to be able to come to us with any questions, or fears or needs. I want you to know that I have no idea what we’re doing. But that lovely wife of mine, has been preparing for you to come live with us since your parents asked us.”

The door handle under his hand turned before it was pulled out of his hand as the door opened. They both turned and saw Chowder standing at the door. His face was split with a giant smile as he moved out of the way and motioned for them to enter.

“She’s … umm … she’s up.”

Darkness chuckled. “Omelet?”

“Omelet, pancakes, biscuits,” Chowder smirked. “I forgot how much she liked her carbs after an episode.”

With a dry laugh, Darkness unclasped the leash and Tink moved to his mistress and plopped down at her feet. She dropped a piece of bacon, and he quickly gobbled it up.

“For being such a little bitty thing,” Critter said as sat down at the table with a stack of pancakes and a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, “I don’t know where the hell you put all of that.”

“Fuck off,” his sister said with a mouthful of food.

“You know,” Celt said as he made his own plate, “you’re a parent now, you have to conduct yourself better.”

“Fuck you, too,” Camille replied as she pushed the empty plate of pancakes away and pulled the omelet and biscuits closer.

“You going to let your woman talk to us like that?” Duke asked from where he sat across from her with his own plate.

“Hell,” Darkness smirked s he moved to fix his own plate, “I’m waiting for her to tell me to fuck her.”

“What are you going to do?” Vin asked.

“If he’s smart,” Camille winked at the teen, “he’ll take me upstairs and fuck me.”

“*Ma belle*,” Darkness warned.

“Sorry, Vin,” she smiled, “we don’t have sex. I’m an innocent virgin.”

All the Saints quickly called bullshit as they laughed. Camille chuckled as she finished off her breakfast before putting her plates by the sink. She gave Darkness a quick kiss and said that she was going to go take a shower.

“By yourself,” Celt told her, motioning for Darkness to remain in his seat. “We need to go over what to expect this afternoon. We lost a day and Keisha’s family has already filed an injunction.”

Camille gave him a cold look and he merely shrugged. Darkness and the three kids had already gone through the prep with the lawyer. Instead of arguing with him, Darkness just pulled her back down for another kiss.

“Go on, *ma belle*,” he assured her softly.

She nodded and then looked back at Celt. “Do *not use my illness against me.”

“I would not think of it,” he sipped his coffee. “But Dominique may. Do not underestimate her and her desire to get what she wants.”

“Not here,” she hissed at him with a discreet eye glance at the kids.

“It’s okay, Camille,” Vin assured her. “We know that that side of the family is nothing more than absolute pieces of shit.”

“I don’t care how crappy they are,” Camille said calmly, “do not speak ill of them.”

Darkness watched her climb the stairs and head for their room. Once she was upstairs he turned a cold dark gaze towards Celt.

“I understand that her being out cold was an inconvenience,” Darkness started.

“Let me stop you right there,” Celt cut him off, “I love Camille like she’s one of my sisters. There is a lot about her that annoys me, but her insomnia and episodes are not one of them.” He held a finger up to stop Duke from saying something. “Shut up, the implication is there, the understanding is there, fuck the math.”

“It’s more grammar than arithmetic,” Critter said.

“You, boy, are going to get your ass left here when we go home,” Celt warned him. “And *Chris, you know your sister is not going to let you move in with her.”

“She might,” Critter’s voice cracked slightly.

“I won’t,” Darkness told him.

Critter looked back at his new brother-in-law. “Well, shit.”

“Exactly,” turning back to the lawyer, Darkness commanded, “Celt continue.”

Celt nodded. “Not once in her entire life have I ever, *ever, given her special treatment because of her condition. Nor have I given her a free pass for her sassy attitude afterwards. I’m not going to start now and there is no way that I am going to sugarcoat anything, either.”

“So, now that we have the air cleared,” Celt stood up, “I’m going to go set up for the appointment. When you are done here, go get ready. Darkness, there’s a beard trimmer in your room. I’m hoping that you know how to use it.”

Darkness smirked as the other man walked towards the office. “What if I don’t want to?”

Lifting his coffee cup in one hand to take a drink, Celt lifted the other to flip Darkness off before going into the office. Darkness laughed and the others around him joined in.

“Uncle Amos?” Mitch said quietly.

Darkness looked at the boy who had fear written all over his face. He asked himself what his light would do and smiled as he reached out and rested his large hand on the boy’s much smaller one. “What’s up, Mitch?”

“We’ll get to live with you, right?” he asked with a little tremble in his voice. “You won’t let us go with them?”

“No, Mitch, I won’t,” Darkness assured him with a smile.

“Let me tell you something, little man,” Duke smiled across the table. “Celt, he’s an O’Malley, and O’Malley’s don’t back down. You’ve seen the fun side of him, maybe a little bit of the asshole side, but you haven’t seen the lawyer.”

“There’s not much in this world that scares me,” Chowder admitted, “an O’Malley in the courtroom makes my balls shiver and butt hole pucker.”

Critter and Bam Bam nodded, and each offered a fist bump to Chowder.

“Celt has argued a few cases in my court,” Bam Bam gave a dry chuckle, “he can make my butt hole pucker.”

“And you're family,” Critter assured the siblings.