You seem distracted, are you sure your fine?" Sam asked immediately after Dan once more took a wrong step and plunged his foot into the freezing stream.

"Ummm...no I'm alright, not distracted." Dan responded. 'Thank God he doesn't know what it means when I ummm.'

"Well, the map says we're getting very close to a lake with a campsite on one part of it's shore, so, I thought maybe we'd beat up a camper and steal his food." Dan turned around grinning and at the sight of Sam's shocked and worried face he burst out laughing. Sam immediately realised the joke and laughed also.

"No I'm not, I laugh all the time, you just have this talent for making me believe every word you say."

"What? No, don't do that, don't change because of me, jokes are good."
Dan turned around again grinning, "I'm joking Sam."

Beau froze in shock. 'Think fast.' "Sure Mrs. McKinnon, no problem but I'll have to go home and look up the address and password."

"Oh sure, come back tomorrow if that's ok for you, I have an appointment and some errands to run in a half hour anyway."

"Okay, no problem." Beau said feeling so relieved to be let off the hook that he didn't think to buy more time by lying and saying he was busy until at least the day after tomorrow.

Beau's palms were sweating on the steering wheel as he drove home. 'How the hell am I going to handle this?' He thought.

He got home and read the letter Dan left outlining the major importance of insuring that Dan's parents never find out the true nature of the trip.

When they got to the lake Dan had walked to the village near by where he bought a lunch and to his surprise, found a branch of his bank and he wired out the rest of his money. In the mean time Sam walked all the way around the lake to a nice secluded spot far away from the official campsite and pitched the tent. "What they can't see can't hurt us." He told Dan. Dan protested that they still had half the day left but Sam asked Dan to let them set up camp early as his feet were getting more sore. Dan didn't argue further. So, after eating Dan stretched out in the grass wearing only his shorts and enjoyed the sun while at the same time he lay on his front so that he could work on his journal. Sam did the same a short time latter. After about 45 minutes Dan found himself becoming very distracted by the near naked Sam laying on his back in front of him and the sweat dripping off his forehead and onto the journal he was supposed to be concentrating on.

The funniest yet strangest thought creped through Dan's mind and it was gone so fast that he never had a chance to consider it, 'you already are.'

Dan closed his journal, sat up to face Sam and wiped the sweat from his face. "Don't tell me you've never gone for a polar bear dip."

"Let me tell you a story. About two years ago in the middle of winter my dad drove the family to Lake Louise to go and see the great polar bear dip. On the way Dad explained that it's when a bunch of guys who are far too old to be doing such things jump out of a hot tub run across some ice wearing only shorts and go for a swim in freezing water to prove their manliness. While, riding in a warm car it sounded like a good idea and considering that mom wasn't there to stop me I asked if I could go too. My father has always let me do things that many dads wouldn't. Mom says it's cus he's not a very 'proactive' father but I think he just wants me to find things out first hand.

So the next thing I knew, I was running with like 40 other guys toward a gapping hole in the ice wearing only my underwear with my father and siblings cheering from the side."

"Oh I did it alright. You remember in the movie Titanic when Jack tells Rose that 'Water that cold hits you like a thousand knives stabbing you all over your body.'" Dan spoke in an accent and Sam smiled.

Sam and Dan stood side by side looking down into the water, along this part of the shore it was unusually deep, about 4 feet right at the shore.

"Okay." Sam grinned and took Dan's hand causing Dan to once again experience that mysterious tight chested feeling.

"S'not that bad, are you sure you don't just have a low tolerance for cold water?" Sam asked grinning.

Beau lay in bed, his eyes wide, staring at the roof. 'What the hell am I going to do?'

Gradually the sun rose over two very different worlds. Beau had very little sleep and was now dragging himself out of bed. Dan on the other hand woke up to something quite unexpected.

The first thing he could remember was that it was cold and damp in the tent. But the next thing he noticed was the radiant heat source to his left. Turning his head to the left he found himself inches away from Sam's sleeping face. Initially Dan panicked thinking he'd moved across the tent to be next to Sam in his sleep. After a quick look around he discovered that it was quite the opposite, Sam had moved across the tent to be next to him. Suddenly Dan felt his heart melt as he flopped down onto his pillow with a sigh. Gazing at Sam's peaceful face he allowed his mind to wander and next thing he knew he was marvelling at how cute Sam's nose was. 'Damn, this HAS to stop.' Dan thought angrily and just at that moment Sam woke up and was instantly face to face with a very mad looking Dan.

"I'm sorry Dan, I...errr...i was cold and I didn't think you'd mind..." Sam started to wiggle away and Dan quickly put out his arm and stopped him.

"Shh, it's okay I'm not mad at you, thanks for keeping me warm. I was just umm... I just had a dream where I was arguing with my mom and I must have woken up looking pretty sour. I'm sorry."

"Me too." Dan said as he used the arm he now had wrapped around Sam to pull him in.

"Yeah." Dan agreed as shifted his position a little in an attempt to avoid Sam finding out that he was starting to get hard. Instead, something very unexpected happened. As Dan put his free arm down between he and Sam to give him the leverage to role over he brushed past something hard in Sam's sleeping bag. Sam was instantly red faced and apologizing.

"It's okay, it's okay, don't worry these things happen all the time, especially in the morning."

"Don't be. Look, if it'll make you feel any better I have one too, it's just cus I haven't taken a piss this morning, something about a full bladder can do that."

"Well what do you know...the password doesn't work." Beau said as he got into his car. "No that won't work, damn it. Alright car, I know this may sound very strange but please, I'm begging you, don't start." Beau said as he turned the key and heard the engine start with ease. "Damn it, I fixed you too well."

"Ah good timing Beau, follow me upstairs. I just got the computer started and..." Dan's mom was interrupted by the telephone. "Oh, I'll go get that, you go and make yourself comfortable and go to this website. I'll be back in a moment."

"Right Mrs. McKinnon." Beau said as he proceeded up the stairs then took them two at a time as soon as Dan's mom was out of sight. He ran into the office where the computer was and did the first thing that came to his mind...Sabotage.

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The Journey

Chapter 11

By Sunshine Boy