Carter waved at a surprisingly happy looking Nate as he leaned against the van. He expected Nate to give him attitude but this time his nephew actually waved back. It was actually kind of... weird. He squinted his eyes uncertainly as he said, "You sure look… happy?"

Nate flinched. "I'm what?"

"Happy? Or, I guess not annoyed."

Nate rolled his eyes, slamming the door shut.

"Ah," Carter chuckled. "There's the Nate I know"

His nephew slouched in the seat. It stayed silent between them until they entered the city. "You can drop me off at the parking lot. I'll walk." Nate said as they got to the church's street.

Yeah right - Carter thought bitterly. "If you're trying to sneak off, don't. These meetings are here to help you, not punish-"

"Yeah, yeah." Nate rolled his head back. It wasn't like he could explain it was because he was worried about him seeing Simon. Where would be the point in that? "I just thought, so you don't have to drive into the lot. You know, just make it quick."

"It doesn't matter to me." They stopped at a light just before the church. "I'll take you to the door. Like last time."

Nate let out a breath as he glanced to his right towards the church. There was only so much he could do to keep Simon's secret. The rest would be on up to him.

"You know I'm only doing this to help you, right?" Carter asked, glancing to the passenger seat.

"I know."

"I can't force you to go, but at least giving it a try-"

"I am."

As they reached the parking lot of the church; Nate counted his lucky stars that everyone seemed to have gone inside already.

"Alright, I'll pick you up after the mee-" The door slammed shut, cutting Carter off. Just take in a deep breath, he reminded himself, and count back from five. "It's fine." He let his contained breath, letting his wife's kind words come to mind. "He's just stressed. Give it another week or two."

Like last time the first floor of the church was dark. At his right were a set of steps leading to a lit hallway filled with noisy teenagers. He sighed to himself, wondering if this would ever, eventually, help him. So far his opinion was pointing towards no.

Upstairs the group had gotten divided based on sex; with the boys standing by the doors and the girls leaning against the windows. Everyone turned to face him. It seemed like everyone was in attendance, except for the sponsor.

"Yo, Nate!" Oliver called. “We were taking bets you wouldn’t show. Guess Simon won.”

Nate glanced at Simon, who was leaned against the wall with his head down. “You made a bet on me?” He wondered, fully aware that Simon couldn’t hear him.

“We hardly ever get new members,” Logan exclaimed. He was brimming. Probably the most excited of the group to have a new member. Everyone else seemed more or else uncaring. “So, Oliver made a bet you wouldn’t come back. Honestly, you didn’t seem like it here, anyway.”

“I promised my uncle I’d at least try it.” He turned to the girls. “Where’s Stan?”

They shook their heads. “He’s probably just running a little late. If he doesn’t show up, somebody else will." Peneloping assured him. "We can’t start a meeting without a sponsor.”

Nate hummed, leaning against the wall beside Simon. “What do you think of the message here?” He asked, very curious. “I mean… how can you just forgive so easily?” Surely he wasn't the only one that felt reluctant about that.

“Oh, it’s not easy,” Oliver jumped in to assure him. It bothered Nate how he had such a bright smile on his face. Not nearly as annoying as Logan's, but still very much present. “And it's still a work in progress, you know? I guess… I like coming here so I can vent about my mother's drinking with people who get it.”

"Ugh, but that's what I did last time... vent…" He huffed, deciding to forget about that confusing part for the time being. "So what do we do here? Last time was just introductions so-"

"Do you know our twelve traditions?" Logan asked, already digging around his backpack for the book. "We're supposed to follow the twelve traditions. They're like the guidelines to our self-recovery and they're similar to the twelve step program that the AA people use. They're just edited and applied to us."

Logan took a moment to turn through the pages for the section he wanted. "Here. So, the top is twelve steps and below that are our twelve traditions."

Reluctantly, Nate took the book from him to read the page. The first tradition seemed pretty straightforward, unifying themselves in order to help one another. The second, however, made him scoff. "Seriously?" He scowled at Logan, point to God. "So this is a religious group."

The boys were quiet for a moment to figure out how to explain that. Finally, Addy stepped across the hallway to the boy's side. "It doesn't have to be God. It could mean yourself. Or the universe. God can go by many names. What you're looking for is spiritual enlightenment. Or whatever gives you hope."

Oliver added, "Our group relies on the fact that we're all victims of alcoholics. Beyond that, we have no opinion about your other affiliations. So, even if you're a different gender, or follow a different religion, or have different political views. We're not supposed to judge." He leaned forward, pointing to the tenth tradition. "We're here to fix problems, not cause them. So as much as no ones gonna say anything about you being atheist, you shouldn’t say anything if one of us believes in God.”

Peneloping made a noise. "Yeah, let's just not talk about religion, ya know?"

Nate frowned. “Yeah, but I’m not an atheist. I just think believing in a dude in the sky is stupid-”

“Oh!” Everyone flinched as Stan huffed up the stairs, a folder in one hand and his other clenching the metal railing. “Ah, good. Everyone's here. Behaving?” He looked straight at Nate, shooting him a brief warning look before coming up to the door and unlocking it.

The kids filed in and took their seats around the table. Stan, as usual, took the head of the table. “Apologies for being a bit late. How is everyone today?”

“Fine.” The group was a bit monotone.

As for Nate, he had slumped in his chair and glanced around at the other teenagers.

“Then let's get started.” He smiled despite the group's lack of enthusiasm and opened his folder.

The meeting started. Nate looked over at Simon who was playing with the sleeve of his shirt, obviously not paying attention. Nate glanced over at Penelope, who had decided to wear a Code Geass shirt that day, and continued to go on and on about her dads drinking.

“He got a new girlfriend.” She explained. “And he seems happy. He even stopped drinking. I want to be helpful and supportive, but I can’t help but think that he’ll start up again. You know, its a fresh romance so one of these days he won’t be able to pretend anymore.” She leaned forward. “I’m really stressed out about it.” She paused, turning to Stan as she finally nodded.

He offered her a smile. “Thank you, Penelope. Addiction is a hard thing to beat. The most you can do is give him your full support, but don’t put too much expectation into it.”

She let out a puff of air that sounded like a failed attempt at a laugh. “I’m trying not to.”

Stan gave his attention to Nate. “Would you like to share something?”

He rolled his eyes, sitting up. “What do you want me to share?”

The sponsor shrugged, playing with the creased corner of his papers. This kid was starting to really piss him off. “What’s on your mind? Whatever you say will not leave this room.”

“Well… my mom is a selfish brat so-”

“This isn’t a place to complain,” Stan warned. “What has she done?”

Nate bit his cheek, trying to calm down his growing irritation. Exactly what was the point of these damn things if not to complain? The others seemed to do it. What was he saying that was different? “She wants me to go see her in the halfway house.”

“And you don’t want to?”

He breathed. Not a chance in hell. He couldn’t even bare looking her in the eye. “How can I forgive her when she’s never apologized?” And by that, he meant a real apology. One that didn't feel so artificial.

“Right, well…” Stan adjusted in his seat. “I can tell that you're awfully bitter about your circumstance. The disease can be frustrating, I know, but how will she ever be able to apologize if you never give her the opportunity?”

“She isn’t sorry.” Nate clenched his fists under the table. “She’s never sorry.”

“Well, she must be a little sorry.” Nate flinched at the new, familiar voice. He hadn’t really expected Simon to participate. “If she managed to see she has a problem and sought help. Doesn’t that mean she hit rock bottom?”

By the end of the meeting, Nate had gone quiet. He stood by the wall with the others; waiting by the doors of the first floor for their rides to come and get them. Once Simon descended the stairs, the two caught each other's eyes. Nate took the opportunity to gesture him over. There was a bit reluctance in Simon’s steps as he turned to Nate, but they met in the corner anyway. “What?”

“How could you hear me bitching?”

He held his phone out with a sly grin. “Speech to text. It wasn’t working most of the meeting, but you're so damn loud it picked up everything you were saying.”

“How are you getting a new one?”

Simon cocked his head. “A new what?”

“Hearing aid.”

“I… um,” He debated telling Nate the honest truth. Either way, there wasn't a chance in this reality he’d earn forty-three thousand dollars in time for the end of school. “I’m figuring it out.”

“You sure?”

“Yes?” He took a step back with a furrow in his brow. “Are you worried? That’s weird.”

Nate turned away in the hopes of hiding how awkward about this he felt. “L-look… if you need any help with anything, just ask.”

“Huh?” Simon cocked his head to get a better angle at Nate’s face. “I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”

“See you tomorrow, okay?” Nate forced a smiled, tapping Simon’s shoulder as he rushed out of the doors for the parking lot.

Carter was already waiting there drumming away on the steering wheel to some old AC/DC. He turned the radio down as Nate slammed the door shut, sinking his existence into the seat. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Just drive.” Nate's face was hot, for some reason. He sunk until he was shorter than the window and remained there. Hiding. From Simon and probably the world.

This was definitely curious, Carter suspected. But he didn’t bother asking. For now.