Around Barry Island, UK, Monday Afternoon

[chose_humanity]

So maybe, just maybe, it would have been a good idea to text Jack HELP! more than five mintes before the part where George and Nina had run into a room full of feasting vampires wielding only a potted plant and a golf club, shouting "Who wants a piece of my plant?!" (George) to rescue young Adam, but, well, that was hindsight, and hindsight was

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[bitten_notshy]

George might have still been typing when Jack got to the house, out of breath and deeply worried. (And never mind how much Portalocity had charged for a last-minute ticket to Barry Island in the off-season.)

"...oh," he said as he let himself in (it was a former hotel, he figured it was allowed), visibly deflated when he realized the inn was standing and no one inside appeared to be injured. "So ... did you still need me?"

It wasn't that he was unhappy things had worked out somehow; it was just a bit difficult to suddenly not need to be a hero.

[chose_humanity]

Mitchell tore his attention away from George and Adam. "Jack, sorry," he said, "George tried to drop Adam off but he couldn't go through with it."

"I... ran into a spot of trouble," George allowed, "I may have... panicked a bit." He held up his phone. "I was going to apologize, I just... missed."

[bitten_notshy]

"You're paying me back for my portal ticket," Jack told George, and dropped into a chair.

"What was wrong with the people he was going to live with?" he asked, both disappointed and unsurprised; they were vampires, so many things could be wrong.

[chose_humanity]

"More like what wasn't wrong with them," Nina muttered.

"We couldn't just leave him there," George added.

Mitchell took a deep breath. Sometimes... he almost resented this. "Of course you couldn't," he said. "It's not who you are. You see someone who needs help, you help them."

[bitten_notshy]

"Even if it sometimes doesn't go exactly right," Jack added, glancing to George and Nina. He wanted to know more, but there'd be time later.

It might not even matter enough to ask.

"So we're back where we started."

[chose_humanity]

George looked ready to speak, but Mitchell beat him to it. "No, we're not," he said, reaching into his coat-- for the money he'd been given to enable his and Daisy's escape from the country that he...

Well, he hadn't seriously planned to use it for himself.

"Don't ask where I got this."

He threw a large bundle of bills on the table.

[bitten_notshy]

"Is it legal?" Jack asked, completely ignoring the directive.

He could think of only a few reasons anyone would have a large bundle of unexpected cash. Most of them were not on the right side of the law.

[chose_humanity]

"I said don't ask where I got it," Mitchell said, shooting him a look.

It wasn't illegal. Just... uncomfortable, and related to several illegal things.

Mitchell slid into a chair and got the full envelope out of his jacket, then started pouring the money onto the table. "Let's just say vampires look after their own, yeah?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Fine, that's better than you taking up drug dealing," Jack muttered, shooting a look right back.

And then he looked at Adam expectantly. The money wasn't for him; his input here was limited.

[46goingon16]

Adam stared at the money for a long while.

"But the craving... will come back," he said. "So... how do I fight it?"

[chose_humanity]

Mitchell glanced away.

He hurled some more money at Adam.

Then he glanced up and quite pointedly didn't look at either Jack or George. "You surround yourself with good people," he said. "That's what you do. You find someone better than you. Because then when you fail..."

He finally tilted his head up and looked at Jack. "You have to deal with their disappointment."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack smiled a little. He was well aware that he wasn't especially good by most standards. (Though he supposed the 27 days a month on which they didn't want to eat people gave the werewolves in the room a leg up.)

"And you listen to them," he said. "I've gotten good advice from unlikely sources, since I was bitten. Some of it -- helped."

[46goingon16]

Adam nodded. It was shallow and barely visible, but it was a nod of... some kind of understanding, at least.

"Okay," he said quietly.

[chose_humanity]

"We'll drop you off at the station," Mitchell said, sitting back. "Just... find somewhere. Make friends."

[bitten_notshy]

"You're technically old enough to have kids in college," Jack observed, by way of encouragement. "You can get by."