Author's Note: Well, let's see how Dru takes Sean's news about Carrie....hmmm...

Song for this Chapter: Walk Away by Ben Harper. Yeah....I'm kinda going with a Ben Harper theme for the Overlook scenes, I guess!

As Dru made her way out into the early spring morning, she stretched her arms up to the weak sun and joined the ranks of students filing out of the South Dorms and heading up Main Street to class. Alot of them looked grouchy—the ones that had started their weekend partying last night, but Dru was well-rested and very glad it was Friday.

She'd worked hard this week, and soon it would be over. She was actually looking forward to heading up to Hearne's camp this afternoon. It was strange, only seeing him at lunchtime, after having spent so much time with him the week before.

But they'd both had to pay for their week off. Hearne had been busy with Spring Festival details, and Dru had worked extra hard to get caught up on all her reading and coursework, as penance for her sins from the week before. She couldn't believe she'd spent an entire week drinking and crying, half-clothed and shivering in Hearne's arms—behavior she now considered absolutely ridiculous. She had survived juvi, an abusive boyfriend, and rehab, and yet she had let losing Sean Faraday bring her lower than she had ever been.

Well, that was done. No more crying over cracked walls and broken hands and Sean Faraday. No more obsessing over the look in his eyes when he'd found her in the woods with Hearne.

It was done. Between her display of magic and her epic mistake with Hearne, she had done Sean a huge favor and sent him running for the hills. So, she should actually feel good about that part. She was sure she had killed whatever affection Sean had felt for her.

So why was he standing in the doorway of the coffee shop, watching her, obviously waiting for her?

She stopped, feeling exposed, like she was on her knees in her bra again. Without meaning to, she pulled on her clothes, making sure she was covered in all the right places. Of course she was, she was wearing an oversized long-sleeved Sabit T-shirt, a scarf, legging and Uggs...a little more casual than she might have dressed two weeks ago, but hell, who was she trying to impress, anymore? Certainly not Sean. And Hearne didn't care about stuff like clothes, he cared about smells.

That wasn't fair. Sean had cared about more than the way she looked, she knew. Until she killed him caring.

As she approached him now, she couldn't help but notice that he looked...good. Really good. He always did, but there was something about him this morning...his rich brown hair was tufty and wild, and he hadn't shaved. She'd never seen him so...rough. It looked incredible on him. Dirty was hot, on Sean. She reminded herself that he was probably not thinking the same thing about her.

She slowed, preparing herself for an awkward exchange. She wouldn't let it upset her. He'd made it clear, he only wanted to keep a peace with her for Lana's sake.

"Hey," he stepped out in front of her, holding out her Friday coffee. She winced. Why was he using that voice?

"Hey," she replied. "Lana's—"

"At Finn's. I know. I'm glad."

Thank god. At the mention of Finn, his voice had returned to normal—the slightly tense side of normal, but at least he had abandoned the-drop-your-panties voice that drove Dru wild.

Dru's eyes widened. "You're glad?"

Sean grinned, still holding out the coffee to her. "Well, not particularly glad about her and Finn, but I'm glad she's not here this morning. " He hooked a thumb behind him, into the coffee shop. "Will you skip Soc with me? You were right, we need to talk."

Dru took the coffee and drank deep, mostly as a way to cover her shock. She considered. Her impulse was to do whatever Sean asked, but her impulses always got her into trouble.

She shook her head regretfully. "I can't. I skipped Soc all last week. Grier's let me make up last week's in class response paper, and if I don't turn it in today..."

Sean looked disappointed, but he nodded. "You're right. Grier's gunning for you right now. Let's go," he gestured her forward, and took the outer edge of the sidewalk. Dru looked confused. "Where is your bag?" she asked, looking back toward the coffee house.

"Uhh, I don't have it this morning."

"I thought Boy Scouts were always prepared," she teased.

"I am prepared. I've got you to take notes for me," he smiled—not the adorable effortless smile from a week ago, but more of a smirk. His eyes looked less hazel and more green than before.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Just before they entered the class, Sean touched her elbow, holding her back with the barest touch possible. "I still think we should talk. Will you walk with me to the overlook after classes?"

She swallowed. "Yeah, sure." Maybe it would be better for her and Sean to get some closure before tonight, anyway. Hearne was having the class planning meeting at his camp tonight, and she was sure after the business, it would turn into a party. The last thing she wanted was for Sean and Hearne to have a repeat of the new moon ritual.

Closure didn't feel like what was going on between them after class, when Sean winked, slid her notebook from her desk, and strolled out the door with it.

Dru trailed behind him. "Thieving, now? Isn't that against the Boy Scout code?"

"Hmmm...I was a Boy Scout. I've kind of...outgrown it." He was using the voice again, as he flipped through her pages of notes, taking pictures with his phone.

"Stop," she whispered.

He closed the notebook, leaned forward, so close that his lips brushed her ear.

"Stop what?" He used the same smoky tone, except now, she felt the vibration in her ear, against her throat, and it rolled down through her spine, and...lower.

She gasped, and he laughed against her ear. In the same tone.

She shoved him lightly, "You know exactly what you are doing, don't you?" she said with disbelief.

"You mean, do I know it gets your attention when I rumble you?" he murmured into her hair. She stood perfectly still, shivering as his voice worked its magic on her. "Yeah, I kind of figured that out a couple of weeks ago," his voice linked her with the memory of the last time he used this voice—that night in her dorm room when they had nearly had sex. Suddenly, she could feel everything she felt then—his body against her, his hands on her, his mouth sucking her throat. She felt the slow blush rise up her throat and spread across her cheeks.

He stepped back, watching her blush.

"There it is," he smiled and snapped several pictures of her while she laughed, protested, and grabbed for his phone. He prevented her attempts easily, managing to snatch hold of both her hands in one of his. When he let her go, she shoved him again.

His eyes lit. "Now you're the one who knows exactly what you are doing."

"You mean, do I know you like it when I shove you? Yeah, I kind of figured that out on Groundhog's Day," she teased.

"That little pushing thing you do with your hand is not a shove," he objected, laughing. "It's what my mama would call a love pat. But yeah, I'll admit it, I like it. I like it when you touch me in any way at all, Dru," he handed back her notebook, and checked the time on his phone. "You're late for Calculus. Meet you after, okay? There are some things we need to talk about." His eyes lost a little of their glint, and his voice was no longer sexy, but tinged with sadness.

Calculus didn't really exist for Dru; she spent the whole time trying to get a handle on her blushing face and her feelings. What the hell was happening? A week ago, Sean didn't even want to see her. Today, their interaction was effortless, more free and fun...and flirty than it had ever been. And it felt good, but it didn't change the underlying issue: her magic was bad loving. She would tell him that again at the overlook. She would make him understand somehow.

They didn't talk as they walked up the overlook. Dru knew instinctively that they were both trying to prepare what they were going to say. When they reached the top, they sat silently, shoulder to shoulder. The full day sun in early March was not particularly warming at this elevation, but the campus was already turning a hopeful sort of green below them. Dru basked in the brilliant blue sky, wanting this comfortable silence to last. In this moment, she could pretend they would be ok.

Sean took her hand in both of his. When he spoke, the timbre that made Dru melt was absent. His voice was clear, mild, but earnest. "Dru, maybe I made I mistake flirting with you this morning, but I wanted you to know that I'm over being angry. And honestly...I couldn't help myself. I love to make you smile...and blush," he confessed.

She squeezed his hand. "You're good at both. But it doesn't change anything, does it?"

He smiled a little sadly. I think we both know we aren't...good for each other, the way we are right now."

Dru felt her insides collapse a little. It's what she had been telling herself, what she had tried to tell him, but it was still devastating to know he understood and agreed.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I broke my promise to you about Hearne in the most horrible way possible, and I betrayed you before we even really started. I completely understand that I'm not trustworthy or...good for you."

"I'm sorry for the way things have happened between us, too. I'm sorry I asked for promises you weren't ready for. I'm sorry I didn't take your worries, and your magic more seriously. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to...ground it."

"It's my fault, Sean, not yours. This is all on me."

"No, it's not," he said forcefully. "You've been struggling with this all alone for way too long, and you were so brave to open up to me. I should have been...more honest the other night. The truth is...I have a secret of my own. I'm so used to living with my secret, even when you were telling me yours...I just couldn't. Was it not strange to you that I could so easily accept that you had power? Did you not wonder why I didn't seem...skeptical, at all?"

Sean was leaning close, with a penetrating gaze, but Dru didn't know where he was going with his leading questions. She had the sinking feeling it wasn't anywhere good. She swallowed back some tears and tried for a joke, echoing the words he'd used two weeks ago, a lifetime ago "Can you be a little more specific, Sean? Just so we are on the same page."

He smiled, remembering their pillow talk. He squeezed her hand again, and he looked straight at her, all the confusing mottled shades of brown and amber completely gone from his eyes, which were perfectly, alarmingly, familiarly green. "I didn't just grow up around witches. I'm a witch, too."

For once, Dru's face did not creep with internal flame, but paled. "What? You can't be serious."

He squinted one eye. "Guys can be witches, too. It's rare, but it happens occasionally. Most male witches are natural born witches, which means we don't necessarily have to study and practice for years in order to work magic. It's just in our blood, passed from a witch mother. And my mother...she's one crazy-ass witch. Magic has always run strong in my family, and my magic was powerful, like hers...alarmingly powerful by the time I was twelve years old. It's not easy to be a male witch. I didn't fit in with the menfolk up the mountain—most of whom don't even practice the craft, they are just...married to the witches. So I was a bit of loner. I sure as hell didn't want to be a "witchlin"—that's what the witches call the natural born witches—all girls, except for me. And like most kids, I rebelled against my parents. I refused to use my magic for anything constructive at all. I was an angry pre-pubescent mess, and the only person who could tolerate me at all was Lana. Everything you told me about your adolescence probably would have been my adolescence if the Mystic Mountain coven hadn't put a binding spell on my magic."

"A binding?"

"Yep. They locked all my magic away. I couldn't raise it, I couldn't even remember the spells. It sucked at first, like...losing a limb. But I got used to it."

"Why did they bind you?"

"Well, alot of things happened at once. Part of it was because of stuff I did, and stuff I said, and part of the reason was because my parents got divorced and I chose to move to Asheville with my dad. The Coven decided, if I was moving outside the protection of Mystic Mountain, I needed protection from myself. I was really angry about that for a long time; I didn't know they would bind me when I chose to leave Mystic Mountain, but in retrospect, it was good for me. I was kind of...humbled, without the magic, and I went in a different direction than the arrogant asshole I was on track to be. For a long time now, I was content to live magic free. I liked who I was without the magic. But recently that changed. On Groundhog's Day. Something sparked between us..."

"I remember," Dru said quickly. "When you put your arm around me, for the first time. I felt a...spark." She felt more tears spill over, and she hastily brushed them away. "I thought it was just me."

Sean reached out to touch her face, but she turned. They were her tears to wipe, not his. He looked sad, but dropped his hand.

"No, I definitely felt it, too. It was us—we made magic, because of our...attraction. And our...attraction cracked my binding open. It's not just your magic at play between us. Mine's been leaking out, and I didn't even realize it. I think that's why I've been so volatile. Hell, maybe I'm the one making you crazy, at this point. Maybe I drove you to Hearne that night, god knows, I made you...excited, and then upset. Maybe we're just feeding off each other. Who can say? There's no fault between us, okay? It's just the way it is, right now."

Dru looked him over carefully. "Wait a minute. That's what's different about you today—why you are...like this with the voice, and the hair, and the sexy attitude...your magic is back?" Dru asked incredulously.

Sean looked a little surprised. "Uhhm, yeah, maybe. I didn't realize I seemed any different. But that would make sense, I guess, the coven fully removed my binding yesterday."

Dru turned toward him, putting her other hand over the top of his. "Why would you do that? Why not have it fixed? Rebound? Maybe we can ask the coven to bind mine, too?"

Sean smiled. "Then what? We'll crack it back open every time I touch you. It won't work. I was so wrong. There's only one way this can work between us. "

"You...want us to work? Still? Even after..." Dru heart was pounding a fast rhythm, fearful and hopeful at the same time.

The adorable smile broke over Sean's face for the first time today. He laced her fingers through his hands. "Yes. I was angry and hurt, but I understand why you turned to Hearne. What happened that night was...bad timing, a mistake we both made...me for not being open and honest, you for letting fear run you to Hearne. But one mistake doesn't change how amazing I think you are. Do you still think I'm great? And trustworthy?"

"I do. You are," she smiled. "So you think there's a way we can actually...do this?"

"One way," Sean looked nervous. "But it won't be easy."

"What's the one way?"

"We both have to learn a helluva lot more magical discipline than we have now."

"And how do we do that?" Dru asked.

"By playing the long game."

"The long game?" Dru repeated, not understanding.

"Okay this is the crazy part, the part where you have to be open-minded..." Sean grabbed both of her hands, and put them to his lips, frantic, imploring. The gesture was so sweet, so sexy, and yet Sean seemed more anxious than she had ever seen him. Dru's heart ached. She would do anything to ease him in this moment. She leaned forward, her focus intent. 

"I'm listening."

"Hearne is..." Sean seemed to struggle with his words. He tried again. "Carrie is..." confusion streaked his face. "She's a... he's the...ahhh, dammit!" He jumped from the rock, pacing, tapping his mouth, like he was trying to make words form properly. The he stopped, staring at Dru, some kind of understanding settling his features from confusion into anger.

"Shit. I have a new kind of binding. A loyalty binding. That witch won't let me tell you about her. Or him." He lowered himself to the rock, putting his head into his hands. "Godsdammit, Dru. I'm not going to be able to explain this fully, no matter what I say."

Sean was starting to scare her now. She didn't understand what he was trying to tell her about Hearne and Carrie, but he seemed...suddenly inconsolable. She rubbed his back, and felt the spark of attraction between them. He felt it too, his chest broadening as he inhaled at her touch.

"Just say what you can. This is...kind of...blowing my mind anyway, Sean. But I told...I trust you."

Sean raised and kissed her on the forehead, then pressed their foreheads together.

"Try to remember that you trust me, okay? Because this is not going to be easy. And I can't tell you everything. But I need you to listen to me very carefully. Will you promise to hear me out? Please?"

Dru bit her lip. She was so bad at promises, so impulsive, so weak. "I promise, I will try."

He was silent for a long time, like he was trying to decide where to begin.

"Yesterday,I did a ritual with Carrie. I committed to an...interaction with her for a year and a day. Kind of a...program of study. If you and I are ever going to be together, I need training."

"What? You mean, you are studying to be a witch with Carrie?"

"Yes," he said, "She's the best...option to teach me."

"I don't understand. You said your mother is a witch, and all her friends. Hell, Lana is even a witch, right? Why don't you study with one of them?"

"Because all the Mystic Mountain witches are like family to me and it's inappropriate and...gross."

"To learn witchcraft from them?"

"No, not basic witchcraft. I learned all that years ago. What Carrie is going to teach me is..." he grabbed her hands again, rubbing his thumbs on the backs of her hands, willing her maintain eye contact, as if he could keep her calm with his steady green gaze, "is...sexwitchery. Spellcasting for protection and control and...pleasure, during sex."

Dru stood up. Sean stood up with her, but he wouldn't let go of her hands. He held on, like he was trying to hold on to the situation.

"Oh my god! Are you telling me you're sleeping with Carrie?" Dru hissed, snapping back her hands. He let go, only because to keep hold would hurt her, but grabbed her shoulders.

"No, not yet, but eventually...probably. Dru, hear me out..." he begged.

"Is this some kind of joke? Revenge for what I did with Hearne? Fuck...let me go!" she shouted, twisting. He let her go, not wanting to use force to keep hold of her. But he stepped around her, blocking her from retreating down the path.

"No, this is not revenge. This is me telling you...you were right all along!" He was almost shouting but he still had control, holding his hands out in front of her, pleading with her to wait. "Dru, remember, this was  your idea."

"I don't ever remember suggesting you should fuck that witch!" Dru spat. "I do remember begging you to make love to me,