It's been awhile, but here's the next chapter of their adventure! Be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think of the story!

It wasn't long before we entered Portland, Oregon. Chesmu had been running for about 3-4 hours at a time, then we'd stop, eat and rest for as long as we'd been going. It wasn't the most efficient travel method, but we couldn't really afford anything else.

Anytime we came across a town, we'd look for a McDonalds or Starbucks to use their wifi and outlets to charge our phones. We also had to find places that were open during weird times of the night, since we didn't really follow a sleep schedule for now. Ches had taken a few power naps here and there while I scrolled through what my friends posted online.

"Hey, Ches, everyone at school thinks we eloped." I showed him my phone as he packs his stuff up before we head back out. He grabs it, grinning.

"Well that's something we'll have to deal with when we get back. I wonder what Hisaka thinks of that." He laughs. I roll my eyes.

"To be honest, I haven't given him a whole lot of thought."

We hit the road again, making good time out of Portland and across the border into California.

When we stopped off again for a break, I looked through the receipts from all the food we'd bought.

"I think we can afford a hotel tonight." I tell him. He's been running this whole time as a favor for me, the least I can do is give him a solid night's sleep. We'd been gone for just over a day now, and so far, neither of us had gotten much sleep.

"A hotel? Won't that be expensive? We're in the middle of nowhere."

"Mount Shasta is a tourist spot. We can walk there if you're tired, it's probably an hour or so walk. And from the hotels I've found online, it shouldn't be more than $150 or so." I assure him. I feel perfectly comfortable spending a night with Chesmu in a hotel, he knows I'm more or less off the market, and I know he wouldn't be able to get away with making a move, since the entire wolf pack would know pretty quickly with their whole mind meld thing.

"Alright, it's your money. I sure could use a good night's sleep." He yawned, and I found a hotel to book, dialing the number to see if they had rooms available.

"Hi, I'm coming into town later today, do you have any hotel rooms available?" I ask the receptionist. She mentions I should've booked in advance to guarantee a room. "Oh, I know, and I'm so sorry about that. We weren't planning on stopping, but we had some uh... car troubles, so here we are!" I fake a cheerful explanation, shrugging when Chesmu looked like he wanted to laugh.

"Wonderful, thank you so much!" I tell her, hanging up. "What?" I finally look over at my companion.

"Car troubles? Won't it be a little suspicious when we show up without a car?"

"Exactly, our car broke down and we're walking into town while we wait for it to get fixed."

"Why woudln't we have a tow truck drive us there?" He points out, laughing.

"I don't know, I don't know how these things work, okay?" I roll my eyes, realizing my story may be a little fishier than I thought. "Either way, it's none of their business. We're paying customers. She said they should have enough rooms to give us one, but it's still first-come-first-serve without a deposit."

We joke around for the rest of the walk. It's nice to be able to talk to someone instead of just silently hanging on while he runs.

We've covered around 600 miles in about a day and a half by the time we get to the hotel. We look awful, my hair is a mess and we smell like we haven't bathed in forever, which we haven't. A shower and bed will be welcome.

The hotel is able to give us a room with two twin beds, and Chesmu and I high five as we walk to our door.

"Ladies first." He says when we're inside, gesturing to the bathroom.

"No, you go ahead. You've run several hundred miles, you smell way worse." I tease, giving him a shove towards the shower.

"Oh and here I thought you were being courteous." He teases, closing the door.

I make myself comfortable on the bed by the window while I wait. My phone is plugged in and charging, and my feet welcome the reprieve.

The world outside the window feels closer to my home than I've felt in awhile. I love La Push, but it's still a bizarre little town with tons of secrets.

Chesmu comes back out, wearing a new tshirt and cutoff shorts.

"It's all yours." He gestures with his head. I hop up, grabbing my bag and going in.

The steam on the mirror has a creepy looking clown face drawn onto it, and I roll my eyes at my friend as I unpack my things.

All I brought was many changes of clothes and a toothbrush, although so far I haven't used it. My mouth feels disgusting, but I haven't felt the urge to brush my teeth in a dirty McDonald's bathroom.

I sit down on the toilet to pee, dismayed to find a spot of blood in my underwear. I smack my forehead. With everything going on, I didn't realize my period was due.

And I have no pads.

Well, this will be embarrassing. I redress myself and open the door again.

"Hey so... This is super awkward, but I just got my period and I don't have anything with me." I tell Chesmu. I can feel my face heat up as I talk, but he doesn't look surprised.

"Yeah, I didn't wanna say anything." He tossed his phone down, getting up. "If you give me the card, I'll go pick some up. There's a shop downstairs, they probably have some."

"Really? I was gonna go myself, but that would be great!" I step back into the bathroom to grab the credit card from my backpack. "Get anything you want while you're there." I tell him, tossing the card.

"With pleasure." He grins, putting his flip flops back on. He's about to open the door when I think about what he said.

"Wait, what did you mean, you didn't wanna say anything?"

"Wolf nose, I smelled blood. Figured it was girl stuff since you didn't look wounded." He shrugs, and I'm surprised that he knew, but I didn't.

"Huh. Okay, thanks again!" I say as he leaves.

15 minutes later, I'm in the shower, fresh clothes sitting with a box of pads on the sink. Chesmu, I'm sure, is snacking on the five or six bags of trail mix and chips he'd grabbed from the shop downstairs. I was surprised at how relaxed he was about the ordeal, but then again, Kim is his sister and it's likely he's picked up pads for her before.

I got out of the shower, drying off and brushing my teeth. I scrunched up my nose at the choice of sleepwear non-period me had picked out - leggings. I put on the longest shirt I brought and the offending leggings, putting my hair up in a towel to keep from dripping everywhere.

"Nice place here, cheap but homey." Chesmu remarked as he flipped through the tv channels.

"Not bad for $129 and short notice." I agree.

It was pretty early in the evening, so I sat on my bed again, watching him channel surf.

I must've dozed off, because when I woke up again, it was dark, and Chesmu was snoring in the next bed over. I got up to put my towel into the bathroom, then went to bed and fell back asleep.

I woke up again to the sound of my alarm, which I'd forgotten to turn off. It was 5:30am, and fortunately, Ches had not woken up. I didn't think I'd be able to get back to sleep, so I moved to the floor to do some morning yoga. This also helps ease my cramps, which is an added perk.

About halfway through my routine, Chesmu rolled over, and I looked over to see him looking at me strangely.

"Yoga?"

"Mhm. Every morning." I confirm. He rolls out of bed, heading to the bathroom. "You slept in jeans?"

"Only brought jeans, I didn't think we'd get a hotel." He answered before closing the door.

I guess that makes sense. Another perk of the hotel is the free breakfast, which unfortunately doesn't open until 7. I check my phone to see that we still have over an hour until then.

"Teach me how." He comes out of the bathroom, sitting down facing me. I frown, confused.

"Teach you what?"

"Yoga. I'm sore from all the running, it would probably help."

Of course he is, that much running couldn't have been easy.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I do the same thing every morning, so uh, I'll show you that."

Starting from the beginning, I walk Ches through my routine. He grasps everything pretty quickly, but makes a lot of noise when his muscles stretch out. I try not to laugh at his facial expressions, since he's in this situation doing a massive favor for me.

"And that's it." I unfold my hands from around my knee, moving to stand up, and he follows suit.

"Huh, yeah, that did the trick. I feel way better."

"Perfect timing too, breakfast opens in 10 minutes."

I get changed and we head downstairs.

Breakfast is simple but hearty, and after eating junk food for the last several meals, the fresh food is welcome.

We plan to hang around the hotel for a few more hours, since the checkout deadline is 11 and it's not even 8. We might as well rest up before hitting the road again. The next few hours are spent watching daytime tv and making fun of the plotlines, and we nearly forget to leave when 11 gets close.

"Well, it was a great experience, Shasta Inn. Maybe we'll see you on the trip back up." Ches salutes as we walk away. I laugh.

We walk out to a clearing, Ches phasing and me on his back again, we continue the journey.

I can tell Ches has been refreshed by our stay in Shasta, and I make a note to get a hotel more often on the way back up. Now that we've gotten used to the rhythm of our travels, I think the trip back will be much easier. Plus, if everything goes according to plan, I'll be able to run back up myself. I may end up slowing us down some, but that would be better than riding Ches back. Not only is it extra weight for him, it's not a very pleasant long trip experience for me.

Once we're back on the road, we settle into our previous routine, 3 hours of running, 3 hours of rest. Each stop, I pull up a map, studying it for names and landmarks to watch for as we get closer to our destination. I don't yet recognize our surroundings, but the weather and landscape are getting more familiar all the time.

Just after 8pm on Thursday night, I finally spot a sign proudly proclaiming we're in Miwok territory now.

I'm home.