Betrayal Inevitable *Complete*

Part 6

A/N:: I NEVER WENT CAMPING OR HIKING. I'VE NO REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE IN THESE THINGS. I'm just making things up.

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Chapter -6:

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Saturday morning, Christian and Elliot gathered at the Grey mansion, waiting for their father. Both brothers had dressed in jeans, t-shirt, heavy jacket, hiking boots and cap. Carrick came out wearing something similar and burst into laughter. "How did we end up dressed alike?" he inquired jokingly.

"At least the colors are different," Christian stated with a smirk. Snickering, Elliot took Carrick's bag and started getting it inside the car's truck.

"You guys will be gone for how long again?" Grace asked worriedly for the millionth time.

"Mom, we'll be gone only for two days and one night. We'll be back by Sunday evening." Elliot stated, giving their mom an affectionate smile, "Right, Christian?" he nudged his brother.

Christian nodded in agreement. "Don't worry, mom. We'll be fine. We have our phones and portable chargers with us," he assured.

With a smug smile on his face, Carrick approached his wife. Taking her face in his hands, he whispered something in her ear. The brothers didn't hear a word, but the way their mother was blushed, they were sure they didn't want to know.

"I see their PPDA didn't change since I moved out," Elliot muttered. Christian had been the first to move out their parent's house after his fight with Carrick. Elliot had moved out only a few years ago.

"What's 'PPDA'?" Christian gave his brother a confused look.

"Public Pornographic Displays of Affection," Elliot clarified with a smirk causing Christian to snicker. "I mean I'm happy they still love each other, but I don't think I'll ever be comfortable seeing them romancing in front of me," he added. After a few more whispered sentences and few more kisses, Carrick joined the boys. They got in the car, waved at Grace, and drove off.

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Carrick and his boys chatted about their work till they turned onto the Cedar Falls road. "We're only taking our bags. We should leave the tent in the car," Christian suggested.

"Good idea. Rattle Snake ridge trail isn't THAT big. We'll be back in3-4 hours... 5 hours if we want to horse around in the lake a little," Elliot said with a goofy grin.

Carrick grinned and nodded. "5 hours it is then. It's not often we get to have fun at our stressed out jobs," Christian sighed and shrugged in agreement.

Parking their car at the parking lot, the boys got out and gathered their bags. After making sure that the car was locked securely, they started hiking. Large mossy boulders and tall evergreen trees lined the way. All three of them had content smiles on their faces as they hiked their way to the elevation. Elliot stopped a few times and insisted on taking selfies and pictures so that they could remember this trip. Smiling, Christian and Carrick both gave into him.

It was one of those rare sunny days in Seattle. So the ground was not wet and slippery. It made their hike go faster. Reaching the ledge top, the boys sighed in contentment. The boys asked some of the other hikers to take their pictures as they goofed around a bit.

On their way down from the ledge, they stopped at the water fall to take some more pictures. Elliot was trying to take picture of the water fall when Christian pushed him from behind, causing him to almost fall face first. Carrick burst into laughter at Elliot's shocked face.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" he exclaimed after a minute. Christian was breathless from laughing too much.

After spending some time by the lake, they returned to the parking lot. They loaded their bags back inside their car, used the washrooms, and headed off towards Middle fork campground. They bought more water bottles before reaching the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie national forest which was located about an hour east of Seattle. They reached Middle fork campground in no time. Pulling out their tent and other necessary items from the car, they started setting up the tent. Carrick pilled dry logs on the primitive fire pit and covered it with tarp. One cannot trust weather of Seattle. It could start raining at the drop of hat here. The boys sat by their tent and ate the sandwiches and hot dogs Grace had packed for them. After that they spent next hours hiking up to the Otter falls and part of the Pratt river trail. It was close to twilight when they returned to their camp ground. Christian and Carrick built the fire at the fire pit as Elliot started pulling out food items from their bags.