TIC TAC - (CC,AU,Adult) - COMPLETE - 7/12/15

[Double Trouble]

CandyliciousLovah: Michael’s of the same opinion, lol.

Alien_Friend: Yeah, Cody’s not accepting this change very well. Maria would really like to avoid that particular ride.

Lol, Max is doing his part. He knows Courtney isn’t the right girl. Good question… because it’s only a matter of time before Courtney does begin to insist on him drawing the line with Maria. And she has a right to certain expectations, but can Michael really abide by those rules?

Family is a good word for this group, because that’s just what they are.

We’ll see Michael try to get Kyle to open up in this part.

Tess will get there and eventually she’ll find balance in her life.

mary mary: Thanks!

Lol, no doubt!!!

Natalie36: They are a crazy group we agree with you!

Earth2Mama: Lol, Cody seems to have most everyone on his side. Courtney’s not winning you over, huh?

Yeah, Maria is looking at some tough times ahead but thankfully she has good friends to help her get through it.

No way did Aaron ever feel that way with Trent, you’re so right!

keepsmiling7: Aaron loves everything related to Max, lol.

That was a bit sneaky on Max’s part but he’s under no illusion that Courtney’s the right girl for Michael.

We’ll be leaving the beach house and heading back to reality today.

sarammlover: Um… well… no, we’re not done with the torture just yet. Lol, we’re just getting started.

Thanks, we’ll be seeing a lot more of both Tony and Alex.

We’ll soon find out how Michael plans to deal with this situation.

Rodney: We agree, Courtney, as Michael’s girlfriend does have every right to be upset. And Michael is going to have to make some compromises if he wants his relationship to work.

xilaj: Oh, but we’ll be leaving the beach today, it’s time to get back to real life. Lol, we’ll share that suggestion with Alex and maybe he’ll get to work on his lizard-sculpting skills.

Liz is hoping that very same thing. Cody isn’t going to be happy unless he rides back with Mike and we’ll see how that works out.

somewhere87: Maria does have a lot on her plate and having the one constant in her life being pulled away from her is going to have consequences. She doesn’t want Cody to have a bad opinion of Courtney simply because she’s dating Michael and she’s a good person at heart so she’ll continue to defend her even though she’d really rather not. We’ll see what’s in store for them as his relationship with Courtney begins to unfold.

Let’s hope Courtney doesn’t do that, lol.

begonia9508: Oh, they’re definitely going to get complicated, lol. Courtney is going to lay down some rules, and she has every right to have certain expectations where Michael is concerned. We’ll have to wait and see how long he’ll abide by these rules.

It’s a two-way street though, and you’re right, Maria and Cody are very important to him and to some degree Courtney should make an effort with them.

Aaron worships the ground Max walks on and Liz is going to have her hands full with the two of them, lol.




Part 71

Animosities


“You liked riding with Tony when we rode out here,” Maria reminded him.

“But I wanna go wif Michael,” he replied and started to cry.

“Maria, it’ll be okay,” Michael said. “If Tony’s gonna take Chase home, you guys can ride back with us.”

She could feel a headache starting and just nodded. Great, a long ride home with an upset child and her best friend’s new girlfriend after the thing this morning. Hopefully the ride would be over soon and she could go and have some alone time at her apartment.

“Um, if you’re gonna take Chase home why don’t I ride with you too,” Tess suggested. “If we send my nephew home with a guy Ava’s never met she’ll come unglued.” And the last thing she wanted at the moment was to endure a silent ride home with Kyle.

“Good idea,” Kyle agreed, relieved he didn’t have to sit in the car for several hours with the woman he’d had sex with last night. “I need to drop Leo off at my dad’s anyway.”

Courtney ate her breakfast quietly, nibbling on a piece of cantaloupe and desperately wanting the weekend to be over. It wasn’t enough that she had caught her boyfriend in bed with his best friend, now he had invited Maria and her fussy little brother to ride home with them. She was beginning to wonder if he was intentionally sabotaging things between them.

“Me and Alex will ride back together, so everything’s settled,” Isabel completed the discussion.

Alex smirked and shook his head. “You guys just about have this down to a science, don’t you?”

“Gotta be prepared with the little ones around,” Michael shrugged.

“I guess that’s true.” He glanced around at the kids. Just two days ago he wouldn’t have ever imagined this group like this.

“Gonna leave after breakfast,” Michael said. “Shift tonight.”

“Max?”

He glanced down at the little boy, watching him pick at his pancake, leaving it in a little pile of crumbs. “What’s up?”

“I don’t wanna go home,” he whispered.

“Me neither, buddy, but that’s not somethin’ we can avoid.” He looked at Liz for a moment before he concentrated on the boy again. “I promise we’ll see each other again soon, okay?” It hurt him see the boy unhappy and he had a feeling most of that was because of Trent.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “I like bein’ here. Everybody’s nice.”

“We’ll find a way to get the boys together again,” Isabel said, glancing at Liz and Maria. “They make a good team.”

Liz watched her brother as Max teased him, once more succeeding in pulling him out of his shell, and getting him to eat his food. “Yeah, they really do.”

“Can I come too?” Cody asked, not wanting to be left behind.

“Yeah, you can come too,” Isabel said with a smile.

“Ava will be happy if we take little man out to play now and then,” Michael mumbled around a mouthful of bacon.

Chase looked up from the syrup-drenched pancake he had given up trying to eat with a fork and gone after with his hands. “Me too?”

“Only if you learn to eat with a fork soon.” Tess made a face when syrup ran down the little boy’s hands. She brought one up and licked it loudly with a grin, making him laugh.

“It’s too hard for this,” he said and grabbed another sticky piece of pancake.

“Maybe next time we’ll take less syrup, huh?”

“Noooo,” he said slowly, shaking his head and licking the syrup off of his hand.

****

Kyle sat on the steps leading down to the beach and threw a stick for the second time, smirking slightly when Leo made a U-turn in the sand to go and get it. Dogs were so easy, he thought and wished that humans minds could just work the same way sometimes. In the distance he could hear noise from the front of the house as engines were started. They were all about to leave to go back to the city, but he was trying to drag it out as long as possible to enjoy the peace he could feel with the sound of the soft waves rolling over the beach.

“Not ready to go home?” Michael stepped out on the porch and glanced at his roommate. He had been a little off all weekend but he hadn’t yet found out why exactly.

He turned his head slightly to look at him over his shoulder and shrugged. “Thought I’d wait a while longer before leaving so Leo could enjoy the beach a little longer.

Michael doubted the dog was the reason for his reluctance to leave, but didn’t say it – instead he took a seat next to him. “We should come out here more often.”

“Yeah, if there wasn’t work… parties…”

“Women…” Michael added.

Kyle snorted at this. “Got your hands full, Guerin?”

“Hell, you’d never believe how much work only one can put you through.”

He didn’t seem to care when it came to Maria though, Kyle thought. “Want out of it already?”

“Nah, I guess it’s not THAT bad,” Michael snorted at his own words and looked at his friend. “Seriously, Valenti, what’s up with you? You’ve been running around all depressed, you seem to be lost in thought, and you’ve been acting seriously weird with little sis. Something you wanna tell me?”

Damn it, how obvious had he been? Kyle wondered, not ready to admit to his roommate that he’d had sex with Tess. He wouldn’t like it and maybe it was better if Michael never knew about it. Even though he hated it to have a secret like that because these things tended to backfire he couldn’t just let the cat outta the bag. Fuck! “Your sister just seems to always push the right buttons to make my blood boil,” he said instead and ran a hand over his short hair. “I found out last week that my parents are getting a divorce and I guess I’m not dealin’ with it very good.”

Michael narrowed his eyes on him for a moment, searching for anything that would tell him it wasn’t the whole truth, but a moment later he nodded, satisfied. “That’s bad…” he knew a lot about that subject although his parent’s divorce had been pretty amicable. “What happened?”

“My mom cheated on my dad.”

“Ouch.”

Leo came back to drop the stick at Kyle’s feet. He picked it up and threw it again, shaking his head slightly when the dog went after it enthusiastically. “With his best friend.”

“Man! Double ouch,” Michael said, shocked.

“Yeah,” the other man agreed. “If that isn’t some stupid shit.”

“Cheating’s bad enough, but with your best friend. That’s really low.”

Kyle dropped his head. “Yeah. Makes it really easy to chose a side, don’t ya think?”

That was his real problem, Michael realized. He had always gotten along good with both of his parents and now he felt like he had to hate his mother because she had been the one to destroy their family. “You don’t have to choose sides.” He shrugged when his friend looked at him doubtfully. “I know, it seems like it’s the only right thing to do, but they’re both your parents and it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

This sounded like a chick talk, they realized and were glad when Cody came out to interrupt them. “We tan go, Mike!” He climbed down the two steps with Maria quickly following him.

“Alright, I’ll see you in the city,” Kyle said and turned to hug both of them.

*****

Cody glanced at his sister, frowning at her when she remained silent and did something with her phone. He didn’t understand why she was sitting in the backseat with him and that girl was sitting up front with Michael. Not that he wanted her to sit with him, but she wasn’t supposed to be up front. Maria and Michael always talked but now he was mostly talking to that girl and ignoring Maria. He crossed his little arms over his chest and started kicking the back of the seat in front of him.

“Stop it,” Maria said, reaching over and placing her hand on his knee.

“How come that girl’s up front?”

“We’re not getting into this again.”

“I don’t like her,” he muttered and kicked the seat again.

Michael glanced at the little boy. “Settle down, Cody.”

The boy turned his head to look out the window at the stern tone in Michael’s voice. “I don’t think I like you no more either.”

“This’s a nightmare,” Maria muttered to herself. She didn’t want to be too harsh with her brother considering his state, but her mother had reminded her on several occasions that he was a kid who needed to know his limits as well. “Stop that now, Cody.”

“Are we gonna be home soon?”

“In about an hour.”

“Is that girl goin’ home first?” No matter how many times he was told that she had a name he refused to use it.

“We’re going to Mom’s first. It’s the first stop on our way back into the city,” Maria told her brother and tried to speak to him calmly although it was getting harder. It wasn’t often that her bother was this much of a pain and she understood that the new situation confused him, but he just refused to let go and it was slowly driving her insane.

“How come she can’t go home first?” He leaned forward and reached out to push Courtney’s shoulder. “Tell Mike you wanna go home first.”

“Cody,” Maria took his arm and pushed him back into his seat. “We’re going home first and it’s not up for discussion,” she told him, anger slipping into her voice. “I want you to apologize for pushing Courtney.” Ungh, as much as she hated it, she couldn’t just let her brother get away with his behavior.

“No, I’m not gonna say sorry to her,” he refused. “I hate her!”

Courtney just remained in her seat and forced herself to be quiet when the little boy went off on her. She could understand that he didn’t like the fact that she was new and a potential threat to his time with Michael, but she still thought the boy was very rude.

“Fine!” Maria replied. “I’m not picking you up next week for the zoo.”

Cody’s bottom lip trembled as he looked at his sister. “You promised...”

“I’m not taking a boy with your attitude out. If you wanna act like that and get on my nerves the whole time, then you’re gonna stay home.” She was probably never gonna go through with the threat, but she wanted him to finally give up on his stubbornness about Courtney.

His expression turned mutinous when she didn’t give in. “I don’t care. I don’t wanna go anyway.”

She blew a breath out through her nose loudly and glanced in the rear view mirror for a short moment. Normally Michael would’ve said one word and Cody would’ve given up on his behaviour, but now it just didn’t work as well and she was running out of ideas. “I’m sorry, Courtney,” she said for her brother. “I’m sure you’ll be very happy when we’re back home.”

Yes, I’ll be thrilled, Courtney thought, but forced a tight smile. “It’s alright, Maria. I’m sure it’s just a matter of it taking time for him to get used to things.”

Cody stuck his tongue out at her even though she couldn’t see it.

“It’s nice of you to say that, but I can see you’re just as ready to snap as I am,” Maria tried to joke and leaned back tiredly. She sure as hell would be glad when the door of her apartment fell closed behind her and she was alone again.

Michael sighed and checked the mirrors before changing lanes. He hadn’t anticipated this much resistance from the kids, and especially not from Cody. He was normally such an easy going little guy but he was not adjusting well to this change. “It’ll be okay,” he said, speaking to all of them.

Whatever, Maria thought, too fed up with the situation right now to think about it any longer. She just hoped her brother would be quiet for the rest of the drive.

“I gotta pee,” Cody said after several long minutes of silence.

Of course, she thought in annoyance, but nodded. “Can we make a quick stop, Michael?”

“Yeah, of course.” He could tell Maria was reaching the end of her rope, something that was unusual when it came to Cody. “There’s an exit a couple miles up, I’ll pull off there.”

“Okay, thanks,” she turned to her brother. “Try to hold on a few minutes, okay?”

Five minutes later Michael pulled in at a gas station, checking the fuel gauge and deciding he didn’t need to fill up. He parked near the entrance and released his seatbelt as he met Maria’s miserable gaze in the mirror. “You want me to take him?” Give you a break for a few minutes, he added silently.

She nodded, hoping that Cody really needed to pee and this wasn’t just another prank. “Yeah, thanks.”

“Alright,” he looked at Courtney, “I’ll be right back.” He got out and walked around the truck to open Cody’s door to unbuckle him and lift him out to put him on the ground. “C’mon, let’s hit the head.”

Maria waited until the boys had walked off before she pushed the door open and got out to get some air. Somehow the truck just seemed to be too small for all of them. Her gaze moved over the landscape and locked on a small wooded area in the distance. Maybe I’ll go to Central Park this afternoon, she thought, already picturing herself on the grass in front of a lake with a good book.

Courtney slouched down in her seat and sighed loudly. She wasn’t happy about the way Michael seemed to jump every time Maria appeared to be in distress. She was trying to be understanding but there were just some things a girl couldn’t ignore. She was going to have to talk to him about Maria and it was going to have to happen soon.

It took about ten minutes before the boys came back outside again. Maria was resting her back against the side of the truck while she watched the scenery. Neither of them seemed very happy, so her first guess was that Cody had continued being a little brat.

Michael picked Cody up and settled him into the car seat, doing his best to work around the kicking feet. The little boy was doing his best to be a little pain in the ass and he was doing a damn good job of it.

His sister got in the car as well and reached out to place on arm over Cody’s legs firmly to keep him from moving them. “Mom will be very happy to hear how you’ve behaved,” she hissed at her brother.

“I want Quackers,” he said, ignoring both of them.

Maria opened her bag, glad she had thought about it earlier and pulled the stuffed animal out. “Here.”

He took it and buried his face against the comforting soft fur. He wasn’t happy with anything that was going on and right now he didn’t care who knew it.

Still about an hour to drive, Courtney thought and glanced at Michael in the driver’s seat. They hadn’t really talked after she had found him with Maria in her room. In her bed.

Michael could feel her gaze on him and he turned his head to smile at her. “Just give it some time,” he advised. She had a contemplative look on her face that he wasn’t sure he liked.

Maria watched them and felt sick in her stomach. Was it really necessary for Cody to adjust to this? They wouldn’t be together for long anyway, right? She frowned. Right?

“Are we gonna be home soon?” Cody asked.

“Yeah, soon,” she said. “Try to sleep a bit.”

“I don’t wanna sleep,” he mumbled but he closed his eyes and hugged Quackers tighter.

Maria turned to look out of the window for a moment. “You wanna snuggle?” she asked gently.

“Yeah,” he said in a small voice. As unhappy as he was with the situation he wanted to be comforted.

“Okay,” she opened her seatbelt and moved to sit in the middle of the backseat, where she used the other belt. “Come here,” Maria reached out to bring her brother’s body towards her and dropped a kiss on his head.

He sighed quietly and settled into her embrace as well as he could from his awkward position in the car seat. He was tired and he just didn’t understand why Mike was bringing that girl around.

****

Max’ chest felt tight when he slipped into a parking space in front of Liz’ building and turned the engine off. “Here we are. Home sweet home,” he muttered ironically.

“Yeah…” she sighed and turned her head to look at her bother.

Aaron was still sleeping peacefully, unaware of the fact that they were finally back in the city. The first half of the drive he had thrown a fit with a lot of crying and complaining that he didn’t want to go home again – and the second half he had been exhausted from it and sleeping.

“I really don’t know what to say, Liz,” Max said helplessly.

“Then don’t say anything,” she shook her head. “We had a nice weekend and I agreed to a date.” She smiled slightly when he looked up at that. “Yep, I still remember and I’ll keep my promise. But other than that… Max, stop pushing, okay? One step at a time.”

“I know.” Didn’t mean he had to understand it though, right? Just the thought of leaving her alone with asshole made his reflexes react and his hands curled into fists. “You call me if you need me.”

“I will,” she agreed.

“No, Liz,” he reached out and took her wrist in his hand when she went to open her door. “I mean it! If he gets abusive again in any way, I want you to get outta there.”

“And I promised I will,” she told him again and looked at him intensely. “Max, you need to relax.”

“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he muttered and released her arm again, but used his hand to brush her hair behind her ear instead.

“Thanks for everything, Max,” she whispered. “It might not look like it but I appreciate your help.”

He nodded and bit his lip to keep from pushing. “You think he’s home?”

“No, he should be at work.”

“Can I carry Aaron in for you?”

“I’d better go in alone,” she said, not wanting Max to get in any more trouble in case Trent was home.

He swallowed down the protest and nodded in agreement. “You have my number?”

She leaned her head against the seat and looked at him. “Never deleted it, Max.”

“No?” He smiled at that. “Long time to hold onto a guy’s number and never call him.”

“Yeah… I guess.” She shrugged and checked on her brother quickly – he was still sleeping soundly.

“I think he’s gonna be out for a while,” Max said with a quiet laugh.

“Yeah, and then he’ll keep me up all night,” she said, amused.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true.” He glanced over his shoulder to look at the little boy. “Call me if you need anything, Liz.”

She snorted. “You don’t have to say that again and again.”

“Just wanna make sure you don’t forget.” He smiled slowly. “You workin’ at the club this week?”

Her cheeks flushed at his question. “Tuesday.”

He nodded and reached out to cup her cheek. “We’re gonna figure this out so you can dump that second job.”

She couldn’t think of how, but she nodded anyway. “I should go.”

“Alright. Just...” he cleared his throat when she gave him a look. “Right, you already know that.” He was having a difficult time letting them go. “I’ll get your bags together while you get Aaron.”

“Wait,” she said and before she had time to think she followed her instincts and bent forward, her lips crashing onto his in a desperate kiss.

Max didn’t have time to think and he shifted to bring his arms around her as he deepened the kiss. No matter what else had happened this weekend it had given them a fresh start.

It felt way too good to be kissed again, Liz thought, longing for his tender touches that comforted her. She knew she probably didn’t make sense to Max and this would just confuse him more in the end, but rational thinking wasn’t always easy.

He knew he would have to take things at her pace but it felt like she was finally moving forward. He angled his head slightly, gentling the kiss and drawing it out slowly.

Aaron’s eyes grew wide when he saw what was happening in the front seat. He needed to pee, but didn’t want to disturb the adults at that moment.

Max smiled as he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “Thanks,” he murmured quietly.

“For what?”

“For giving us a chance.”

“You’re hard to shake off,” she shrugged with a grin and straightened up, noticing her brother’s eyes were open. “Hey, sweetie.”

You have no idea, Max thought. He turned to look at the little boy. “Hey, feel better after your nap?”

“Do you need to pee?” Liz asked, when she recognized the look on her brother’s face.

Aaron nodded vigorously.

“We’d better hurry, Max or your car’s gonna be in need of a major interior cleaning,” she said and opened the door quickly.

Max made a face. “Just give it a couple minutes before you drain the lizard, buddy,” he said as he hurried to unsnap his seatbelt and climb out of the jeep.

“Try to hold on until we’re inside, okay?” Liz told her brother when she opened his door and pulled him out of the car seat to put him down on the ground.

Aaron danced around in circles holding his hands over himself as he tried to wait patiently. “Lizzie, I gotta go,” he whined.

“Alright,” she grabbed his hand and they went around the jeep to Max, who handed her their bags. “Thanks. We’ll talk later, okay?”

He chuckled and nodded. “Hold on, Aaron. Alright, Liz, you guys take care and I’ll see ya in a couple days.”

[Double Trouble]

Rodney: No arguments there, he is being a brat. Liz is just trying to figure things out. We’ll catch up with Kyle and Tess soon.

keepsmiling7: We’ll see the little guys together again.

We’ll find out if Trent’s gonna be home in this part.

Our dreamer couple has made some good progress over the weekend.

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, he is avoiding but that will only last for so long.

somewhere87: That’s possible… we’ll see.

How will Maria’s relationship with the Guerin clan be affected? We’ll have to wait to find out.

Crybaby001: Thanks!

Maria’s in a tough position and as things often do… they might get worse before they get better.

We’ll find out about Trent in this update.

Alex and Isabel… we’ll catch up with them soon.

begonia9508: Thanks!

This situation has disrupted one of the greatest constants in Cody’s life and yes, he’s gonna be a little pain in the ass for a bit. It’s a normal reaction… not one to be encouraged, lol, but normal.

We all know Michael’s place is with Maria and Courtney’s time is ticking.

Lol, don’t forget Max’s little buddy!

Unfortunately, Trent hasn’t done anything that can get him into trouble… yet.

Earth2Mama: Lol, yeah, Cody knows exactly where Michael’s supposed to be.

They’re working on it.

Well… it’s gonna take time for Kyle to figure things out.

sarammlover: Lol, Cody really doesn’t like Courtney. Her presence has disrupted one of the constants in his little universe and he doesn’t like it. Kyle and Tess will run into each other soon.

Natalie36: Over the next few parts we’ll see everyone settling back into their routines. We’ll catch up with Liz and Aaron in this part.

xilaj: The little guys are a lot of fun to write… even when they’re being little pains, lol. Yeah, you’ve gotta feel bad for Maria. That car trip had to be the worst! She may get something even better than an afternoon in the park.

We’ll see that talk soon.

Now that Liz and Aaron are home again, we’ll find out how things will go for them. Someone like Trent is likely to become violent at some point.

Who can Kyle talk to? He’d better start with talking to Tess, lol.

Alien_Friend: Our dreamer couple are making some forward movement. Out of all of our couples here they’re already making the best progress. Max is trying to pace himself and listen to what Liz needs in spite of his desire to physically remove them from the bad situation she and Aaron are in.

Lol, yeah, it’d be difficult to bite your tongue with a little guy acting like Cody. Maria’s trying hard, but she’s ready to get away and be alone for a while.

Kyle has managed to get himself into a tough situation… but we’ll catch up with him and Tess soon.

mary mary: Cody is being a little brat. He does need to have boundaries and to understand when his behavior is unacceptable. Courtney is definitely going to insist on talking it out, lol.

We’ll catch up with Liz in this update.




Part 72

Bifurcation


Maria sent a silent thank you up into the air when Michael finally stopped at the front of Amy’s apartment building. The drive had been a nightmare and her brother’s attitude had really ruined her mood for the rest of the day. “Finally home,” she mumbled quietly and got out of her seat. Cody hadn’t been able to fall asleep, so it was even better that this was finally over.

Michael stepped down out of the truck and went around to help Maria with Cody. “You want a ride over to your place?” he asked her as he released the harness belting the boy into the car seat.

“No, knowing my mother she won’t let me leave for a while, so I’ll just take the subway later.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” He lifted Cody up and held him against his chest so he could see him eye to eye. “Hey, you gonna look at me?”

The boy shook his head and held his gaze low.

“Look, little man, I know you like the way things are, and hey, I like it too. But sometimes ya gotta make some changes.” He sighed when Cody refused to look at him. “I know you don’t understand that but one day you will.”

Maria leaned inside to get their stuff out before she walked around the truck to join Michael and her brother. “Time to say goodbye.”

“I gotta go, Mike,” the little boy said, relieved that he wouldn’t have to listen to anymore about that girl.

“Alright,” he kissed the boy’s forehead. “I’ll see you soon, buddy.”

Maria took Cody’s hand when Michael set him on the ground. “Michael, I’m really sorry about this,” she apologized.

He shook his head and shoved his hands into his pockets, aware that Courtney was watching them through the mirror. “Don’t be.”

She nodded after a moment, feeling the distance between them growing when he made no move to hug her the way he normally would. She knew if she waited much longer it was going to start to feel awkward and she didn’t want that. “Alright, well, I guess I’ll see ya later.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I’ll call you.”

“Okay, well...” she nodded at the entrance to the building. “Talk to ya then.” She shifted the shoulder strap on one of the bags higher and gave Cody’s hand a tug. “C’mon, let’s go see Mom.”

The boy followed his sister inside after shooting a glare at Courtney in the front seat. They took the elevator and as soon as the door opened he ran across the floor to the apartment door. “Hey, take it easy,” she ordered, but he didn’t listen.

Cody banged on the door and reached up with both hands to try and turn the knob. He nearly fell through the doorway when the door was opened and he latched onto Amy’s legs to stop his fall.

“Sorry,” Maria winced when she caught her mother’s shocked expression. She walked up to her and gave her a one-armed hug. “Hey, Mom.”

“Welcome back,” Amy said, returning the hug before releasing her daughter and bending down to lift Cody up. “You seem awful eager to be home.”

“Cody’s decided to spend today annoying everyone and being a brat,” Maria told her mother.

“Cody?” She turned his head to look at him. “What’ve you been doing?”

He shook his head and bowed it slightly, avoiding eye contact with his mother. “Nothin’, Mommy,” he wined slightly.

“No sir, you look at me and tell me what happened.”

“I hate her,” he mumbled quietly. “She’s takin’ Mike away from us.”

“Taking him away from you?” she repeated with a frown. Oh, she realized, the new girlfriend. “Cody, when a person gets a new girlfriend or a boyfriend they spend more time with that person. It doesn’t mean she’s taking him away from you.”

“I’ve tried to tell him that like 10 times today,” Maria grumbled and pushed her way inside.

Amy lifted an eyebrow as she turned to follow her daughter. She could understand her irritability with Cody for acting like a brat all morning but somehow she had a feeling there was more to her current mood than just that. She put Cody down and crouched down in front of him. “Why don’t you go wash your hands and we’ll have a snack while you tell me about your weekend?”

“Okay,” he nodded, glad to be released for now and he hurried to make his way to the bathroom.

“Was the entire weekend rough or just the ride home?” she asked sympathetically.

“Pretty much started last night,” Maria said, wondering if she looked like she felt. “Cody had a panic attack after a bad dream. Michael took care of him and he was okay after a while, but then he started to act up because of his girlfriend.”

“I’ll talk to him about his behavior. It’ll take time for him to get used to Michael having someone new in his life.” She reached out to touch Maria’s cheek. “How’re you doing with it?”

Maria shrugged helplessly, remembering the way they had said goodbye. She knew he was holding back because of earlier this morning, but it still felt like a rejection. “I am okay.”

“Why don’t you hang around for a while?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I’m really looking forward to some alone time, Mom.” She glanced at the bathroom. “I swear, if I hear him ask why that girl is around one more time, I’m gonna burst.”

Amy nodded. “I can understand that. He definitely has a one-track mind when he sets his sights on something.”

“Yeah. He was a stubborn little brat the entire drive. He kept kicking the front seat and even pushed her.” Maria rolled her eyes.

“Well, that’s a little more excessive than his normal acting out,” she mused aloud. “I’ll have a talk with him.”

“The weekend was great but this really ruined the relaxing factor,” Maria stretched tiredly. “Did you get the results from his last hospital visit yet?”

“The test results came in late Friday afternoon,” Amy said as she busied herself straightening up a few pictures on a nearby shelf.

Maria frowned. “And?”

“They weren’t what we were hoping for.” She stared at a photograph of her children and her thumb brushed over Cody’s smiling features. “His heart’s showing further evidence of weakening. Dr. Stevenson wants him back in for more tests later this week and we’re looking at possible hospitalization.”

“No,” her daughter breathed and shook her head. “This can’t be happening.”

Amy moved to take her daughter in her arms. “We have to stay positive, Maria.”

She tried to suppress the tears when her brother walked out of the bathroom again and immediately felt bad for being irritable with him all morning. “I need to go,” she said, not wanting to be around in case she had to give in to the tight feelings in her chest.

Cody paused in the doorway for a moment before moving to follow his sister around the room as she picked her things up. “M’ria?”

It took a few seconds to pull herself together before she turned to look at her brother. “What is it?”

He dragged the toe of his right foot across the floor and bit his bottom lip before he looked up at her. “Are you made wif me?”

It took all of her strength to not burst into tears when he asked the question. “C’mere,” she crouched down and pulled him to her for a hug. Her eyes searched for her mother helplessly. “I love you. Be nicer next time, okay?”

He burrowed into her arms and hugged her tightly. “You’re nicer than that girl, M’ria.”

“We’re not gonna get into that again, buddy,” she demanded gently and squeezed her arms around him tighter before she released him again. “I’ll pick you up for the zoo in a few days, okay? If he had to go back to the hospital, she couldn’t deny him that before.

He bit his bottom lip for a moment. “Will Mike go too?”

“Michael has to work a lot this week, sweetie. I don’t think he’ll have the time.” Her heart clenched when she saw the sad expression on his face. “But maybe we can ask him to have lunch with us or something, huh? We’ll think of something.”

“Maybe Aaron can go to the zoo wif us,” he said as he thought about his new friend.

“We’ll see, little man.” She didn’t want to promise him anything yet since she didn’t know about the other’s schedules. She glanced up at her mom. “Aaron is Liz’s little brother. You met them at the hospital, remember? And they were with us this weekend.”

“Okay.” He crawled up on the couch and played with the television remote.

Amy nodded in response to her daughter’s question. “It sounds like you had a good weekend.”

“Yeah, it was fun,” Maria agreed and got up from the floor again.

Cody got up on his knees and rested his arms on the back of the couch as he looked at Mama. “Tony’s gotta seahorse skeleton, Mama! He’s gonna show me.”

“That’s very nice of him,” Amy said with a smile as she looked at her daughter when the boy was distracted by the TV again. “Seems like they got along with each other, hmm?”

“Yeah, Tony made quite an impression.”

“Only on Cody?” her mother teased. Maria had never been a girl to hold back with her feelings, but it had changed a lot after her brother had been born and she had started to always put him before herself.

“No,” she admitted with a small laugh. “Chase is just fascinated with him and when he was talking to Ava this morning it was Tony this and Tony that.” She shrugged and looked outside. “We spent a lot of time together just hanging out.”

“How’re you doing with Michael having a girlfriend?”

“It was... weird,” she admitted. “It’s gonna take some getting used to.”

It was doubtful that it would get better with time, Amy mused, but didn’t say anything because her daughter would deny it anyway. She knew chances were good that Maria and Cody would get hurt over this situation, but it wasn’t like she could tell the young man to end his relationship. She only wished the timing would have been better.

Maria could see the concern in her mom’s features and she couldn’t handle it at the moment. “I should get goin’, Mom.”

“Alright.” The older woman nodded as they went to the door. “Get home safe.”

She gave her mom a quick hug and said goodbye to Cody before making her escape. Now she could go home to her crappy little apartment and just relax by herself.

****

Tony frowned when the traffic report came on and the deejay announced a multiple car pileup on their route. Of course there was a pileup, he mused. He shook his head and started scanning stations as he glanced at Tess. She had been quiet for the drive so far, her gaze locked on the road before them but he had a feeling she wasn’t seeing it. She answered questions for Chase every once in a while but it was easy to hear the distraction in her voice when she did.

Even with taking a slight detour to avoid the backup they made good time. His mouth nearly dropped open when he pulled into the driveway Tess indicated. “This’s your sister’s place?” he asked as his gaze swept over the manicured lawn that bordered the paved driveway. There probably wasn’t a single blade of grass out of place anywhere on the estate.

Tess snorted, but before she could answer Chase hurried to speak up.

“Gamma an’ Gampa lives here. Me an’ Mommy only live here sometimes.”

“Ava has her own place,” Tess explained, “but sometimes it’s just easier for her to come here after work since this’s where Nana is.”

“That your grandma?”

“Nana makes good cookies,” Chase chimed up from the backseat.

“Yeah?” Tony glanced in the rearview mirror to look at the little boy. “Where do I get a Nana?”

Chase shook his head and laughed. “You can’t get a Nana, Tony. They only got one of her an’ she’s gotta stay here. But you might could have a cookie ‘cause you’re my friend.” His right leg started to bounce up and down the closer they got to the house and he kicked the back of his aunt’s seat accidentally. “Sorry.”

“Let’s try to not leave footprints on Tony’s car, buddy.”

“Okay. I wish we coulda brought Leo wif us.” He sighed loudly and rearranged the movable arms on the toy soldier he was playing with.

Tony smiled as he climbed out of the truck and walked around to open Tess’s door and then the back door. He nodded when Tess said she was going to go inside and let her sister know they were back. Chase smiled at him and wrapped his arms around Tony’s neck as soon as he was freed from the harness keeping him in his seat.

“Do you gotta go back to work now, Tony?”

“Not ‘til tonight. What about you?” he asked as he straightened up and set the boy on the ground.

Chase giggled and followed him around as he collected the bags from inside the truck. “I don’t gotta work, Tony!”

“No?” He hooked the strap for the boy’s bag over his shoulder and looked down at him when he stepped up on his boot and wrapped his arms around his leg.

“No, I’m too little!” He turned his head when he heard the front door open and close and he released one arm to wave at Mommy. “Look, Tony, it’s Mommy!” He tugged on the man’s pants impatiently. “C’mon, we gotta go to her!”

Tony reached down to shift Chase’s hand a little lower on his pants before looking up. And promptly felt his mouth go dry. Yeah, it was obvious the woman was Tess’ twin, but there were also obvious differences. Her bottom lip and her nose were both pierced, her hair was worn in a different style that he didn’t have a name for but looked damn good on her, and she was wearing a pair of tight jeans with a black tank top.

“Hi, Mommy!” Chase hollered when she came closer. He let go of Tony’s leg and ran to the woman, squealing loudly when she scooped him up and hugged him tightly.

“I’m so glad you’re home,” Ava said and planted kisses on his cheek until he started to giggle and squirm around. “Did you have fun?”

“Yep.” He turned in her arms to point at Tony. “That’s Tony an’ he’s a fireman. He said I could go see the fire truck where he works.”

“Did he now?” She glanced at the man, tipping her head to one side as she tried to picture him in fireman gear. Tall, blonde, sexy, perfect body, yeah, she could easily picture that.

“Uh-huh, an’ you can go too!” Chase added enthusiastically. He suddenly fell silent and he looked at Mommy as his eyes widened.

“You need to pee, don’t you? Go, but don’t run up the steps.”

He nodded and as soon as she put him down he ran into the house.

Ava watched him to make sure he didn’t run up the porch steps and once he was safely inside she turned back to face the man she had been hearing about all weekend. She took a step back when she realized he was standing right in front of her and she tipped her head back to look up at him. “You must be Tony,” she said, her eyes wandering without her permission.

“And you must be Ava.” His eyes had already done a fair amount of wandering but he didn’t bother trying to stop them when they made another journey over her body. He held his hand out to her. “Tony Carter.”

She smiled and slipped her hand into his, enjoying the rasp of calluses on his palm. “Ava Guerin,” she introduced herself. “Chase seems to be quite taken with you.”

“Well, I am a firefighter with a seahorse skeleton. That’s kinda hard to top.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that you said he could come see the station and the trucks.”

“We were readin’ a bedtime story about fire engines and I told him maybe – if you said yes – I’d show him around the station and let him climb up in the truck, maybe let him slide down the fireman’s pole. Kids get a real kick outta that. Of course, you’re welcome to come too. Not sure how much you’d enjoy climbing up in the truck but I’ve gotta admit the pole’s pretty cool.”

Ava laughed and shook her head. “I think I’ll let you boys enjoy that experience.”

“So you’ll bring him out?”

“My brother’s vouched for you, so sure, I’ll bring him out.”

He nodded. “We could coordinate through your brother unless you wanna give me your number. Or I could give you my number and that way you can call me when you know when it’d be a good time and I’ll make sure I can clear the time with the Captain.”

“Chase would like that. My schedule’s pretty hectic so it may be a bit before I can set anything up.”

“Oh, you work a lot.”

Was he disappointed? She nodded and shrugged one shoulder. “I want to set a good example for Chase so even though I don’t have to maintain a job, especially a full-time job, I do it anyway. I want him to understand that while money’s nice to have it isn’t somethin’ that should be taken for granted. You have to work for it.”

“I can respect that line of thought,” he said with a smile.

“I’ve been looking for something in the city because as much as I love living close to my parents I’d like to really get out on my own. Being the baby of the family does have a few drawbacks. Especially when you have a baby of your own so young.”

He laughed and nodded as he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket so he could write down his number. “I’m sure but Chase is a great kid so I can only imagine that your family must be proud of you.”

“That’s a nice thing to say.”

“I’ve got a feeling it’s true.”

“Okay, I’m ready to go,” Tess said as she came back outside with a couple of drinks in her hands. She glanced back and forth between her sister and Tony and rolled her eyes. Great, just what she needed.

Tony looked up and nodded at Tess. He was dropping her off at Isabel’s building but for a moment he had forgotten all about her. He handed the piece of paper to Ava and slid the pen back into his pocket. “You guys come into the city for an afternoon maybe you’ll let me take you to lunch or dinner afterwards.”

“We’ll see,” she said with a smile. She held the scrap of paper up as she started to back towards the house. “I’ll give you a call, Tony.”

“You do that,” he murmured, watching her as she stopped to talk to her sister as their paths crossed.

****

Silence greeted them when they rushed into the apartment and Liz paid little attention to the maze they had to go through to get to the bathroom. It wasn’t unusual for Trent to leave things laying around and expecting her to pick up after him. She had stopped fighting with him about it a long time ago, deciding it wasn’t worth the effort.

“I can do it, Lizzie,” Aaron said when she crouched down to unbutton his pants. He ran into the bathroom and shoved the door closed.

Liz rolled her eyes and shook her head as she straightened up and left him to his business. She walked into his little bedroom to drop his things on his bed and frowned when she realized the room was empty. “What the hell,” she muttered. She turned around and bumped into Trent as he came up behind her.

“I’ve been redecorating,” he said and took a drink of his beer. “Whatcha think?”

There was a bluish green mark on his left cheek where Max had hit him the day before. It made him look even more evil than he usually did. “Where’s our stuff?”

He glanced around and shrugged. “You don’t live here anymore so I gave you a hand and made the move a lot easier for you.”

Her heart was beating fast at that moment and she was glad Aaron was in the bathroom right now. “Where’re our clothes and Aaron’s things?”

“Hope you like whatever you took with you over the weekend.”

“What’d you do?” she growled angrily and moved closer to him. “You have no right to just throw our stuff away.”

“There’s a box of your crap by the front door. You can take it with you when you go.”

“Why’re you doing this?” Liz whispered in shock. “What’d we do to you to deserve this kinda treatment?”

“Lizzie?” Aaron yelled from the bathroom, interrupting the drama a few rooms away.

“You hear that?” he pointed down the hall. “That’s what you did to me!”

“He’s just a little boy who lost his parents. How can you be so damn cruel?” she bit out and turned to go and see what her brother wanted since he kept calling her.

Aaron opened the door and peered around the edge, trying his best not to cry when he saw his sister crouch down to look at him. “I din’t make it,” he mumbled miserably.

Her gaze wandered further down until she saw the huge wet spot on his jeans as well as his right sock and shoe. She looked into the room and saw the small puddle next to the toilet. No, she thought, exhausted. The situation was really getting out of control. “It’s okay,” she pulled herself together. “We’ll clean this up and change your pants.”

His lower lip trembled when he saw Trent coming up behind Liz. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll get you some clean pants, okay? Just wait for me in the bathroom,” she said and ushered her brother inside again, hoping maybe she could at least prevent the boy from an encounter with Trent.

“Let me guess,” he sneered when she stood to move past him. “Pissed himself again.”

“Leave him alone,” she told him, half-pleading. “I’ll clean it up.”

“You’re damn right you’ll clean it up.” He followed her through the apartment, watching her as she looked around. “Like I said, hope you liked what you took with you over the weekend.”

It was hard to keep it together when she went to open the bag she had intended to throw on the bed earlier but dropped on the floor when she had realized the bed was no longer there. There was just a pair of dirty jeans in it, but dirty was better than wet. Furiously she brushed a silent tear away and ignored it when more started to fall. Had she ever been so denounced in her life?

“Guess now you an’ the ink-head won’t have to sneak around so he can bang you.”

“Guess now you’ll have to clean up after yourself,” she grated out and made her way back to the bathroom.

[Double Trouble]

Natalie36: More coming right up!

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, you just never know.

keepsmiling7: Yeah, it was low, and he doesn’t care. We’ll see what Liz does next in this part.

Thankfully Liz does have friends now.

begonia9508: Thanks!

We’ll see soon if Liz calls Max. Hopefully Trent will get his in the end.

Michael and Maria… well, we’ll have to wait and see how both of them handle the constraints his new relationship will put on their friendship.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the Tony/Ava situation to see what develops.

sarammlover: Yes, good descriptive for Trent, lol. We’ll see soon how this will affect things between Max and Liz. Tony and Ava could become an item.

mary mary: Lol, well, guess it was their week.

somewhere87: Things are about to get bumpy…

Lol, excellent mental picture of the Cody/Courtney glaring contest.

Another vote for Tony and Ava, huh? Cool!

Earth2Mama: No doubt about that!

Chances are good Trent will get his.

We’ll find out soon.

Alien_Friend: Excellent thought about Trent. Liz is in a delicate position but she knows she has to do something because now the situation has gotten even worse.

Maria really needs a break and hopefully she’ll get that soon. Courtney has a rough road ahead of her if she thinks she can come between Michael and Maria. It’s going to put her in a precarious position to demand something of Michael that he can’t or won’t give.

Awesome, and we think Ava could be the perfect girl for Tony too! It sure would make Chase happy, lol.

Cardinal: Liz was expecting something… just not that. Max will be ready and willing to help as soon as she lets him know she’s open to accepting help. That’s probably something Trent hasn’t considered, but we have a feeling he’ll realize it soon enough.

Cody is being a little pain but right now all he knows is that one of the constants in his life is suddenly not so constant and he doesn’t know how to process that information or how to handle it.

We think Tony and Ava will be a good match.

xilaj: We’ll find out soon enough if Liz is gonna call Max for help. Hopefully Max and Trent won’t run into each other too soon and certainly not right now. The most important thing is getting them safe and away from Trent.

Thanks, lol. Trent is a horrible character and he’ll eventually get his.

Tony’s a great guy and that seahorse skeleton has really earned him some points in the cool category, lol. We may just be seeing more of Ava soon… after all, she did promise to bring Chase to the firehouse.

The situation with Maria and Michael is gonna be painful and difficult for awhile. It’s gonna be a while before they get their acts straightened out.

Eva: Hard to know how it’s possible and it’s unfortunate that there are people like Trent in the world.

Ava and Tony have made quite an impression!




Part 73

Moments of Change


Aaron looked up when the door opened and when he saw that it was his sister he went back to trying to pull his pants off. “Trent’s real mad, huh?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said and walked over to open the snap on his pants. “Undress, okay?” She grabbed a towel from the shelf and started to soak in the puddle on the tile, almost smiling at the thought of ruining it.

“I’m hungry,” he said as he finally kicked free of his wet pants.

“We’ll get something later,” she answered and took his pants, shoving them in a little plastic bag she had brought with her. “Underwear off too, Aaron,” she said when he just stood and looked around.

He kicked his underwear off and wrinkled his nose when he accidentally stepped on them. “Now both my feet’s wet.”

Liz sighed and sat him on the toilet. “Anything else in there?” she asked and pulled his socks off. They went into the bag along with the underwear.

“No,” he said as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “I think it all came out.”

“Okay,” Liz wiped a strand of hair away and then made a face when her hand felt wet against her skin. Ungh, great.

Aaron watched his sister and he tipped his head to the side when she made a face. “Wha’s wrong, Lizzie?”

She had pee on her face, that’s what was wrong, she thought angrily. She wasn’t angry with Aaron, just the situation they were in. “Nothing, I’m okay.” She shook her head when the only socks in the bag were dirty and had sand in them. “It’s warm enough, so no socks for now.”

“Okay.” He made a face of his own as he wiggled his toes. “Do I gotta take a bath now?”

“No, we don’t have time for that now.”

His eyes widened in surprise. No bath? “Is it time to eat?”

“No, Aaron, we’re not eating yet.” Damn it, where could they go so quickly with their little bit of stuff that was already packed?

“Are we goin’ to the park?”

“Aaron!” She looked at him sternly. “Stop asking questions now.”

He was quiet for a moment as he looked around the room. “I know what would make you happy, Lizzie.”

“What?” she asked absentmindedly while she finished cleaning the mess on the floor.

“Max makes really good mac’roni an’ cheese an’ it maked me feel all better.”

Of course he would mention Max, she thought. “Lift your legs up a bit,” she said and held the other jeans out for him.

He placed his hands on her shoulders for balance as he lifted his feet up. “It’s really good an’ it’s hot an’ it makes your tummy happy.”

Hungry was really the last thing she felt right now. “You sure you’re done here?”

He thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Yes.”

“Okay,” she picked him up and set him on the floor to finish dressing him.

He chewed on his bottom lip for a moment. “How come Trent’s mad again?” he asked quietly.

“That’s complicated,” she sighed and looked at him. “We need to go now, okay?”

“Where we’re gonna go?”

“I don’t know...”

He reached up to touch her face and his expression was serious when she looked at him. “Don’t be sad, Lizzie.”

“I’m not sad,” she denied.

“Okay,” he said slowly and leaned forward to hug her.

“You’re gonna do what I say when we go out, okay?”

“Okay. But where we’re gonna go?”

“Aaron, what’d I say about all these questions?”

“I’m not ‘posed to ask them,” he mumbled.

“Right. Now, let’s go.” She got up and took his hand.

He looked at the door apprehensively, knowing once they left the bathroom Trent would probably start yelling and being mean again.

“You don’t have to be scared,” she told him gently and squeezed his hand. Hopefully she was right about that.

*****

Trent was sprawled on the couch when they came through the doorway and he drummed his fingers against the back as he watched them.

Liz went into their former room and grabbed their bag before she glanced around the hallway to see if there was anything else to take with her.

“Where’s all our stuff?”

“Looking for something special?” Trent looked up, waving something in his right hand.

Now he was going to play games, Liz thought when her gaze zeroed in on her cell phone. “Give it back.”

“Oops,” he said when he dropped it into a full glass of soda on the coffee table in front of him.

Her back teeth started to grind. Now her phone was ruined and she was really regretting not paying the extra few dollars a month to get the stupid insurance plan. She wanted to scream at him, wanted to hit him for being such an ass, but she fought to keep her cool because Aaron was right there, watching and listening to everything.

“Get out of my apartment now,” Trent got up and yelled. “But before you go, gimme the damn key.”

Liz pulled her keys out of her pocket and moved Aaron behind her while she fumbled to get the key off of the ring. Once she had it free of the others she threw it across the room, watching it bounce across the cushions to land next to his thigh.

“Lizzie,” Aaron mumbled from behind her. “Where are my toys?” he asked miserably.

The knife twisted more at his innocent question. “I can’t believe I ever loved you,” she said as she stared at Trent. “Aaron, we’re leaving now.”

“Yeah, get the hell outta here,” Trent yelled.

Liz shook her head and took Aaron’s hand again, leading him over to the kitchen area where Trent had put what was left of their things. She gathered up the bags she had dropped in her haste to get Aaron to the bathroom and hooked his little backpack over his arms. She picked up the one box that Trent had used to toss everything he had missed throwing out and glanced down at Aaron. “Open the door, sweetie.”

He looked scared as he nodded and ran to do as she told him, glancing back at the man who had made his life hell the last few years.

Trent made a lunging motion and laughed when the boy jumped and nearly ran into the door.

Liz would have grabbed something to hit him with if she hadn’t had her hands full. As miserable as their situation was right now, the moment she stepped out into the hallway she felt relief wash over her.

“How come he’s so mean, Lizzie?” Aaron asked, reaching up to hold onto her tee shirt as they walked down the steps.

“Some people just are,” she mumbled.

He frowned when she paused and he looked up at her. “What’re we doin’?”

“We’re gonna see if Mrs. McGinty’s home.”

“Do you gotta go to work already?”

“No, I don’t have to work today.”

“Then why we’re gonna go to her house?”

“Because we don’t have a home anymore, Aaron.”

“Can’t you call Max? He can fix it an’ he’s nice.”

“I don’t have a cell.” She stopped to look at him. “I’ll make the decisions here, kiddo.”

He kicked at the floor. “Where we’re gonna sleep if we don’t got a home no more?”

“I’ll think of something,” she pulled him with her to the door of her babysitter.

Aaron fidgeted while they waited for Mrs. McGinty to open the door. He didn’t know why they couldn’t just call Max. He knew the man would let them stay with him and he wouldn’t be mean and do bad things like Trent did. “Maybe she went somewhere,” he said after a while.

“Did she say something?”

“Huh?”

“When you were with her this week? Did she say something?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Liz knocked on the door again. Where could they go if the old lady wasn’t home? Max’s place was too far to walk and she just knew without looking that Trent had probably taken the last bit of money she had as well.

“I’m hungry,” Aaron said as he leaned into the corner where the walls met.

Why did kids always have the worst timing? she thought, frustrated.

“You could stand there all day,” Trent sneered as he leaned in the open doorway of his apartment. “Old hag won’t be home until tomorrow.”

“Leave us alone,” Liz hissed.

“Just sayin’ you’re wastin’ your time. Be a shame if you lost the brat ‘cause you couldn’t put a roof over his head.” He walked back inside and slammed the door.

She clenched her hands into fists several times to remain in control. “C’mon, we’ll try to find something else, Aaron."

*****

Michael tapped his thumb on the gearshift in time to the music as he cut in and out of traffic. He was almost to Courtney’s street and part of him was going to be relieved to have some time alone. She had been staring holes through the windshield since before they had dropped Maria and Cody off at Amy’s building. He had this bad feeling that there was another one of those talks in his near future and he wasn’t really in the mood for it.

“I know listening to Cody’s bitching all the way home probably gave you a headache, but he’s just not used to – “

“You make a lot of excuses for him,” she interrupted.

“He’s four years old, Courtney.” He parked behind her building and sat there for a minute, his hand resting over the keys in the ignition. “Look, it’s just gonna take some time for him to get used to this. Little guys don’t always adjust to things as fast as we’d like them to.”

“Do I look stupid to you?” Don’t be so defensive, Courtney, she chastised herself. You’re only gonna push this into an argument this way.

“Why would you ask me somethin’ like that?” he snapped. He jerked the keys out and shoved his door open so he could get her things.

“Let’s just both stop for a minute and calm down,” she suggested. “We’ll go upstairs, I’ll get us something to drink, and then we’ll talk about this calmly.”

Calmly my ass, he thought in irritation. “Fine.” He pulled her bags from the back and followed her up to her apartment.

“You can just drop them in the hallway,” she told him when they entered her four walls. “I’ll take care of it later.”

Annoyance grated through him and as soon as he had cleared the doorway he dropped the bags. “Alright, well,” he made a point of checking his watch, “I guess I can have a quick drink. Shift starts soon.” Not soon enough, he thought.

She rolled her eyes. “I know your shift doesn’t start for almost four hours.”

“Yeah, well, gotta go by an’ pick Loco up from the parents, grab a few things at the store, and hit the shower before work.”

“I’ll get those drinks.” She went to the kitchen quietly.

He growled under his breath. She kinda reminded him of a volcano waiting to erupt.

“How about coffee?”

“Yeah, sure.”

She prepared the drinks quietly for a few minutes and was relieved when he went to sit in the living room. How was she going to start with this topic?

Michael reached over and picked up a magazine off of an end table. He rolled his eyes as he scrolled over the topics. How to achieve the best orgasm. Two words, ladies. Michael Guerin. Understanding your guy’s erogenous zones. He snorted. What was there to understand? He shook his head and his gaze dropped to the next topic. How to get your guy to open up. Really? Did women really buy into this crap? He was about to toss it back on the table when he caught the title of the article at the bottom. What every guy should know about his girl’s hot spots. Hmm... that one might be interesting. Not that there was anything a magazine could really tell him that he didn’t already know, but couldn’t hurt to check it out. Movement caught his attention and he quickly tossed the magazine back on the table. He wasn’t about to get caught reading it though.

“Looking for some tips?” she teased and placed the coffee in front of him.

Crap! “No, just thought maybe you’d have a sports magazine around here somewhere.”

She didn’t believe him, but she stayed quiet. “Michael… I know you wanna put this off, but we need to talk about your friendship with Maria.”

Yeah, he’d rather slam his hand in a door than have this conversation. “Friendship, Courtney, nothin’ more.”

“It’s hard to believe watching you two together.” She sat down on the armchair in front of him.

He shrugged. “And I’m tellin’ you that’s all it is.”

“Okay,” she nodded. “I don’t wanna make a big drama out of this, but there are some things I’m not comfortable with.”

He sighed, having a bad feeling about whatever she was gonna say next. “So, let’s have it.”

“Well, the major thing is... sleeping with her in the same bed.”

“There was nothin’ goin’ on! Cody had a bad scare last night and he needed me to be there. I told you I just dozed off. That’s all it was.”

“Maybe it meant nothing to you, but it does to me. Let’s change seats for a moment and ask what you’d think if I had been in bed with a hot guy-friend. How would you feel about that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.” Okay, that was a lie, but it wasn’t the same thing. “Hell, Courtney, we were both asleep and we had a four-year-old in bed between us.”

“That’s not the point, Michael,” she said quietly and looked at her hands. Where would this go if he couldn’t understand her point?

“Are you worried that Maria and I are gonna have sex or somethin’?”

“Well, I’m...” she stuttered. “I don’t know. I’m just uncomfortable when you’re touching and hugging her all the time.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. On the one hand, yeah, he could see how that might make her uncomfortable, but on the other hand, that’s just the way he and Maria were with each other. He toyed with his phone as he stood up, dropping it on the table along with his keys. “Can I use your bathroom?”

“Sure,” she nodded and waited until he was out of the room before she sighed and leaned forward to get her coffee. She took a long sip of it and placed it back the same moment his cell buzzed. Ignoring it, she wanted to lean back, but he had placed it too close to the edge and when it almost fell she reacted quickly and caught it. In large letters there was a notification letting him know he had received a text message from RP. She knew it was his nickname for Maria and she wished she hadn’t seen it before she placed it back on the surface of the table. What could she want so soon after dropping her off?

Michael stared at his reflection in the mirror over the sink after drying his hands. How was he supposed to comply with what Courtney wanted? He hadn’t missed the look on Maria’s face when they had parted at her mom’s apartment. They never went their separate ways without a hug. But he wanted this to work out, right? So he had to be willing to make sacrifices for her happiness. That was the way it worked, give and take, making concessions for each other. And he could talk to Maria. She was a girl. She’d understand. He sighed. She would, right?

Courtney waited patiently for his return, deciding she wouldn’t mention the message. He would see it soon enough and they really needed to figure their own problem out. Knowing Maria, she was probably just apologizing to him that she had caused trouble this morning.

He came back and sat down, rubbing his hands on his thighs. “So... where were we?”

“I think you know that, huh?”

He shrugged and wished he had something to occupy his hands.

“Michael,” she reached out to take his hands, “I’m not asking you to give up the friendship you guys share. I’d just like a little less of the touching and snuggling.”

“Okay, well, I can do that.” He met her gaze directly. “I’ll talk to Maria about it.”

“Thanks,” she said gently and leaned forward to breathe a kiss against his lips. “I realize she sees me as a threat right now and the fact that I got the cover job probably put a big fat mark against me on her black list.”

“Why would Maria see you as a threat?” he asked. “We’re not together, never have been. As for the job, it’s a money issue, nothin’ else.”

“Yeah, but you spend time with me now that you’ve probably always shared with her. I don’t wanna get between the fronts here, so I’m gonna talk to her as well and tell her that it’s not my intention to hurt her.”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. I mean, I said I’ll talk to her.”

“Just don’t want her to hate me.”

He snorted. “I could see her hatin’ on you if she and I had ever been together, but we haven’t.”

She wasn’t sure if that was true, but she stayed quiet for now. Maybe she’d wait and see how the talk between Maria and him went and then decide later if she would talk to her as well.

“I’m just sayin’ you’ve known her for a few weeks or whatever and I’ve known her most of my life. You try to talk to her about this and she’s just not gonna like it.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it?” he asked uncertainly.

She bit her lip uncertainly when she remembered the message. If he realized later that she hadn’t told him about it they’d start about this all over again and she’d be on the receiving end next time. “You got a message while you were in the bathroom.”

He shrugged and ignored the phone. He was no one’s fool. Pick that phone up and check the message and he’d be in for a world of trouble. “It can wait.”

“Ya sure?”

He picked the phone up and shoved it in his pocket without looking at it. “It’ll wait.”

She smiled and left her seat to crawl in his lap. “Too bad you got no time.”

He gnawed on his bottom lip for all of two seconds. “I could call my parents, tell ‘em I’ll pick up Loco tomorrow.”

“Yes, you could.” She laid her forehead against his while she moved her lower body closer.

His arms came around her. “I’ll call ‘em later, they’ll understand.”

“Sounds good,” her gaze dropped to his chest. “I like the shirt you’re wearing... but it looks better open I think.”

Nicole would probably kill him for dumping Loco on them for another night. But God, it’d be worth it. “Yep, I’m good with open.”

She started to unbutton it slowly while her eyes followed her hands. “Sexy body comin’ up.”

“Oh, yeah.” He had no idea what she was even saying. All that mattered was the way she was touching him and the way her lower body was pressed so tightly to him.

“All mine,” she said and leaned down to press kisses against the bare skin of his chest.

He slid his hands under her shirt, pushing it out of his way to get to some skin of his own. Suddenly he couldn’t remember why he had been in such a hurry to leave.

In a hurry she helped him to get rid of the shirt completely. He really was a man that fit her tastes perfectly.

“Like it when we’re on the same page,” he growled and reached for the clasp on her bra.

“Um-hmm, definitely,” she said and meant for more than just the sex part. Her heart felt a lot lighter now that they had talked about the things that were bothering her and he had agreed to talk to Maria, so that had definitely gone well. She slipped from his thighs, grinning when he started to protest, biting back the words as soon as he saw that she had just gotten up to get rid of her pants.

Michael watched her, his eyes roving over every inch of skin that was now on display. The talk hadn’t been as bad as he had thought it might be. He just hoped Maria understood. Nah, she’d understand; she had that whole girl perspective going on. Yeah, it’d be fine. He was sure of it.

Almost.

[Double Trouble]

somewhere87: LOL, that was hilarious!

We’ll have to wait and see what (and if) Courtney’s willing to compromise on. Will she have problems standing back when Michael has plans with Maria? Considering the current path she’s on there’s a good chance that could cause more problems for them. We’ll have to wait and see.

That’s a good possibility, but maybe someone will be taking some of that weight off of her shoulders.

Earth2Mama: Michael’s in new territory and it’s going to take time for him to learn how to balance things. And it’s going to take time for him to figure out just how much of his relationship with Maria he’s willing to sacrifice to be with Courtney.

Trent deserves a good beating… or worse. We’ll find out about Max soon.

mary mary: Thanks for reading! Trent will get his in the end.

Alien_Friend: This day definitely ranks up near the top. Lol, we’ll find out soon if Max is just waiting in the wings. He’s ready and willing to step up if she’ll just let him. Trent will get his in the end.

Ah, you’re right about Maria. But she won’t be alone while she’s coping with this. She does have other friends if she’ll just let them in. They’re not Michael of course, but they’ll help her until he becomes available again.

Thanks! We will get them there. It won’t be easy at times, but the destination will surely make the journey worth the difficulties they’ll face.

CandyliciousLovah: Liz now knows some much nicer guys… and if she’ll just let him, there’s one in particular who wants to step in and take some of that weight off of her shoulders.

Natalie36: We’ll find out about Max soon.

And Michael… the guy really is between the proverbial rock and a hard place.

keepsmiling7: All Max is waiting for is the green light from Liz and he’ll be happy to take care of those things and take some of the pressure off of her.

No, whatever Trent gets in the end won’t be enough, but it will be something.

Um… *DT ducking* probably a bit longer on that waiting…
Carolyn

xilaj: Thanks, that’s a great compliment! Trent is a horrible excuse for a human being and the way he takes pleasure in tormenting Aaron is even worse. Liz had really hit the bottom but the good thing is she’s got some good people in her life now that will provide her with options. And of course, we have Max, who’s more than willing to step up if she’ll just let him in. Who knew Mom’s homemade mac-n-cheese would be such a cure-all?

That probably is why Maria was calling Michael… he’s always been her go-to guy. With Courtney in the picture now though, she may have to lean on someone else.

sarammlover: He is! We sooo agree with you! He’ll get his in the end though, you can be sure of that. Rant on, lol. His character is definitely rant-worthy. Max has Aaron’s vote, lol. Michael is in a tough situation… please the girlfriend and hurt his friend (and he knows it’ll hurt her) or keep the friend and lose the girlfriend. Not an enviable position. And of course… we all know what he should do, lol.

begonia9508: Thanks!

True, hard to imagine worse than Trent.

Scary reality that there are guys like this disguised as the good guys.

It is only a matter of time before Michael sees the reality of his situation, but the question is… how much time?




Part 74

Hide and Seek


Alex watched the traffic crawling by as they neared his building and he leaned his head back against the headrest and sighed quietly. The weekend had been surprisingly enjoyable even with their weird idea of initiating new people into their group. He supposed it said something that he had been included. They could’ve just not invited him to participate, but they hadn’t just left him out like that. At the time he would’ve been completely happy to have been ignored and left to his own devices, but after spending the past couple of days with them he had discovered that they really weren’t as bad as he had first thought they were.

Interestingly enough they weren’t as selfish and self-centered as he had first believed them to be. They definitely had their own way of doing things and they didn’t always stop to think of people outside of their group, but they had a strong connection to each other and he felt sorry for anyone who tried to come between them. He rubbed his eyes and let his mind shift to other things like his work schedule for the next week and the bills waiting to be paid. A couple that would be paid thanks to his participation in the weekend.

“What’re you thinking?” Isabel asked as she glanced over at him. She had been surprised to discover that he was actually interesting to talk to. He was intelligent, had an opinion about everything but didn’t try to force it on others, and he was a challenging conversationalist, making her stop and think about things that would probably otherwise go ignored.

“Just going over my schedule.”

“No big plans this week?”

“Huh-uh, just the usual. Work, work, visit my sister, squeeze in some time for homework, and then work some more.”

“And maybe work in coming to a party or something? You should try to get out and do something fun.” Why did she care what he did on his obviously limited time off? But for some reason, she did.

“If it’s over the weekend, maybe I’ll put in an appearance for a little while.”

She nodded, not pushing it. That’s right, she thought with a smile, just let him come to you. Her eyes widened and she shoved that thought back. No, she had not meant it like that! Liar, her conscience taunted her. That’s exactly how you meant it and you know this guy’s not gonna be like the others. That’s one of the things you like about him. She ignored the internal voice and focused on the actual conversation she was trying to have. “Your schedule’s pretty hectic this week?”

He smirked. “It’s pretty hectic every week.”

She pulled over to squeeze into a spot in front of his building. “I’m glad you decided to go this weekend, Alex. You made it interesting.”

“Well, it wasn’t as painful as I expected it to be.” He laughed and shook his head. “Not nearly as painful.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “I told you it’d be fun.”

“Yeah, you did, and as agonizing as it is to admit, you were right.” He winked at her and opened the door as he lifted his bag up off of the floorboard between his feet. “I’ll see ya at work, Isabel.” It still felt wrong to take money from her, especially after actually enjoying the weekend but hell, he did have bills to pay and she was the one who had come up with the idea.

Isabel watched him until he disappeared into the building, jumping back out into the busy traffic and making her way to her own building. Twenty minutes later she was pulling into the parking garage, waving to the parking attendant as she passed the guard shack. He smiled and waved, nodding when she declined his offer to park the car for her. Normally she turned her car over to the parking attendants but today she was in an especially good mood and it didn’t feel like so much of a chore.

She turned into her spot and climbed out of the car, popping the trunk and lifting it up to haul her bags out. She set the two largest ones on the ground and reached in for the smaller case that held all of her cosmetics before reaching up to slam the trunk shut. She froze as it came down and she nearly screamed when she saw the man standing next to her car. She forced her breathing to calm down before she snapped at him, “What the hell are you doing here?”

Richard smiled and nodded at her bags. “Need some help with those?” he asked, ignoring her question.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“No? Maybe you’d prefer it if I was that computer geek you were shacked up with all weekend?” he sneered, his handsome features twisting into an ugly mask.

How did he know? she wondered in alarm but played it cool. “Not that you have any clue, but I enjoyed my weekend and it was better than anything I every experienced with you.”

“I never did understand what it was you got from swimming naked with a bunch of people.” His eyes narrowed and he shifted closer. “Guess it gave him a chance to actually get naked with a woman for a change.”

Isabel tried to remember if Richard had ever been around when they had done initiations at the beach house, but she was positive that no one had ever wanted him to take a part in it. Maybe he had overheard them talking about it? It had to be that, there was no other way he could know. “Whatever, Richard,” she tried to get her bags together, ready to just leave him standing there.

“The two of you looked pretty cozy at the gas station.” He smirked. “Never thought you’d be interested in his type but apparently now you’re into guys who pump the gas for you.”

“What the hell is your problem?!” she exploded. It couldn’t be another lucky guess, could it? “Are you so bored and out of your mind that you’re following me around? WE ARE DONE, Richard. Get the hell outta here and leave me alone.”

“You’ll be bored with him before long, Isabel.”

“That is none of your business. I don’t want you back either. Not today and not ever.” She tried to pass him and glared at him when he didn’t let her. “Move,” she growled dangerously.

“A guy like that will never keep a woman like you interested.”

She sighed. “I don’t know if you kinda forgot your last brain cell somewhere or whatever, asshole, but I really don’t care what you have to say.” Again she tried to get away from him.

Richard shifted to block her path when she tried to pass him. “Isabel, if you continue with this charade I will have to take measures to make sure you understand that I intend to make you mine again.”

“You’ll have to take measures?” she asked in disbelief, not letting her fear about his choice of words leak into her tone. “There’re no measures to take because I will never be yours. I never was yours.”

“You were mine and you will be again,” he said, his voice low and determined.

“Listen, buddy,” she pushed him hard, “go or I’m calling the police.”

His lips lifted in a threatening smile. “Go ahead. What will you tell them? That I was talking to you?”

She ignored him and used the opportunity of him standing a few feet away to finally get away. Hopefully he wouldn’t come after her again.

Richard watched her rush off and shook his head. Did she really think she could fool him into thinking she wasn’t interested by cavorting around with that other guy? She would learn soon enough that he wasn’t a fool.

****

Maria shoved the door to her apartment open and threw her bag in before she went back out into the hallway to get the groceries she had just bought. It felt like 100 degrees or more when she walked in, sweating from carrying everything in the damn heat. When was the heat finally gonna let up, she wondered and walked over to the little thermostat on the opposite wall.

She had turned it off over the weekend to save energy costs. Damn thing ate up her money like crazy in the summer and it didn’t even work properly. She switched the button on and frowned when the familiar humming was absent. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she muttered and switched it back and forth a few more times, but the damn thing didn’t start.

“That’s fucking great,” she yelled at the box and smacked it shut with her hand. “Fuck!!!” Frustrated, she stalked over to her groceries and took them to the kitchen, wiping her hand over her neck when sweat ran down and got soaked up by her tank top.

“I’m gonna melt into a puddle,” she went on with her rambling and ripped the refrigerator open to put the milk in and get at least a short cold breeze. She was greeted by the pungent smell of rotting food. “What...” Her head snapped up to look at the microwave, where the tiny digital clock blinked with three red zeros.

Based on the condition of the food in the refrigerator, the power must have been out for most of the weekend. “Now there’s something new,” she growled dangerously and kicked the door shut with her left foot so that the whole kitchen interior shook from it.

“I hate this shit,” she hissed and swiped an empty plastic bowl from the counter when she wasn’t able to control her anger anymore. It flew across the kitchen and landed on the tiles with a loud clatter.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” her rambling went on while she stalked through her apartment to get some control back. Her fingers fumbled with her cell in her back pocket and it almost slipped from her fingers when she got it out. There was still no answer from Michael after her message, she realized in frustration and barely caught herself before she threw the phone across the room. “What? Now I’ve been totally replaced already?” she yelled, aware that she was totally paranoid and overreacting at the moment, but it wasn’t like anyone could hear her.

Frustrated, she wiped a tear away and slumped down on her couch, not caring about the rotting food in her kitchen or the fresh food still in the bags. “Damn heat,” she complained and pulled her top off to sit there in nothing but her bra and jean shorts. There was nowhere for her to go to flee the situation, nor was there a possibility of relaxing and forgetting about the day like she had planned. Her mind was overshadowed with hurt, anger and frustration right now and she knew she couldn’t do anything about that other than wait until the feelings passed since the only person she was really ready to open up to in situations like this was obviously not available right now.

****

Tony stifled a yawn and inched his way through the late afternoon traffic. He glanced up and caught sight of a billboard featuring a model advertising... well, who cared what she was advertising? he wondered. Did any guy ever see one of those ads and pay any attention to the merchandise the company was selling? Huh. His thoughts turned to Maria and he leaned forward to grab his phone off of the dashboard.

She’d had a rough weekend with last night’s scare and then Cody having a fit about the driving arrangements. The kid really wasn’t giving Courtney a chance and he didn’t care who knew he didn’t like the new situation. He wondered how the ride home had gone for her and decided to give her a call, see if she needed an ear or maybe a shoulder. He scrolled down to her number and punched it in while the thumb on his other hand tapped out a rhythm in time to the music on the radio.

Maria glanced up when her cell started to buzz on the coffee table. She had been sitting on the couch for a while now, not moving, not doing anything but staring while her thoughts had been nowhere good. That had to be Michael, she thought and leaned forward to grab it. Tony, she frowned at the caller ID and wondered if she should pick up. She wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone right now but if they guy was anything like Michael he wouldn’t give up if she ignored his call. “Hello?” she answered the call after she had cleared her throat.

“Hey, Sunshine,” he greeted, grinning as he imagined her expression.

She didn’t feel anything like sunshine at the moment and just skipped his comment. “What’s up?”

“Nada, just callin’ to find out how the ride home went. I know little man wasn’t happy with the arrangements and when they’re not happy, well, they can make everyone around them unhappy too.” He chuckled. “You survive the ride in one piece?”

Maria fell back against the couch. “I did. It wasn’t pleasant, but it’s over.” Her answers were short, probably too short to not be suspicious, but she knew she would totally reveal her mood if she got into it again. Michael would know by now that something was wrong, but Tony didn’t know her that well yet.

“Uh-huh,” he said slowly. “How’d Cody handle the ride?”

Of course he wouldn’t give up so easy, she thought in frustration. “The same way he did earlier. He refused to accept Courtney and made it very clear to all of us.”

“Well, ya can’t fault him for knowin’ what he wants.” He pressed on the horn when some suit in a Mercedes tried to cut in front of him. “Asshole,” he muttered. “You sound a little off, Maria. Everything okay?”

Damn it! Why couldn’t she just downplay her feelings any better? “I’m good,” she told him a bit too quickly.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “So whatcha doin’ tonight?”

“Nothing at all. Just stayin’ home.”

There was something in her voice that sounded so... lonely. “Want some company?”

“I don’t think I’m good company today, Tony,” she admitted and wiped away a tear of frustration.

“So hang out with me and let my good mood rub off on you. C’mon, it’ll do ya some good.”

“Tony…” she begged slightly. She knew he was just trying to cheer her up, but there was really nothing she could think about that would work today.

“I’ll spring for dinner,” he tossed in.

Her gaze wandered over to her closed refrigerator. “I’m not really hungry and I did some grocery shopping myself. Look, Tony, it’s really nice of you to ask and all, but…” she swallowed, “I’d be better staying alone.”

“I’m gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that whatever’s goin’ on, bein’ alone isn’t necessarily the answer. I’m not Guerin but I’m a pretty good listener. Or I can talk your ears off if you’d rather not talk.”

“I know you just wanna be nice and all...” she said hoarsely, “but you’ve already done enough for me this weekend and... You mentioned you have a shift tonight so just go home and don’t worry, okay? Maybe we can do something during the week. Sorry, but I’m gonna hang up now. Goodbye.” She lowered her cell and ended the call, feeling like an ass about it. The last thing she needed though was for Tony to have a look at her apartment right now.

Tony frowned at his phone and made a quick call before shifting to shove it in his pocket. He wasn’t sure what was going on but something was wrong, he knew that much. He checked the next lane over and cut in front of a taxi so he could turn left at the next intersection. “I hate traffic,” he muttered as he worked his way out of the worst of it. Of course Maria’s place would be in the opposite direction.

It took nearly half an hour just to find a parking spot and then he got into an argument with a guy who tried to nose into it while he was backing in. He was aggravated by the time he finally made his way into Maria’s building. It wasn’t the worst place he’d seen but he’d really like to see her someplace better. He made his way to her floor, tugging his tee shirt away from his skin.
Damn, it was too warm. Hopefully the air conditioning was just out in the hallway and not in the apartments. He located her door and leaned against the wall as he reached out to rap his knuckles against the frame.

Maria looked up when she just walked out of the bathroom after taking a short cold shower – something that she would probably do more than once today considering the temperature in the room. “Who’s there?” she yelled.

“Tall, blonde, and handsome,” Tony called back at her annoyed question.

“Don’t know anyone that looks like that,” she said. How the hell did he know where she lived? Okay, well it wasn’t that hard to find out, but WHY was he here?

“Hmm, you sure?”

She glanced down at herself, tightened the towel around her body, and ran her hands through her wet hair, while she made her way to the door. With a slight nod to herself she opened just enough for it to stand between them. “Why’re you here, Tony?” she asked quietly.

“’Cause I kinda got the feelin’ you need a friend and... damn, girl, is your air out?”

“I just like it hot, ya know?” she muttered and let her hand slip from the door as she walked deeper into her apartment.

“Yeah,” he said as he took a step inside, “I can see why you’d like it like a sauna in your apartment. Cheaper than goin’ to the gym.”

“Guess I’m gonna go get something to wear,” she pointed at the closed door at the other end of the apartment.

“Don’t get dressed on my account,” he teased with a grin.

“Okay,” she said and dropped the towel, almost laughing at his shocked face. She was wearing a bikini underneath, which she had planned to wear at home since it was so freaking hot.

Tony laughed and shook his head. “You got me with that one,” he said, giving her an appreciative look. “What’s the status on the air conditioning?”

“Status: fucked the hell up, I guess.”

“Fucked up like it’s not gonna be fixed any time soon?”

“Don’t know,” she shrugged. “Haven’t called the landlord yet.”

“So tonight’s plan is to hang out in the sauna?”

“Pretty much. Considering I have windows I might even open them when it gets a bit cooler outside.”

“Uh-huh, that’s not a good plan. I’m thinkin’ this situation calls for somethin’ different.”

“Tony,” Maria begged. “Is it so hard to understand that I need to be alone?”

“Maria, I can respect a person’s need to be alone and if that’s what you want, okay. But if you stay here you’re gonna roast. I’m on shift tonight so stay over at my place.”

“Stay over at your place?” she repeated stupidly and finally went to get a light summer dress from the bedroom to wear over the bikini. On her way back she stopped in the doorframe and leaned against it, looking at Tony, who was just about to put her groceries away. “Don’t…” she started and sighed when it was too late, “… open the refrigerator.”

“Whoa!” he choked out and made a face. “Power out too?”

“Welcome to casa Deluca,” she muttered and took the bag of groceries from his hands. Why did he have to be so damn helpful?

“Okay, seriously, girl, lemme take you over to my place. This’s fun an’ all but if you’re gonna be alone you should at least be able to do so without sweating like a pig and havin’ to smell spoiled food.”

“Doesn’t smell if you keep it shut.” She kicked the refrigerator door with her foot and felt her control slowly slip from her hands. Damn, that’s what she had tried to prevent all day, but it was getting harder to do.

“Look, pack a bag, you can come over to my place, and just hang out. Like I said, I’m on shift in a couple hours but you can kick back and chill out without me bothering you. Veg out in front of the TV, hang out on the rooftop garden, but at least you can clear your head there.”

She looked at him, unable to say anything. What if she just went with him? It wasn’t like she would miss anything here and traffic would probably be just fine getting to work from Queens to Manhattan for the few appointments she had this week. But what if something went wrong with Cody?

He sensed she was on the verge of capitulating but something was holding her back. “What?”

“Thing aren’t looking so good for Cody,” she finally blurted out what was bothering her so much since she had left her mother’s apartment earlier that day.

“What’s wrong?”

“Just… the results from his recent tests weren’t very good,” she shook her head and leaned against the counter behind her. “My mother told me earlier.”

“Ah, hell, Maria, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Cody hates the hospital,” she continued with a wavering voice, “and now he may needs to stay in one.”

“For a few days?” he asked uncertainly. He wanted to go over and give her a hug but she looked like she was gonna come apart at the seams.

She shook her head. “No.”

He crossed the room to wrap his arm around her shoulders, tugging her up against his side for a few seconds but leaving the embrace loose enough she could back away if she wanted to. “C’mon, let’s get outta here.”

“Okay,” she answered quietly, but didn’t move.

He shifted and pulled her up against his chest, wrapping both arms around her. “Don’t get bogged down with negative thoughts, okay?”

She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest when the tears started to fall. Weakness wasn’t acceptable in front of her brother and sometimes not even in front of her mother since the woman had enough to deal with, with one hurting child – but her friends tended to break through her walls more often nowadays and she wondered how long she could keep putting on a smiling face in front of Cody.

Tony wondered what Michael would do in this situation. He was normally the one she turned to in times like this. He had a feeling the guy would call in sick, turn the phone off, and do whatever he could think of to keep her mind as far away from her worries as possible. Of course, Michael had almost 20 years of experience when it came to handling Maria.

“I know they say hope dies last,” she started calmly after a few minutes and rested her cheek against his chest, “but if my brother doesn’t get a heart soon, then he’s gonna die.” She shook her head when she could feel he was about to say something and it would probably be the kind of thing people always said… that she shouldn’t think about that until she had to… that there was still a chance he could be saved… “It’s the truth and pushing it away doesn’t make a difference in the end.”

“No, I guess it doesn’t.” He rubbed her shoulder. “I don’t know what the right thing to say is, but I do know that you’re facing a potentially ugly outcome and about the only thing I can think of to offer is a break from your current situation.”

It hurt so much to think about a life that no longer included her brother, but it was really getting hard to push those thoughts away. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “Now if you could maybe tell Courtney to go back where she came from…” Okay, that sounded way too jealous, she thought. “It still stings that she got the cover. MY cover.”

“She did get the cover,” he mused thoughtfully. “What was it for? Dog magazine? Llamas Weekly? Goats Unlimited?”

Maria snorted. “I think it was Biatches Exclusive.”

He laughed. “See? Narrow escape.” He shook her gently. “Somethin’ better’ll come along.”

“I really hope so. The modelling business is a bitch and I would totally quit that damn job if it didn’t pay so well.”

“What would you do if you could have your dream job?”

“I don’t know. Something that includes travelling maybe. I’d like to see so many parts of this world but I can’t afford it.”

“World travel, huh? I guess models get to travel if you decided to stick with it.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, travelling for fun would be one thing, I’m not so sure about doing it while workin’.”

“I don’t think I wanna take modelling to any professional level. There’re always stupid people who tell you you’re too fat, too small, too whatever.”

He nodded. “Somethin’ better’ll open up. You’ve got that tat thing with Evans, right?”

“Yeah, if he doesn’t decide to replace me with Liz,” she rolled her eyes.

“Hot as he is for her, guy strikes me as the type that means it when he gives his word about anything.”

“True,” she nodded and released him slowly. “Sorry for bein’ a bitch. I tend to push people away when I’m hurt… at least Michael says that and I guess he’s right.”

“I’m still here, ain’t I?” He grinned and nudged her. “You didn’t push far.”

“Guess you’re just as stubborn as him,” Maria said and wiped her face. “He’s the one who can always push me until I admit everything. Kyle comes close to that too, but it’s not the same.”

“No,” he murmured, wondering if she even realized what she was admitting, “I don’t suppose it is.”

“Guess it’s because he’s known me since we were little,” she shrugged. “I admit it’s a real change to see him with a girlfriend, and ya know… I know Cody was a real pain this morning and believe me I was ready to kill someone, but the truth is: There was never a time Michael wasn’t there when we needed him and it’s gonna change now with Courtney being around. My brother doesn’t understand it and it hurts him.” She shrugged. “Hurts me too, but I’m old enough to deal with it.”

He studied her features and wondered which of them she was trying to convince. “Can you?”

“I have to, don’t I?” she replied quietly.

“I guess you have to try anyway.”

“Well, I failed badly today I guess,” she rolled her eyes and wandered through the apartment to collect a few things that were lying around. “I sent him a text earlier when I found out about Cody and asked him if he could come over. So much for dealing with the change, huh?”

“Given anymore thought to what we talked about on the beach?”

“If you’re talking about the Michael-Maria-romance, then I refuse to give evidence.”

“You could just talk to the guy.”

“Talk to him about what?” She looked at him.

“About you realizing that he’s not just your friend maybe?”

“I didn’t say that,” she shook her head. “I’m just saying it’s weird to see him with a girlfriend. That doesn’t automatically mean I want something romantic from him.”

Denial was a four-letter word, he thought with a roll of his eyes. He let it go and nodded. “C’mon, let’s get movin’. I think it’s gotten hotter in here since I got here.”

“Pussy,” she muttered and grinned secretly when he heard it.

“Really? That’s what you’re gonna call a guy who willingly runs into blazing infernos?”

“They say…. I haven’t seen it myself,” she teased and shrieked when he went after her. “No, don’t do that.”

“What do you want? Someone to follow me around with a camera to prove it?” He wiggled his fingers threateningly. “I’ll bet you’re ticklish.”

“Tony!” She jumped on the couch and crawled over the backrest to get further away from him.

“Uh-huh, so you are.” He nodded smugly. “I had a feeling.” He nudged the coffee table back out of the way so he didn’t trip himself up.

“Come on,” she begged. “Let’s be nice.”

“You called me a pussy, Maria,” he murmured as he advanced on her. “Not a compliment in that context where I’m from.”

“From the underworld you mean?”

“Still with the insults?”

“Insults is such a harsh word,” she said and walked backwards slowly.

“Uh-huh... and pussy wasn’t?”

“I meant it in a very nice way.”

“Really?” He shuffled further down in front of the couch, coming closer to her. “I can’t say as I’ve ever heard anyone use that particular word in a nice way when it was used in name-calling.”

“Then you’ve obviously been hanging out with the wrong people,” she shrugged innocently.

“Somehow I’m thinkin’ you’re full of shit,” he said and lunged for her.

“Well, it’s too late now, pal. You already invited me to your apartment,” she called out, giggling when she tried to escape from him.

He caught her around the waist and stumbled back, losing his grip on her when he banged his knee into the arm of the couch. “Sonofabitch,” he muttered. That was gonna leave a mark.

“You okay?”

He straightened up. “Yeah, might be sore for a few minutes.”

She walked over and pressed him down on the couch, leaning over the backrest to kiss his cheek. “Rest and I’ll pack my stuff for tonight.”

He dropped his head back to look up at her. “Why don’t you throw enough together for a few days? Just in case they don’t beat your air conditioner into submission. It’s only s’posed to get hotter the next few days and the humidity’s through the roof.”

“You just want someone to cook and clean,” she said, but in truth she was really thankful for his offer. Chances were good that nothing would be fixed anytime soon and other than a few shoots and fitness classes, there wasn’t much on her schedule this week.

His eyebrows lifted. “Wait... you cook?”

“I have a little brother I watch now and then. I can’t feed him junk food all the time, so YES, I do cook. No one says it’s good though.”

“Well, I’ve still gotta make a grocery run.” He made a face. “I usually live off of TV dinners and sandwiches, but if you wanna cook I’m not gonna stop you.”

She pointed at the bag still sitting on the counter. “We can take that with us since I’m not gonna be using it here anyway.”

“Cool. Got stuff for spaghetti in there?” he asked hopefully.

“Well, if ya got spaghetti noodles at home, I could make the sauce out of what’s in that bag.”

He grinned. “Then we’re set.”

Maria went into her bedroom and pulled an overnight bag out from under her bed. There was already a towel and something to wear for the night in it considering the countless number of times she had slept over at Michael’s apartment. Something that wouldn’t probably happen again very soon, she thought sadly but shrugged it off again. In just a few minutes she joined Tony in the living room again. “I think I’m good to go.”

He got up and grabbed the grocery bag and pulled his keys out of his pocket. “Um, you wanna deal with the fridge before we go?”

She made a face. “Probably better, huh?”

[Double Trouble]

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, well, you may just start to like him more in future parts then.

Natalie36: That’s something we’re all hoping for!

begonia9508: Yeah, overall, the weekend wasn’t very relaxing for Maria. Lol, well, she might’ve spent the weekend roasting if she’d stayed home.

sarammlover: Gotta love Tony! Richard is creepy for sure. Isabel agrees with you but says he’s not worth the insurance hassle she’d have to deal with if she crunched up the front end of her BMW.

Alien_Friend: Reporting Richard’s behavior would be the smart thing to do. Without prior claims of harassment she has no proof that he’s giving her problems.

Tony’s a stand-up guy and he has Maria’s back. They all do but right now he’s the one who’s come to her rescue and he’s gonna make sure she’s comfortable.

We’ll find out soon how Michael reacts to Tony’s growing friendship with his best friend.

Your wish is granted… we’ll find out what’s going on with Liz in this update.

Cardinal: Lol, we second that! It’s true, and if Isabel doesn’t do something soon things are only going to spiral out of control.

Ah, c’mon… who says he was waiting?

Crybaby001: Glad you’re enjoying Alex and Isabel.

If Isabel doesn’t recognize soon that Richard is a real threat she could be in danger.

If there was just a way to clone Tony… We could all use one of him around.

Thanks! We’re glad you’re enjoying the story!

keepsmiling7:

Double standing up and brushing bits of rotten tomatoes off. Looks at Trouble. “See, I told you there would be repercussions for not letting our readers know what was going on with Liz and Aaron!”

Trouble shaking her head and making a face she looks at the remains of a rotten tomato dripping off of her monitor. “Well, if you think the tomatoes were bad, wait ‘til they realize Liz and Aaron aren’t in this week’s update either.”

Double’s eyes widening. “What?! They were there when I was going through the part for the final edit, what happened?!”

“Afraid of a few rotten vegetables?” Trouble snorts and then rolls her eyes at Double’s look of incredulity. “I’m kidding, alright?”

Lol, well, technically, we left them at Mrs. McGinty’s door… doesn’t that get any points? No? Okay then.

Max’s number is: 212-843-4376.

xilaj: Yep, Richard should cause worry… unfortunately Isabel isn’t as concerned about him as she should be. Well, you’re in luck. This week we won’t be checking in with Tony but Aaron refused to be put on hold for one more day. He’s really insistent about that homemade mac-an-cheese that Max makes.

mary mary: It’s true, and hopefully she’ll realize it soon. Lol, we’ll see what happens for Tony.






Part 75

On Closer Consideration

Kyle entered his parents’ house later than expected on Sunday afternoon and turned Leo loose from the leash as soon as the door fell closed behind them. He glanced around and tried to figure out if anyone was home at the moment. It was awfully quiet, but then again… what had he expected?

He walked into the den to return the keys to the wall safe. Maybe he should just leave and deal with them later, he thought.

“Kyle? Is that you?” Jim came into the den with Leo next to him.

“Dad,” he greeted his father. He looked tired and a little… hung over maybe? “How’s it goin’?”

The older man just shrugged and didn’t give him an answer. “How was the weekend at the beach?”

“It was good,” his son answered. “Where’s Mom?”

“I don’t know… don’t care to be honest.”

Kyle snorted and his eyes focused on an empty bottle of whiskey on the glass table in front of the couch. There wasn’t a coaster under it, which he knew would drive his mother up the wall if she saw it. “I see your friend Jack Daniels was here with you?”

Jim followed his gaze and took the bottle to get rid of it. “Kyle…”

He lifted his hands up and shook his head. “I don’t need to hear it, Dad.” If his father was drowning his pain with a lot of alcohol, he should do it. “Just make sure it’s not your new best friend.”

Jim snorted. He DID need a new best friend. “I’m not gonna turn into an alcoholic over this.”

“Good,” his son said and brought his thumb up to gesture behind him. “I’d better go… my shift starts in an hour and a half.”

“Sure. Be careful as always,” Dad said and watched Kyle say goodbye to Leo.

“Yeah… I will,” he straightened up and opened the door again, but then hesitated for a moment and looked back into the living room. “Hey, Dad!”

Jim glanced up. “Huh?”

“Maybe we could hang out one day this or next week if that’s better? Ya know, catch a baseball game or whatever.”

“Sure,” he agreed with a small smile. “Sounds good.”

“Alright, see you then,” Kyle stepped out into the sunlight again and breathed deeply. So this would be his family life from now on, huh?

****

Michael forced his eyes to stay open while he listened Courtney’s even breathing coming from the vicinity of his chest. They were lying on the couch in her living room, naked and still a bit sweaty from the round of heavy sex a few minutes ago. His hand was drawing random circles on her back, the other arm comfortably bent under his head while his thoughts drifted back to their earlier conversation.

He had promised her he would talk to Maria about their friendship, about reducing the hugging and touching. Would she be okay with it? Was he okay with it?

How could you take a step back in friendship? Was that even possible? They had both been through so much and had always supported each other. Matt’s death and Cody’s illness were the best examples of how much strength they had gotten from each other’s support.

Was there a way to still be that person for her if he wasn’t allowed to comfort her physically? He sighed and closed his eyes for a short moment. Maybe he needed to approach it from a different angle and ask her to at least hold back with those things when Courtney was around?

“What’re you thinking about?” Courtney murmured as she drew random patterns on his chest with her forefinger. She knew he was going to have to go soon because he was working the evening shift but she wished he could just stay the night.

“Just wondering what Maria will say about this,” he mumbled and then his eyes widened. Damn, had he said that out loud? His mind was obviously still muddled after sex.

Her eyes shot open and she pushed herself up to look at him. “What?”

Ungh, yeah this’s what he had wanted to avoid, but it was too late now. He shrugged and rolled them over, so that she was trapped between the back and his body. “Just trying to find a good way to start the talk. I don’t wanna hurt her.”

“We’re laying here all naked and sweaty after just having sex and you’re thinking about her?” Maria should be the last thing on his mind!

He shrugged. “Normally I take a nap afterwards, but since I’ve gotta leave soon I was forcing myself to stay awake and my mind took on a life of its own.”

“And it just went to straight to Maria?”

“It just went to the thing that’s bothering my mind the most,” he said, his tone aggravated. “You brought it up and I’m just trying to deal with it, okay?”

“I just don’t understand what there is to deal with, Michael.” She sighed loudly. “You keep insisting that she’s just a friend but she seems to take up a lot of your time.”

“She seems to take up a lot of my time,” he muttered and rolled over, grabbing his boxers and jeans and standing up to pull them on. “She’s my best friend, of course she does.”

“I have a best friend too, Michael, but she isn’t on my mind constantly.” She watched him, debating again how smart it was to let herself get so involved with him when he didn’t seem to really know what his relationship with Maria was.

He frowned when he glanced around for his shirt until he finally detected it near the armchair next to the window. “It’s not the same.”

“How is it not the same? A best friend is someone you count on, someone who’s there for you and you’re there for them, but they don’t consume your every waking moment.”

“It’s not like that,” he denied, checking his pockets for keys and his cell. “Maria and I have history, Courtney.” He gestured out the window as if it was visible there. “It’s not like we just met a few years ago and decided to be best friends. We grew up together over a lot of years and we learned to trust each other with things.” He ran his hand through his hair. How could he show her there was a difference? “When my brother died, she was the one who held me together and when her brother was born with the heart condition, I’ve been trying to be that person for her.”

“I do understand that the two of you have a bond, but it’s a little bit upsetting when you’re thinking of her during intimate moments with me.” She was trying to avoid getting into a fight with him over this because that was going to make the issue even more important... and more of an issue, and she didn’t want that.

“Didn’t think about it, WHILE we were having sex,” he muttered stubbornly. “Look, you mentioned what bothered you and I said I’m gonna talk to her.” He shrugged helplessly. “What more do you want? I should be allowed to think about how to bring it up because I don’t wanna hurt her.”

She rolled her eyes. Leave it to a man to associate the phrase ‘intimate moments’ with sex and nothing else. So not getting into that one tonight, she decided. “Nothing I guess.”

He was almost surprised by the way she gave in and didn’t make more out of it. Hopefully his expression didn’t reveal his shock. “I need to leave now or I’m gonna be late for work.”

“Do everyone a favor, Michael,” she said as she got up and reached for her clothes. “Keep your mind focused on your work tonight.”

“What kinda stupid comment is that?” he snapped. “I take my job seriously and I know you can’t let your mind wander off when you’re out on a rescue.”

“But you can let it wander when you’re in bed with your girlfriend,” she bit out.

“Fine,” he responded, offended. “Next time I’ll just lie to you, if that’s what you want.”

She huffed out an irritated breath. He was deliberately turning this into an argument. “Would you have given me an honest answer if you’d thought about it first instead of just blurting your thoughts out?”

“Sure, I don’t hide things,” he said, and normally it was true. He wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have just shrugged it off with a “nothing.”

She wasn’t as certain, she thought as she pulled her shirt on. Did she really want to keep pushing him on this subject? Maybe he was just trying to figure out the best way to deal with the situation and fighting with him over it would just make it worse. She frowned when a thought occurred to her. What if she pushed him into realizing something he hadn’t yet allowed himself to consider?

“I gotta go,” he said when she stayed quiet.

“Be careful out there.”

He nodded and turned to leave, but hesitated again and walked back into the room. He wrapped one hand around the back of her neck and brought her close for a short, but intense kiss on the lips. “I’ll call you Wednesday.” If he had learned anything from the past, it was that you should never leave after a fight without making sure everything was okay – if it was possible. You never knew if it was the last time you might see that person.

She reached up to brush her fingertips over his jaw. “Talk to ya then but feel free to call before that if ya want.”

He stared down at her for a moment and nodded before letting go of her and making his way to the front door.

Courtney flopped back on the couch after locking up after him, staring at the ceiling and hoping that he talked to Maria soon.

****

Max parked the jeep and climbed out, walking around and opening up the back so he could grab the groceries he had just picked up. He hated grocery shopping but it was one of those things that had to be done. He didn’t mind eating out but sometimes he just wanted something home cooked. And to be honest, he’d been doing some thinking since that morning when Liz had mentioned how much fat was in breakfast meat. He wanted her to be comfortable leaving Aaron with him if and when she needed to and if he couldn’t fix the kid a meal that wasn’t loaded down with fat and whatever else she wasn’t gonna do that.

He had run by his place after dropping Liz and Aaron off and tossed his bag in his room before checking the fridge and cabinets. He kept his kitchen pretty well stocked, so his list hadn’t been that long. It had taken longer than expected to pick his groceries up because he had found himself studying the nutrition labels on the backs of everything. He got the sacks gathered up, hooking the handles over his arms and then using his elbow to close the back up again.

He had reminded himself multiple times to leave his phone in his pocket and not check the call log to see if Liz had called. Being patient with the situation was something he was going to have to teach himself to do better. He walked up the steps and nodded gratefully when Mr. Robinson held the door open for him. Before he could get inside the old man’s Yorkshire terrier ran in front of him, tail wagging, and yapping loudly in an attempt to trip him up.

“Thanks for the help, Mr. Robinson,” he said, forcing a smile as he extricated himself from the dog’s leash. He took the steps two at a time and juggled the sacks so he could flip his key ring around and catch his door key. He cursed out loud when he missed the ring and it fell to the floor and he had to bend over to pick it up, nearly dropping half of his groceries at the same time.

He made it up to his floor without further issues and he froze with his foot on the last step when he caught sight of the two people camped out at his front door with their bags stacked on top of a box. Liz was huddled up against the door holding Aaron in her lap while he slept and he wondered how long they had been sitting there. She was staring at the wall but she turned to look at him when he started to walk towards her.

“Liz? What’s goin’ on?” he asked quietly.

“Don’t ask,” she said quietly. She had several hours of thinking behind her and it had made her really miserable.

He carefully set the groceries down and leaned over her to unlock the door, pushing it forward when she shifted to the side. “Here, lemme take him,” he said as he crouched down in front of her. “Your arms are probably half-asleep by now.”

Liz glanced down at her brother sadly. The boy had been crying all way here because he had been hungry and at some point he had just fallen asleep out of exhaustion.

“C’mon,” he settled Aaron against his shoulder and held a hand out to her to help her up. “We can put him down and you can tell me what happened while I put the groceries away.”

She let him guide her, unable to say anything and protesting was really unnecessary at this point.

He left her on a barstool in the kitchen and went to put Aaron down, tugging the little boy’s backpack off of his arm and unzipping it to pull his stuffed rabbit out and tuck it in his arms. He shoved a couple of pillows under the covers on either side of him before covering him with a light throw. He left the door open and walked back out to grab the groceries, kicking the door shut behind him and going into the kitchen. He placed everything on the counter and pulled a couple of beers out of the fridge, uncapping them and handing one to Liz.

“Beer at this time of the day?” she asked but took a long sip anyway.

“There some law says you can’t have a beer in the afternoon?”

“Guess not.”

“What happened?” he asked, moving to put the groceries away and give her some space.

“He kicked us out,” she said shortly.

“He kicked you out,” he repeated softly.

“Stuff was already packed or... thrown away when we got there.”

He wasn’t sorry she was out of that situation but he knew this just put a ton of new worries on her shoulders. “Sorry that happened.” He shrugged when she glanced up at him. “You’ve got enough on you without addin’ that into the mix.”

Liz sighed and rested her head on her arms on the table. “Aaron’s stuff... it’s all gone. How do I explain that to my brother? We don’t have enough to wear for a week.”

He grimaced into the fridge. How would she react to his next comment? “That’s one thing we can fix easily enough.”

“It’s all so easy for you to fix,” she muttered, but didn’t look at him.

“It’s only easy for me to fix if you let me.”

“There are a few things that just can’t be replaced, Max.”

“Okay, that’s true, but clothes can be replaced and you know you can stay here.”

“Yeah,” she mumbled. But not the mementos she had kept from her parents, she thought sadly.

“Liz, I know this isn’t the way you wanted to get outta that situation and that asshat throwin’ all your stuff out throws a financial monkey wrench into things, but we’ll figure this out.”

“Thanks for letting us stay here,” she told him.

He nodded wordlessly. “If you want, we can sit down after dinner and figure out our schedules so we’re not runnin’ around tryin’ to get it together in the mornin’.”

“Okay,” she agreed, hating that he had to turn his life upside down for them. “Can I help you with something?”

He pushed a couple of bags across the counter. “Those go in the cabinets.”

“You store the fruit in the cabinet?” she asked, amused when she got up and glanced at the items.

“Um, okay, wrong bag.” He poked through a couple of others and then switched one with the one holding fruit. “There, that goes in the cabinet.”

Admittedly, she was surprised to find a lot of healthy or at least not-too-unhealthy food in the bags while she unpacked them quietly. It wasn’t like she didn’t want to be here and in a different situation she would’ve enjoyed it, but right now everything was messed up and needed to be reorganized. She had no clue if they could even do that.

“You’re not alone,” Max said after a few minutes. “You know that, right?”

“I know,” she tried to force a smile.

“And I realize that this situation isn’t ideal since we’re just getting started, so we’ll try to figure somethin’ out that’ll work for you guys.”

“I’m sure we will somehow...” They had to, right?

“We will,” he said confidently. “You hungry?”

“Not really. But I think someone would be happy with your famous macaroni and cheese.”

He grinned. “Yeah, he really seemed to like it. Mom always says if you’re havin’ a bad day it’ll make things better.”

“Uh-huh, I’m sure that works with kids.”

“Yeah, it seems to.”

“Aaron will love it, he talked about it earlier.”

“Well, mac an’ cheese it is then. You want somethin’ a little more substantial I can make somethin’ to go with it.”

“I really don’t care much today, so I’m good with just that.” The most important thing was that Aaron had a roof over his head and he was with people who actually cared about him.

He nodded. “How long you think he’ll sleep?”

“Probably not too long. He just wore himself out earlier.”

“Guess if he sleeps too much during the day he doesn’t sleep much at night, huh?”

“You can be sure of that.”

He chuckled and pulled a box of chocolate cake mix out of the last bag and slid it across the counter to her. “Feel free to make that.”

“Chocolate cake, huh? Is that supposed to make the big kids happy?”

“It always makes me happy.”

“Well, let’s get it done then, huh?” They both glanced up when they heard a door open and a moment later Aaron came into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Max crouched down, letting Aaron decide what he wanted to do. “Hey, little man, you feel better after that nap?”

The little boy nodded and ran into his arms when he realized where they were. “Max,” he said breathlessly.

“I’ve gotcha,” he murmured as he hugged the boy tightly.

His little arms grasped him tightly. “We don’t got no home no more. Can we stay wif you?”

He glanced up at Liz, his heart breaking for her when he saw her stiffen and clutch the edge of the counter in a white-knuckled grip. “You guys can stay with me until somethin’ else comes along,” he said because he knew she would probably need her own space once it was possible.

“It’s my fault we don’t have no home no more,” Aaron said and ducked his head in shame.

“Why would you think that?”

Liz walked over to caress her brother’s face with her left hand. “It’s not your fault, sweetie.”

He buried his face against Max’s shoulder. “He always din’t like me.”

“He’s just being mean. It was never your fault, Aaron,” his sister kept telling him, hating that he thought he was responsible for Trent’s behavior.

Max picked Aaron up and stood, sitting him on the counter and placing his hands on either side of him. “Hey, look at me.”

The boy did what he was asked, lifting one leg up to pick at the big toe on his bare foot.

“People like Trent are just mean for sport. They treat people badly because they’re not happy with their own lives.”

Liz watched the boys together and sighed. She should’ve gotten out of there sooner. Seeing Max and Aaron together just made it all too clear how much better her brother’s life would’ve been without Trent.

“He wasn’t mean because of you, buddy.” He glanced up at Liz. “It didn’t have anything to do with either of you.”

“Okay,” Aaron said quietly.

“What do you think about us havin’ mac an’ cheese for dinner, huh?”

A smile broke out quickly and he glanced at his sister. “I told you he can do them.”

“And I’ll bet your sister needs someone to lick the bowl once she gets that cake ready to go in the oven.” He lifted his eyebrows when he saw the little boy’s eyes widen. “How’s that sound?”

“Gooooooooood!” he shouted excitedly.

He laughed quietly. “Looks like we’ve got a plan for dinner then.” He picked the boy up and put him on the floor, watching him as he ran out of the kitchen and back towards the bedroom. “There’s a washer an’ dryer in the closet behind you if you wanna do some laundry.”

“Maybe later,” she said and pointed at the bedroom. “I think he needs a bath.”

He chuckled and motioned to the doorway. “You’re in luck. I’ve got a bathtub/shower combo.”

“Yeah... I remember that.”

His right eyebrow quirked and he wondered if she had meant to say that aloud. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “I could run to the store while you’re doin’ that if you need me to pick anything up.”

“No, I still have everything packed from our weekend at the beach, so we’re good for now.”

“What about... y’know, any of that girl stuff you use? I mean, my soap and shampoo’s okay for Aaron, but you might not care for it.”

“Got a bit still packed for me as well. It’ll be enough for a few days.” She smirked. “And if I needed anything I sure as hell wouldn’t let a man pick it out.”

“Gimme a brand name or whatever and I’m sure I could successfully pick stuff up,” he said with a roll of his eyes.

Once in her life she had trusted a boyfriend with stuff like that and she had ended up with a practical gallon of shampoo-and-conditioner. Ungh. “I’m good.”

“Okay. I guess while you guys are doin’ the bath thing I’ll get dinner ready so all we’ll have to do when you’re finished is put it in the oven.”

“Sounds good.” And it really did. How much better could a life be when someone supported you with the real life stuff at home? “You got a towel?”

“Closet behind the bathroom door.”

“Alright. Let’s make a mess out of your bathroom and after that we’ll work on that cake.”

He laughed. “Go for it.”

[Double Trouble]

Cardinal: Doing a happy dance, huh? Lol.

Even using this as a temporary thing will be such a good thing for all of them. Getting her life back under control is something she needs and it’ll give her the opportunity to determine what she wants.

Excellent observation.

somewhere87: We’ll have to wait and see how things develop on the Michael/Courtney front. If she wants things to really work out though, she’s gonna have to ease up a bit because no one wants to put up with jealousy all the time.

Earth2Mama: She really did!

Max and Aaron are going to be spending some quality time together.

mary mary: Lol, we’re making some progress. It’s slow but it’s there. No worries, Jim won’t be making JD his new best friend. It’s a momentary wallow but he’ll rally.

Those so-called nutrition labels are confusing! It’s amazing how something that should be so simple can just be a nightmare.

CandyliciousLovah: Well… unfortunately we won’t be checking in on Michael and Maria or Kyle and Tess just yet. But it’s coming soon. Jim isn’t on his way to becoming an alcoholic, he’s just wallowing for a bit.

Alien_Friend: Thanks!

Liz walked… and it was a long walk, lol.

Max handled their arrival very well. He really did try hard to buy food that was nutritious for Aaron. He’s going to do his best to make Liz see that he’s in this all the way.

In time Aaron will come to understand that he’s in no way at fault for Trent’s behavior. He and Max will be able to buddy up and it’ll be good for both of them. You may have just hit the nail on the head when it comes to Liz and her hesitation where Max is concerned.

If Courtney can’t find a way to accept Maria as a big part of Michael’s life she won’t last long. The two of them have been in each other’s back pockets for so long, developing feelings that have been masked as a deep friendship, that they don’t see what’s right in front of them. Well, Michael doesn’t, lol. Maria’s started to open her eyes.

Jim will get through this. And so will Kyle. In time. Age really doesn’t seem to matter when your parents fall apart as a couple. You can count on Kyle to make the time to be there for his dad and help him in any way he can.

We have some great Dreamer moments coming up so that’ll help smooth over the rough patches for our Candy couple.

IceQueenMay: Max is doing his best to try and make things comfortable for Liz and Aaron.

Natalie36: We’ll have to wait and see if Liz stays there of if she needs her own space to figure her life out.

True, it may be time to rethink her situation.

keepsmiling7: Lol, we were just teasing!

Jim and Kyle are having a rough time but they’re gonna get through it.

Things have been tough for Aaron but the little guy’s finally landed somewhere he’ll be safe, cared for, and loved. And Liz has someone at her side who’ll do whatever’s necessary to take some of the weight off of her shoulders.

begonia9508: Thanks!

It’s true, Liz may have gone somewhere else if she had known where to go.

Liz isn’t ready to live with Max full time, but for now it is the only option open to them.

Lol, yeah, no one wants to put up with someone who is jealous all the time.

sarammlover: Staying with Max for a few days – or longer – is bound to give them some relief. Lol, we’re sure you’re right about Max.

It’s still gonna be a while before Michael listens to your advice.

xilaj: Thanks! Kyle and Jim do have some sorting out to do, but these guys will get there eventually. Courtney, well… Max does still have some things to deal with but he’s gonna get there too.

Having someone there just to take up the slack and help ease some of those daily pressures is one of those things that can make all the difference in the world. Aaron does need stability in his life, but living with Max right now isn’t a permanent solution. It’s gonna take a little bit for us to get them all settled in where they need to be, but we’ll get them there.

zaneri1: Thanks for stepping out of the shadows!




Part 76

Love Game

Michael cursed loudly when the traffic in front of him narrowed down and there wasn’t an open lane to slip into for a shortcut. The unplanned and extended visit at Courtney ‘s had put him behind schedule and now he was running late and he was still hungry because he hadn’t had the time to eat anything between grocery shopping and getting back home to throw his stuff into his room. “Move, asshole,” he groaned and hit the horn several times when the driver in front of him seemed to prefer talking with his partner rather than driving.

The conversation with his girlfriend was still in the back of his head, hanging there like a dark cloud. He had to talk to Maria, the sooner the better.

Maria… he frowned when he was suddenly hit by the feeling that he had forgotten something. He suddenly remembered the message she had sent earlier. Damn it, he hated to be in a hurry, running from one thing to the other. While he held the steering wheel with one hand, he lifted his ass from the seat just enough to reach into his pants pockets with his free hand to get his cell.

Maybe she had forgotten something in the car, he mused and hit a few buttons to open up her message when he stopped at yet another red light.

Could you come over? Please.

His heart twisted as he read the message again. Something about her message was alarming, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Normally her messages always had a funny note, a smiley or a silly comment. This was different, it sounded serious and almost sad.

You’re probably reading too much into it,he told himself and snapped out of his thought when this time he was the one being honked at from behind. He met the eyes of an angry guy behind him through the review mirror and stuck his arm out the open window to flip him off before he continued driving.

His fingers danced over a few buttons on his cell before he placed it on the seat next to him and turned the music down to listen to the stupid sounds of “Call on me,” that Maria used as her ring tone.

After a minute the call went to voicemail. “Hey, this’s Maria and I’m obviously not in the mood to talk to you right now. Leave a message and maybe I’ll call back.”

Michael rolled his eyes and hung up, just to hit the call button again.

****

Maria glanced down at her hand when her cell started to ring again. Of course he would try again, she thought and turned the ringer off.

“Someone you don’t wanna talk to?” Tony glanced at her while he waited for the traffic in front of him to clear.

“Not right now,” she muttered not revealing that the caller was her best friend. She knew Michael was calling because of her earlier message and right now she wasn’t ready to talk about it again, especially not on the cell with another person sitting next to her. If she picked up now she knew he would demand to know the reason for her earlier text.

“We should’ve taken the tunnel,” Tony groaned when the entry to the Queensboro Bridge was bumper to bumper.

“But it’s not as much fun as going over the bridge,” she denied and shoved her cell in her bag. “Much better view.”

“Only a woman would say that,” he teased.

“You’ve gonna be late for work.”

“Nah, I’m good. My shift starts later today. I had some extra hours to take.” He looked at her with a teasing grin. “Trying to get outta cooking dinner?”

“Nope,” she smiled back at him. “Was just wondering because I think Michael should already be on his way to work by now.”

Tony just grinned. “Well, that’s just his loss, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I guess. As for me, I’m glad I don’t have to be anywhere today.”

“I wouldn’t mind kickin’ back one more night but duty calls.”

“You sure you’re cool with me hanging out at your place while you’re gone?” She got comfortable in the seat and stared down over the East River while the crossed the bridge. She wasn’t really looking forward to going back to her own apartment anytime soon considering the circumstances, but she hadn’t seen his apartment yet either.

“Yeah, I’m positive. You’ll like the place and you won’t have to worry about roasting to death from the heat.”

“You’ve got a guestroom?”

“I’ve got a second bedroom that I use as a study but it’s got a very comfortable sofa bed.”

“That’s nice,” she told him with a smile. “Maybe I should look for an apartment in Queens or Brooklyn. It’d take longer to get to work and my family, but at least I’d get a decent apartment for the money I’m paying for that shithole in Manhattan.”

“True. Bet we could find a decent two-bedroom for you an’ Liz if she could work around the extra commute time.”

“I’d like to have a roommate again,” she agreed. “I’ve always lived with someone else before Tess moved out and I miss it.”

“Like the chaos, huh?” He chuckled. “You’d have plenty of that with a roommate and the little guy underfoot. Two when you’ve got Cody.”

“Yeah…” she said, her thoughts wandering to that possibility. No matter how much she still hated the memory of what had happened she could admit it was the dynamic with Tess she missed the most.

“You get bored while I’m gone jump on the computer and start checking out the apartment listings. If ya find a few we can check ‘em out on Tuesday afternoon,” he offered.

“You think Liz would move in with me? I mean, we talked about it at the beach but it was just like random, ya know?”

“You know, what could it hurt to look at a few places first? Maybe pick out a couple you think might work and then invite her to come over and go with you to take a look? She wants to get outta that situation she’s in but right now she’s kinda trapped.”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll do that,” she nodded. It would suck if she found a cool place and Liz decided it wasn’t right though. They didn’t know each other that well yet and it was hard to tell what the other girl would like and what was important to her.

He glanced at her. “What?”

“What you suggested… looking at a few places.”

“No,” he said with a laugh, “you just looked like you had somethin’ on your mind.”

“I think a lot,” she said with a wink and looked at the parts of Queens they passed. “It’s nice here.”

“Yeah, I think you’d like it over here.”

Maria stretched a bit and got a bottle out of the cup holder to take a sip of the water. “Yeah, and it’s probably not as sticky as it is in Manhattan either.”

He snorted. “I don’t know about all that, but for me it’s worth the time it takes to get to work.”

“I guess it has its pros and cons, huh?”

“Doesn’t everything? The biggest negative factor I see for you is the added time for the commute for work or to see your family. Although you wouldn’t be far with the subway and I’m sure between the rest of us we could make sure you girls never had to take the subway late at night.”

“We’re so lucky to have you,” she smirked. It would put her farther away from Michael too, but if the relationship with Courtney continued, then maybe that wasn’t a bad thing.

“You could luck out and find a place close to mine. I could let you girls borrow the Escalade sometimes and you could save me from binging on fast food and feed me a home cooked meal every once in a while.”

“Already thinking about your advantages out of this situation, huh?” Maria teased and pinched his side. “Well, guess there could be worse things than feeding you now and then.”

“Hey, I think that’s a good trade.”

“Maybe,” she mused and opened her window to test the temperatures outside. “Definitely nicer.”

He chuckled and shook his head as he took a turn into his neighborhood. “This’s me,” he said and nodded at the building up ahead.

“Looks pretty nice,” she leaned forward to take a good look on it. “Which floor do you live on?”

“Top floor.” He grinned. “Rooftop terrace, remember?”

“Oh! Right! You are sooo my favorite New Yorker now,” she joked and released her seatbelt when he slowed down to find a parking spot.

Tony found a spot and maneuvered into it with practiced ease. “No valet parking but I’ve learned to live with it.”

“It’s overrated anyway.”

He laughed and nodded. “Yeah, I prefer to park myself.”

“True. I know Isabel’s building offers it and at times when she forgets something in her car, she always had to look around for it.”

“Well, this way I know where I left my car. Can’t say the same thing about it when I go to the damn mall.”

“I thought that was a woman problem only,” she laughed.

He snorted. “Hell, no. Half the time I forget which store entrance I went in through and by the time I’m finished shopping I’m completely turned around.”

“Good thing they name the parking lots, you just have to take a pic of it,” she teased.

“Yeah, too bad it doesn’t keep me from getting turned around.” He shrugged and grabbed her bag, turning to lead the way up to the building when he saw the woman standing there.

“Something wrong?” She frowned when his pace suddenly slowed.

“I uh... no.” He shifted her bag to his other hand and cleared his throat. “Gimme just a minute, okay?”

“Okay,” she stopped, not knowing what was going on.

Tony forced his feet to move, taking him closer to the woman he had expected to marry one day. “What’re you doin’ here, Jennifer?”

“Waiting for you, sweetheart,” the woman said with a slight smile.

He shook his head. “Yeah, obviously. You finally decide to bring my dog back?”

“It was our dog, Tony,” she shook her head and gave him a quick hug. “Ya know, it’s not nice to leave a girl like that.” Jennifer’s eyes focused on Maria and she felt a hint of jealousy.

He gently pushed her away. “You wanted an open relationship and I told you I’m not the kinda guy that’s gonna be with a woman who thinks it’s okay to sleep around.”

“I was talking about her,” she told him, nodding in the other woman’s direction.

“I’m not draggin’ her into whatever this is. Just tell me what you want.” He shook his head. “I’ve told you before to call before you come by.”

“I need the life insurance papers for the changes after our split,” Jennifer said. There was a part of her that felt sorry about the way things had gone down between them, but she couldn’t just continue with the family and kids plan he had in mind.

“I could’ve just mailed them to you,” he grumbled.

“I need the originals and I’ve got an appointment tomorrow so it couldn’t wait.” She glanced at the other woman again, noting her lost expression. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your plans since you obviously had some.”

“Give it up, Jen, and leave her out of it. If you could fuck up my plans on a regular basis you would.”

Maria wished that she hadn’t been left out here like this. It felt stupid to just wait a few feet away. From the looks of the other woman, she was pretty sure she had to be his ex. But why would he not just introduce her then? It wasn’t like he still wanted her back. At least he had said that. Damn, again she was in the way between two people just like with Michael and Courtney.

“You can wait out here.” He turned and walked back to Maria. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting Cruella de Ville to be on the doorstep when we got here. Let’s go on up and I’ll get what she needs and bring it back down to her.” He sighed. “As much as she loved the idea of an open relationship she acts like a major bitch when she sees me with someone else and you don’t need to put up with that.”

“Does she think I’m your girlfriend?” Maria was surprised that he hadn’t introduced her because he didn’t want her to put up with jealousy.

“She made the assumption the moment she saw you and when the claws come out she can get vicious. I don’t know why because when we were together she was perfectly happy to be with other guys and thought it was okay. Anyway, none of that matters now. Just ignore her otherwise she’s liable to go off on you.”

Maria snorted. “She can try. Bring the claws on, I can show mine too,” she wiggled her eyebrows.

“Seriously?”

“Please, you know how much jealousy I put up with for being Michael’s best friend? I doubt she can be any worse.”

“I really don’t have all day to wait, Anthony,” Jennifer said as she studied her nails. She lowered her hand and her gaze slid over the blonde dismissively. “I’m sure getting those papers won’t cut into her hourly rate.”

Maria smirked when she saw Tony’s horrified expression and shifted to look at the other girl. “Just because you had to jump from his bed to several others doesn’t make every girl he’s dating into just another whore, ya know?”

Jennifer’s eyebrows lifted. Oh, this kitten had claws. Well, bring it on, bitch! “Well, I suppose a woman like you is only in it for the money.” Her gaze raked over her ex. “You can probably fake satisfaction with the best of them.”

Oh yeah, Maria thought, amused. She was incredibly jealous so she decided to play it cool instead of going off on her about the comment. It would only annoy her more if she made it clear that Tony was hers. She leaned against his body slightly and placed one hand against his chest. “You were right, she really doesn’t have a clue what she let go, but I guess that’s just my luck.”

Jennifer’s eyebrows climbed up high on her forehead when she recognized the smile on Tony’s face as he looked down at the blonde. There was no way he had hooked up with that... that... whatever the hell she was. “Let’s be realistic, Anthony,” she said, ignoring the other woman. “We had a good thing before you walked out.”

“Wasn’t bad, but you decided it’d be okay to share and I don’t like to share.” He played it cool even though he was boiling inside.

“So maybe I’ve had time to rethink my position on open relationships.”

Where was she going now? he wondered. Was she going to suggest they move back into a one-on-one thing just because she saw Maria as a threat? It wouldn’t last, he told himself, women like her didn’t change overnight. “Then I’d have to say I’ve moved on.”

“Joker misses you.” She smiled. He loved that stupid dog more than just about anything.

He tightened at the mentioning of their pet. Damn, Jen knew just what to say to get to him. “Then give him back.”

She had been on the verge of telling him he could have that fleabag back because he had always been Tony’s dog. She had just taken the dog because she had known it would hurt him. “He’s always been particular who he associates with,” she said with another glance at the other woman.

“Must be a horror for him to live with you then,” Maria countered dryly. “Give him back, I’m sure we’ll get along.”

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed. She’d love an excuse to get rid of the dog, but just giving him back when Tony had so obviously moved on? No way. “I think he’s perfectly fine where he is.” She glanced at her ex. “The papers, please?”

He nodded and looked down at Maria. “C’mon, let’s get outta the heat.”

She moved to follow them and was forced to take a step back when Tony shifted to block her.

“What’re you doing?”

“I’m coming upstairs with you.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Let her come with us to your floor an’ she can wait outside,” Maria suggested when the other woman was about to protest. “That way you won’t need to come back down and we can start what we talked about in the car,” she said secretly and wiggled her eyebrows at him.

Tony looked down at her as a smile lifted his lips. “Okay,” he murmured, playing along. He left his arm around her shoulders as they went inside.

Jennifer clenched her hands at her sides as she followed them. Seeing him with that girl – a beautiful girl as much as she hated to admit it – brought the jealously out of her that she had never felt before and she wondered why.

He unlocked the front door and turned the knob, pushing it in and motioning for Maria to enter ahead of him. His arm shot up and his hand wrapped around the doorframe, preventing Jennifer from going inside. “Like the lady said, you can wait out here.”

“Excuse him for a moment, would you?” Maria glanced at his ex before her gaze wandered to Tony. She used one hand to grab his shirt, dragging him inside and closing the door.

Tony grinned at Maria and let out a relieved laugh. “Girl, you’re good.”

“Man, she’s so jealous right now I think she could combust at any time in front of your door,” she said quietly and laughed.

“Hmm, I’d get my dog back.” He turned and peered through the peephole, grinning when he saw his ex pacing back and forth in front of his door. “She’s pissed.”

“You think you could be happy with her again?”

“I think the door’s closed on that opportunity.”

She nodded. “Yeah, she doesn’t strike me as a woman you could be happy with long term.”

“There was a time I thought I could be.” He made a face and turned to lean back against the door. “Somehow she seems a lot different than she used to be.”

“Some people only show their real face after a while I guess,” she said and placed one hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He straightened up and crossed the room, going into the kitchen and rummaging around in the drawers for the paperwork Jennifer wanted. “Still want my damn dog back though.”

“Think there’s a way we could make her give the dog back?”

He shrugged and dumped a handful of papers on the counter so he could sort through them. “I don’t know. She never wanted Joker, just took him ‘cause she knew I wanted him.”

“She can’t hold him back forever. If she really doesn’t want him then she’ll give him back eventually.” Maria turned on her tiptoes to glance outside at his ex. Hmm, she wasn’t sure if talking to her would help.

“She’s more likely to hand him over to the animal shelter without ever sayin’ a word than she is to give him back.” He tossed a scrap of paper with a phone number on it into the trash and shuffled more papers around. “She wasn’t always like this, believe it or not.”

“I wish I could help, but nothing really comes to mind right now.”

“Joker’s more like a bargaining chip to her. She couldn’t care less about him. Got it!” He tossed the papers he needed aside and then raked his forearm across the counter to shove everything else back in the drawer.

“Then talk to her,” she said when he came back to the door. “I mean, if she really was worth your time for so long she must have a heart.”

He rested his hands on the counter and looked at Maria. “You think she’d be reasonable, huh?”

“You can at least try,” she shrugged. “Maybe she just kept the dog because it was the only way to stay in contact with you, ya know? I believe considering her jealousy she still has feelings for you, maybe they’re not enough for a real relationship, but they’re still there.”

“Too little too late.” He picked the papers up. “I’ll take this to her and you just... make yourself at home. Have a look around.”

She nodded. “Make her believe you’ve really moved on and there’s no way the two of you are getting back together. She’ll give the dog back to you sooner or later if she really doesn’t care about him.”

“Yeah, okay.” He crossed the room to the open the door, stepping out into the hall and closing it behind him. “Got the papers you wanted, Jen.”

Jennifer was leaning against the wall across the hall and she looked up from her cell when he came out. “Good.”

“I’m happy with my life, Jen.”

“I can see that,” she shot a glance at the closed door. “Did she already drop her pants?”

“Drop the hostility,” he said tiredly. “It doesn’t look good on you.”

“She doesn’t look right with you,” she said with a shrug, hating that this had turned out so differently than she had originally imagined.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t think other guys looked that good with you either but at least I wasn’t with someone else while we were together.”

“Do you love her?” Jennifer blurted out. “Already?”

Did he love Maria? Yeah, as a friend he did. More than that? No. But she hadn’t asked if he was IN love with her. “Yeah, I do. She’s an amazing girl, Jen.”

It hurt to hear him say that, but in the end it was her own fault. She was the one who had suggested something that she knew would never be okay for him – he wasn’t the type who would allow a serious relationship to turn into an open one, not even for a while. “By tomorrow I’ll have everything handled with the insurance.”

He nodded. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Have you found someone to be with? Are you happy?”

She wanted to lie to him, tell him that she had a guy who was everything she wanted, but she couldn’t. “No, I’m not with anyone.”

“What happened to Ryan?” he asked, surprised when he didn’t feel the old flare of jealousy that used to accompany the name of the man she had been seeing at the same time they had been together.

“It was never more than a random thing,” she said. “There weren’t any feelings involved with him.”

“Then what was the point of bein’ with him? I thought we had the whole package when we were together and then you started wantin’ to see other people, have an open relationship.”

“I felt trapped, Tony,” she blurted out. “We’re still young and I thought I was missing out on something. You were talking about marriage and kids and I wasn’t ready for that. It just freaked me out, but it didn’t mean my feelings had ever changed or something.”

“You could’ve just told me you weren’t ready for all that. Yeah, it’s what I wanted and I wanted it with you, but it didn’t mean we had to get married right away.”

“Guess it doesn’t matter anymore, does it?” Wow, he really had someone new? How had that happened?

“No, not for us it doesn’t. Even if I wanted to go back, I couldn’t.”

“Are pets allowed in the building?”

“What, this one?” He looked around when she nodded. “Yeah, it’s one of the reasons I chose it.”

She sighed. “The dog just lays around with this sad look on his face and every time someone knocks on the door, he looks up, hoping it’s gonna be you.”

He tried not to get too excited. He knew it was just a dog, but he loved the little guy. “You want me to take him?”

“I’m looking for a new apartment right now, so yeah… you can have him back, Tony.”

“You... really?”

“Yeah, I’m planning to move to Manhattan and, well… prices are just a little different there and it’s hard to find a place that allows pets. Besides that,” she looked at him, “we both know it’s the best solution for Joker anyway.”

He nodded. “Should I pick him up or you wanna bring him by?”

“It’d be cool if you could pick him up. I don’t have a car and dogs on public transportations are difficult to handle. Especially Joker.”

“I’m on shift tonight but I could pick him up in the mornin’.” He shrugged. “Or whenever’s good for you.”

“In the morning’s fine if you can be there before 10. I’ll get his stuff together.”

“Yeah, I’ll be there about 9 to pick him up then.”

“Okay,” she folded the papers and shoved them into her bag. “Guess I’ll be going.”

“Thanks, Jen.”

“See you tomorrow, Tony.” She started to walk down the hallway and glanced back when he opened the door to slip in to be with his new girlfriend.

[Double Trouble]

keepsmiling7: The girls would make good roommates. A little bit of space would probably be good for Liz and Max. Their relationship is so new and living together already will add more pressure. No matter which way they go, Aaron will be surrounded by people who love him and will keep him safe.

Natalie36: It’ll take time, but Maria will eventually see some luck of her own – the good kind. Tony’s happy about that too!

mary mary: Max would prefer that Liz and Aaron stay with him, but if the apartment situation pans out for the girls he’ll support her decision.

begonia9508: Maria did play that well, didn’t she? Lol, Tony will get Joker back and he and Maria will be very good friends.

Oh, the girls would never be bored for sure!

CandyliciousLovah: The girls would make great roommates. We’ll see what happens with the apartment hunting. We all know how much fun that is! Lol, we’ll be catching up with Kyle and Tess, and Michael and Maria soon.

Cardinal: It’d be a good thing for the girls.

We suspect they’ll be good friends in no time. The girls living together will bring the guys into more frequent contact.

Tony will be considering that soon.

Alien_Friend: Maria just couldn’t answer the phone at that moment.

Lol, Max wants them to stay too. A little bit of space could be good for them considering they’re just getting together and moving in together could be a lot to deal with right off the bat. Either way they’ve got a good start.

We have a feeling that if Ava ever comes into contact with Jen she’ll be able to hold her own.

Michael and Tony will meet up at the station in this part… we’ll see what he thinks of Maria’s temporary living arrangements.

sarammlover: Jen really does come across like that, lol. But you’re right, she’s paying for the choices she made now. Tony’s a great guy and there’s a girl for him – who isn’t Maria.

Rodney: Hmm… it isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Not sure of the probability though.

Lol, that’s a lot of estrogen to put under Alex’s roof… we’re not sure he’s ready for that.

xilaj: The girls are getting a break and it sure is something they both need right now. The commute might be a challenge, but with a little help it might be possible.

The girls would make great roommates and it would bring the guys closer together as well. We will be seeing more of Max and Alex since the two of them did seem to hit it off over the weekend.

Tony got Joker back and after that conversation he’s better able to close the door on his past with Jen. Maybe now he’ll have the opportunity to move forward.




Part 77

And Suddenly Everything is Different

Tony fisted the air as he closed the door behind him. He was getting his dog back!

“You look happy,” Maria commented from where she was sitting on the couch, waiting for him.

“You were right,” he said with a grin.

“Did you doubt?” she said, pretending to be shocked and stood again to walk over to him. “So you’re getting the dog back?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna pick him up tomorrow mornin’. Hope you won’t mind sharin’ the apartment with my little four legged companion.”

She snorted. “I don’t think I have room to complain. You remember my apartment right?”

He laughed and nodded. “Gotcha. He’s not a bad roommate but he’s very inquisitive.”

“I think we’ll be friends,” she assured him. “So, wanna show me your place now?”

“Sure. You’ve already seen the living room. Minimalistic but comfortable if I do say so myself.” He grinned. “And I do.” He pointed over her shoulder. “Eat-in kitchen, fully stocked and ready for cooking or eating.”

“I already put the groceries away,” she nodded.

“And user friendly.” He rolled his eyes at her. “Even though you didn’t have to do that.”

“Please, you let me stay here so the least I can do is a bit of housework.”

“Just don’t put my cleaning lady out of a job. I’d feel bad.” He motioned for her to follow him. “The bedrooms are down this way.” He rapped his knuckles on the open door to his left. “My room,” and then on the open door across the hall, “my study that doubles as the guest room.” He nodded down the hall. “Bathroom’s at the end, next to the closet with towels and stuff.”

“You got it really nice here,” she said and looked at the rooms.

“I lucked out findin’ this place, but I like it.” He rested his hand on her shoulder and nudged her past the bedrooms. “Now you gotta see the biggest sellin’ feature for this place.” He opened the door across from the one he had indicated as a closet outside of the bathroom.

“Uh-huh, bring it on,” she said excitedly.

He flipped a switch to turn the lights on and motioned for her to go ahead of him. He followed her up to the small loft on the second floor. “I kinda just use this up here when I wanna get away and think.” There wasn’t much there, just a comfortable armchair, an ottoman, and a table where he could sit a beer or a cup of coffee. He crossed the room and opened the vertical blinds that covered the wood-framed double glass doors that opened up onto the rooftop terrace.

He slid them across the track and unlocked the doors, jiggling the right one slightly as he pushed them open. He stood back to let her out first and then used his foot to nudge a small statue of a dog to hold the door open. “Always remember to prop the right side open. Damn thing will close and it’s next to impossible to get it open from outside.”

“Speaking from experience I guess?” she asked in amusement and went out.

He grimaced. “Yeah, it happened to me. I spent an entire night out there waitin’ for the super to answer his damn phone ‘cause he’s the only other person who had keys to the place.”

“It’s amazing out here, Tony,” she said when she glanced around the terrace and enjoyed the view over Queens up to Manhattan.

He walked over to the short brick wall that bordered the terrace. He reached out to place his hand on it as he leaned forward to look down at the street. “I’ll have to figure somethin’ out to give this more height, maybe run some fence around the wall so it doesn’t ruin the view.”

“Yeah,” she sat down on one of the two deckchairs. “Man, I’d spend every free minute up here if I were you.”

“I do spend a lot of time up here when I’ve got it to spare. I’ve been known to sleep out here when the weather’s right.”

“Too bad you gotta work; we could’ve done that tonight.”

“If I hadn’t been off the last couple nights I’d say I could call in and just keep ya company, but duty calls.”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I understand.” It would’ve been nice to have someone around after a day like today, but she didn’t say anything. Hell, she was here in a nice apartment, so she should be glad and enjoy the quiet.

“Well, I’ve still got some time if ya wanna grab a bite to eat.”

“Thought you wanted me to cook?”

“And I do.” He grinned. “I don’t mind helpin’ out though.”

“Guess we should go down then,” she stood up and walked over to him. “Thanks for letting me stay here, Tony.”

“Anytime.” He made a face as he thought about her apartment. “And I mean that.”

****

“Never saw him fall asleep so fast,” Liz mumbled when Max dragged a blanket over the little boy peacefully sleeping in his bed.

“It’s been a pretty exhausting day for him,” he said quietly and got up, walking over to her and switching the light off. “Think you two will have enough space in the bed?”

“Hell yes, it’s bigger than the bed we’ve been sleeping in for a long time now.”

“Should we leave the door open?” Max asked when they went back to the kitchen to clean up after dinner.

“No, he’s used to sleeping in the dark.” Aaron had been right, his macaroni with cheese had been tasty, Liz thought when she looked at the mess waiting to be cleaned up. “Where do we start?”

He shrugged. “We don’t have to do this now. I’m usually up late, so if you’d rather to go to bed early I can do it later and we can work out a schedule for tomorrow?”

Liz looked at him intensely. She could easily see that his nights usually weren’t peaceful and there had been times she had been afraid to go to bed as well, considering the dreams that had started after losing her parents. “Guess we can clean an’ talk,” she said, needing a distraction while they tried to figure things out.

“Okay.” He nodded and started carrying the dishes over to the sink. “So, your schedule at the café, does your boss keep you on a pretty regular schedule?”

“Well, depends on what you call regular. He knows he can’t change my schedule last minute because of Aaron, but other than that my shift alters between early to late or mid-day as long as college is on a break over summer.”

“Figured as much. Okay, what’re you lookin’ at this week?”

“Got the early shift until Thursday and late shift from Friday to Sunday. And, well… gotta work at the club on Tuesday night, plus I have summer classes on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.”

“When’s Aaron start daycare over at the hospital where Isabel works?”

“Isabel said we should stop by one day this week so we could talk to the director and settle things.” She sighed. “Another thing to add to the to-do list.”

“Well, what if I drop Aaron at your babysitter’s tomorrow and Tuesday and then keep him on Wednesday? We’ll pick you up from work since you’ve got early shift that day and we’ll go take care of that before we go to the zoo?”

“Can you afford to stay home on Wednesday?” She looked around for a dishtowel when he started to clean the plates.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

She nodded. “I need to call Ms. McGinty in the morning. She wasn’t home today.”

He put a glass away after pulling it and the rest of the clean dishes out of the dishwasher. Most of the time the dishes stayed in the dishwasher because he could care less about putting them away and what’d it matter if they got washed with the next round of dirty dishes? She had started rinsing the dishes to load them in the dishwasher so he was doing other stuff to stay occupied. “What time do you normally drop him off with her?”

She winced. “Seven.”

“No problem. I don’t open up the shop until 9am so I’ve got plenty of time to drop him off.” He turned to lean back against the counter. “So you have to be at work at what time?”

“Shift starts at eight,” she said and took another glass out of his hand when he started to put it away, but she noticed a spot on it.

“Does he have breakfast before goin’ over to her place?”

“I normally pack something for him to eat at his babysitter’s since he’s always a little pain in the mornings.”

He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Would it be any easier to drop you off first and then drop him off on my way to work? Maybe if you let him sleep a little longer in the mornings he’d be a little less cranky?”

“You don’t need me to drop off,” she denied. “It’d be another detour. But you could let him sleep a bit longer if you drop him off at his sitter’s right before work.”

“Okay.” He wanted to push it, insist that he could drop her off, but he was trying to respect the boundaries she was setting. “He could just have breakfast here that way you wouldn’t have to worry about fixing it while you’re tryin’ to get ready for work.”

“We can try that,” she nodded and had to admit that it felt good to actually spend the evening with someone who was willing to help out and listened to her schedule. Trent had never really been interested in making things work.

“What about you?” He shrugged when she glanced at him. “Do you have breakfast before work or are you the kinda person that just starts the day runnin’ and grabs a bite when the opportunity presents itself?”

“The one good thing about my job at the café is the waitresses get coffee an’ muffins for free.”

He chuckled. “Well, there is that I guess.” He tossed the dishtowel he had been using for drying on the counter. “Does Mrs. McGinty provide lunch or do you normally pack somethin’ for him?”

“No, she insists on cooking him a warm meal,” she said with a slight smile. “Max, you don’t use a dishtowel for that,” she shook her head.

“For drying the counter? It’s a towel… it dries dishes, counters, and hands.” He shrugged. “Drying is kind of its job, isn’t it?”

“Um-hmm, but normally you use a different one for each,” she laughed when he looked at her like she was out of her mind.

“I get using a different towel for the bathroom and the kitchen. Don’t really get the point when it’s dishes or counters in the kitchen.” He lifted his eyebrows when she gave him a look. “But I guess if it’s somethin’ that’s really that important I’ve probably got a couple other towels around here somewhere.”

She took the towel he had tossed on the counter and smacked his ass with it when he was about to go into the hallway to get another one.

“Hey!” He rubbed the offended area and turned around to look at her. “You know that’s like throwin’ down the gauntlet, right?”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a smirk.

“Yeah, I’ll just bet you don’t. I’m gonna go grab those towels.” He nodded at the towel. “Snap me again and I’m gonna grab you.”

Liz waited until he had almost left the room this time before she leaned forward and repeated the move, laughing when he turned around slowly.

Max watched her for a moment before he started to cross the room towards her, slowly advancing and reaching forward to grab the towel before she could snap him again. “You’re gonna be a challenge, aren’t you?” he murmured as he closed the distance between them.

“Just realizing that now?” she asked.

“No, I’ve known that for a long time.” He smiled and lifted his hand to trace his fingertip over her cheek. “I just hope you’re up for a challenge.”

She snorted. “For the last two years every day has been a challenge for me.”

“I’m a different kind of challenge.” His eyes traced over her lips. “Hopefully the good kind.”

Liz rested her hands on either side of the counter behind her while she held his gaze. “Guess we’ll find out.”

“Yeah, I guess we will.” He shifted imperceptibly closer and pressed his lips to hers gently. “We can do a lot better than that kiss this mornin’.”

“Forget about the kiss later in your car?” she whispered.

“No, couldn’t forget about that.” He grinned. “That was pretty hot.” He slipped his arm around her waist and lowered his head. “I’d like to pick up where we left off.”

He was almost a whole head taller than her and his shoulders were so broad that she completely disappeared behind him. Slowly, she slipped her hands from the counter and used them to run up his bare lower arms to the edge of the sleeves of his tee shirt.

His skin felt hypersensitive where she touched him and he nudged her back as he took her mouth in an exploratory kiss. He didn’t know what was going to happen between them and as much as he wanted to move things forward he knew he had to take things at her pace.

Liz let him control the kiss and when his tongue swept over her lips, testing her response, she parted them slightly and her arms came around his neck fully.

Max groaned softly and deepened the kiss, bringing both arms around her tighter. He shifted slightly, lifting her up and sitting her on the counter.

It was so easy for him to move her, she realized and felt the strength of his muscled arms around her. His goatee was slightly rough and tickled against the sensitive skin of her face and while she knew it would leave red marks for a few hours, she didn’t stop him.

Max could feel her heart beating against his and he angled his head slightly as his hands lowered to settle against her skin where her shirt had ridden up. The softness of her flesh against his slightly calloused palms made him want more. He knew it was probably too soon but that didn’t stop him from wanting it.

His hands were incredible, she thought, aroused, and tried to remind herself to take things slow. The blood rushed though her veins, making it hard to hear anything over the sound in her ears.

“Lizzie,” Aaron called out from the bedroom for the third time.

Max just barely registered the small sound, brushing it off as nothing until it became more insistent. He pulled back slightly, just enough to break the kiss, and he rested his forehead against hers. He had no idea if kids woke up a lot after going to bed or it was just because he was someplace new, but whatever it was, Aaron had really bad timing. His gaze moved over her kiss-swollen lips and he smiled in satisfaction. “I can check on him if you need a minute or two to get yourself together,” he offered.

“He probably needs to pee after all the juice you gave him for dinner,” she mumbled, amused.

“Well… the kid needed to drink somethin’ with dinner.” He straightened up and nodded. “I’ll get him.” He gave her another quick kiss and pushed away from her.

“Uh-huh, I give you two more days before you realize that too much to drink at night will keep you from getting any sleep, buddy.”

“Okay, so apparently you’re kinda like the guy at the bar that has to be cut off after havin’ so much to drink,” he said as he walked into the bedroom and saw the little boy sitting in the middle of the bed. “What’s up, little man?”

“I gotta pee,” he said impatiently as he wiggled back and forth to keep from peeing in his pants again.

“No problem. Gotta go bad, huh?” He hurried to pick the boy up and then practically ran to the bathroom. “No laughing,” he mumbled when Aaron started to giggle. For all he knew that would speed the process along and the kid would piss on him. He set the boy down in the bathroom and leaned over him to lift the seat up.

Liz had followed them and she leaned in the doorway while Max handled her brother in the bathroom. She smiled slightly while she watched them and noticed her brother’s happy mood once again since they had arrived at Max’s apartment.

****

Tony dropped down on the bench facing his open locker and yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. He stood long enough to change his pants and then sat down again. Probably shouldn’t have given in and taken a nap but after eating the late lunch Maria had cooked it had been too tempting. And it had been too long since he’d had the chance to enjoy the domestic sounds of a woman cleaning up after a meal while he dozed on the couch. He shook his head and laughed under his breath. Boy, the guys would razz him good if they ever knew just how ready he was to settle down. No, Maria wasn’t the girl, but he enjoyed her company and damn, could she cook! He pulled his shirt off and hung it on the hook inside before yanking his uniform tee shirt over his head. He took the outer shirt off of the hanger and slid his arms through the sleeves before standing to button it up and tuck it into his pants. He threaded the belt through the loops and then put his boots on before checking his reflection in the small mirror on the inside of his locker.

Good enough, he decided with a nod at himself.

He slammed the locker door closed and headed out into the common area where he could hear some of the others hanging out. From the sounds of it they were giving the probies a hard time over what was being cooked for dinner. Probationary officers a.k.a. ‘probies’ always got razzed good by the more seasoned officers but it was all for fun and no one took it too seriously. He could smell chili cooking and hoped that didn’t mean Swanson was on kitchen duty again. That guy made a pot of chili that could peel paint off a wall and it didn’t bear thinking about what it did to a person’s intestines.

“Well, look what the cat finally dragged in,” Dana said as she passed him on her way into the kitchen for a drink.

“What? I don’t make the schedule,” he said and grinned at her.

“Uh-huh, what’s her name?”

He snorted and shook his head, high-fiving Kyle as he passed him. “Don’t you people have anything better to do than laze around on the clock?” he asked.

“Well, Guerin’s already given a fifteen-year-old the kiss of life,” Matthew, one of the EMTs said with some amusement.

He snorted. “Well, the guy does have the magic touch.”

Michael flipped them off without even looking at them and turned the page on the magazine he was reading.

“What’s up, Guerin?” Tony asked as he dropped down on the opposite end of the couch his buddy was sitting on.

The other man gave up on reading the sports article and looked at him. “Not much. It’s been quiet for the last hour.”

He nodded and glanced over his shoulder when Doug, one of the probies, hollered to let everyone know dinner was ready. “You havin’ dinner?”

“Nope, already ate.” Tony stretched out, considering how to bring up Maria staying with him.

“Stopped for a cheeseburger on the way in, huh?”

“Nope,” he scratched his chin. “Actually I had Miss Deluca cooking for me.”

“Miss Deluca?” Michael echoed with a frown.

“Maria, I’m talkin’ about Maria.”

“What were you doin’ with Maria?”

Uh-oh, was there a hint of jealously there, Tony wondered, but played it cool. “We hung out together. She’s at my place.”

Michael stared at the magazine in his hand. “What’s she doin’ there?” It was just Tony, he reminded himself.

“The air conditioning in her building was down again and the power had been off over the weekend, so I offered to let her stay at my place for a few days.” It was easy to see that the other guy was having a hard time dealing with the fact that his best friend was staying with him, but Maria had tried to contact him, right? She had said that.

“So it’s just ‘cause of her crappy apartment then.” He nodded. “Makes sense.” He had seen them flirting over the weekend but she had insisted that it wasn’t anything more than that. And she needed her friends around. He glanced at Tony from the corner of his eye. He just hadn’t realized they were that friendly. “She doin’ okay?”

“I think she is now,” Tony nodded. Interesting how he tried to downplay the apartment thing, he mused.

Michael wondered if that was why Maria had tried to contact him earlier, to let him know she was gonna be hanging at Tony’s place for a few days. He scratched his neck and flipped the page on the magazine. “I’ll give her a call later. She’ll probably need a ride to work or somethin’.”

Although he doubted he would be able to drive her anyway since he would probably be sound asleep then, Tony didn’t say anything and just nodded. “She can use the Escalade.”

“Sounds like you’ve got everything covered.” He knew he should be happy that Maria had someone else on her side. And he was, he thought. It just felt weird for her to be allowing herself to lean on someone else in a way that was usually reserved for him.

Tony wondered if he should tell him about Cody or not. It wasn’t really his place to tell and he wasn’t sure if Maria would want him to.

“You’re sure everything’s alright with her? She uh, she sent me a text earlier but when I tried to call her back she didn’t answer.”

So he had been the caller while they were in the car. “She’s not havin’ a good day,” Tony started. “She should probably tell you herself, I guess…”

Michael’s head shot up and he glared at Tony. “What’s wrong?”

Damn it! There was no way around telling him. “Cody might be looking at hospitalization in the near future.”

“I didn’t realize the two of you had gotten so close,” he said slowly.

“I just happened to be there,” Tony shrugged. “I called her this afternoon and had a sense something was wrong with her. She wouldn’t admit it, so I stopped at her apartment to make sure she was okay.”

“Yeah, well, she doesn’t like to admit it when something’s bothering her.” It surprised him that she had opened up to Tony. It was the kind of thing even Kyle would’ve had to pry out of her.

“Man, it was you she contacted after she knew, not me, okay?” Tony said at Michael’s slightly agitated tone.

“So she’s gonna stay with you for a few days,” Michael said, ignoring his last comment. “You’ve only got one bedroom.” Hell, that made him sound like he was jealous. And he wasn’t. He was just concerned, that’s all.

“Yeah, we’ll just share my bed,” Tony said, just to see what kinda reaction that would get.

“Yeah, well, just don’t forget that she’s lookin’ for somethin’ serious. You play around with her heart and I’ll put a hurt on you.”

“Hell, Guerin, she’s gonna sleep in my office, okay? We’re not sharing a bed.” They had at the beach house, but it had only been that one night and he doubted he could do that for several nights. Maybe he didn’t have romantic feelings for her but she was still a woman – and a hot one.

“I’m just sayin’. It’s easy enough to cross that line and she’s vulnerable right now.” He shrugged and flipped to the next page of the magazine. “Women sometimes let things go farther ‘cause they’re lookin’ for comfort.”

Tony lifted one eyebrow. “Think Maria was with Kyle for that reason?”

“No, that was somethin’ completely different.”

Then why did he think Maria would give in just for comfort? Or was it more what Michael feared? “She might need a friend right now, but I don’t think she’s looking for sex or anything.”

Michael shifted and lifted one booted foot to prop it on the coffee table so he could rest his forearm on his raised knee. Somehow everything he said came out sounding like he was jealous or something. And he wasn’t. No, he wasn’t, he was just concerned. It was one thing for Maria to spend time like that with him because he’d never cross that line with her. Not that he couldn’t imagine it happening, just… she was Maria and they were best friends. It was a different level of intimacy, one that both of them had taken comfort from since childhood and it felt weird to have someone else being that person for her.

“I’m gonna pick my dog up from my ex tomorrow morning…” Tony started when he saw the confusion on the other man’s face. “You could go over and talk to her after your shift.”

“I thought you said she was never gonna give the dog up?”

“She showed up at my door today and miracles happen I guess,” he shrugged. “Maria’s a big part of the reason. The ex thought she was my new girlfriend and it made her finally realize that we’re not getting back together.”

“Huh.” Michael could just imagine that Maria had enjoyed her role in making Tony’s ex think she was his new interest. She just loved playing games like that, especially if the person she wanted to fool was a jerk or a bitchy ex. “Congrats on the dog.”

“So, you wanna go? In the morning, I mean?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, maybe I’ll stop by, take her breakfast or somethin’.” Hell yes, he was gonna go by. He wanted to scope the situation out and see for himself that everything was okay with her.

“You wanna – “ Tony’s words where drowned out by the shrill alarm ringing though the building and a second later a voice could be heard over the loudspeakers.

“Engine 731, 1245 13th Street, fire on the 17th floor, unknown number of people trapped.”

“Looks like we’re rollin’ out,” Michael said as he tossed the magazine on the table and got up.

Kyle shoved one more bite of his dinner into his mouth, hating that everything would be cold when they get back. He ran down the hallway to get into his gear. “So much for a quiet night,” he said when Tony appeared next to him.

“There any such thing?” Tony muttered as they quickly got into their turnout gear.

“Guess not.” They ran over to the truck and jumped up into their usual seats as the bay door rolled up.

The paramedic truck was already rolling as Michael hauled himself up into the passengers’ seat and he glanced over at Dana as he reached for the radio to call in their response. Streets, cars, people, it all flew by as they sped to the scene and even though they arrived seconds behind the fire engine the firefighters already had boots on the ground.

High above them flames leapt out through open windows and at one end, several windows down from where the fire was visible, a woman was leaning through the opening screaming for help. She was too high up for them to distinguish what she was saying but even without knowing the words they understood the urgency in her frantic gestures and screams. Something exploded behind her and she suddenly disappeared for a moment, reappearing with a small child in her hands.

“Oh, God,” Michael muttered. She was too high up to be reached with the ladder truck and if they couldn’t reach her from inside the building it would become necessary to rappel from above.

“Valenti, Carter, Gilyard,” the Chief called out and proceeded to give them their instructions.

“And this’s where we earn our paychecks,” Tony said as he pulled the mask over his face.

[Double Trouble]

begonia9508: Oh, he may not be able to admit it to himself, but he really didn’t like it.

Lol, Max really is much better to live with. And he’ll be happy to do what he can to make life easier for both of them.

Cardinal: Yep, it does exist, lol!

We’re pretty sure Tony’s place is safe from being taken over, lol.

Michael will continue to have issues as we move forward.

Natalie36: He’s gonna get there.

keepsmiling7: Lol, Max is a fast learner.

This situation has taken a lot off of Liz’s shoulders. Maybe now she’ll be able to breathe easier.

Earth2Mama: Max and Liz have a lot of potential.

Lol, he so is!

CandyliciousLovah: Oh, you do! Let’s see… you were wanting a Kyle/Tess scene and a Michael/Maria scene, weren’t you? We said it was coming and we’re delivering all in one part!

roswellian love: Keep that feeling alive!

We’ll catch up with Max and Aaron today.

Before long we’ll be checking in about Maria finding a new place.

The fire… well, just another day on the job for our guys.

Eva: Yep, jealousy finally rears its ugly head for Michael.

Liz and Max are definitely making some forward movement and it’s a positive thing, especially for a certain little boy.

We’ll be getting some Isabel/Alex time soon. As for Michael and Maria, well, they have a scene today.

Alien_Friend: Thank you for the wonderful compliment! We have a lot of fun writing together and we’re so happy it comes across in our stories.

Lol, Michael will have more of these moments. Oh, you’re so right! Courtney will have plenty to say about that.

Tony’s place… be a great place to just hang out and relax, wouldn’t it?

Lol, yeah, they’ll definitely be explosive. Being together is good for them and Aaron. We’ll catch up with Max and Aaron in this part.

mary mary: Lol, so far so good. Ava wouldn’t be averse to that idea. Max is going to be good for Aaron.

Rodney: Oh, wow… those words did actually come out of your mouth. Um… yeah… wow.

Well, no dangerous dramatic moments with the fire, but Tess and Kyle will run into each other in this part.

sarammlover: Lol, we’re glad you’re loving them! Max isn’t the only one learning in this relationship.

Tony will be there as long as Maria needs him. Michael, well, he hasn’t seen the last of Mr. Jealousy.

xilaj: They’re making some good progress for sure. And Aaron will really benefit from this new situation.

Michael is still oblivious, but he may not be quite as blind as he seems to be. Tony will have that someone special… she isn’t far away.

Thanks! Happy holidays to you too!



MERRY CHRISTMAS


Part 78

Put on the Act

Kyle walked along the sidewalk, his stride slow but purposeful. It had been a long night and he was ready to kick back and relax for a while. It was too soon to sleep so he was heading to the café for his morning shot of coffee. They always had a couple pots on at the station but most of the guys couldn’t make decent coffee and he’d rather go out of his way when he went home than force down another drop of the inferior brew.

He was reaching for the door when someone ran into him and he took a step back when his hand collided with the other person’s as they reached for the door at the same time. “Sorry,” he muttered.

“Kyle, hi,” Liz said when she recognized him. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. I was in a hurry and wasn’t looking where I was going.”

He smiled slowly. “Not just you.” He shrugged. “I was pretty desperate for a cup of good coffee myself.”

She laughed quietly and walked inside when he opened the door and motioned for her to go ahead of him. “Gimme about five minutes and I’ll have a fresh cup ready for you.”

“I’d be eternally grateful.” He nodded at their regular booth. “I’m just gonna collapse over there until it’s ready.” He slouched down onto the bench and yawned widely as he leaned his head back against the seat. He closed his eyes and rubbed his hands over his face tiredly, not even bothering to open them when he heard someone stop next to him

“I didn’t expect to see you here.”

He cracked his right eye open when Tess spoke. “Um… it’s open to the public isn’t it?” He had no idea why he was already trying to rile her up.

“That’s not what I meant,” she rolled her eyes.

“What then?” he asked.

“Thought you’d have crashed by now,” she shrugged. He was still wearing the tee shirt from the fire station and it made him even sexier in her eyes.

“Gotta unwind first.” He scratched his neck and motioned awkwardly to the seat across from him.

“At least your shift’s behind you, mine’s about to start and I’m really not in the mood for it right now.” She took the seat he had offered.

“Who’s ever in the mood for work?” He shifted to lean his back against the wall and lifted his legs up to rest them on the bench.

“True,” she agreed.

He rubbed his temple with his thumb and wondered what the hell to say to her. They had never gone out of their way to be mean to each other but when she had come back she had done her best to aggravate the shit out of him, and now... well, now he didn’t know. “So, things okay livin’ with her highness?”

“Yeah, mostly. Ya know Isabel though… she’s got a few really insane habits.”

He snorted. “Yeah, well, I love ‘er but you couldn’t pay me to live with her.”

“It’s just temporary,” she assured him.

“Lookin’ at getting your own place?”

“Gotta earn some money first, but yeah… living with my sister will drive both of us insane. She doesn’t want a roomie at all.”

He chuckled. “Whatcha think about her an’ the nerd king?”

“I really don’t know,” she laughed a bit. “He’s soooo different from everyone else she’s ever dated, but she really seems to like him.”

“Yeah, didn’t see that one comin’. He did better this weekend than I thought he would.”

“Guess he’s not that bad,” she agreed and wondered how long they would avoid talking about the things that really mattered and stood between them.

“From the looks of things him an’ Evans are each other’s new best friends.”

“Who’d have thought, huh? I mean, they’re like night an’ day.”

“And yet somehow they balance each other’s personalities out.” He glanced up when Liz appeared next to the table with two cups of coffee.

“Can I get you guys anything to eat?” she asked.

Kyle shrugged and glanced at Tess. “I don’t know about her, but I’ll take the scrambled breakfast platter.”

“Nothing for me, thanks,” she declined and checked on the other woman. “Things okay with you at home?”

“Things are...” Liz looked at them, seeing new friends instead of customers. “Well, it was at least as bad as I thought it would be but... things are looking up.”

“Kennedy’s an idiot,” Kyle said and threw sugar into his coffee.

“Yeah,” she agreed, “he is.”

“Do you think you and Maria might give the apartment thing a shot?” Tess asked.

“I don’t know. Depends on what’s on the market and what’s affordable I guess.”

“She’s a good roommate.”

Kyle looked at Tess, trying to figure out what had made her leave then. It was still a riddle. “I guess she is,” he agreed. “A bit chaotic maybe, but she can cook.”

“Try living with a four-year-old. I know all about chaotic,” Liz said with a quiet laugh.

“See, there’s another plus. She knows a lot about entertaining kids,” Tess said.

“You guys all seem to do well with kids. I didn’t expect that to be honest.”

“Don’t tell anyone, it’ll ruin our reputations,” Kyle said with a wink at her.

She smiled. “No, I wouldn’t wanna do that. I’ll go put your order in for breakfast.”

Tess waited until Liz had gone before she glanced back at the man across from her. “Kyle…”

Something in her tone warned him that she was about to ruin their momentary truce. “What’s up?” he asked, playing it cool.

She sighed. “We can continue to put it off or we can just talk about it and get it outta the way, but I’d rather deal with what happened now than later.”

He cleared his throat and grabbed a toothpick from the dispenser, rolling it between his fingertips as he avoided her gaze. “What’s there to talk about?”

“Well,” she tried to push the hurt aside when his words were so casual, “it doesn’t happen very often that we have sex, so…”

He wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted from him. “So... you wanna do it again or somethin’?”

Hell, he wasn’t supposed to ask a question like that! Did she want it again? YES, but under different circumstances. “Do you?”

“Well, uh, I don’t know.” He grimaced and waved his right hand around. “I mean, ya gotta admit we were pretty hot together.” He cleared his throat and shifted. He hadn’t meant to say that! “But you bein’ Michael’s sister an’ all kinda complicates things.”

It was just a physical thing for him, she realized sadly, when he totally narrowed the conversation down to the superficial. “Yeah, well, I have no influence over who my family is.”

“Right, well, he’d never approve and we couldn’t sneak around behind his back no matter how great the sex was.” Could they? No, Valenti! his conscience yelled.

Why was he automatically assuming she just wanted to have a fuck-buddy thing with him? she thought angrily. Did he even consider that there was more to it? No! Why would he? “Michael sure wouldn’t like it,” she agreed and pulled her wallet out.

“What’d I say?” he asked when she threw money on the table to cover her coffee, her movements short and jerky.

“I just gotta get to work,” she said and forced herself to look at him.

“Oh, right.” He picked up his coffee mug and took a drink. “Try not to get fired.”

“Why would I get fired?”

He shrugged. “No clue.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I won’t. My boss like me,” she got up and took the coffee with her, glad she had asked for a coffee to go.

“Have a good one,” he said with a wave as he picked up the menu and started to read it for lack of anything else to do.

“Yeah…” she muttered and left the café. What an ass!

“Already run Tess off?” Liz asked as she set his breakfast on the table.

He stared at the door with a frown. “Seems like.”

****

Max rested his chin in his hand as he and Aaron stared each other down over a bowl of Cheerios. He had successfully gotten the little boy up and dressed after letting him sleep in for another 45 minutes after Liz had left to go to work and things had been going along just fine until he had put breakfast on the table.

“I want the marshmallow ones, Max,” Aaron said with a pout.

“And Liz said you could have the Cheerios or the Chex.”

He made a face and shook his head. “I don’ want that.” He pushed the bowl back and rested his crossed arms on the table. “I don’ like them no more.” He pursed his lips for a moment as he studied the man sitting across from him. “What’re you gonna eat?”

Max shrugged. “A banana sandwich.”

Aaron thought about that. “Can I have that?”

“You might not like it.”

“I like ‘nanners an’ I like bread.”

“I’ll make mine and you can try it. But if you don’t like it you’re gonna have to eat your cereal because it’s almost time to take you to Mrs. McGinty.”

The little boy shifted around so he could watch Max make the sandwich. “Wha’s that?” he asked when he saw the white stuff being spread on the bread.

“Mayonnaise. It’s a little salty, the bananas are a little sweet, so put ‘em together and it’s the perfect balance.” He covered the mayonnaise side of the bread with sliced bananas and then cut it in half, handing it to Aaron so he could try it. He hid a smirk at the expression on the boy’s face as he chewed and tried to determine if it was edible. “Whatcha think?”

Aaron shook his head and leaned forward, opening his mouth and letting the chewed-up mess fall on the counter. “That’s yucky!”

Max shrugged and took a big bite of his own sandwich, trying his best not to be totally grossed out by the gooey blob. “Guess you’ll be havin’ Cheerios then.” He grabbed a roll of paper towels and pulled a few off, wetting them under the faucet and then placing them next to Aaron. “Clean up that mess you just made and then eat your breakfast.”

His face scrunched up in a frown and he looked down at the counter. “I don’t wanna.”

“I’ve got news for you, bud. We all have to do things we don’t wanna do. Now clean it up, throw it in the trash, and then eat your cereal because we have to leave here pretty soon.”

“Lizzie wouldn’t make me.”

“I think we both know that’s a lie.” He leaned back against the opposite counter and took another bite of his sandwich as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. “But no problem, we’ll just call her and see what she says.” He pretended to press a few buttons and put the phone up to his ear. “You wanna talk to her first?”

“You don’t gotta call her, Max,” Aaron said as he grabbed the paper towels and started to clean up his mess.

“Alright,” he put the phone away. “Now finish your breakfast so we can get movin’.”

They were running behind schedule by the time they finally pulled up in front of Liz’s former residence. Max hurried around the front of the jeep and shouldered the door open to get to the car seat Aaron was strapped into. He picked the boy up, grabbed his little backpack, and ran into the building. He had called Amber but she didn’t normally work on Mondays and she hadn’t been able to come in so his first appointment of the morning was either waiting on him to get there or the guy was gonna cancel.

Mrs. McGinty smiled as she opened the door and took Aaron from him. “They’re not as easy to get ready in the mornings as you’d think they are,” she said with a knowing grin.

“No, they really aren’t,” he agreed. He leaned in to kiss the boy’s head. “Aaron, you be good today.” He turned his attention back to the woman. “Liz will be here to pick him up at the usual time.”

She nodded. “Don’t you worry, young man, it’s all sorted out.”

Once Aaron was safely left in the old woman’s care Max turned and hurried back down the hall, running down the stairs and coming up short when he saw the man waiting for him at the bottom. He fully intended to just ignore Trent and continue on his way but the man moved to block his path.

“What’s your problem, asshole?” he growled, his gaze growing darker when it became obvious that the other man was looking for trouble.

Trent smirked and shook his head. “I figure it won’t take long before you’re ready to kick them out in the streets.”

“I’m not sure what makes you think that, but considering your lack of intelligence, I shouldn’t wonder,” Max bit out and made another attempt to walk out of the building. If it had been just him, he wouldn’t have cared about giving the guy another good beating, but he knew it would cause a lot of more trouble than it’d solve.

He shifted again, smirking when he saw the aggravation in the other man’s features. “You’ve got an interesting record, Evans.” He nodded at the brief flash of surprise in the other man’s eyes. “Just a couple minutes with your friends and I had your name. Only took a few minutes to get your record pulled up when I got back here.”

“So what?” the other man grated out. His record wasn’t anything to brag about but there was nothing that Liz didn’t know. Well, there were a few things that she didn’t know the details of.

“I just think it could take some serious effort on your part to convince a judge you’re fit to raise that little brat. I mean, his sister’s out at all hours takin’ it off in that dive, you’ve clearly got issues, and the kid spends a lot of time with that old hag upstairs. I’m thinking CPS would see this situation as potentially dangerous for him.”

Max narrowed his eyes at the other man. “Wow, there really are people like you who aren’t only unable to deal with their own lives; no, they take pleasure in making other’s live hell as well.” He poked a finger at him with a painful shot. “Listen, asshole, I’m not scared of a corrupt little cop like you and in spite of what you think, I’ve got a few connections to make people see you for what you are.” He thought of his father first, but he had no intention of asking the old man for help.

“I look forward to seeing you try.” He shook his head. “You can try to report me but even your firefighter and EMT buddies will tell you that I’ve got an exemplary record. You send anyone after me they’re gonna think you’re just tryin’ to cover your own ass so bring it on.”

He didn’t want to be pulled into this argument, knowing that the other man just wanted to get the best of him. Throwing a punch would be just what Trent wanted and he wouldn’t give him the chance to have anything REAL on him. “Excuse me, but there’re people who need to work and actually take their work seriously.”

Trent nodded and stepped to the side. “Go on, Evans. Just remember I’ll be watchin’ you. Mental job like you, it’s only a matter of time before you slip up and give me what I need.”

He walked down the steps and turned to look at his opponent, holding his arms away from his body. “Go on and sniff around, Kennedy. I don’t care.” He did care, but he wouldn’t admit it.

He didn’t make a move, simply stood there with his arms crossed over his chest. “We’ll see how much you care when CPS removes Aaron from his sister’s custody and sticks him in foster care.”

“Won’t happen,” Max said without looking at him.

He hated the matter-of-fact tone in the other man’s voice and as much as he wanted to hit him he forced his hands to stay at his sides. He had to bide his time, wait until everything fell into place, and then he would take him down. “We’ll see.”

****

Michael rubbed his eyes tiredly and yawned, holding the steering wheel with his free hand. It was shortly before nine and he was struggling to stay awake. The night had been busy until 4am and after that he had fallen asleep on a couch at the station and woke up at the end of his shift. Sleeping for a few hours during the shift was a lot worse than not sleeping at all, he thought and forced his concentration to stay on the street.

A short shower and a bed sounded a lot nicer than talking to Maria about uncomfortable things like Cody’s illness or Courtney’s doubts, but he knew he couldn’t run from it and he wouldn’t.

20 minutes and a coffee to go later, he stopped his car one street away from Tony’s building since it was the only free spot and got out to stretch. Although Maria wasn’t a person who slept incredibly long on normal days, he hoped she was already up since she had no clue that he was coming. Sweat was running down his back when he finally entered the apartment building and went to get the elevator. Damn heat, when would it finally start to cool down a bit?

He rolled his eyes at the stupid melody that played on his ride up to Tony’s floor. Why would anyone enjoy listening to that, he wondered and sighed in relief when he reached his destination. The double doors opened slowly and he stepped out to come face to face with the front door of the apartment.

Michael was about to knock when he remembered that Tony had lent him his key to get inside in case she was still sleeping. He shoved his hands into his pockets and got it out to open the door.

The smell of breakfast hit his nose as soon as he entered the apartment and after taking a few more steps in he found Maria in the kitchen, flipping a pancake over in a pan.

“I hope you’re hungry,” she said and looked up, almost dropping the pan when the man in front of her wasn’t Tony. “Michael,” her voice revealed her surprise. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

Uh-huh, he thought and couldn’t suppress the weird feeling in his chest at the realization that she had been cooking breakfast for his coworker in nothing but a baseball jersey. “He’s getting his dog now and since you didn’t pick up your phone last night to tell me the reason for your earlier message, I decided to stop by now.”

Was he acting insulted? she wondered at his weird tone, but shook it off. “Want some breakfast?”

He shrugged. “Yeah, okay, why not?”

“Have a seat,” she nodded to the counter and the barstools around it before she went back to the pancakes, humming along with the radio. Although it was nothing special that he was here because of their close friendship, she was happy and a bit nervous about it and couldn’t exactly pinpoint why.

“So, you didn’t answer when I called you back last night,” he said. Tony had told him what was going on but he wanted to let her tell him herself. If she wanted to. He shrugged that off. Why wouldn’t she want to?

“I know you had to be on your way to work…” Maria started, “and I didn’t feel like talking when ya called back anyway.”

He watched her, wondering why their conversation felt so stilted. “What’s up?”

Okay, there was no way of hiding it from him and she didn’t want to, but it was still hard to talk about it. “When I came home yesterday Mom told me Cody’s test results were finally back.” She turned and faced him after turning the stove off. “His health’s gotten worse and she said we might be looking at hospitalization soon.”

His heart was getting weaker. They had known it would happen, that it was happening slowly with every passing day. The doctors would hospitalize him, run their tests and treat him, and for a while he would improve. But they were only buying time and they all knew it. “They lookin’ at admitting him soon?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged.

“It’ll buy more time, Maria.”

“It’ll also confine him to bed and to the hospital,” she shook her head and got two mugs from the cupboard to fill them with coffee and milk, just the way they both liked it. “Cody hates it there and how much will that help his condition?” She placed the drink in front of him and sipped on hers.

“I know he hates the hospital, but we’ll all be there to get him through it.” He slowly turned the mug in a circle, his eyes on the dark liquid sloshing gently against the sides.

“Yeah, I know,” she said and went to slide the pancakes on a plate. It wasn’t like she could do anything about it anyway.

“How’s Amy holdin’ up?”

“Brave as usual,” she said and placed the plate in front of him.

“Thanks.” He tapped his fork against the edge of the plate. “What about you?”

“Not really hungry right now,” she sat down on one of the stools across from him.

“So you were just makin’ breakfast for Tony?” he asked. He wasn’t jealous, that’d be stupid. It was just a weird situation.

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep anymore anyway.”

“You already called and bitched out the super for the air goin’ out in your apartment again?”

“He’s conveniently unavailable at the moment,” Maria rolled her eyes. “Not that it really surprises me.”

“We’ll get to work on findin’ another place.” He took a bite of the pancake and chewed thoughtfully. “What’re you payin’ for that dump anyway?”

“Too much, but I’m still hoping to be able to get money back from the former super, since Tess obviously paid her half and he made me pay it again.”

“Maybe we could get together with Liz, kinda get a ballpark of what you guys could afford together.” He grinned. “And make sure she’s really interested in livin’ with a slob like you.”

“I’m not a slob – at least not when I live with others,” she stuck her tongue out at him. “And yeah to that idea; Tony considered something like that too.”

Another reminder that somehow, things were changing. “You an’ Tony seem to be getting along pretty good.”

“We are,” she agreed.

“That’s good.” He took another bite. “So, this’s just temporary,” he said, waving around the room with his fork.

Maria frowned. “Of course.”

“Right, of course.” He shifted and glanced up at her. “So, is he gonna be helpin’ you look for a place?”

“He offered to help, so I guess…” she trailed off and looked at him. “I’m sorry I sent you that message, Michael. I know you can’t change the situation and I knew you were with Courtney…”

He frowned. “Why would you apologize? You’re my best friend and if you need me you can always call or text, you know that.”

“I know,” she assured him. “I just don’t want you to get in trouble with your girlfriend because of me.”

She’ll understand. The words leapt to his tongue but he bit them back because what Courtney had said the night before negated that statement. He cleared his throat and nodded. “Yeah, I guess that’s somethin’ I kinda need to talk to you about.”

“It is?” she asked with a frown and couldn’t suppress the little hope that he would tell her things between him and Courtney would be over soon, the way they normally were with random girls.

“Yeah, see, Courtney’s kinda got this thing about me an’ you.” He snorted and rolled his eyes. This was so stupid. “Ya know how we touch an’ hug a lot? Don’t even really think about it, we just do it, right?”

We used to, she thought but didn’t say it aloud. “Yeah.”

“Well...” he hesitated. He still didn’t understand why this was such a big deal. “She can’t wrap her head around the two of us just bein’ best friends so we need to cool it with stuff like that.”

He was just saying what she had already figured out on her own, but it hurt to hear him say the words anyway. “Yeah, um, I already figured that out,” she said and tried to cover her hurt.

“Well, I figure the more time she spends around us she’ll figure out that there’s nothin’ to worry about and she’ll lay off all these requests.” He shrugged one shoulder. “She’s just a little insecure ‘cause me an’ you are so close, that's all.”

Maria couldn’t help but snort. “You obviously have no clue about woman and relationships, CB.”

“What’s to understand? She’ll realize soon enough that it’s not like that with me an’ you.”

“That doesn’t automatically make her forget the rules, Michael.”

“They’re not rules,” he denied.

“No?” She lifted one eyebrow.

“Huh-uh. I don’t do rules, remember? They’re just... guidelines... to make her feel better.”

“Guidelines, okay,” she said. “So what about these guidelines when she’s not around?”

He shrugged with a grin. “She’s not around and I’m not gonna tell her.”

She smirked. Yeah, this felt much more like them. “So, if I do this,” she took a syrup-covered piece of pancake from his plate to eat it, “that would be okay.”

“Does it ever matter?” he asked with a grin.

“Guess not,” she mumbled.

“Look, she’ll get over it and the only time we need to really remember the... guidelines... is when she’s with me. The rest of the time we’re just us.”

“Understood,” she said and saluted with a grin to play it cool.

“Okay then.” He grinned. “Now, how ‘bout another pancake?”

“Sure, why don’t you make one?”

He made a face at her. “Fine, but if I make me one I’m gonna make you one and I want you to sit down and eat.”

“I guess I could eat one,” she said and licked the syrup from her fingertips.

His eyes followed her movements and when he caught himself he shook it off and got to his feet. “Okay, cool.” What the hell was he doing?

“Hey, CB,” she called when he was about to near the stove. She nodded her head slightly when he looked at her, gesturing for him to come over.

He turned and walked over to her, one eyebrow lifted in question.

“Thanks for stopping by,” she said and looked up at him when he stopped in front of her.

She always thanked him for stuff like that and he never really thought much of it, just putting it down to gratitude that he was there, but somehow this felt different. Like maybe she hadn’t expected him to show up for her. “Any time you need me, Maria,” he promised and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

The hug felt good and for the first time she really paid attention to it. His scent was familiar to her and yet today she thought it was even better than usual. They were still close friends and that was all that mattered. That was all that HAD TO matter.

[Double Trouble]

CandyliciousLovah: Lol good to know we gave you a break in Christmas-madness.

somewhere87: His heart belongs to someone else… he just doesn’t know it yet.

Maria probably hates the thought about holding back when Courtney is around as much as we all do, but she’s not willing to let go of her best friend. She needs his support and can’t do much about the situation at all. As you said, she’s not selfish and she knows it wouldn’t help in the end, because if she told Michael to go to hell with his idea, then it would only have hurt both of them more.

Alien_Friend: Lol, well every fic needs an good ol’ villain. Trent is ours.

Kyle wasn’t really nice, huh? Maybe it were just the insecurities speaking out of him?

It’s true, Courtney is the key for Candy-happiness. Lol, even though she’s also the reason for a lot of hurt.

Yeah, Maria needs Michael in her life and even a stupid plan like this wouldn’t make her turn her back on him.

Lol, even little Aaron can be bad now and then.

keepsmiling7: Thanks! We haven’t seen the last of Trent…

mary mary: Lol, well we take that as a compliment.

Oh well, we are positive we find a nice way to BTBD, lol.

Earth2Mama: Yep, we knew what you wanted to say, lol.

Yep, Max passed the Daddy-duty test lol. If only Liz had seen!

Well, Tess won’t back down, that’s for sure.

Natalie36: Lol, we will see…

xilaj: We will BTBD! Soon? Um… not too soon. *duck* Thanks for the compliment.

Thanks, we always try to add details like this to make the fic more real.

Well, we guess Michael needs a damn hard push, lol.

begonia9508: Trent’s getting no loving these days lol. Yep, he’s the perfect villain!

Michael’s plan will definitely backfire sooner or later!

bellaresop: Hi and welcome to our fic. Thanks!

sarammlover: Lol, long coma, huh? We will see what we can do.

Yeah, the K&T talk didn’t do anything good in the end huh? But maybe it’s a start…

It’s all about timing and the Candy timing couldn’t be worse right now.

Thanks!




Part 79

We Stick Together

The rhythmic music was blaring loudly from the speakers in each corner of the large fitness room in the studio Maria worked in once in a while during the summer. She was lying on a yoga mat in front of about 20 girls and women as well as two men who were either gay or just there to watch half-naked woman working out.

“Alright, ladies,” she said loudly to be heard over the music and grinned at the two men with a wink, “get your asses up a few more times.” She pushed her own up as well as her back from the mat while her feet and shoulders stayed on the mat. “UP… UP… UP.”

The moment Courtney had entered her class earlier, she had felt the energy rush through her body and she was determined to get the best out of her. Too bad the others had to suffer for it as well.

“Ten more times…. UP… UP…”

Groaning could be heard from the people in the room and a few were giving up already, but her opponent was still trying to follow the class, so she had to do more.

“Stretch your left leg horizontal to the floor and continue. Five more times. UP… UP…” A grin appeared on her lips when Courtney’s muscles started to struggle finally and her body remained on the mat for the last two sets.

Tony leaned against the door fame and watched the fitness class with interest. His eyes were roaming over the various types of women spread around the floor. More and more were giving up, sweating and breathing heavily, and he had already realized why Maria was pushing them with an extra hard workout program. Damn, the girl was working herself up pretty good, but he had to admit the workout affected her body nicely. He waited there patiently and a few minutes later the stretching and relaxing exercises started before the class was finished.

Maria sat up and waved at Tony from a distance before she got up and gathered her things together. “Damn, girl, you really got the best out of me,” one woman said and waved goodbye.

“You were pretty good today, Linda,” she said back and took a long drink of her water.

“Wow, I should probably go with the lighter classes.” Courtney suddenly showed up next to her to test the water. Last night on the cell Michael had said he had talked to Maria and she wasn’t sure if they were still friends now.

“Too much for you?” Maria asked, amused, and tried to hide any sarcasm.

“No, just a bit challenging is all.” She wasn’t sure how to read the other girl.

“It has to be, otherwise it wouldn’t have any positive effects on your body,” she shrugged. Hell, it was really difficult to not act like a bitch towards her. She knew Courtney hadn’t really done anything, but the fact that she had talked to Michael about her bothered her, even though she would’ve done the exact same thing in her place.

Courtney watched her for a moment before nodding. There was nothing overt in anything Maria was saying but she had a feeling they weren’t going to be hanging out again anytime soon. “Right, well, I guess I’d better hit the shower.” She smiled. “I’ve got a meeting with Nancy about another assignment. The company that cover was for is thinking about extending the contract.”

Yeah, just rub my nose in that, bitch, Maria thought bitterly. “Well, congratulations I guess,” she mumbled.

She bit back a smart remark. “Well, I heard maybe she’d have something for you soon. Some vet clinic is looking for a model to pose with the dogs to promote their business.” Okay, so it slipped out and she wasn’t taking it back.

Okay, what the hell did she do to the girl? “Not sure, I might quit the job anyway. Agency’s just turned out a bit crappy lately.” She had really thought about quitting, knowing that it would be hard for her to work with her best friend’s girlfriend, but right now she wasn’t sure and if there wasn’t a different agency she couldn’t afford to just quit.

Courtney lifted an eyebrow at her admission. She knew she couldn’t just afford to quit, which meant she was thinking about it because of her. Or was that an assumption that was just too conceited, she wondered. “It’s the biggest vet clinic in the city so it’ll probably pay pretty well.”

Maria shrugged. “It’s not for sure yet. The agency’s just putting a bit too much emphasis on the meager look lately and some photographers keep telling me to lose weight and muscle, which I won’t do, so I might try to find an agency that caters to the sports industry or something.”

“Well, good luck with that then.” She picked up her bag. “I’d better get going.”

“Yeah, good luck with your new contract as well,” Maria said. “Gotta grab a shower. We want to go to the café and Tony’s already waiting.”

Courtney glanced over at the doorway where the man was standing, his expression one she couldn’t quite decipher as his gaze bounced between the two of them. “Thanks, see ya later.”

Yeah, Maria thought, guess we can’t prevent that. She wondered what she would think if she knew she was going to meet her boyfriend as well at the café.

Tony pushed away from the doorway and walked into the large room. “I’m glad I’m not takin’ this class,” he said with a laugh.

“Why, because you’d have a hard-on for 45 minutes?” she teased and gave him a quick hug.

“Maybe if I was observing,” he snorted. “Not if I was bein’ put through that hellish workout.”

“Oh, come on,” she snorted and squeezed his muscled upper arm. “You’re well-trained, it wouldn’t be a problem for you.”

“I don’t know. Completely different kinda workout.”

“Got the feeling I’ll feel my muscles tonight,” she rolled her shoulders. “Let me grab a quick shower, okay?”

He nodded. “I’m parked right out front so I’ll wait for ya outside.”

Maria hurried to the showers and made it a point to use one near Courtney so the other girl wouldn’t think she was acting like a jealous bitch or something. No, she was better than that and no one could keep her from hanging out with Michael.

****

Tony looked up from the text message he was writing when the glass door was pushed open and Maria stepped outside. He turned to pull the passenger’s side door open when she neared him. “Got the AC runnin’.”

“Good,” she said and threw her bag in the back, “just what I need. The one they have in the gym just does half the work. I’m not sure, but I think they do that to sell more drinks, ya know?” She rolled her eyes and got comfortable in her seat.

He chuckled as he slid in behind the wheel. “Probably.” He buckled his seatbelt and finished the text message, sending it before dropping the phone in the console.

“Ungh,” Maria made a face when Courtney crossed the street in front of them to get to the subway. “Feel free to mistake the gas for the brake.”

He glanced at her and shook his head but couldn’t stop the laughter. “You know you’d feel bad later.”

“Yeah, probably,” she sighed. “Ya know, she just had to rub it in my face that she has an appointment with the agency to maybe extend the contract she got from the cover she stole from me.”

“Yeah, I caught that. I’m not sure if she meant it the way it came out or not.” He nodded when Maria just glared at him. “Right, it was a total bitch move.”

“And then she made that stupid comment about me maybe getting a shoot with dogs for a vet clinic. I’m not sure what the hell’s wrong with that girl. I didn’t do anything.”

“Nothin’ in her defense or anything but I know Joker’s vet pays good money for advertising.”

“Maybe, but I know it wasn’t meant to be a compliment or anything from her…” she shaded her eyes against the sun and slouched further down. “I think I’ll look for a different agency to work for.”

“Evans does that advertising he’s talkin’ about, maybe it’ll get some notice.” He nodded at the glove compartment. “There’re a couple pairs of sunglasses in there.”

She opened it up and took a pair with green trim out. “Ray-Ban, huh? You damn rich firefighter,” she teased and laughed before slipping them on her nose. “I was wondering that too, ya know? I don’t know what kinda photographer he’s gonna use, but maybe I can talk to him about a few more jobs or something.”

“You’ve gotta know some pretty good photographers in the business so maybe you could make some suggestions. Evans seems pretty open to takin’ advice.”

“Sadly most of the assholes I’ve worked with are looking for meager stick-woman, so I’m not sure how much advice I can give him. Although the last photographer I worked with… ya know the one for the cover job, he was pretty cool and he liked my look, it just wasn’t his choice for who got the cover.” She rummaged around her bag and got her cell out to look for a pic. “Here, what ya think? I like his style.”

Tony took the phone as he braked for a red light. He pushed his sunglasses up and his eyebrows lifted as he studied the pic. “Yeah, this guy knows what to do with a camera.” He winked at her. “Of course, when he’s got someone who looks like you to pose for him it should be a piece of cake.” He handed the phone back to her.

“Sadly, most people in this business have a different opinion. They want the skin and bones look.”

“I’ve never been able to understand that because most guys aren’t lookin’ for skin an’ bones, they want a real woman.” He shrugged. “Guys who like that sorta build on a woman don’t know what they’re missin’.”

“Change of topic,” she decided. “Do you have plans for tonight?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, not really. Takin’ Joker for a walk and lettin’ him run in the park’s about all I’ve got planned.”

She nodded. “What about some movies, homemade pizza, and a few beers for later?” Normally she did these nights with Michael, but she had a feeling that it would be happening rarely in the near future.

“You make homemade pizza?”

“Yeah, I like my own sauce a lot more than the kind they put on the ones you order. And ya know, New York style pizza’s tasty and all, but nothing goes better than tons of things on it that makes it a few inches high and not edible without getting all messed up.”

“So yours is better than New York style pizza?”

“Definitely! Hell, yeah!”

“Then I look forward to pizza at my place tonight. Already got movies in mind?”

“Hmm, no, but I guess we’ll find something that works for both of us. I do actually like action movies.”

“Cool, then we’ll have no problem settling on somethin’ we both enjoy.” He took a turn to avoid traffic backed up due to construction. “You know Ava very well?”

“Ava?” she asked in surprise before she could stop herself. Why would he ask about Ava all of the sudden?

“Yeah,” he shrugged dismissively, “I mean, I met her when I dropped Chase off the other day.”

Okay, but still, why ask about her? “I don’t know her as well as the others. We used to hang out more when she was younger, but when Chase was born things changed and well… she was always a bit… different. I don’t think she really liked me or wanted to hang out with the rest of us.”

“Huh.” Yeah, he could see where she was a bit different but she had seemed pretty friendly to him. “So, like she didn’t like you specifically, or she just kinda preferred her own company?”

“I don’t think she really liked any of us,” Maria shrugged. “She and Tess mostly fought because they had a different opinion about everything. So me being Tess’ best friend made me an opponent kinda. Ava had this… I don’t know… punk phase where she was against anything normal and it really drove everyone – especially her parents up the wall.”

“Yeah, I can see that about her,” he said with a laugh. “She seems pretty settled with Chase an’ all.”

“She changed a lot when the little man was born.”

“I’d think anyone who takes havin’ a kid seriously would change when that happens. And she seems to have a pretty solid support system with her family so that must’ve helped a lot too.”

“I guess.”

He shifted and glanced at her. “How was your day?”

She shrugged. “Got up at 9 and had breakfast, cleaned up your roof terrace and gave the plants some water before they passed away, went to see Mom and Cody to check on them and then went to the studio for some classes.”

“How’s your brother?”

“He seemed to be okay. Mom said he slept a pretty long time though.”

“Think he’s just recovering from the weekend? I mean, he played pretty hard with Chase and Aaron.”

“I don’t know, probably part of the reason, but we know the test results said that his heart’s getting weaker in general.”

He nodded in understanding. “You know if there’s anything I can do...”

“Yeah, thanks,” she sighed and leaned forward to get her cell out of her bag just to check it, “but I guess no one can really help. All we can do is wait.”

“I guess that’s true.” He reached over and rubbed her shoulder. He had no idea what to say to make her feel better so maybe it’d help if he just tried to take her mind off of it. “Got everything for your famous pizza sauce or we need to stop at the store?”

“Guess we can stop somewhere when we leave the café?”

“Cool. I need to pick up somethin’ for Joker to chew on anyway so he doesn’t decide to chew on the furniture out of boredom.”

“Turn left over there,” she said and pointed at a small parking sign. “There’re a few parking spots for the café guests that nobody seems to know about so there’s most likely a free one.”

He took the turn she pointed out and quickly took one of the parking spots. “Good to know.”

“Yeah, don’t tell anyone,” she winked at him and opened her door.

He chuckled and got out of the truck, following her around to the front of the café. He grabbed the door open for her and stepped inside behind her. “I think I’m gonna grab somethin’ to snack on.”

“Guess I’m not surprised,” she shook her head and glanced around, smiling when she noticed Kyle and Michael already sitting at the counter, talking to Liz who had just ended her shift.

Tony hooked his right thumb in his front pocket as they joined the others at the counter. “What’s up, guys?” He settled on one of the stools and grabbed a menu, opening it up and glancing over the choices.

Maria stopped in between the boys and glanced over their shoulders while she gave them both a one-armed hug. “A new tattoo?” She looked at the sketch on the counter in front of them. “For who?”

Michael glanced at her and turned the paper slightly to give her a better look. “Workin’ on one for you.”

“For me?” she asked, puzzled. “I didn’t know I was getting a tattoo.”

He snorted. “For that spread Evans wants to do for his shop.”

“Oh, right,” she looked over the paper, which showed a kind of tendril with different flowers. “And where on my body would that be exactly?”

He turned his head to glance over her body. “If Evans has any imagination at all it’ll extend down over your hip and wrap around your thigh.” He shook off that image and focused on the paper again.

She watched him as he took the pencil to draw a few more lines and an image of him painting the tat on her body flashed through her mind. Gosh, stop that, Maria. She knew she shouldn’t have allowed her mind to wander that one time – now it would happen again and again.

Kyle reached over and thumped his thumb against one of the vine’s tendrils. “This right here... where it wraps around her hip, you should move the flower down further so that it kinda hints...” he jumped when Maria smacked his shoulder. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said innocently. “What were you about to say?”

“Nothin’,” he muttered, rubbing his right ear self-consciously.

“How was work?” she asked and dropped the tattoo subject. She really had to talk to Max because a tattoo like this would reveal a lot.

“Work,” Michael and Kyle answered at the same time.

“Uh-huh,” she rolled her eyes when they both focused on the paper. “Oh, well, my day was good too, thanks.”

Liz snickered when the guys remained clueless. “Not much different than a couple of four-year-olds with crayons and a coloring book are they?”

“Yeah,” she gave the other girl a short hug when she came around the counter wearing her street clothes. “How’s it going with you, Aaron, and the ass?”

“Oh, well, we’re actually not living with the ass.” She bit her bottom lip and took a deep breath before she shrugged. “He kicked us out when we got back.”

Maria’s eyes grew wide. “No! Where’re you living now?“

“Until I get something else lined up we’re staying with Max. But it’s only temporary,” she insisted.

She had pretty much expected that answer, knowing how Max had pushed the other girl to move in with him to get away from the ass. “I know we joked about it at the beach house, but could you maybe imagine getting something with a roomy… well, with me?”

Liz smiled and nodded. “I was really hoping that offer was still available. Max and I are just starting to take steps towards something more and it’s too soon for us to live together. He has things to sort out and so do I and we both need space for that. He’s willing to help out with getting Aaron to daycare or to his babysitter and I think maybe I’ll take him up on that because it’ll help take a little of the pressure off as far as location’s concerned.” She sat down and propped her elbow on the counter. “Do you already have any ideas about where to look?”

“Not much,” Maria slipped onto one of the bar stools. “I’m currently living with Tony though, and I’ve gotta say Queens is pretty nice and the rent’s CHEAP compared to Manhattan. I have to admit the distance is a bit sucky, but the subway connection’s pretty good.”

“Queens would be a lot more affordable,” Liz agreed.

“Yeah, it’d mean not having to live in a shoe box. “

“A little bit of space would be nice. Maybe something close to a park.” She rolled her eyes and smiled. “I love Aaron but days when he tires himself out playing he’s so much easier to put to bed. Not to mention it keeps him active and I like that a lot better than him being glued to the TV all the time.”

Maria nodded in agreement. “I’ve got a pretty easy week, so I’ll see what I can find.”

“Don’t forget, I said I’d help,” Tony spoke up. He nodded when one of the waitresses placed a plate of hot chili cheese fries before him.

“I’ve tried to talk sense into her for months and nothing,” Michael muttered to Kyle. “And now Carter gets to see her things practically overnight.”

“Because unlike you I’m not tryin’ to fix the problem, just offering my help,” Tony said quietly when the girls ignored him and went back to discussing what was most important in the apartment they wanted to find.

Liz glanced at her watch. “I’ve gotta go to pick Aaron up, Maria.”

The other girl nodded. “I’ll start looking for something online tonight and if I find something I’ll let you know, okay?” The idea of finally having a nice apartment again combined with a new, cool roomy was finally raising her enthusiasm again.

“I’m looking forward to it.” She grabbed her things and headed for the door. “I’ll see you guys later.”

“Later,” Michael nodded and finally put the pencil away to turn and look at Maria. “Glad you finally made that decision, RP.”

She shrugged. “I miss having a roommate and I like Liz. And can you imagine how hard it is for someone with a kid to find a decent roommate?”

“I wouldn’t call you decent,” he smirked and reached out to hold both of her wrists when she was about to smack him. “So, how was your day? Fitness classes?”

Maria rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever. Classes were okay. Gave ‘em a real workout today.” She grinned as she thought about practically wearing Courtney out in that last class. “Yeah, a pretty good day all around.”

“You always enjoy making them sweat and groan in pain,” he shook his head.

She shrugged. “They get what they pay for.”

“How’s the Code-man?”

“He’s holding his own right now.”

They all glanced up when they heard laughing at the entrance and nobody could hide their surprise when Isabel came in followed by Alex, who was carrying a bag for her.

“What is goin’ on with them?” Michael wondered out loud.

“Whatever it is, it happened quickly,” Tony said, his amusement earning a grunt from Kyle. The boy was taking his job too seriously, he thought. It was kind of a job, right?

Michael turned to face his sister, leaning his back against the counter. “Dragging him around to carry your shoppin’ bags for you now?”

“I know you know nothing about it since you let people work for you, but this is not a shopping bag. It contains dirty work clothes,” she countered and ordered a coffee for her and Alex.

Tony speared another forkful of the chili cheese fries. “So he’s haulin’ around your dirty laundry?”

“You have no room to talk, Carter,” Kyle said with an eye roll. “Whenever one of the women at the station wants something or needs something he springs right into work.”

“Yeah, but none of ‘em are carryin’ around my dirty laundry.”

Michael snorted and shot a glance at Maria. “Not yet anyway,” he teased.

“Shut up now,” Isabel warned him.

He glared at the woman next to him when she laughed. “Think that’s funny, RP?”

“Oh, it so is,” she giggled.

“Think you big sisters just have a sadistic streak,” he grumbled.

Maria enjoyed the time they had to hang out together in the café. As busy as their lives were they tried to come together once in a while. Just as she thought it the door opened again and Tess walked in, giving her further proof.

Kyle stared down at the Coke he had ordered. He wasn’t sure what to do about the whole Tess situation. They had run into each other at the cafe recently and that hadn’t ended well.

“Hi,” she greeted no one in particular, though she avoided looking at the man who starred in her dirtiest dreams.

“What’s up?” Michael asked and motioned for the waitress. Once he had her attention he pointed at his younger sister. “Can we get a Cherry Coke for her?”

“Ya know, she’s got her own mouth to talk,” Maria rolled her eyes.

He stuck his tongue out at her. “So? When does she ever order anything else?”

“I could order something else,” Tess mused.

“Uh-huh, what?” he asked doubtfully.

“Hmm, well, I see they have a new waiter here. How about I order a quickie in the bathroom?” she asked sheepishly, knowing that was probably just a bit too over the top.

Maria glanced at Kyle when he choked on the drink he had just taken and then snorted when Michael’s mouth dropped open. “Cat got your tongue, CB?”

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

[Double Trouble]

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, well, not really. She suggested ordering a quickie from the new waiter in the café. However, we’re sure if she ordered one from Kyle Michael would’ve swallowed his tongue. Oh, we’re sure Tess will continue to surprise. Tony’s definitely interested in Ava.

Earth2Mama: Lol, Tess is very good at that and she’ll enjoy every moment of it.

Yep… and the clock’s ticking.

keepsmiling7: Happy New Year to you too!

Ah, the tattoo connection… it’ll be important.

Max will continue to help in any way he can.

The girls will be looking and they’ve got plenty of friends to help them.

Natalie36: Lol, certainly appeared that way, didn’t it?

Cardinal: The girls will be moving forward with their plans.

Max has plenty up his sleeve with this ad and he’s getting ready to get it moving.

Lol, you’re so right!

mary mary: The girls will be looking. Finding something before Prez puts anything in motion… we’ll see.

sarammlover: Tony is just awesome! We’re not sure where to find one though… guys like him are sorta like an endangered species, lol. Tess loves to catch people like that! Happy New Year!

Alien_Friend: Thanks! Happy New Year!

They do have some great group scenes hanging out in the café.

Maria enjoyed that, lol.

The tattoo scene should be… interesting.

The girls will soon be apartment hunting and Tony’s going to be very helpful.

Max has something up his sleeve for this tattoo advertisement. It’ll help him and Maria both.

begonia9508: Happy New Year to you too!

Lol, Maria enjoyed pushing Courtney with that workout. And homemade pizza… what could be better? All of the toppings you want and extra, extra cheese on a thick buttery golden crust!

Right? It’s funny that society pushes all of these so-called perfect women in our faces through advertising when it’s so far from reality. What’s that old saying? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty isn’t some standard, it varies from one woman to the next.

The girls would be good for each other and the little guys would just love getting to spend so much time together.

xilaj: Lol, all it takes is that one person to make everyone suffer. People should be careful not to piss off the instructor. Max will definitely stay involved, doing whatever Liz will allow him to do to make things easier on her and Aaron. We will be seeing more of Isabel and Alex soon.




Part 80

Arrangements


Michael looked at his sister. “When did you grow up so fast?” Gosh, he really didn’t want to think about any of them having sex.

She shrugged. “It happens, Michael, even to your little sister.”

Damn, Kyle thought, Tess was really not handling this situation well. If she made comments like that it would come out sooner or later. Not to mention that just her sentence had gotten him hard as a rock.

Tess looked over at Kyle, still annoyed by their last encounter. “Did you have something to add?”

“Go ahead and order it,” he waved her off, trying to play it cool. “I’d like to see his face.”

“Think I won’t do it?” she challenged.

“Okay, okay, let’s cool it with this,” Michael interrupted. “NO sex on the menu.”

“And that out of your mouth,” Maria snorted.

“I’m not gonna sit here and watch her prove a point.”

Maria could easily see the amusement in Tess’ eyes and she remembered situations where they had worked together to drive him crazy. If only it could be like that again, she thought.

Tess caught Maria looking at her and she smiled tentatively. Yeah, they had kinda talked but had they really resolved anything? No, she decided, they hadn’t.

“Look at that,” Tony mumbled around a mouthful of fries. He pointed at something in the newspaper in front of him.

“Are you really reading the news right now, man?” Michael asked in disbelief.

“Would you rather I throw my two cents in about your little sister hittin’ the head with some waiter for a quickie?”

Ungh. “Gimme the damn paper.” He pulled it across the counter to him. “What were you pointing at?”

Maria leaned against Michael to see what they were talking about. “What is it?”

“Ads for a few apartments in Queens and Brooklyn,” Tony said.

“Look at that one.” She tugged the paper closer. “Wow, three bedrooms, two bathrooms with tubs, large kitchen and living room, close to the park and the trains.” She sighed. “$2100 wouldn’t be bad if there were three of us… but between just two of us... that’d be too high.”

“Trying to find something for you an’ Liz?” Tess guessed, unable to avoid the hurt that occurred about the fact that Maria planned to move in with someone else.

“Yeah, it could really work out if we could find a place we can afford.” She pushed down the part of her that wished Tess could be that third person.

“Yeah, it would,” the other girl admitted quietly, wishing there was a way they could just forget about everything that had happened and Maria would consider that she could be the third person.

Tony glanced between the girls, wishing they could work things out because it was painfully obvious they missed each other. “Third floor, but it’s an elevator building so that wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Sooo, give up yours and move in with us,” Maria teased.

“Hmm... tempting thought, but I kinda like my place and sharin’ a place with two women and a kid wouldn’t be bad but... that’d just be a nightmare if I had a woman in my life.”

Ava maybe? Maria thought, still wondering about his questions earlier. “Too bad,” she sighed. “Remember, as long as I don’t get a new apartment you’re kinda stuck with me anyway because I think I love your rooftop terrace way too much to leave.”

Isabel turned to look at Maria. “You’re staying with Tony?”

“Just temporary because my air conditioner is out again, but yes.” She glanced at him. “Has anyone else been to your place?”

“Uh, no, why?”

“So I’m the only one out of our group who’s seen your place?”

“Outta the girls? Yes.”

“Then that means you haven’t had a party at your place.”

“I’m not sure I like where this’s going,” Tony said with a smirk.

“Hey,” Isabel complained, but then laughed because it was true.

Kyle turned and slapped Alex on the back. “Maybe you could throw the next party. Your place is big.”

“Huh-uh,” he muttered doubtfully. “Besides, I like my furniture.”

“Hey, we’ve never destroyed anyone’s furniture.”

Michael snorted. “Well, Kyle did piss all over that couch in his parents’ den that time we had a party out there. Remember, he was house-sitting while they were outta town and we had that party?”

Isabel laughed. “Oh, yeah.”

Tess made a face. “You pissed on the furniture?”

Kyle’s face flushed bright red. “I was passed out and they stuck my hand in warm water. That shit actually works.”

“Oh, my God,” Maria started laughing hard, “I almost forgot about that.”

“Thanks, Guerin, so glad you brought that back up,” he muttered and then rolled his eyes when the waitress gave him a strange look. “Hey, that’s a scientific thing and it’s not like I did it of my own free will.” He shook his head when she just walked off to wait on another customer.

“So, how about a party, Tony?” Maria asked, trying to get her laugher under control again when Kyle glared at her.

“Only if you promise that if Valenti passes out drunk no one leaves him on the furniture.”

Kyle grinned. “Fuck you, Carter.”

“What about tomorrow night? You guys have tomorrow night and Thursday morning off, right?” Maria was already making plans for the things they would need to buy.

Michael glanced up from the classifieds to look at Tony. “This’s where you just nod and let her have at it.”

“No complaints from me,” he said with a shrug.

“Wasn’t there something else you had planned?” Kyle teased his roommate, who had obviously forgotten all about his plans with his girlfriend the next night.

He was leaning forward, reading over another ad. “What?” he asked absently.

“Your plaaaans,” Kyle said in a sing-song voice.

“My plans,” he said slowly. “Oh, with Courtney? She won’t mind goin’ to a party. She enjoys a good party.” He shrugged and turned the page. “We’re just getting together for dinner an’ we can still do that.”

“Yeah, I bet she’ll be excited,” Maria muttered and Tony overheard it.

“Whatcha think, Isabel?” he asked as he rubbed Maria’s shoulder. “Up for a party?”

“I guess I’ll survive a night in Queens,” she said with a smirk.

“Can I assume you’ll be bringing a date?”

Without even realizing it she assumed he meant Alex and looked at him. “What ya say? You free tomorrow night?”

“Sure, I can get away for a bit,” he said without even thinking of homework or getting paid for going out with her.

“What about you?” To everyone’s surprise Maria directed the question to the youngest Guerin sibling in the room.

Tess froze when she realized the question was aimed at her. “Me? I’m uh, I don’t have any other plans. I get off at five and I...” she was rambling, she realized. “I mean, yeah, I’ll go.”

“Bringing someone?” Tony asked.

She shook her head negatively. Her gaze flicked to Kyle against her will. “No.”

“Hmm, how about you invite some hot firefighter for the single ladies, huh?” Maria bumped him with a cheeky smirk.

He shook his head at her. “You wanna go through the department’s calendar and see if there’re any you like? Make it a lot easier on me to choose who to invite.”

“Oh, like choosing out of a catalogue,” she said excitedly. “I like that idea.”

Kyle snorted. “We could invite Lisa, she’s pretty hot.”

“Lisa…oh yeah, we’re gonna ask her.”

Michael snorted. “Woman’s had an eye on Valenti since she came to our station. Make sure ya got a room for them.”

“Yeah, not in my room and Maria’s got the office so that leaves the couch in the living room and we’ve already established that Valenti isn’t allowed on the furniture.”

“Better take your car with ya,” Michael teased his roommate. “The mustang’s not quite as comfortable as the Avalanche, but it’s better than against the wall.”

Isabel shook her head at them. “I’m sure Tony will appreciate you not banging some chick up against his walls.”

Tess’ blood was boiling and it took every bit of strength in her body to not scream at the man in question. Stupid asshole.

Kyle shot a furtive glance at Tess and was grateful that looks couldn’t actually kill because if they could he’d be dead right about now. “Yeah, well, probably not a good idea to invite her anyway.”

“Well, too bad, I already sent an invitation,” Tony waved his cell.

“Thanks, man, remind me to repay the favor one day.” Not that he had any plans to hook up with Lisa anyway because as complicated as his personal life was these days he really didn’t want the same problem at work.

“We gotta ask Evans,” Maria threw in. “I know he’s got Liz and Aaron with him, but maybe at least one of them could come.”

“Or they could get a sitter and they could both come.” Isabel smirked. “Who would’ve thought we’d ever be talking like that about him of all people?”

“Maxie Max is finally growing up,” Maria said amused.

Michael snorted. “Evans with a steady girlfriend and a kid.”

“Guerin with a steady girlfriend… doesn’t THAT make anyone wonder?” Max asked when he entered the café.

“I don’t think that’s anymore shocking than you with a girlfriend,” he countered.

“Not sure about that,” Maria admitted and looked at Max. “We were talking about a party at Tony’s tomorrow.”

“Uh, I don’t know. I might swing by for a while but I wouldn’t count on it. Aaron’s still getting settled in an’...” he trailed off when they all turned to stare at him. He cleared his throat. “What?”

They all shrugged. “Just unusual.”

He ordered a drink and settled on one of the stools. “Whatever. Whatcha got there, Guerin?” he asked when he spotted a corner of the sketch.

Michael shoved his earlier sketches over to him. “Just a first try, gotta figure out the details.”

Max picked up one of the more detailed sketches and studied it. “It’s a good start,” he motioned to it with his right forefinger. “Can’t wait to see the finished product.”

“We could kinda let it bleach out at the ends and work with a few shadows.”

“Yeah, you know if you shift the orchid higher and create shadows here,” he pointed out the area he was talking about, “the tat could be etched at the top of her thigh and it’d be perfect. Have one of the petals dip low...” he nodded. “Sexy and sensual.”

“Okay, one question, buddy,” Maria interrupted. “How much of my clothes am I losing for this? Or maybe the better question is what remains?”

Max flashed a grin at her. “Depends on how adventurous you feel like bein’.”

“You could wear the black underwear,” Tess tried to be helpful. “The ones you bought for…ya know what I mean.”

“Yeah, no nudity,” Isabel said and made a face. “Maria can pull of sexy without having to be naked for this thing.”

“Sexy underwear will be fine,” Max agreed. “And it makes the tat more interesting if a few parts are left to imagination.”

Tony shrugged. “I like a little mystery in a woman. Kinda takes all the fun out of it if you know what’s waitin’ before you ever get there.”

Max pulled a small magazine out of his back pocket and flipped through it. “I was thinking of takin’ the pics in a similar style,” he showed the page to Maria. A man and a woman were standing next to each other, touching in a few places and looking at each other. The colors were pretty dark with a special lightening on the bodies, which made the whole picture a bit dark and romantic at the same time.

The shot was tasteful. “Are you thinking black and white or full color?”

“Not totally black and white, there should be a bit of the original color, but we’re gonna work with a black background and I want the light to be warm.”

“Do you know somethin’ about photography, Evans?” Michael asked after listening to the way he described the scene he wanted to create.

“Not really.”

“He just has a good eye for shots,” Maria said as she studied the photograph. “Do you already have a photographer lined up?”

“No, not yet. I was gonna ask your advice since you’ve already worked with a few.”

She giggled. “Graham’s one of the best but we might not be able to keep his focus on me since he wants to sketch you.”

“Yeah,” Michael snorted and held his hands up, mimicking the photographer that day in Central Park. “Nude... bathed in sunlight.”

“I know a few good ones,” she said. “I could stop by the shop tomorrow morning and give you the contacts?”

“Could you email ‘em to me? I’ve got plans to take Aaron to the zoo tomorrow.”

“You do? I was planning to do the same with Cody.”

“Wanna go together? We could pick you guys up, save you a trip on the subway.”

“That’d be cool,” Maria smiled. “My brother will be excited to see Aaron again. My mom said he talked about him all day.”

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, Aaron’s been the same way.”

“The boys will enjoy it.”

Max nodded. “Bring the contact info with you. And maybe by the end of the week we could get together and try a little test with the tattoo.”

“I’m booked pretty solid for the rest of the week,” Michael said. “Work and stuff.”

“And? I am an artist, Guerin. I know how to put a temporary tat on to get an idea of what the real deal would look like.”

“Yeah, we don’t need you, CB,” Maria rolled her eyes and turned to Max again. “You planning to have more than one model?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced at Tess, wondering if pairing the two of them up for a shoot would help things. “Although two blondes...”

“Hey, this’s for advertisement, isn’t it? You should have a male and a female, Evans,” Kyle suggested.

He scratched his chin. “Good point.” He glanced at Tony, then Kyle, and then Michael. “Yeah. Whatcha say, Guerin?”

“Me? Why me?”

“Yeah, why him?” Tony and Kyle asked at the same time.

“Because you want symmetry in a spread like this. Tony’s an inch, maybe a little more taller than Guerin and Valenti, you an’ Maria, you’re the same height so that doesn’t work. Guerin’s an even six-foot and his physique is a better balance to match with Maria.”

Maria bit her lip. Being in a photo like that together with Michael could cause trouble with Courtney. Yeah, that’s what you get for being a bitch today, she thought, satisfied.

Isabel shook her head. “My brother the model,” she muttered.

It wasn’t like he really had a problem with that, but considering recent events he wasn’t sure how much Courtney would like that. It’s a photo shoot, he told himself. It’s harmless and she can’t say anything against it. “Well, if you think that’s what ya want…”

“The two of you would film well. You complement each other and the biggest bonus is you’re completely comfortable around each other.”

Tess glanced between her brother and Maria. Yeah, they would work together really well and maybe it would also help them to realize some things.

Maria leaned over to steal one of Tony’s fries to avoid having to say anything. Yeah, up until recently they had been completely comfortable around each other, but things were changing. Damn that fantasy!

“That’ll be good advertisement for my shop,” Max nodded. Sex sells, he thought, and Maria and Michael together in a spread like that would definitely come across the way he wanted it to – the way everyone but them saw them.

“Cool, I’m in,” Michael said and took a drink of his Coke. He frowned down at his sketches. “Guess that means you’re gonna need more artwork.”

“Well, you’ve already got my work on your body, no need to spray you.” Max glanced back at Maria and grabbed her hand to bring her closer. “We could go a little further with hers. Let it start here, wrap it up over her upper arm and then loop it over her shoulder blades up to the front,” he trailed his index finger over her body in the same line and lifted her arm away from her side. “Then we go down her side and let the tat come in towards her belly as we go down.” Max concentrated on her while he thought hard about it. “We’ll let is disappear in her underwear right next to her hipbone and then it comes out on her thigh again, wandering to the inside and around the back until it appears at the front again and fades out.”

Michael had shifted so he could follow Max’s intended ink path and it wasn’t hard to imagine her in something sexy with the tats shading her skin and placed creatively in a manner that would have any heterosexual man imagining what awaited at the end of the ink trail. He turned back around and took a drink of his Coke, feeling a sudden urge to cool down. “Yeah, I think that’ll do the trick.”

“Won’t this take forever?” Maria asked doubtfully.

“Nah, if I was really inking your skin it would. We couldn’t even do that in a single sitting. But since we’re just gonna draw the designs on you it’ll be a lot faster and easier.”

“It’ll wash off again, right?” She wanted to make sure.

He made a face at her. “Of course it’ll wash off.”

Maria nodded. “And you’re gonna paint it on?”

“I’ll do the majority of it and then have Amber do the touch-up prior to having the shots taken.”

“Okay.” Wow, she’d have to be almost naked in front of Max for a while, she realized. Okay, it was her job, but normally it wasn’t her friends that were at a shooting.

“I could have Amber do the work if you’d be more comfortable with her but,” he grinned, “I’ve never had any complaints. You’re hot, no doubt about that, but you’re a friend, you’d be doing me a huge favor, and not to mention... I’m kinda spoken for already so you’re just gonna have to control yourself around me.”

Maria snorted and rolled her eyes. “I think that won’t be a problem Maxie Max.”

He laughed and shrugged. “Then we’re good to go.”

“I think this’s gonna be interesting,” Kyle muttered next to Tony and crossed his arms over his chest while he leaned against the counter.

Next to him Isabel snorted inelegantly. “Ya think?”

He looked at her and smirked, before he turned his gaze towards Maria, not missing the way she was looking at Guerin. Something was changing and he could already smell the drama that was coming.

“Alright, I’ve gotta get home,” Max said as he straightened up. “Hey, you guys haven’t heard anything from Kennedy, have you?”

“No,” Michael emptied his drink.

He nodded. “Got a feelin’ we haven’t heard the last of him.”

“Any reason why you think that?”

“Just a feelin’. He’s the kinda guy that doesn’t care so much that she’s not with him but he hates the thought of her with someone else.”

“There’re more of us than there are of him,” Kyle said, unimpressed.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “I just think he’s got somethin’ up his sleeve.”

“Liz really doesn’t need that on top of everything else,” Maria muttered.

“We’re not gonna let him get to her or Aaron,” Michael said with certainty. “Like Kyle said, there’re a lot more of us than there are of him and now that we know what a sonofabitch he is he’ll be watchin’ his step.”

Max nodded. “Gotta go.” He turned to Maria. “We’ll pick you guys up at ten.”

“Cool, we’ll see ya then.” She took his seat and hooked her feet on the rung at the bottom. “Who would’ve thought he could be domesticated so easily?”

“It just takes the right woman,” Isabel said matter-of-factly.

“Is that so?” Tony asked with a smirk.

“No doubt about that.”

“Uh-huh,” he chewed on a piece of ice thoughtfully. He motioned between her and Alex. “So in your case that’d be the other way around.”

Alex bit his lip to keep from laughing, but failed when she glared at him. “I don’t think that was funny,” she complained.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he mused quietly. “I can see the humor in his statement.”

“I think Tony’s right,” Tess agreed. “Last night I left a mug on the coffee table without a coaster and she didn’t kill me.”

Isabel waved her off. “I obviously just missed that. I was busy last night and in a hurry this morning.”

To be honest she had been kinda off last night, Tess thought, but she hadn’t figured out why.

“You... missed it?” Michael echoed and shook his head. “You never miss shit like that.” He reached over and pressed his palm to her forehead. “Sure you’re not sick or somethin’?”

She slapped his hand away. “Shut up.”

He smirked and shot a quick glance at Alex. “Okay, but don’t blame me if you come down with somethin’.” He looked at Kyle. “Can you catch nerd-itis?” he mumbled.