319 replies to this topic

[MsBarrows]

Cadiva said:

I like his bedspread!

:lol: Not entirely sure where I got that one from. It *might* have come with a bed from Holy Simoly.

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Fred went hesitantly down the stairs, following his nose and the smell of freshly cooked pancakes into the kitchen. Jewel and Teresa were seated at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. They looked around, and smiled at him as he entered the room, Jewel pleasantly, Teresa happily.

"There's more pancakes there," Teresa said, pointing to a platter of them on the counter.

"Thanks," Fred said, and helped himself to a serving of them before walking over to join the two women at the table.

"I hope you slept well," Jewel said. "I always have trouble sleeping the first few nights in a strange bed." (0854)

"I slept very well, thank you - I think I was too tired to even notice it wasn't my usual bed," Fred said, lips quirking in a slight smile. "That long trip on top of loading the truck yesterday morning, and days of packing beforehand - I was pretty beat by the time we got here."

Jewel laughed as she rose to her feet, picking up her empty plate. "I suppose that would do it, yes. Well, I have some work to take care of this morning. Later, my dears!" she said, and swept out of the room.

"Did you sleep well?" Teresa asked him. "Or were you just being polite?"

"I slept very well," he assured her. "I was out like a light as soon as I lay down; slept like a log, I don't think I even rolled over in bed all night long."

"Good," Teresa said, smiling happily at him, hoping that he'd left his nightmares behind in Pentland. "Well, I have a couple of errands I need to go take care of, but I should be back in time for lunch. Make yourself at home. Father said to let you know to feel free to make use of the library; he works in there, but he's not easily disturbed."

Fred nodded. He finished his own breakfast, then put away the leftover pancakes and cleaned the kitchen. He wandered out to the living room, but found it too quiet in there, the only sound the bubbling of the big aquarium. He didn't want to turn on the TV or the stereo when Jewel's home office was right there, and risk disturbing her. So he went back upstairs, and unpacked his bags, putting what little clothing he'd brought with him neatly away in the dresser, then played with Tabitha for a while.

Time was passing much too slowly. He decided he might as well take advantage of the offer to make free of the library, and go find a book to read.

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[MsBarrows]

Todd glanced up as Fred entered the room, then turned back to his computer. "Morning, Fred," he said. "You slept well, I hope?" (0855)

"Very well, yes," Fred answered. "I'd like to thank you for having me here."

Todd sat back, pushing his keyboard away. "No thanks are necessary - or at least not to me. This house is more Jewel and Teresa's then it is mine; I just live here," he said, smiling. "Teresa didn't have to ask permission to invite you to move in, though I've no doubt she left her mother know before she did. Do you have a minute?"

"Sure - I don't have anything to do at the moment."

"Good, drag over one of those chairs," Todd said, gesturing vaguely towards the dormers, "And let's talk for a little while."

Fred pulled one of the armchairs over to the side of Todd's desk, and sat, looking nervously at him. "What do you want to talk about, sir?" he asked.

Todd snorted. "I'm not 'sir'. Call me Todd. And what I'd like to talk about is you, of course." (0856)

"Me!?"

Todd smiled. "Don't sound so surprised. Yes, you. Look, I know a lot about you - but that's just facts," he said, waving one hand dismissively. "I don't know you. But my daughter does, and she likes you enough to have chased you to the far end of the country just to drag you back home again. And you let her, so I feel reasonably certain that at some point in the next few years I'll have to start thinking of you as 'my son-in-law' instead of just 'my daughter's boyfriend' - right?"

"Yeah... I guess. It's just... well, I'm kind of messed up about this whole thing still, I guess. I thought she was dead, you know... all this last year."

"It must have been quite a shock to you when she turned up on your doorstep then," Todd observed, settling back in his chair.

"It was!" Fred agreed fervently. "And when she told me she wanted me to come back to Bayshore with her... there wasn't anything left for me in Pentland, so I said yes. But... well, I know I love Teresa, but I guess I find it hard to understand why she seems to love me. I'm just a nobody; an unemployed nobody, with a dodgy background. I don't even know what I want to do with my life, except... not be a criminal any more. And try to think things out before I do things, because I've done too much of the other way around - taking actions without really thinking about the potential consequences first - and I don't want to be that person any more." (0857)

Fred frowned in thought for a minute. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that, yes, I do love Teresa, and I'd like to marry her some day, but I can't see asking her to marry me until I'm worthy of her. Until I'm more then just an unemployed nobody with a dodgy background."

Todd smiled warmly at Fred. "It speaks well of you that you think that way," he said. "Though I can tell you that the dodgy background isn't something that would ever worry Teresa - or myself, or Jewel. Or you being a 'nobody', for that matter - I was one of those once. There isn't anyone in this family whose background can't be defined as 'dodgy' - if anything, that works for you, not against. That you already know our background, so we don't have to guard what we say around you too deeply."

Fred nodded slowly. "Teresa said something like that, last fall, when I once asked her what she saw in me. About how she knew she could never get involved with some completely honest Joe Civilian type."

Todd nodded. "Which you're not," he agreed. "Teresa takes after her mother in a lot of ways. She doesn't let her emotions overrule her logic, though she listens to her emotions a lot more then Jewel allows herself to. That she's allowed herself to become involved with you - it means that she likes you on both levels, the emotional and the logical." (0858)

Fred smiled slightly. "Teresa once told me that she takes after you," he said.

Todd laughed. "She does - likes to know things. Curiosity bump the size of Mount Everest, though thankfully she's also got the patience of a saint, and doesn't get frustrated when she can't know it all yesterday. Don't know where she gets that from; certainly not from either of us."

Fred raised his eyebrows. "You waited how many years for Jewel to say yes?" he asked pointedly. (0859)

Todd laughed again. "That was persistence, not patience. No, when I'm patient, it's because I have to be. Learned behaviour. With Teresa, it's just... the way she is. Anyway, don't worry that you need to be in a huge rush to figure out your life, and get everything sorted out. Teresa's not going anywhere. She's patient and persistent; and as long as she wants you here, you're welcome in this house."

"Thank you."

"Anyway, feel free to come talk to me any time you need to," Todd said. "I'm rarely so busy that I can't take a break and chat for a while."

Fred nodded, and rose to his feet, returning the armchair to where he'd got it. Todd was clearly absorbed in his work again already. Fred took a couple of minutes to select a book to read, then went back downstairs.

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[MsBarrows]

David finished sketching out a cartoon for a painting on his canvas, and glanced to his right, smiling as he watched Jane. She, like he, was still in her pyjamas, a slight frown on her face as she looked something up online (0860). David put down his palette and stepped over, leaning down to kiss the side of her neck. Jane laughed. "That tickles," she told him.

He grinned and stepped away, picking up his palette again, then reached out and ran the tip of a dry paintbrush up the back of her neck.

Jane yelped in surprise, then jumped to her feet, chair falling over backwards, and lunged at David. He whooped and tried to dodge, but she cut him off and tripped him. Picking up the dropped paintbrush, she tickled him mercilessly with it until he was laughing so hard he had tears leaking from his eyes.

"Uncle! Uncle!" he cried, reaching out and slapping the floor.

Jane sat back, keeping a wary eye on him in case of retaliation.

"You're a cruel, cruel woman," he said plaintively, sitting up and grinning unabashedly at her.

"And don't you forget it," she told him, pointing the brush threateningly at him, then grinned and handed it back to him with a flourish. "Where'd the palette go?" she asked, looking around.

"I think I kicked it under the desk," he said, looking around. "Thankfully it landed face up," he noted, kneeling down to feel around under the desk and retrieve it. "...not that that stopped me from making a mess," he added as he pulled it out, his fingers smeared with paint from a too-incautious grab for it.

Jane laughed and handed him the cloth rag he used for drying his brushes. He fastidiously cleaned the worst of the mess off his fingers, then looked speculatively at Jane, raising his eyebrows and ostentatiously wiggling his still paint-smeared fingers as he slowly reached out towards the leg of her pyjamas. Jane scowled at him and stepped back, safely out of reach. "Get any of that paint on my favourite pyjamas and I'm not going to marry you," she said threatening.

"Ouch!" he exclaimed, hastily snatching back his paint-smeared hand. "All right, no daubing on my love's fancy feathers. Excuse me while I go wash up," he said with false dignity, and rose to his feet, slightly hampered by being able to only use one hand to do so, and headed off to the bathroom to wash the remainder of the paint off.

Jane grinned as she watched him leave, then cleaned up the palette and brush, putting them and the paint-smeared rag neatly away before changing out of her pyjamas and into day clothes.

David had a thoughtful look on his face when he came back in. "Speaking of marrying me," he said, trying to sound completely casual but failing, "We should probably start thinking about a date. What would you like, a spring wedding?"

Jane sat down on the edge of the bed and wrinkled her nose, watching appreciatively as David changed out of his pyjama bottoms. "Spring... no, I don't think I want to wait that long," she said. "A winter wedding would be fine."

David frowned. "Be fun finding a large enough place to hold it indoors. We'll need to try and rent a hall or something, I guess. You'll need to invite, what, at least half of Pentland for it?"

Jane grimaced. "Or more, yeah." She fell silent a moment, frowning, then suddenly grinned. "How about today?" she asked.

"What?"

"How about today for the wedding. We can elope. Get married today, just us, with James and Nate for witnesses, instead of having some huge expensive party that neither of us really want."

David frowned. "My mother will kill me. And anyway, we're expecting William and Robin over for lunch today, remember?"

"So? Call them and warn them to wear something nice, they can be witnesses too," Jane said.

David gave her a searching look. "You're serious about this?" he asked.

Jane nodded. "Yes. There's only a few people I would have really wanted at my wedding, and most of them are deceased now - or have moved away. I know it's not fair of me to ask you to skip inviting your own family for it, but... if we took the time to invite them here for it, we'd have to invite everyone else too, and I really don't care for a big wedding."

David sat down beside her on the bed and put his arm around her, smiling tenderly at her. "There's only one person that needs to be there for it to be a perfect wedding for me, love," he said, and kissed her. "Mom will forgive me... eventually!"

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[MsBarrows]

James insisted that there had to be an arch for the ceremony, and arranged for right-now delivery and setup out of his own pocket. The delivery men were just heading back out to their truck - James had tipped them enough to go get themselves lunch somewhere, with instructions to be back to retrieve the arch in an hour - when William and Robin arrived.

"That dress isn't the least bridal," Robin said as she looked over Jane's outfit.

Jane made a face. "It wasn't what I'd intended to wear, but then we had a slight accident involving a cup of coffee and my best dress right after I'd changed into it. At which point it came down to the summery frock, my ruffle skirt, or an old plaid house dress - I don't have many dresses or skirts."

"Summery frock it is," Robin nodded understandingly.

Once greetings were over with, everyone took their seats, James and Nate at the front, with William and Robin behind them.

Their vows were very short and simple, so within minutes David was sliding a wedding band onto Jane's finger (0861) while their small audience clapped happily for the couple (0862).

They sat down to have lunch together, and had barely started eating when it grew dim outside, and snow started pelting against the window. William looked up from his bowl, and frowned. "I don't like the look of that," he said. "I forgot to check the weather report after you called us earlier about the need for formal wear. Anyone know what the forecast is?"

No one did. William abandoned his meal to go and check the weather channel.

"Oh, I have some good news," David mentioned, to break the silence that fell after he'd left the room. "I was talking online with a guy I worked for a couple years back, and mentioned I was looking for a job again - turned out someone who used to work for him had moved back home and started his own business, and 'home' turns out to be out this way. I've got an interview lined up for the day after tomorrow, with a nice recommendation from my old boss to help things along."

"What kind of job?" James asked interestedly.

"Construction... I'll be running a cement mixer or laying bricks or something similar. But at least it's a start, and the commute into town isn't too bad most of the year." (0863)

Just then William came back in, a worried frown on his face. "Wish I'd checked the weather earlier," he said. "Big storm front moving in - Robin and I better head out as soon as we can, before there's too much accumulation. I'd prefer to be back home before the plows are having to come out - or the highways are being closed."

He and Robin made short work of their meal, then after a hurried round of good-byes headed out.

David and Jane went upstairs after the meal, to change back into regular clothes. "You must be freezing in that skimpy little sundress," David observed.

"I've been warmer," Jane agreed, then laughed and put her arms around his neck. "Mrs Jane West," she said happily. (0864)

David grinned, and the two kissed. "I'd better call mother and let her know there's another Mrs West now," he said. "Good thing there's a major blizzard starting up, or she'd be on a plane headed out this way right away to scold me. I suppose we can expect a maternal visit as soon as it clears though," he added with a sigh.

"I thought you and your mother get along well?" she asked.

"Oh, well enough. It's just that I've always been her problem child. And the baby of the family, so she's never quite been convinced that I'm an adult yet. Anyway, I better go call her - after which maybe you'll allow me to help you warm up," he suggested with a salacious grin.

Jane laughed. "Maybe! Though you better hurry, if you take too long I'll be fully dressed again and busy with something by the time you get back."

"Ooo, threats! I'll make it quick," he said, and went out to use the phone in the hallway.

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[MsBarrows]

That evening, David was telling James and Nate about the impending maternal descent on the household - he'd been right about his mother's reaction, she was planning to fly out and visit as soon as the skies cleared - when Jane came into the room with a big smile on her face.

"Good news from William and Robin," she announced. "It's a good thing they headed home so quickly. They'd just made it there, and had time to change, when Robin went into labour. It's a boy!" (0865)

"Oh, wonderful!" James exclaimed.

"He's got William's brown hair, and what they think are William's father's eyes. They're named him after both grandfathers - Robert Anthony Kennit." (0866)

"I'm going to go call and congratulate them," James said, rising to his feet.

"I want to talk to them too!" David said, and followed him off.

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[silverpole]

And of course my brain immediately remembers Robert Anthony Corsillo, sending me off on a trip down memory lane and occupying at least half an hour of my day. :P

[MsBarrows]

silverpole said:

And of course my brain immediately remembers Robert Anthony Corsillo, sending me off on a trip down memory lane and occupying at least half an hour of my day. :P

Hahaha, I'd totally forgotten about him! No wonder "Robert Anthony" sounded better to me then "Anthony Robert"! :rofl:

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Jane heard the doorbell ring and hurriedly finished re-braiding her hair, then went downstairs. By the time she got down, David's mother already had her coat off and was hugging him affectionately in greeting (0867). She was an elegant looking brunette, wearing a lovely classically styled black and turquoise dress.

David was beaming happily as he introduced the two women. "Jane, this is my mother, Felicia. Felicia, this is the other Mrs West, my wife Jane, nee Royce," he announced with a wide grin.

Felicia laughed at her son's introduction, and stepped forward to shake hands with Jane. "Welcome to the family," she said warmly (0868). "I'm so glad I could make it by to meet you, though it's going to have to be a flying visit - I have to be in Europe this weekend, though at least I was able to re-arrange my flights to leave from here instead of back east."

"All those frequent flyer miles coming in useful again?" David asked as he gestured towards the archway into the living room. Felicia nodded in agreement.

The three moved into the living room and sat down together. "How's Dad?" David asked. "What's he up to these days?"

"Oh, you know Fox," Felicia said lightly. "He's off somewhere remote, doing something arcane... I think he's tracking a pod of Right whales somewhere between Labrador and Greenland this week. I'm sure he'll tell me all about it when we talk this weekend."

"Meeting him in Europe?"

"Oh, no, just our regular weekly phone call. I'm over there on business; drawing up contracts for a merger."

David nodded. "How are Kevin and Cheryl?"

"Same as always - Kevin doesn't look up from his microscope except for particularly intriguing patients, and Cheryl is, like her father, off somewhere remote doing something arcane. I'd have to check my emails to be able to tell you what jungle she's cataloguing unique species in this week."

Jane listened quietly. David had never really talked abut his family at all to her. He must have realized that she was being left behind in the conversation, as he turned to her and explained. "Fox is my father - he's an oceanographer and spends most of his time out on or in the deep ocean. Kevin and Cheryl are my older siblings - research doctor, and natural scientist."

"And I'm an international corporate lawyer," Felicia volunteered.

David grinned. "And I'm the slacker in my family of overachievers," he said. (0869)

"Oh, piffle!" Felicia exclaimed. "You just happen to be the only one of us who's a people person. The rest of us are more comfortable with books and electronics and.. and achievements, rather then with other human beings."

"You spend most of your time surrounded by people," David pointed out.

"Most of whom are lawyers, and therefor only provisionally human beings," she said tartly.

"Ma... you're a lawyer."

"Exactly my point," she said. "I mean, look at me - I only see my husband, what, maybe one or two weeks in total out of any given year? That's hardly human!"

David smiled fondly at her, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back. "And yet the two of you still managed to have three children."

Felicia sniffed. "I was hardly a model mother for the three of you, my dear," she said dryly. "Growing up, you were closer to your Nanny then you were to me, and your older siblings were exactly the same. No, I know how lucky I am that the three of you managed to turn out beautifully in spite of my benign neglect. Though I do worry about Kevin and Cheryl sometimes," she said, grimacing slightly and reaching up to push her long hair back from her face. "They're so much like Fox... and he only looked up from his research long enough to fall in love and get married because of that dratted court case we were both involved in."

David grinned and turned to explain to Jane again. "Father was an expert witness - for the opposite side. He and mother bumped into each other in a restaurant one day during a lunch recess, ended up sharing a table because it was packed, and then apparently got into a fantastic argument over the interpretation of his data, and how it potentially impacted then-current environmental law. They've been arguing ever since."

Felicia laughed. "Yes, we argued our way right into thirty-some years of marriage. I don't think our marriage would work well for most people - so little together time - but it works for Fox and I." (0870)

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[MsBarrows]

Felicia looked up, a delighted smile crossing her face as James wandered into the room.

"Felicia!" he exclaimed, smiling warmly at her. "Tell me you're here to drop that smelly sailor you married, and embark on a life of lechery with me instead?" (0871)

Felicia laughed, and rose to her feet to exchange a hug and a kiss on the cheek with him. "Not on your life, you disgusting old bloodsucker," she said composedly. "Gods, how long has it been since I last saw you?"

"Too many years," he told her. "That summer you came to visit Padraig, with the kids, and you were too hot all the time, and glowingly pregnant..."

Felicia laughed again. "Pregnant with my problem child here," she said, nodding her head towards David. "I hope he's been behaving himself since he took over this mausoleum?"

James grinned. "Well enough. And I suppose I'll have to tolerate his little foibles now that my granddaughter has gone and married the boy."

"Grandaug... oh! Of course! I'm sorry, I never even made the connection," she said, turning and smiling warmly at Jane. "But then I only ever met your mother once - or was it twice? And was rather distracted by a certain overly energetic unborn baby bouncing up and down on my bladder." She turned back to James and gave him a shrewd look. "I suppose this makes us some species of in-law," she said. (0872)

James smiled. "I suppose it does."

David was giving his mother a surprised look. "I never knew you knew James," he said.

"Didn't you?" she asked, sounding surprised. "I guess I never did talk much about Uncle Paddy and his friends," she said thoughtfully, and shrugged.

David snorted. "Wish you had; finding out I had a vampire in the attic came as something of a surprise."

Both Felicia and James laughed at his aggrieved expression.

"Poor baby," she said fondly. "You seem to have survived the shock reasonably well, anyway."

"Anyway, I came in here to say that the cooking timer in the kitchen is dinging away," James said.

"My butter chicken!" David yelped, and hurried out of the room. A moment later he poked his head back in through the doorway. "That means dinner is served," he pointed out with a grin, then hurried off again.

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Dinner went very well; Felicia was in a good mood, and easily kept everyone entertained with anecdotes about some of the corporate clients she'd recently been involved with, as well as stories passed on about Fox and her two older children. (0873)

David was equally cheerful; it was obvious to Jane that, despite Felicia's words about not being a particularly good mother to her children, there was a strong affection between the two. (0874)

"You know," Felicia said, smiling fondly at David, "I was rather worried at first when I heard Padraig had willed this place to you - small ton life isn't for everyone. But here it is not even a year since you took over, and you're very obviously happy with living here. I'm beginning to think Uncle Paddy chose wisely."

Jane laughed. "I think he did, too," she said. "Though I still have a sneaking suspicion the old man had matchmaking at least partially in mind when he chose David to have the place." (0875)

David grinned. "He chose wisely twice over then," he said, and leaned over to kiss Jane on the cheek.

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[MsBarrows]

Felicia looked around the bedroom, an amused smile on her face. "What a lovely nursery," she said. "Is there something you and Jane haven't mentioned to me yet?" (0876)

David laughed. "No, mother, she's not expecting - or if she is, it's news to me! No, a friend of hers moved out of town recently, and gave us a bunch of furniture when he did; didn't want to sell it, didn't want to keep it, figured we'd be able to use it some day."

Felicia nodded. "Thoughtful of him. I suppose sleeping in a single instead of a Queen-sized bed for a night or two won't kill me. Just don't be surprised if you hear a loud thump in the middle of the night as I turn over and manage to roll right out of bed."

David laughed. "You, do something so ungraceful? Never!"

Felicia smiled fondly at David. "I really am glad that you seem to be so happy here," she said. "You had me worried the last few years, you know... all that wandering around, never settling down in a place or to a job for more then a few months at a time..."

David shrugged uncomfortably. "I just had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life," he said. "Not like Kevin or Cheryl - they've always known what they wanted to be. Now... well, I'm still not entirely sure, but at least I do know I want to stay here, with Jane, and make a life here for both of us."

Felicia smiled, and hugged him. "I meant what I said earlier, that I'm more worried about your siblings then about you. Oh, I'm very happy that you've settled down and have some goals at last, but... well, I do sometimes wish that the two of them were less settled. For all the globe-trotting your sister does, she's very... focused in her research. I don't think she even notices the different people and cultures she encounters when she's travelling; just the different botanical species. And Kevin is the same; unless someone has a particularly interesting medical condition they might as well not even exist."

David laughed softly. "Give them time; they'll get over it sooner or later."

Felicia wrinkled her nose. "Just as long as it's not too late. I'm just so thankful that I managed to trip over and notice your father when I did; I don't think I'd like the me I'd have become without him in my life."

David smiled. "I'm sure he gives thanks regularly too, mother. Anyway, I should let you get to bed - I'm sure this has been a very long day for you, especially with the time zone change." (0877)

Felicia laughingly agreed.

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[MsBarrows]

"Those smell delicious," Todd said as he walked into the kitchen, and found Fred serving stuffed omelettes. "Thanks for making breakfast - you didn't have to do that." (0878)

Fred nodded. "It's no problem; I like cooking."

After he'd finished serving, he went to the back door and called Teresa, who was exercising out on the terrace, and the three of them sat down for breakfast together.

"These are so good," Teresa said after trying a bite of hers. "What are they stuffed with?"

"Diced ham, red sweet peppers, green onion, and cheddar," Fred said.

"They're awesome. Have you ever thought about becoming a chef?" Teresa asked.

Fred wrinkled his nose. "I like cooking, but not that much... in fact, I bet I'd start to hate it if I was doing it as a career, instead of just for enjoyment."

"What do you like doing?" Todd asked. (0879)

Fred frowned in thought as he ate another forkful of omelette. "I'm not sure. I didn't really have any concrete plans for a career before I left Pentland the first time, and then I basically fell into working as a criminal. I did enjoy parts of that... but I'm glad to be be out of it now."

"What parts did you enjoy?" Teresa asked, giving him a speculative look.

Fred grinned. "Well, you already know I enjoyed the dating and seduction part..."

He broke off with a laugh as she threatened him with her fork. "But not any more!" he exclaimed, and grinned at her.

Teresa grinned back, and placidly resumed eating her breakfast.

Fred thought for a while, then continued. "Setting up for a job, when we'd be doing as much research about the target and their defences as we could... that was always interesting. I enjoyed finding stuff out about people, whether it was when I was with them by invitation, or later, finding out things they probably didn't want me to know."

"Is there any part you particularly disliked?" Todd asked.

"Yeah. Not knowing how to defend myself. When things went bad, it was so horribly easy for people like Max and Jeff to take me down. I got into scraps as a kid, what kid doesn't, but... I never learned serious fighting."

Teresa and Todd exchanged a look. "We can help you with that," Todd said. "Knowing how to handle myself in a fight is part of my job, as Jewel's bodyguard. And I taught both Zafiro and Teresa how to defend themselves if necessary, starting when they were kids."

Teresa nodded. "And he gave me heck for forgetting everything he ever taught me, when I walked out my bedroom door and bumped into Max lst year. I'd never imagined needing to use self-defence skills at home; I'd always thought that I would be someplace else when I'd need them. Out late somewhere, or walking in on a bad situation somewhere unexpectedly, that sort of thing. I was so surprised to bump into an intruder, I forgot that I could handle him if I had to - and worse, forgot to maintain awareness of my surroundings."

Todd frowned and nodded. "If you're someplace where you know there's a chance of something happening, then you're already keeping aware, and at least partially ready to react if something happens. As Teresa learned the hard way, it's when you're not ready that you most need to remember the skills you have."

"Well, any help you can give me, I'd certainly appreciate," Fred said.

Todd looked at him thoughtfully. "I think the first step would be getting you in proper shape. Oh, you don't need to lose any weight - if anything, you could stand to put on a little more mass - but you need to get into the habit of having a regular full-body workout so your muscles aren't all soft and flabby. Tell you what, how about after you've had a chance to digest breakfast, I coach you through a good workout. Then once you're starting to get into decent physical condition, Teresa and I can start teaching you how to use those muscles."

Which is how, later that morning, Fred found himself making runs through an obstacle course set up in the yard, while Todd critiqued his performance, and made suggestions for improvement. (0880)

Teresa, meanwhile, finished off her own morning workout, and then went swimming, occasionally stopping to paddle in place and watch Fred working out. He was smiling, and laughing at his own clumsiness, and she smiled to see this further evidence that he was recovering from the funk he'd been in back in Pentland. (0881)

Once he was thoroughly tired out, Todd finally called a halt to the exercise.

"I want you to run the course every morning," Todd told him. "Until you feel as tired out as you do right now. Keep track of how many laps you do; once you can do 25 before starting to get tired, we'll start you in on some other things. Now go get showered and relax for a while," Todd finished with a smile.

"Right," said Fred, nodded tiredly, and headed back indoors. Todd went and joined Teresa in the pool.

"Well? What do you think?" she asked quietly.

Todd looked thoughtful, then glanced at her. "You're right, he has possibilities," he said neutrally. (0882)

Teresa smiled happily. "Good," she said.

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[MsBarrows]

"You look nervous," Teresa whispered to Fred as the two followed her parents up the walkway towards Zafiro's front door.

"I am... I'm hardly your brother's favourite person," he said quietly.

Teresa smiled. "He'll be polite. He knows I'll give him what-for if he isn't. Anyway, he's mellowed a lot over the last year; I think one of the number one reasons my mother is fond of Stella is the calming effect she's had on him."

If he was mellowing, Fred wasn't seeing it. Zafiro wasn't rude or noticeably cold to Fred when he greeted everyone in the front hall of his home, but he didn't go out of his way to make him feel welcome, either.

Stella, on the other hand, beamed at the sight of Fred, and gave him a warm hug in welcome. "I was so pleased when I heard you'd returned to Bayshore," she told him. "I've often wondered over the last year what had happened to you, and whether or not you were all right."

Fred smiled warmly back at her. "I've often wondered about what happened to you afterwards, too - I'm glad things seem to have worked out for you," he added, gesturing at the house around them.

Stella smiled and began to say something, then started as a faint dinging sounded. "Dinner will be on the table in a few minutes," she told everyone, and hurried off to plate and serve the meal.

----------

Fred found his nervousness returning when he discovered he was seated for the meal right beside Zafiro. Who still wasn't going out of his way to talk to Fred, but was at least not ignoring him entirely. There was very little conversation over the meal, and that on neutral subjects - talk about the upcoming birthday of Bruno and Ting's twins, some decorating finds Stella had recently made, things like that. (0883)

"Visiting Fred in Pentland was interesting," Teresa mentioned during one pause in the conversation. "You have some pretty unique friends," she told him, smiling.

Fred laughed. "Yeah, I guess I do," he said, and then had to explain further. "One main friend, really. He's a Werewolf. And our last night there we went to dinner at my ex-girlfriend's place - her grandfather lives there, he's a vampire." (0884)

Todd looked up, interested. He knew about the vampire, of course, that had been mentioned in the reports about Fred's childhood and teen years there, but the Were was new.

"We don't see many of either around here," he said. "There are supposedly a couple of packs in the area, but they tend to migrate towards the more rural areas of the country. I remember growing up south of the tracks, there was several urban legends about a pack that supposedly lived down in the old industrial areas at the south end, but I never saw any evidence of them, either then or years later when I was living in the industrial area for a while myself. Vampires - we certainly have those, but they're pretty clannish. Stick to themselves, don't socialize even with each other very much, as far as I know."

Fred nodded. "A lot of vampires are pretty territorial, especially the older ones," he said. "Though there's some that run in groups, usually an older vampire and a group of younger ones they've turned. And you get couples relatively frequently; as James likes to point out, vampires were human once too. And some of them manage to remember that."

Conversation stayed on the Others for a while, mainly just talk about rumours of their presence in different areas of the city.

"Take Fred to the living room for a while, would you babe?" Zafiro told Stella at the end of the meal. "Family talk," he said, and led Jewel, Todd and Teresa off to his office.

Fred followed Stella to the living room. "So how are you, really?" he asked quietly as they sat down side by side on the couch.

Stella laughed softly. "Happy, really. I wasn't going to be able to work the pigeon trap well for very many more years anyway. Now... I have a home, a husband who cares for me, and as much money as I feel like spending." (0885)

"Cares for you?" Fred asked, neutrally.

"Yes. I won't say loves me... we're both too aware that what brought us together was mutual advantage and, frankly, a fair dose of lust. And I know if it came down to a choice between me, and the rest of his family, it's them he would think of first. But... we like each other. I'll happily take liking, good sex, and a comfortable life over what the alternatives could have been." (0886)

"Anyway, how about you," she asked. "Fill me in on what you've been up to the last year."

Fred gave a short, rueful laugh. "Whole lot of nothing, mainly. Gods, where to start..." (0887)

"How about with what happened after Max broke in?" Stella asked shrewdly, sitting back comfortably. "I've only heard about what happened from the viewpoints of people not involved, though I did hear that Teresa made it clear it had been an accident, not anything deliberate, after she finally woke up."

Fred shivered, remembering the events of that day. "Yeah," he said softly. "Good a place as any to start..."

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[MsBarrows]

In Zafiro's office, conversation was currently revolving around Fred.

"...and he's already had some training in that direction," Teresa was pointing out. "All that on-site spotting and later research he did as part of working their so-called 'pigeon trap' has made him observant, given him a grounding in the sort of skills he'd need for this." (0888)

"He seems to be a fairly nice young man, too," Jewel pointed out. "But he also sounded pretty adamant that he didn't wish to be a criminal any longer. Are you sure this would be an acceptable alternate?"

"Yes," Teresa answered calmly. "He knows that I'm involved to some degree in the family business. If he'd been completely against having at least a peripheral involvement with crime, I don't believe he'd have been willing to return to Bayshore with me. He's here. And I think he'd enjoy the job."

Zafiro pressed his lips together. He glanced at his stepfather. "Todd, what do you think?" he asked. "If we took him on, you'd be the one having to handle his training." (0889)

Todd shrugged. "I think he has possibilities," he said. "He's got the right kind of personality to enjoy the work. He's also seen from the sharp end of the stick how ugly working with insufficient data can be, so he'll likely be both cautious and thorough. And his personal involvement with Teresa will make it likely that the two of them will work well together. And you know she's right, that the job has become more then one person can handle."

He shifted in his chair, frowning. "I've only been keeping it going fairly smoothly the last few years because I had Teresa in training already. And even so, we've had several noticeable embarrassing flaws in our data gathering and evaluation. Fred's involvement with Jeff's group being one prime example; that was missed for several years - years! - because someone lower down decided he was just a sex friend of Andy's, and never forwarded the relevant information far enough up the pipe for more experienced personnel to realize that he was more then just a boy toy."

Todd looked grim about that; the others all knew what a big shake-down had occurred in his organization after that little discovery, and then again more recently with the belated discovery that Andy himself was SCIA, a deep mole who'd only missed out on penetrating their organization because he'd fallen into Jeff's circle of influence first.

"Well, the final decision will have to be made by you two," Jewel said firmly, looking back and forth between Zafiro and Teresa. "As it's you who'll have to be working with him. Todd and I... well, once he'd reasonably confident that he can turn over the reins of his organization to Teresa, then it'll all be in your hands, and the two of us will be able to retire and just enjoy ourselves." (0890)

"You already know my opinion on the matter," Teresa said, and looked expectantly at her half-brother.

Zafiro sighed. "All right. I have no real objections to us bringing Fred in," he said. "I will freely admit I don't like him much, but also that I'm likely biased on the subject. It's not like I'll have to be working directly with him very much myself; Teresa will be my main contact. Besides, I've already seen that she's determined to make him my brother-in-law one of these days anyway, so I might as well start getting used to him being around now," he added, giving her a sour look.

Teresa laughed, and rose to her feet to go over and give him a hug. "Thank you," she said gravely.

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[MsBarrows]

Fred had told Stella all about what he'd been up to over the last year, and heard most of her side of the story too, by the time Zafiro and the Powers emerged from his office, and came to join them in the living room. (0891)

"Having a good chat?" Zafiro asked as he took a seat beside Stella.

She smiled warmly at him. "Quite enjoyable, yes," she said. "We've been getting all caught up with each other."

Zafiro nodded, looking past her at Fred for a moment, then turned away to look towards his mother and stepfather.

"So how are we going to handle this," he asked. (0892)

Todd gave him a look, accompanied by a slight smile. "I'll take care of it tomorrow," he said.

Zafiro nodded. The remainder of the evening passed in conversation. Fred was surprised to find Zafiro making a point of keeping him included in the talk; he wondered if Teresa had said something to him while they were out of the room.

At the end of the evening, he even made a point of saying good-night to Fred, saying that he hoped he'd enjoyed himself, and that they'd be seeing more of him in future. Startled, Fred answered as pleasantly as he could, shaking Zafiro's hand good-bye before the group of them left. (0893)

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[MsBarrows]

Fred looked up and smiled as Teresa stepped into the hot pool with him. (0894)

"Morning," she said. "How did your exercising go?"

"Well, and long," Fred said. "I'm getting up to a respectable number of laps finally. Your father says a few more days and I should be fit enough to start learning some other things."

"Great," she said, smiling warmly at him.

"That wasn't all he had to say, either," Fred said, and gave her a thoughtful look. "You set me up, didn't you?" he asked.

Teresa laughed, and slid closer to him. "Of course I did," she said. "So? What was your answer?"

"Haven't made up my mind yet - he said to talk it over with you, sleep on it, and give him my answer tomorrow."

Teresa nodded, then laughed as Fred took her in his arms and pulled her closer so she was sitting on his lap. She put her arms around his shoulders, and smiled warmly at him. "I hope you feel that working closely with me would be an advantage to saying yes?" (0895)

Fred nodded. "Yes, I was already considering that point," he agreed. "And... I think I'd certainly like that aspect of it. And the job itself sounds intriguing. Stella told me a little about your father's intelligence network once; if I remember correctly, she referred to it as 'one of the finest information gathering networks in the country' though she did qualify that it only pays attention to information in a limited area."

Teresa nodded, a serious expression on her face. "It was, once - but it's started to run into the usual problems of any large organization. Problems with information not always been sent on to the people it should be, problems with long-term members becoming complacent about their role and missing things they should have noticed, failure to respond in a timely manner to new information... people who have become more concerned with process then results. I hope to reverse some of that and get us back to being the sort of finely tuned instrument we were ten years ago."

Fred couldn't help it - he smiled. Teresa raised an eyebrow and gave him a questioning look.

"You keep saying 'us' and 'we'. And you were what ten years ago - 13? 14?"

She smiled, shrugged. "I've always identified with father's organization; I grew up watching him work, and hanging over his shoulder reading along when he'd let me, and asking as many questions as he was willing to answer. And I was fifteen - old enough to know that my father had put together something pretty special. I want the organization to be that again - to be special, to be one of the finest, if not the finest."

"You're pretty proud of your father."

"Of course I am! He started out as a nothing-much punk kid from south of the tracks, and look at him now. Anyway, the job of leading the organization has grown to be more then one person can reasonably handle. When I take over, I want to have someone else I trust to share the leadership duties with, so that the job of making sure the network operates correctly as a network, and the job of final collation, interpretation and dissemination of information, can be separated out into two different roles."

Todd nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. So whomever is evaluating the information can concentrate solely on that, without being distracted by worries about whether he - or she! - has all the right information to make a good evaluation, while the other person worries about making sure information moves along properly without having to be concerned over what the information means."

"Exactly. Anyway, I'm hoping you'll say yes, because I'd prefer that whomever I work with is someone I can trust - a real partner, not an underling."

"Well, I'll think about it. I'm probably going to say yes... it sounds way too interesting an opportunity to pass up on."

Teresa smiled happily, pleased that she'd been right that Fred would think the job sounded interesting.

Fred started to pull her close for a hug or kiss, then winced. "Ow... I can't decide which is the worse part of running the obstacle course - crawling under barbed wire without getting my hind end shredded, climbing over the wall at the end, or the accumulated soreness when it's all over with."

Teresa laughed. "I'll give you a massage," she offered. "here, switch positions with me."

Fred nodded and slid out from under her, turning his back so she could work on rubbing and thumping the aches out of his back. (0896)

She could feel him relaxing as the massage and the warm water worked their magic on sore muscles. And was very pleased when he abruptly ended the massage, turning to take her in his arms and give her a very passionate kiss. Clearly he'd finally recovered enough from the traumatic events of the past year to regain his interest in her. (0897)

"My room or yours?" she asked huskily when the kiss ended.

"Either. Right here would work too."

Teresa giggled. "Not when either of my parents are home," she chided him. "Too many windows looking out over the yard.

Fred laughed. "Good point," he agreed. "Your room then."

Teresa nodded, and the two climbed out of the tub and headed indoors together.

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[grammapat]

Glad I found your story, love it! I like your links (a WORD being the link to a picture), it makes the story read smoother. But how do you Do that? and is the link to something like PhotoBucket?

[grammapat]

Well! Such interesting twists. I love a story where bad stuff happens, but - eventually - the hero reforms and life improves. And it's interesting to see other people's cc. I hadn't seen a wheel-chair before. But playing a vampire! Argg, I never can keep them alive. But I Do have a hood overrun with wolves, actually fun!

[MsBarrows]

Just an apology and an FYI...

I've had my attention rather thoroughly kidnapped for the last couple months by Dragon Age:Origins, which is why updates on this dropped off the map. When I finally reached the point that my playing obsession was slacking off enough to think about resuming work on TIW, I, errr... kind of got sidetracked into writing a DA:O based story instead (oops!). Which for any of you curious to read it can be found over on fanfiction.net under my usual MsBarrows username. No illustrations, it's a text-based posting community - and I can't link to it directly since that community does include M-related stories (though the story itself is so far a T rating).

That said, I had been planning to continue TIW, but with the latest news about upcoming forum changes, including the planned complete removal of all existing attachments from all existing threads, I have lost the will to continue with it at this point in time.

I may at some future point resume it - still love the characters, and they've been bouncing around in the back seat and tapping on the glass a lot in the taxi-in-my-head where they reside - but if I do so it will be on a blogging site, not on TSR, since the permanency of stories on TSR just took a huge negative hit.

Anyone wishing to be informed if/when I do so, please feel free to shoot me a PM.

[jsf]

I want to say publicly that I think its a big mistake that TSR is cutting out integrated images. I love your stories and being able to view the images without linking to an outside source was the best. I doubt many story tellers will bother going to all the trouble to get a host, one that may just close or do what TSR is doing. I think its terrible! Charge us an extra dollar or two membership or whatever it takes to keep things the way they are.
I am so sad for you, MsB.
Free hosting vanishes.
Version 8, already I don't like it. :mad: :(

[wordlesswriter]

I am very sad about the change. please let me know where you move this story to. I don't have many pics to move for my legacy but It makes me sad for writers like you who have years of writing and many screenshots that will be lost. I prefer reading the ones that have the pics in the post over the ones on outside photo hosts. ;_;

[fizz bomb]

Really sad

TSR have not just shot themselves in the foot they blew the whole leg off

one of the things I have always loved and appreciated about your stories are the screenshots

these days the only thing I log in for are the wonderful tales of love adventure and betrayal including screenshots