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• Some things never changed, and consquentially, there he was: piles of work to do and he was racing cars on his PS2 - an addition to the office that his wife was particularly unfond of. His son was in his office and nearly sitting down before he paused the game, turned his dark gaze to the young man, and broke a slow grin - really he was just so glad to have his 'baby boy' back close by where they could keep an eye on him. He couldn't help worrying - it was his duty as the father of an only son. "Hey hotshot. How's my boy?" (NT) -- Lucas, 07:49:14 11/02/04 Tue

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• He knew his dad worried about him, hell, everyone did. That was one of the reasons it had been so nice to get away, no one babied him or asked him how he was feeling every two hours like his mother did. He understood her concern but for a little while, it was just nice to be treated like a normal person. One hand reached up to run through his hair before he shrugged off the bag and tilted his head to the side. "Good, real good, just got back from the house and mom said you were here, after she cried for like twenty minutes of course." His mom was one of the toughest women he knew, 'cept when it came to her kids and then she was always teary eyed. He knew also, that the time he had been away had been hard on - she was constantly worrying if he was eating right, taking all his meds but he really had been taking care of himself - mostly - and had a good time. He really was glad to be home though and it showed on the relaxed expression on his face. (NT) -- Austin, 08:19:33 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Think she'll be okay?" He questioned with a cocked brow, fingers linking behind his head as he slouched back into his chair and exhaled a long, low sigh, silent for a long moment - just taking in the physical improvements to his son with a quiet smile. "You're looking good, Austin James. Great to see... I'm glad you're back though, but I bet you've got a million ideas in mind 'bout what you could do to my place." (NT) -- Lucas, 08:26:01 11/02/04 Tue

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• He smiled lightly, cocking a brow as he gazed at his father - in so many ways he was so much like he was when he was young. "Hell yeah, spent a year going to club after club, that was a 54 weeks of different nationality girls every friday, saturday and sometimes thursday nights." He grinned lightly, tilting his head to the side once more as he shifted in the chair- he was still a little skinny for his frame but filling out nicely. "But, yeah, lots of ideas - I have been thinking on 'em a lot, going through a budget and things. I have some diagrams and numbers and stuff to run by you..." His eyes dropped over the desk. "After we get all this caught up on. Doesn't mom come down here and help you anymore?" (NT) -- Austin, 08:34:14 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Sometimes. She's busy too though." He pointed out, then laughed softly at his son's enthusiasm - he remembered those days when he had all that energy and all those ideas. He still loved this place and everything that it had become, but he was getting tired, and had accumulated quite the sum in his savings account - he would love to be able to spend some time travelling with Jasmine, get out of here for a little while, take it easy and relax. "So I know we've talked about you taking over more responsibility as far as management goes... But what about looking into ownership and everything else? I'm getting old, son." (NT) -- Lucas, 08:42:31 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Ownership? It's your club dad, I dunno..." he shook his head. "I mean, I figured I would do that when you and mom were gone, you know? Your not that old." He pursed his lips a bit. Death was a very real thing to this boy, he had faced it on so many occasions that it was just a exact reality to him. "I wouldn't mind taking over management, I would handle everything, but I think you should still own it." He just didn't want his dad to completely let go of things, this club was his baby and he wanted him to be in top control of it for as long as he could be. This was the most energy that Austin himself had in a long time - he still tended to get worn out pretty damn easily and his health wasn't exactly the greatest though no one would ever be able to tell it by looking at him now. (NT) -- Austin, 08:45:56 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Just like half-ownership or something... So your mother and I can go away for a bit and not have to worry about things. I don't want to be lying on a beach in Fiji and get a phonecall needing my signature faxed on some papers because you don't have the authorization." This place, even long after his death, would always be his, but he wanted to pass things down a little bit. Distance himself a little. He needed to start preparing mentally for retirement. (NT) -- Lucas, 08:54:28 11/02/04 Tue

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• He pursed his lips, tilting his head. "I guess half ownership would be ok...whats Cammy up to these days? Still helping you manage?" He questioned curiously, his brow furrowed as his eyes strayed out through the glass window - his brow furrowed as he looked around the office once more, his eyes affectionately caressing the carvings in the desk that had been there for so long. (NT) -- Austin, 09:17:01 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Yeah, of course, and he hides behind that damn bar almost every night it seems. His wife keeps threatening to divorce him so he can marry it..." -- Lucas, 09:24:54 11/02/04 Tue

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• He always was interested in meeting new people, especially the people who would soon be working below him. -- Austin, 09:39:00 11/02/04 Tue

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• Her features twisted into some form of a shocked frown and she nearly recoiled - he had broken her heart in the worst ways possible.... -- Mia / Lucas, 09:49:12 11/02/04 Tue

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• He let out a low breath, his eyes running over her form dressed like that - he didn't like the way she looked, well of course he liked the way she looked but it wasn't her to be all flashy like that and out in public showing off those curves...he shook his head, his brow furrowed softly. He used to have to beg her to go out with him to the club... "I never thought you'd be workin' here..." He murmured, his voice a low grumble as he tried to mask his emotions. "You, you uh, you look good..." He ran his hand down his arm idely, biting his lip a little as he leaned back against the desk, hooking one ankle over the other. (NT) -- Austin, 09:56:01 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Thanks." Her tone was a little flat and the word rushed out on a breath - not cold, just so shocked and fighting nausea... -- Mia, 10:04:48 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Twenty eight months." He stated easily, gazing out the window for a moment and inwardly cursing his father before he let out a soft breath. "You been takin' care of my old man?" He questioned, he could at least use the charm he had been so blessed with - offering her a smile before he just cleared his throat once more, shifting awkwardly. "It's good to see you..." His voice lowered at that comment, taking the tone that was always used just for her - sincere and almost boyish. (NT) -- Austin, 10:08:31 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Yeah, of course. Always.." Small talk was hardly on her agenda, but it seemed to be all they had to say to each other. What else was there? 'So, Austin, why'd you really leave?' or 'So, Austin, how were those european girls?' or how about 'So, Austin, how'd you stop loving me? Because I could really use some tips'. Pushing away those thoughts, she cleared her throat and fumbled for the door handle behind her, ducking her head slightly to the side and dropping her gaze to the floor to the left of her feet - not wanting him to catch the suspicious shine to her eyes. "Yeah, well, I should get to work..." (NT) -- Mia, 10:14:19 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Oh, right...your shift and all." He swallowed roughly, clearing his throat. "Oh, just so you know..there's a meeting after close today...shouldn't take long." His hand shifted to adjust the sports jacket that laid over his frame, almost a nervous gesture to just give him something to do. "Well, you just, you have fun alright? Be careful of those guys out there..." He was really, really uncomfortable with her being out there - he knew what his mom went through when she worked here - he had been in enough clubs with enough drunks to know that some people had some problems control themselves around a pretty girl. (NT) -- Austin, 10:21:25 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Right." She nodded a touch and glanced up to him briefly, clearing her throat before turning the door handle and speaking again. "I get off at two - early class in the morning. My dad or Luc'll update me." She informed him much more matter-of-factly than she intended, and then nodded at his warning and was half out the door before she turned back to face him, brows gently furrowed - the first hint of the betrayal she had felt at his leaving showing through. "Nine months I've been here, Austin, without you to tell me to be careful or to be around to make sure I'm okay." (NT) -- Mia, 10:26:26 11/02/04 Tue

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• He let out a soft breath, feeling completely put into his place before he just turned his back to her and sat back in the chair he had been in before - pretending to go through his bag but really just wanting to stop seeing the betrayal that was shining in her eyes. He didn't know what to do here but he was pretty aware that this wasn't going to be comfortable working conditions. (NT) -- Austin, 10:30:35 11/02/04 Tue

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• The quiet submission to his demeanor tugged at her heart and she lingered for a moment longer in the doorway, her lower lip between her teeth anxiously until she spoke with a soft sigh. "It's good to see you too, Austin." Even if it wasn't, it still was just by definition - she had missed him like crazy, and angry and hurt or not, it was good to see him there, and alive, and so much healthier looking. She didn't wait around though to see if he had anything more to say - he was clearly done with the conversation anyway - and just slipped out of the office and headed down to the bar, struggling to wipe the troubled expression from her pretty feautres... (NT) -- Mia, 10:35:21 11/02/04 Tue

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• He had decided long ago that she deserved more then to be in a relationship with him - she deserved someone who had a long, healthy life in front of him, who could do whatever she wanted without worrying about it if it would tire him out or being constantly in fear of the remission leaving and the cancer taking over once again. He could handle being her friend, but as far as her lover went - she needed someone else. (NT) -- Austin, 10:43:52 11/02/04 Tue

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• There was no way that she could understand that though, because no matter if he lived till he was thirty, or a hundred and thirty, she wanted to spend every moment that she could with him, in every way possible, and couldn't imagine wanting or needing anything else. If only he wanted her too. She was struggling to avoid these thoughts though and was thankful that the bar was fairly busy to keep her distracted. Her dad wasn't around that evening, but the guy she was with kept glancing over at her - she wasn't usually so quiet or pensive looking and even he noticed - and she was doing what she could to avoid Lucas' eye.. (NT) -- Mia, 10:47:40 11/02/04 Tue

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• Finally he just sat down at the desk and started working through the piles of paperwork, his brow furrowed heavily as he tried to focus on that and not think about her. Usually he would just drown his thoughts in the pleasure a woman could bring him but it wasn't like he was going to go out and pick one up while she was down there - even he wasn't that stupid. (NT) -- Austin, 10:51:09 11/02/04 Tue

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• He made his way back in a short while later - unsure quite what to do or say. Everyone knew what had happened with Mia and Austin, and she hadn't even said anything about it - it was just so obvious. And what else was obvious was that their reunion hadn't gone as smoothly as he had hoped it would. Clearly his son wasn't as skilled at woo'ing and he had been in his younger years. "Hey - you don't have to do all that, Austin.. I'll get to it." (NT) -- Lucas, 10:54:02 11/02/04 Tue

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• He shook his head, looking up from the paperwork as he shook his head, a rueful smirk on his face. "Nah, it's alright, I need something to my mind busy." He shrugged his shoulders a bit, his eyes going back to the papers though all he could see was Mia's expression, that look in her eyes...damn it was going to haunt him. (NT) -- Austin, 11:03:25 11/02/04 Tue

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• He dropped down into one of the chairs facing the desk and leaned back, fingers linking over his stomach as he worked on picking out his words carefully. "She's been okay, you know. Don't start feeling horrible because you think that it's been all tears and heartache since you left." It wasn't like him to avoid open wounds - he much preferred to face them head on, and so that's exactly what he did. There had been tears, and plenty of heartache, but there had been lots of laughs and some great times along the way. (NT) -- Lucas, 11:09:21 11/02/04 Tue

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• He growled lightly, setting down his pen and leaning back - his stance an exact duplicate of his fathers. "I don't feel horrible because of that, I feel horrible because she doesn't understand why I did what I did, she thinks I just don't care and thats ridiculous." He shook his head with a growl, lifting one hand to run over his head. (NT) -- Austin, 11:12:35 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Hey - it's not ridiculous if that's what she thinks. It's sad. Maybe you should try explaining things to her." He suggested easily and slowly stretched his arms above his head with a lazy yawn, then leaned forward and dug out his knife to work at the edge of his desk - that thing was a piece of art. A real bit of history right there, and he was positive that it would never leave that club as long as he or his son owned it. "They're not too busy down there.." (NT) -- Lucas, 11:19:48 11/02/04 Tue

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• If anyone would be realistic with him about his illness, it would be his dad even though he knew it bothered him like it did practically everyone accept for Austin himself. "What am I going to say Dad? 'Hey, sorry, you deserve someone who isn't expected to die every six months?' Then thats just going to lead to tears and dramatic 'I'll be there till your last breath' speeches and then she'll waste her life away with me when she could be out with someone normal." He shook his head, getting agitated as he let the chair fall to the floor with a loud thump. (NT) -- Austin, 11:34:11 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Come on Austin." He shook his head slightly and his brows furrowed into a quiet frown. "If you keep pushing her away and she settles for someone else, she's going to spend her entire life wondering 'what if'. You're so damn intimidated by your own feelings that you'd rather avoid them than face them." He couldn't understand that. Never in his life had he avoided confrontation, and he had never expected his son to be the type to. (NT) -- Lucas, 11:45:21 11/02/04 Tue

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• "You don't get it dad! You don't understand, you've never not been able to damn well feed yourself alright? I don't want her wasting her life taking care of me. It's not about me, its about her, alright?" He picked up the pen once again, growling lightly as he scratched out some numbers. (NT) -- Austin, 11:52:31 11/02/04 Tue

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• "I understand completely what it's like to feel like she deserves so much better, Austin, and I wouldn't be talking if I didn't. But I also know that you think you're doing the right thing by keeping her away, but all that's really happening is you're both so alone and hurting so bad." He had long since lost track of how many times he and Jas had argued over he deserved her or not in their younger days, when everything had been a mess, but things were perfect now and he could never imagine not being with her. "If she really cares about you like I think she does, that's not the sort of thing that you just get over. It's the sort of thing that hangs over your head and in your heart as long as you're not together. It'll never go away - not after she's married to some other guy with three kids and a house in the 'burbs." (NT) -- Lucas, 11:58:13 11/02/04 Tue

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• "You know that expression...it's better to have loved and lost then to never have loved at all?" He paused, shaking his head. "It's bullshit." His eyes went back to his dads with a serious look in the green depths that he had gotten from his mother. "You weren't to all those support groups there dad, you saw all those wives that were crying over losing their husbands, traumatized but what they went through the last few months..." He paused, shaking his head with a deep sigh. "I am not going to let her go through that." He was adamant about it - he'd thought about it as much as he could. He would live his life for him and not bring anyone else into it. (NT) -- Austin, 12:07:16 11/02/04 Tue

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• "God, Austin, you're not going to die." He sat up a little as he blurted that one out - this whole conversation was ridiculous because his son was healthy now again, and that was never going to change again. He wouldn't let it. "You're not going to die, and so you don't need to worry about leaving her, and you two can be together and be happy about it, damn it." This was the hardest thing for him - he was in control in his life, except for when it came to his son's life and his son's decisions, and that was so difficult for him to accept. It made sense to him - he didn't understand why Austin just wouldn't go along. (NT) -- Lucas, 12:10:59 11/02/04 Tue

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• "It doesn't work like that." He sighed softly, running his hand over his head. His dad was supposed to be the reasonable one, the one who understood - he didn't have to like - but understand that this sickness wasn't something that went away forever. He'd been healthy for a year and that was a pretty good stretch but any day he could start geting the familiar shakes, the sharp pains and it would be back, just toying with him again. It never went away. "I know you and mom, and Cammy and Jordy all had this idea of me and Mia growing up and getting married but it just...it's not workin' that way." He let out a low breath, his eyes going back down to the papers before he just sighed, not knowing what else to say. It was a hopeless case. (NT) -- Austin, 12:20:16 11/02/04 Tue

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• "I would just let it go, Austin, if it was only our dream and you two just weren't meant to be, but it is and you're messing that all up. You deserve to be happy and she makes you happy - I know that. Anyone can see how different you two look at each other." He sighed quietly shook his head a touch, shifting to stand and moving around behind his son. Gently squeezing the boys shoulders, he reached down to tug the pen from his fingers. "Get out of here - go talk to her, or go for a drive, or go see your mama or something, but don't drown your sorrows in work. It's not healthy." (NT) -- Lucas, 12:25:39 11/02/04 Tue

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• He grumbled lightly, pushing back from the chair and standing up. "Maybe I'll sign those ownership papers sooner then later, then I can work all I want and not get kicked out of the office." He sighed, shaking his head and grabbing his jacket. "I'll see you at home, Dad." (NT) -- Austin, 12:28:59 11/02/04 Tue

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• "Austin." He murmured firmly and just shook his head a touch with a quiet sigh, then shifted down in to his seat - he didn't know what else to say. Clearly he was having no effect on the boy, except to make him angry, so he had no choice really but to let it go for now. "Alright... I'll be a little late 'cause of that meeting after we close. Just let your mother know..." (NT) -- Lucas, 12:33:03 11/02/04 Tue

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• He nodded a bit, about to ask if he wanted him there but figured he would tell him if he did so he just smiled a bit and headed out the door, walking slowly down the steps. He was trying to not let himself get stressed out, it wasn't good for him but it was hard with all this stuff going on... (NT) -- Austin, 12:37:44 11/02/04 Tue

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• He sighed quietly and just watch his boy go wordlessly - he didn't know what else to say or what more he could do, but it still troubled him greatly. This wasn't how things were supposed to turn out - not at all, and he hated that it was all so messed up. He wanted only the best lives for his friends and family and would always do everything he could to ensure that, but this was out of his power now.. (NT) -- Lucas, 12:44:02 11/02/04 Tue