Tough Love

1/1

PG

Ethan Lovett had a few too many drinks after the Haunted Star closed. He had walked from the casino back to his hotel but the night air wasn't doing much to sober him up. What he needed was a cold shower and a strong pot of coffee. He shouldn't have allowed himself to become so immersed in drink, but it was too late now. Split milk as his mother used to say.

He struggled to find his keys and then struggled some more to get the door open. It had been one hell of a night. One thing after another had went wrong and he was just about to stumble into the mother of all problems. Literally.

Holly was sitting on the sofa, her face barely visible in the lamp light. "Good morning, darling."

Ethan must have jumped ten feet of the ground. He hit the light switch. "You scared the hell out of me." he said, locking the door behind him. "How did you get in here?"

"I picked the lock."

"Of course you did." he said, heading toward the kitchenette. "Isn't this a little dangerous?" he asked. "You know for both of us?"

"No one knows I'm here." she assured him. "Your dad and I are a little concerned, Ethan."

He fumbled with the coffee maker. "About what?"

"Where should I begin?" she asked. "You were almost killed by a mob boss. Twice. You've aligned yourself with the wrong crime organization and that alone could get you killed."

"I know what I'm doing." he said, finally getting the coffee maker to work. "I have a plan."

Holly got up and walked over to where he son was slouched up against the counter. "Your dad wants to take you off the case, Ethan."

"What?" he was outraged. "Why? I thought that I was doing a good job? I thought all my work was satisfactory? And besides Luke made it well known that I'm off limits."

"Luke can't always keep you safe, Ethan." she told him. "He's running out of the country most of the time. He's in Port Charles less than half the year."

"They seem to be honoring his word."

"You can't always take people at their word, Ethan."

"I thought you and dad trusted Luke?" he asked. "What made you change your mind?"

"We do trust Luke." she assured him. "But he's not around right now and that makes you vulnerable."

"So that's it?" Ethan asked. "I'm just suppose to pack up and take off in the middle of the night? Just forget about all the work I've done here?"

"Cases change." she replied. "Dad has found something else he thinks you're better suited for."

"I'm never going to work my way up in the WSB if he doesn't just leave me on a case." he complained. "I thought he wanted me to follow in his footsteps? I thought I was making him proud."

"You have, Ethan." she said, softly. "You didn't have to join the WSB to prove anything."

"I wanted to, mum." he told her. "I want to be a WSB agent. I just want him to treat me the same way he treats any of his other agents."

"He tries his best." she said. "He just wants to protect you, he wants to make sure that you can take care of yourself."

"Haven't I proven that I can?"

"Why don't you come home with me?" she asked. "You can talk to dad and tell him how you feel."

"Can't you tell him?"

"No." she replied. "It needs to come from you."

"But he listens to you."

"Ethan this is something that you need to do." she told him. "If being a WSB agent is something you want so badly then you have to be able to defend your decision to your grave."

~Barcelona, Spain~

Robert was working on tying his tie when his wife appeared in the mirror behind him. "I take It you were met with resistance." he said, pulling the tie tighter around his neck. "Our boy is as stubborn as they come."

"That's just it, Robert." she said, her hand resting on the doorknob. "Ethan isn't a little boy anymore, he's a man. A man very much like his father."

Robert ignored the last part of her sentence. "I know he isn't a little boy." he replied. "But as his father it's still my obligation to keep him safe."

Holly stepped inside and closed the bedroom door behind her. "Then why did you let him join the WSB?" she asked. "Why did you romanticize it to him for the past ten years?"

"I did no such thing." he argued. "I love what I do. I'm good at it, it's in my blood."

"And you don't think that it's in Ethan's too?" she asked. "You honestly don't believe that between the two of us he hasn't inherited the overwhelming rush that comes with adventure?"

He sat down on the bed and began putting his shoes on. "Ethan's really smart, Holly." he told her. "He has the kind of book smarts that I can only dream of."

"So he doesn't have the skills to perform his job accordingly?"

"I never said that." he replied. "I need people behind the scenes as well agents in the field."

"You want him to sit behind a desk?" she asked. "Don't you remember what it was like when you were an agent? Have you forgotten everything because you've been sitting behind a desk for the past few years?"

"No, I haven't forgotten." he told her. "I know how incredibly dangerous being in the field is. I have scars and battle wounds to prove it."

"And yet here you are." she pointed out as she sat down beside him. "Relatively unscathed. Your son wants to follow in your footsteps, he wants to continue the legacy that you've spent forty years building, Robert. I think the least you could do is let him try."

Robert ruffled a hand through his hair. "I can't believe that you're okay with all of this."

"Not completely." she said. "But I do understand where Ethan is coming from. He's an adult and this is the decision he's made. At least with the WSB he's working under you. I mean there are always other organizations that he could join."

Robert busied himself putting on his other shoe and tying it. "Fine." he exhaled. "He can stay on the case in Port Charles but if something goes wrong again then I'm pulling him out of there."

"No case ever goes perfectly."

"No it doesn't." he agreed. "And I know that Ethan can hold his own with the little pocket mobster, Corinthos."

Holly laughed. "Sometimes I think you don't give yourself enough credit as a father." she said. "Our sons have learnt so much from you that I don't think you're going to have worry about them not being able to take care of themselves in any situation."

"Now you're giving me too much credit." he said, turning slightly on the bed to face her. "Thankfully Hayden wants to be an architect and as for Aaron, well, we have a while yet on that one."

"He's thirteen."

"That's enough tine to talk him into a safe career." he said. "At least I hope so."

"Are you going to go talk to Ethan?"

"He came back with you?" Robert asked. "I thought that he stayed in Port Charles."

"No." she replied. "I didn't really give him a choice. After all he is the child and I am the parent."

"I see." he smiled. "How does that logic work for you and not for me?"

"I don't know." she sighed, getting up. "It just does."

"Where are you going?"

"To get Ethan." Holly told him. "I think the two of you should talk things out instead of me playing go between."

Ethan found his father in his study. His knuckles brushed softly on the open door. "Mum said you were in here." he told him. "Busy?"

Robert reclined back in his chair. "Just waiting fo you."

He sat down across from his father's desk. "That doesn't sound very good."

"I just thought that you and I could talk."

"What's there to talk about?" Ethan asked. "You want me off the case."

"I've changed my mind."

"You mean mum changed your mind."

"No." he said, firmly. "Your mother helped me realize my mistakes. I want you to finish up in Port Charles and then you and I are going on assignment together."

Ethan was a little shocked. "Together?"

"Yes." he told him. "I'm a little restless playing boss and it seems as though I need to reexplore the reason why I wanted to be an agent to begin with."

"We're going to be a team?"

"Something like that." he said. "I can't think of a better way to teach you everything I know."

"You have no idea how much this means to me, dad."

"I think I do." he smiled. "Thanks to your mother."

Finished.

Drivel