A/N: Hi everyone! There's a lot of first time stories and I wanted to add in my two cents. Major thanks to Eunice339 for beta work and for making this all make sense!

xXx

Uriah slammed his glass down onto the polished wooden bar top before signaling to the pretty blonde bartender. "One more Jack and Coke," he slurred.

Tris raised an eyebrow. It was the third one he'd ordered in the last hour. She walked over to his end of the bar and regarded him with solemn grey eyes. He was cute, really cute, with dark brown skin and warm brown eyes. She guessed he was about her age, which would put him in his early twenties. When he grimaced, she caught the hint of a dimple in his cheek and was sure it would flash more prominently if he smiled, but clearly that was not going to happen today. It was early – barely 1 PM on a Tuesday – and Tris wondered what in the world could have happened to make this cute guy resort to getting absolutely hammered on a workday.

"What's your name, cutie?" she asked.

Uriah scowled at her. "Look, I just want a drink."

Tris crossed her arms under her breasts, annoyed that he thought she was flirting with him. "I need your name so I can tell it to whomever is going to come get you," she said firmly. The bar had a strict policy of cutting patrons off or calling them a ride.

He sighed, "Uriah."

Tris quickly mixed the drink, but held it back in one hand while the other waited palm up in front of him. "Give me your phone and tell me who to call, Uriah."

Uriah groaned and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. Unlocking it, he handed it to her in exchange for the drink. "Call my brother – Tobias, not Zeke." He drank deeply. "There's no way I can talk to Zeke about this," he mumbled, staring into the glass.

Tris could empathize with the poor guy. He looked absolutely miserable and if she was to call one brother over the other, she had a sneaking suspicion this was due to some family drama; something she understood all too well. She thumbed through his contacts until she found one marked 'Tobias'. She hesitated for a moment, uncertain which number to call, before deciding on the work number rather than the home or cell considering the time of day it was. If she couldn't get him at work, she'd try the cell. She pushed the button and moved to the other side of the bar even though she didn't think it would matter. Uriah was so engrossed in his own misery she didn't think he'd notice.

The phone rang once and a deep voice answered, "Detective Eaton."

Tris was taken aback. She hadn't expected a cop. "Um, is this Tobias?"

"Yes."

"Um, hi. Is your brother Uriah?"

"Yes." The voice turned from suspicious to concerned. "Is he okay? Who is this?"

"My name is Tris – Tris Prior. I'm a bartender at O'Leary's Pub. Your brother is here and he seems pretty intent on getting totally trashed. He's going to need a ride home."

Tobias let out a frustrated groan. "Shit. Where are you located?"

Tris gave him the address and heard a resigned sigh. "It'll take me about an hour to get there in this traffic. Can you keep him there?"

"Yeah," she said, "don't worry, I'll keep an eye on him." She lowered her voice and added, "He's pretty upset about something."

"Okay. I'm on my way. Thank you, Tris."

She hung up, walked back over to Uriah and set the phone down in front of him. "Your brother is on his way." Uriah didn't move. "Can I get you something else?"

"How about poison? Never mind, my brother has a gun." He stared at the top of the bar, still not moving.

Tris leaned over. "So what's got you down?"

"I caught my girlfriend cheating."

She winced. "Ooh, that's tough. I'm sorry."

"Why?" He turned ravaged eyes to hers. "That's what I can't figure out. Why?"

Tris patted his hand sympathetically. "I'm sorry this happened to you, Uriah. Your girlfriend obviously doesn't know what a great guy she had. I know you don't want to hear this, but you'll find someone else, someone who will appreciate you more. I promise."

He seemed unconvinced. "Yeah, maybe."

xXx

Tris kept an eye on him for the next hour. She hesitated in giving him the fourth drink he ordered, but she did knowing his brother was on the way. She had decided to cut him off after that though, so gave him a glass of water to go along with the Jack and Coke. On impulse, she ordered him a plate of French fries too; he was going to need something to soak up all that alcohol once his brother got here.

Tobias made it to the pub as fast as he could. He'd taken the rest of the afternoon off as personal leave. This wasn't the first time he'd had to rescue his little brother from a drunken escapade, but it was certainly the first time he'd done so during the day. If Uriah was at a bar drinking rather than at work, something had to be seriously wrong.

He stepped into the dimly lit bar and pulled off his sunglasses. His gaze swept the room, taking in a couple of customers before landing on his brother who sat slumped at the end of the bar. He let out a sigh of relief and approached the blonde bartender whose back was turned. "Excuse me," he said. "Are you Tris?"

Tris turned around and found herself staring into eyes the same deep blue as Lake Michigan on a clear day. She was momentarily speechless, but recovered quickly, "Yeah. What can I get you, handsome?"

"I'm Tobias Eaton."

Tris was stunned for a quick minute. Tobias certainly wasn't what she'd expected from a cop or even Uriah's brother. He was tall, with wavy dark brown hair and smooth golden skin. Where Uriah was cute, he was without a doubt the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. "Nice to meet you," she murmured then regained her composure enough to gesture over to the end of the bar. "Your brother is over there."

He nodded. "Did he happen to say what was up?"

"Something about his girlfriend cheating."

Tobias sighed knowingly. He'd never been overly fond of Marlene and always thought she was a bit flighty, so this wasn't a great surprise. "Thanks," he said, his eyes on Uriah now. "How many has he had?"

"Four Jack and Cokes," she answered back, but smirked when he winced. "Don't worry, I made the last couple a little more Coke than Jack before I cut him off."

"Ok, thanks again." He nodded to Tris, wanting to stay and talk to the cute bartender a little longer, but instead took a deep breath and turned towards his brother. "Here we go."

He walked over to Uriah and sat quietly on the barstool next to him. "What's up, Uri?"

Uriah looked over at him through heavy-lidded eyes. "You were right about Marlene. I never should have moved in with her. She's been cheating on me this whole time."

Tobias looked up as Tris placed a glass of clear liquid in front of him. He took a sip and smiled at the club soda. She really was very cute, but Tobias knew this was hardly the time and turned back to Uriah. "Are you sure, Uri? Could you have been wrong?" He doubted it, but just wanted to make sure.

Uriah took a swallow of his Jack and Coke before looking Tobias straight in the eye. "I walked in on her lying on the bed, her legs wide open. Naked."

Tobias winced. "Okay, not wrong." He took another deep breath before continuing gently, "Do you know the guy?"

Uriah's head dropped, avoiding any eye contact with Tobias. "Not a guy. But, yes, I know her."

Tobias frowned in confusion. "What? Who?"

"Lynn."

"Oh, shit." Tobias rubbed his hand over his face. "Oh, shit!" He repeated, unable to think of anything else to say.

Tris returned at that moment with a plate of French fries and an extremely sympathetic look on her face. She clearly heard that Uriah had caught his girlfriend with a girl, not a guy. She knew that would be one hell of a blow to any guy's ego, no matter how open-minded he was. "Hey," she said softly, placing the plate in front of him. "I got these for you. Thought they might help."

Tobias shot her a grateful look and took the ketchup from her outstretched hand. "Thanks," he mouthed softly. Tris moved away a little to give them their privacy, but remained close enough if they needed anything else.

"What the hell, Tobias?" Uriah asked. "I mean, what the hell? I didn't think Marlene would ever cheat on me, but Christ, with Lynn? She's going to be family!"

Tobias nodded and munched on a fry for lack of anything else to do. Lynn's sister, Shauna, was engaged to marry their brother, Zeke, in a little over four months. "Tell me what happened – from the beginning."

"There was some kind of problem with the sprinkler system at work. We were working, then whoosh!" Uriah gestured with his hands. "The sprinklers spontaneously came on and we all got drenched. That's why I look like this."

For the first time, Tobias took a good look at his brother's clothes, a blue button down shirt with black pants. They looked stiff and wrinkled, clearly having been wet then dried. "At least it's May – not so cold," Tobias smirked.

Uriah chuckled without humor. "So, they let us all go home until they can find a temporary work space for us. It looks like we'll lose a bunch of the computers and a lot of the files, too," he moaned. "Anyway, I started to call Marlene, but then thought I'd surprise her. It's her day off and we never get to spend a whole day together between work and her classes. I hopped into a cab so I wouldn't have to get on the L like this." He idly turned his glass of water in his hands. "When I got in the house, I heard something so I didn't call out. I just walked into the bedroom and there they were." He picked up the glass and drank deeply, trying to erase the image of what he had seen from his mind. "She was in the bed with Lynn's head between her legs. All I could hear was Marlene moaning. I think I said, 'What the fuck?' or something and they both looked up at me. That's when all hell broke loose. Marlene was all, 'Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I never meant for you to find out like this.' Then Lynn jumps in, talking about how she's tired of being a secret and she was glad it was all out in the open. She tells Marlene, 'It's time to choose, him or me.' Marlene looks at me again and says, 'Oh I'm so sorry, Uri.'" He shrugged. "So, I just left. She was yelling after me, but I just couldn't take anymore." He drained the glass of water. "This was the first place I came across that was open."

Tobias sat for a moment, wracking his brain for something to say. "I'm sorry, Uri," he responded lamely.

Tris came over and refilled Uriah's glass of water. "Do you guys need anything?" she asked softly.

Tobias gave her a brief smile causing Tris' stomach to flip-flop. He really was gorgeous, she thought. "No thanks, Tris." She nodded and walked over to the other side of the bar.

Tobias turned back to Uriah. "So, what do you want to do, Uri?"

Uriah shrugged and guzzled down the water. "I dunno. I can't go back there."

Tobias shook his head. "No, I guess not." He paused for a moment. "You want to crash with me for a few days?"

Uriah laughed, "On that piece of shit you call a couch? No way, man. We nearly killed each other as kids and we had separate bedrooms!"

"I guess that's true enough," Tobias chuckled, "You know what this means?"

Uriah nodded, staring at the empty glass. "I guess I have to tell Mom sooner or later anyway. She'd notice if I were to punch Lynn in the face at the engagement party."

Tobias winced. "Let's forget about punching people for now, okay? I'll take you to Mom's then we can figure out what to do about the party. It's three weeks away so we've got time." He nudged the French fries toward Uriah. "Come on, eat up. Mom will shoot me if I bring you home drunk."

Uriah shoved a few in his mouth. Tris silently came over and refilled his water glass again, moving back to the other side of the bar without a word. Tobias watched her for a moment, appreciating her efficient yet graceful movements. He turned back to Uriah just as he was setting his now empty water glass down with a groan. "God, I gotta pee."

He slid off the barstool and swayed a minute. Tobias reached out to steady him, but Uriah waved him off. "I got it, man." He took a couple of faltering steps, paused, then began again, staggering in the direction of the restroom.

Tobias shook his head and glanced at the last dregs of Uriah's Jack and Coke. With a sigh, he gulped down the last of it, looking up as Tris approached. "Can I get you both anything else?" she asked.

Tobias shook his head. "No, thanks. I really appreciate you calling me."

"No problem." Tris glanced in the direction of the restroom. "Your brother had a rough day. I couldn't leave him to his own devices."

Tobias looked up at her, admiring the way her grey eyes glittered in the dim light of the bar. "You heard?"

"Yeah. Empty bar. Sound travels."

Tobias nodded. "The girl his girlfriend cheated with? Her sister is engaged to our brother."

Tris winced. "Oh, ouch."

He nodded again. "Yeah."

"Want a drink?"

He laughed a little, both of them knowing that wasn't possible if he was going to drive. "No thanks. What does he owe you?"

Tris rang Uriah's tab up, leaving out the French fries – she'd take care of that – then walked back over to Tobias and handed him the bill. "Here you go."

Tobias didn't even look at it, just pulled out his credit card. Tris took it and headed back to the register. She slid the card through and waited. She couldn't resist a quick peek over her shoulder, unable to deny how ridiculously gorgeous he was. There was a story behind his family, she knew. Tobias' tan skin was lighter than Uriah's and he had the most amazing blue eyes. But they were clearly brothers, that much was certain. She wished for a moment that he'd ask her out, but under the circumstances, knew that probably wasn't going to happen. She was glad she was here to help Uriah today since this wasn't a normal shift for her, she'd taken it on impulse when her marketing class was cancelled. Tris sighed, feeling a little disappointed as the receipt finally printed and Tris pulled it out. However, an unexpected impulse took hold and she decided to add a little note at the bottom of the receipt.

Uriah had just rejoined Tobias at the bar when she approached with the receipt and Tobias' credit card. She handed it to him and then reached across the bar to pat Uriah's hand. "I hope everything works out for you," she said softly.

Uriah gave her a tiny smile, looking a little more clear-headed now. "Thanks for everything. You're awesome."

Tobias pulled his copy of the receipt away from the merchant copy, but stifled a grin when he noticed Tris' note, 'I'm usually here W, Th, F, Sat, 6-12p.' Tobias added a more than generous tip before he slid off the barstool and took his brother's arm.

"Thanks again, Tris," he said, guiding Uriah out of the bar. At the door, he looked back and shot her a wink. Tris grinned and looked down at the receipt. Not only had he added a 50% tip, he'd left her his phone number.