Like An Ocean Needs The Sands:

"Brother? Did I hear that right?" Amelia asked, turning her body so that she was only looking at Mike.

"Yeah, you did..." He started to reply, but she steamrolled over his words saying, "I thought you told me you were an only child."

I had slowly started to back out of the room to give them some privacy, but I stopped moving when Mike fixed me with a glare and answered her, "Technically I am."

She looked like she didn't believe him, so I took a step towards the two of them saying, "I really should have said 'half-brother'." I thought that I was being helpful, but she looked anything but impressed. I figured she needed more convincing, so I started to ramble as I continued, "Umm... Same dad, different moms. And as you can tell from the age difference... uhh... that is to say..."

"Brie?" Mike cut in mercifully. "I think you've helped enough. Why don't you...?"

He nodded towards the stairs and I let out a relieved sigh. "Right I was... I was going to go for a swim. That is if...?"

"Water should be warm. Enjoy."

"Thanks." I started to make my retreat, but paused as I mentally kicked myself. "And it was nice... well weird meeting you. Hopefully next time we can actually, y'know... talk."

She probably replied, but Mike had given me permission to leave, so that's exactly what I did. As fast as my feet could take me, politeness be damned. As I reached the door outside, I grabbed my towel off a chair without missing a beat.

When I had gotten dressed this morning, I had done so thinking that I would have Mike's house to myself. Now I was really wishing I had gone with my tasteful one piece instead of my revealing, but equally comfortable, bikini. This was just beyond awkward, but I tried to push those thoughts out of my mind.

Amelia moved around the island to watch me as I slipped off my hoody and shorts and tossed them on a lounger by the pool. Once I dove into the water, she turned to Mike and asked in a disbelieving tone, "Your sister?"

"Half-sister," he corrected in a careful tone.

"Right. So, why would you tell me you were an only child when you have at least one half-sibling who... who seems pretty comfortable here."

He tried to approach her, but she side-stepped around him. "Look, the truth is that she and I are still trying to figure things out. Some things, like her swimming in my pool, have come easily and naturally to us. But other things... well... like I said, we're figuring it out, okay? I didn't not tell you about her to keep this from you, I just..."

He paused there because he wasn't exactly sure how he wanted to explain everything. She mis-read him stopping as him not wanting to explain this to her, so she almost angrily asked, "You just what Mike? What?"

I stole a glance at the kitchen and I immediately saw Mike standing in the window watching me. Great. Just when I thought this whole situation couldn't be any more weird and uncomfortable, I had to notice him watching me like I was an animal at the zoo... or rather aquarium.

"It's just that... we... Brie and I that is... we had a huge falling out a little over a year and a half ago. Our relationship was so new that neither of us thought that it would survive. The last time she left here, I was sure that that would be the last time I'd ever see her. But now she's back and we really want to... I don't even know if I can explain it properly."

Amelia walked up behind Mike and was so close that to him that he could feel the heat radiating from her body. "Can you tell me what happened?"

He turned to look at her and answered, "I can't go into details right now because it would take too long, but... long and short? You know Gibbons, right?"

"The left handed pitcher who thinks that he's God's gift to the Earth? Yeah, I know of him. He's been a total pain in the ass to Ginny since she was called up."

"Yeah, that sounds like hi,. Well, Brie is a huge baseball fan... has been since before she knew that we were related... but she really didn't know much about how some players act. She ended up hooking up with him at Spring Training and... and she thought that they were more than just... uhh..."

"I get it Mike, please go on."

"Okay. Well, then she came to visit San Diego. We were going to try hanging out. After her first weekend here, I offered her to stay with me and then she started coming to games. The first few games he didn't see her because she waited for me in the stands. Hell, she even used that time to become friends with a couple of the guys from the grounds crew."

"Smart girl."

"Sometimes." Mike paused to watch me again. "So, the first night that she finally got the courage to wait for me with the other wives and girlfriends, she... she got really excited when she saw him and tried to play it cool, but he..." Mike's jaw locked in ander and the rest of his words came out through clenched teeth. "The fucker walks up to her and just starts screaming at her, calling her a psycho bitch and a stalker... in front of everyone. Luckily Evelyn was out there or... or I'm not even sure what she would have done because she was so upset."

"I knew I hated that jerk for a reason. So what happened next? What did you do?"

"The worst possible thing ever." Amelia gave him a look to which Mike threw up his hands and added, "I'm not proud of it, but I can be honest. I wasn't... well I'm still not used to having someone like her in my life... See? Exactly. (Amelia had rolled her eyes as if to say 'No shit, Sherlock.) So, I stupidly blamed her. I insisted she tell me what she had done to upset him... what she did to fuck up his focus if he needed to pitch the next day."

"Mike, you didn't."

"Like I said, I'm not proud of it."

"So what did she say to you? I mean, how did she respond?"

"She didn't say anything to me. Not one single word. When we got back here, she just went up to the guest room. I figured that meant we were going to sleep on it and discuss it the next day."

"And that's it? You just let her go to sleep after you did that to her?"

"Hey, what can I say? I couldn't use my usual charms on her because that would just get weird and extremely uncomfortable."

"Right. So, you wussed out and...?"

"Well, I woke up to half a dozen voicemails from a mutual friend who sounded like she would be more than happy to castrate me on Brie's behalf. After listening to the third message I decided to go and find Brie so that we could talk about it."

"Oh no this is getting good."

Mike let out a humorless laugh at her well placed insult. "No really. When I got to her room it was completely empty. I mean it looked like she had never been in there. Well except..."

"Except what?"

"Except... she left the Padres' jacket I had bought for her."

"So she just left? No note? No text? No voicemail? Nothing?"

"Nothing. I tried calling her, but it just went to voicemail. I didn't really have any way to get a hold of her other than her cell number, so I went to Evelyn..."

"The mutual friend?"

"Yep. But all that she would tell me was that Brie had made it home safe."

"Wow. So, she froze you out, even by proxy?"

"Yeah, she's just that loveable."

Amelia approached him again and this time she actually did wrap an arm around his waist. Now they were both standing at the window watching me. Awesome. Today is just getting better and better.

Huh. I wonder how long I can hold my breath under water now.

"What did you do to finally win her back?"

"That's the damnedest part about this whole thing. I figured that she was done with me and had totally written me off."

"Wow. She got you to totally back off? That truly is amazing. So, how DID you two get here?"

"Again, it's a super long story that we can get into another time. But she reached out to me. First it was a birthday car and then a card to congratulate me on being named to the All-Star Game roster and some other random achievements. Some came to the stadium and others came here."

"So, you two became pen pals?"

"No, but that was only because none of them had a return address. The first card only made it to me in the clubhouse because she had written her name on it and the clubbie assumed I would know who it was from."

"That's... wow... that's pretty amazing."

"Yeah. She's... Anyways. After a few random cards, I get this letter in the mail. Turns out, her roommate had been finding the cards and the letter in envelopes addressed to me. She thought she was being helpful sending them off to me for Brie..."

"Do I want to know what happened next?"

Mike waggled his eyebrows then answered, "You wouldn't be standing here if you didn't."

"True. Please go on."

"Alright. So I no sooner have the letter opened and read that I'm getting a phone call from Brie. She was in a panic and apologizing to me for what she had written. That then turned into us talking all night. After a few more calls, I was offering to let her stay here while she did her internship over the summer."

"Really? What did the letter say?"

He grinned answering, "Pretty sure you can guess. She definitely knows some very interesting insults."

That made Amelia laugh and she hugged him around the waist. "Alright. Yesterday when you left the clubhouse like a man on a mission?"

"She was supposed to be waiting for me, but Evelyn gave me THE nod as soon as she saw me. I couldn't stop to explain because I wanted to check on her."

"What did he say to her?"

"If he's as smart as he thinks he is, he'll never say another word to her ever again. But she left the second she saw him to save him from making that mistake."

Amelia took a step away from him so that she could see his face better. "You go into serious 'big brother' mode when you talk about this." Mike opened his mouth to respond, but she wouldn't let him speak. "No, it's good. It's what she needs from you if you're serious about fixing your relationship with her."

"Thanks. It's good to hear that I'm doing something else perfectly."

Amelia laughed again then said, "Pretty sure I didn't call you perfect. Shoot, I have to get going. Still working on the Nike deal. But before I go... just curious... Was Brie a hug Padres' fan before she found out you were her half-brother? Because it looks like she has a pretty... complete wardrobe."

Mike looked outside again and noticed that the shorts, hoody and towel on the lounger were all gifts from him. Knowing where Amelia's thoughts where going, he answered, "She has impeccable taste and was a Mike Lawson fan before she figured out our relationship. Since I missed over twenty years of birthday and Christmas presents, I kind of went overboard playing catch up."

"Aww," Amelia replied, not trying to hide that she was mocking him. "You're trying to buy back her love."

Mike bristled in his sot as he snapped out, "No I'm not."

"Yes, you are," Amelia answered in a finite tone. "But that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Now, I really have to go, but..." She stepped closer to him and whispered, "Maybe you should come to my place tonight so that we don't disturb your sister."

"Hmm... That sounds like a plan to me."

Once Amelia stepped into Mike's side and looked like she was whispering sweet nothings into his ear, I made a concerted effort not to watch them. Turns out my lung capacity had been improving with my time spent at the pool at school. Now I could make it across Mike's pool nearly two and a half times before I was forced to come up for air.

I'm sorry, but you tell me how'd you'd feel watching your brother make out with some chick in his kitchen. Now add the very uncomfortable quirk of not knowing he was your brother for most of your life. Yeah... that and the fact that you used to have daydreams about you being in her place and not just in the kitchen.

"BRIE!" Mike's garbled voice brought me out of my thoughts.

I slowly stood up from my seat on the bottom of the pool. Call me crazy, but I love the burning sensation in my lungs when they were trying to tell me I needed oxygen. It wasn't like a 'look death in the face' kind of thing. For me it was more of a way to remind myself not to overthink things. Y'know, like me acknowledging that my problems only seemed unsolvable because I made them overly complicated. Sometimes you just need to remember to breathe in order to regroup and put everything into proper perspective.

"BRIE!"

I broke the surface and sucked in a deep breath of air with a smile on my face. Mike had gone completely silent, so I pushed my hair off my face and swiped the water out of my eyes. When I finally opened my eyes, I gasped in a breath and it had nothing to do with giving my lungs the oxygen that they needed, but everything to do with the sight before me.

"Are you alright?" I asked as I swam to the edge of the pool where he was standing.

"Are you?" He shot back, still looking shell-shocked.

I stood up taller in my place as I calmly replied, "Yeah. Actually I'm feeling pretty good. Me plus water equals a world of awesome."

"'A world of awesome'? You're saying that you sitting on the bottom of my pool for like two minutes isn't a cry for help?"

"I almost hit the two minute mark?" I'm guessing the excitement in my voice wasn't appreciated by the look on Mike's face. "I mean... uhh... were you able to smooth things over with your girlfriend?"

"Brie..."

I moved to the stairs and got out of the pool as I explained, "I've been working on my stamina underwater with a friend of mine who's a personal trainer." I wrapped my towel around my body before I turned to look at him again. The look on his face stole my breath and I lost all of the humor in my tone when I continued, "The water... that has always been my thing. My other... they didn't really like swimming, but mom always said that I was her fish out of water." I moved my hair to show him the simple Pisces symbol tattoo on my neck by my ear. "Not that I've ever had any thoughts of self-harm, but I swear to you that drowning myself wouldn't even break the top ten ways I'd off myself."

"Oh, I see. You still can't get over that you'll never have a chance with me. I get it. That's a hard pill to swallow, so you had to distract yourself."

"MIKE!" I tried to scold him with a weak punch in the arm. "You are such an egotistical douche."

"But you still love me"

"Fucking biology," I quietly grumbled while I let him pull me into a hug.

He gently patted the side of my head that wasn't pressed to his chest as ne nearly whispered, "Really? You're good? We're good?"

"We're good," I replied hugging his waist. "But we should probably separate before I ruin your clothes and make you late."

I swear he didn't want to let go, but eventually his arms did fall away from my body.

"You're right, I have to stop letting you feel me up like that." I didn't have to glare at him before he relented with a sincere, "Sorry... sorry. That was.. Not what I wanted to say. What I meant to ask was... Since you don't have to be at work tomorrow, how would you feel about grabbing dinner with me after the game?"

"Really? You're okay with being seen with me in public?"

"Brie... of course I am." He paused then sheepishly added, "I thought I could invite Amelia too."

I smiled to myself and replied, "Dinner with your sister and your girlfriend? Is tomorrow a day off?"

"No, it's not... but it's a night game. That's why neither of us are diving to dinner tonight.'

I barked out a laugh saying, "Alright. Sounds like a plan."