Chapter Two

Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands - and then eat just one of the pieces. - Judith Viorst

She pulled up short as she met the warm, brown eyes of the man sitting at the table with her son. Her breath caught just a little as they met. They were a rich, chocolate shade that immediately brought to mind winter nights when you were curled up inside with hot cocoa, surrounded by the people you loved most.

But, it wasn't just those eyes that stopped her. It was the instant, unworldly connection between them that seemed to sizzle through the air around them. She felt as if something monumental was going on outside this tiny apartment, loud and noisy, but in this space it was quiet, electric and-

What are you, nuts? A sharp voice in her mind severed the connection and brought back all the panic that had thrummed through her being after she had woken from a terrible nightmare to realize that it wasn't a nightmare at all-her son was missing. Of course, that was silly. Mrs. Mclean had soothed her, assured her Wesley was alright. He was just across the hall with Mush.

At the unfamiliar name, she had tensed back up. Scared for the safety of her child and furious with the older woman for letting Wesley leave the apartment with a stranger. Not even a stranger.

A man.

"Hello." She said now, not unpleasantly, her eyes still on him, ignoring the strange charge in the space between them and the way he was looking at her, as if he were a man in the desert who'd just happened on an oasis, "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met."

The stranger stood suddenly, and she felt alarm leap through her chest as she took a step back. He was tall and solid. The light, blue button-up shirt was pulled taut against his broad shoulders and it narrowed down his torso to tuck flawlessly into his trousers. One of his suspenders had fallen off of his shoulder and hung in a loop against his leg, giving him a relaxed look.

She knew better than to believe appearances. Sure, he could be smiling right now but at any second he could change that smile into anger; a lunge forward to pull her towards him by her hair or simply back hand her for taking a certain tone with him.

Vivian was always prepared for any of the three.

What she wasn't prepared for was his hand, held out in an offering as he gazed at her with those wide, hopeful brown eyes. The sincerity in his open expression took her completely off-guard. "Ya Vivian, right?" He said, his voice deep, his New York drawl lighter than the accents she was used to hearing.

Resisting the urge to grab up her son and leave, she forced herself to act normal, reminding herself that this man couldn't possibly be one of the ones after the debt she owed. Reluctantly, she stepped forward and shook his hand, so large and calloused against her own, softer one, "Yes." She drew the answer out hesitantly, still a little unsure, "And you are…?"

"Alex Meyers, but everyone just calls me Mush." He smiled charmingly, an easy smile that would have set a rock at ease as he slipped his hands into his pockets. His demeanor was shy, boyish almost.

She steeled her spine against relaxing in response to his body language. How many times had she been fooled by Shawn's tranquil persona before they had married? Vivian knew all too well that you never judged a man by his actions when others were around; it was when the world wasn't looking that you found out the truth to his character. She stood there, uncertainly, before she turned to see Wesley watching them, "Now that I'm up, you don't have to humor Wes."

Mush Meyers gave a crooked smile that had her heart skip a beat as he glanced at her son, "Nah, it's quite awright, Miss. Wes and me were just breaking in his new crayons, right buddy?"

Wesley smiled so brightly, she felt as if summer was already in full swing, "Yes, momma. Look what I drawed for you." He held up his paper, forcing her to come farther into the apartment and, consequently, closer to Mush to see.

It was a child's work, but it was her son's and that made it all the sweeter, "Is that me?" She asked, trying to figure out his drawing so she wouldn't disappoint him.

He beamed, "Yes, you're making chocolates! That's me," He pointed to a smaller person between two other people, "that's…Nona, and Mush." Whispering rather loudly, he told her, "That's chocolate on Mush's face."

Mush's laugh to her left startled her and she glanced wearily at him. As if he weren't handsome enough, she thought, almost ruefully and then scowled in response to that thought. No, she didn't think he was attractive; she refused to. She had a no-men rule and she was sticking to it. "Wonderful job, sweetie." She told Wesley as she turned back to her six-year-old and stopped when the second drawing caught her attention.

Straightening, she reached out for the picture as Mush moved to intercept her, "Uh, that's just my-"

"You drew this?" She cut him off, reaching the paper a millisecond before he could snatch it up.

Vivian raised her eyes over the picture to meet his eyes again as he reached a hand up to scratch his back, looking strangely adorable in his embarrassment, "Yeah, but, uh, it's not my best..." He trailed off.

Her eyes fell down to the picture, sheer amazement at the attention to detail. It was sketched lightly with a black crayon, as if he were use to charcoal, and it depicted her son as he'd been before she'd interrupted their coloring. He sat at the table, right in front of the window so that a shaft of the setting sunlight fell on him, a brow furrowed in concentration as the tip of his tongue peeked out of the right corner of his mouth as he worked on his picture. His hair was in slight disarray, as it usually was, his clothes worn and rumpled.

A line was drawn just behind him, as if Mush hadn't been finished, "What's that line?" She asked, moving to show him, pointing to it.

The skin around his eyes tightened, as if he had been hoping she wouldn't have noticed, "Well, I, uh, was gonna put you behind him…leaning ovah the chair ta see his work…"

Furrowing her own brows, she looked at him questioningly, "But, we've never met."

He shrugged, "I was going ta leave your face blank uh-until I saw ya…" Was his answer as he shifted uncomfortably under her scrutiny.

Slowly, grudgingly, she handed it to him. "It's…it's good." She forced the praise out, and then added, without thinking it through, "Maybe when you're finished I could have it?" She didn't meet his eyes, but turned to meet her son's.

Although they weren't the exact shade of green that her husband's had been, sometimes it pained her to stare into his. Flashes of angry, dark green eyes would cross her mind and she would cringe as she remembered the pain that had been inflicted on numerous occasions.

"Of course." Distantly, she heard Mush's reply as old memories swamped her.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, collected her courage, the courage that had somehow sustained her this past year and a half, and nodded, "Alright. Come on, Wes. Nona has dinner waiting for us." Wesley hopped off his chair, collected his crayons, and took her hand. She almost left without another word to this person she'd just met, but then she remembered her manners, "Right, uh, thank you for, you know, keeping him busy."

"Anytime." He answered, easily. "And hey, if he gets lonely hanging around adults, my friend's got a daughter around Wes' age. Maybe I could bring her around sometime."

Vivian was going to ask him why he insisted on hanging around with children when she met his eyes again and the thought flew from her mind. The sincerity in those chocolate depths made her knees just ever so slightly weak.

Chocolate had always been her biggest weakness…

That, and attractive men.

And the last attractive guy she'd fallen for had royally screwed her over.

"Thanks, I'm sure Wes will be fine, though." She turned and marched out without waiting for his answer. She drew strength from Wesley's small hand clasped in her own, wondering why she needed to remind herself of what had happened the last time she'd given into that second temptation.

She'd stick with the chocolate from now on, thank you very much.

A/N: And so, they meet! Review, please?

Truly,

Joker is Poker with a J~

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize. Everything you DO recognize belong to their respective owners.