You Are... So Beautiful:

The next morning, I got and felt much more refreshed than I had expected to feel, so I got changed into my bikini. I covered it with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that I had left at Mike's house. When I looked at the closet in the guest room, I felt like I had been punched in the gut because It was nearly full. I knew that Mike had bought me a lot (and I mean A LOT) of clothes over the last two years, but seeing it all here at once was almost unnerving.

But that was our past and we were going to leave all of that animosity and bullshit in the past where it belonged. Today was a fresh start for us and I felt like we understood each other better now that we had finally had a nice frank discussion about our family dynamics. For me, that meant that he hopefully had a better understanding of my insecurities, just like I felt like I had gotten to know the real Mike Lawson better last night.

As I made my way down the stairs to the kitchen, I called out, "Hey Mike? Do you have any of that awesome orange juice left? I think I need vitamins or something because I had some weird dreams last night."

"Clowns or midgets?"

I stopped just short of being in the kitchen and fell mute at seeing Alex sitting at the kitchen's island. Mike didn't appear to be in the same room, so I turned just my head to check other parts of the house for him.

Alex could immediately tell what I was doing because he said, "I got the last glass, so Mike went out to the garage to get a fresh bottle because he figured you'd want some when you got up. Did you want some of mine in the meantime?"

I walk up to him and drank out of his offered glass. "Thanks, that really hit the spot. I keep meaning to ask him where he gets it because it tastes so damn good."

Alex put the glass down to corral me into the spot between his legs as he nearly whispered out, "I think it's because it's organic."

"That could be it," I breathed out as he leaned in to kiss me.

We kept our kissing as short as we could because we both knew we had to behave while Mike was in his house. But just because we weren't kissing didn't mean that I couldn't stay standing as close to him as possible. He ran his hands over my hair to help to tame the random hairs that always seem to evade being restrained in a ponytail.

I remained in my spot watching him take a mental inventory of me. Every so often he would just look me over and pet my head or face without saying a word. I questioned him about it once because it had made me self-conscious. He had explained that he was just trying to memorize every detail about me so that it would be easier for him to conjure up a mental picture of me when we were apart. Yeah, I don't call him 'Smooth Talker' for nothing.

After a couple minutes of silence, I quietly admitted, "I missed you last night."

"I missed you too."

"Is that why you came over for breakfast today?"

"No," he answered, pulling me in closer to his body. "Mike invited me over for brunch last night when he called to say you wouldn't be coming home."

"He did? But...? He didn't call it brunch, did he?"

Alex laughed replying, "I swear to you that he did. He figured you'd wake up too late for breakfast and too early for lunch."

"He figured or you suggested?"

"It was all on him. He also thought it was high time he met me as your boyfriend and not just his teammate, so here I am."

"Yes, you are, Boyfriend."

I couldn't deny myself anymore, so I closed the distance between us to give him another kiss. This time he seemed less concerned about making out at my brother's house because his left hand moved under my t-shirt to rest on the knot of my bikini top while his right tucked itself under the waistband of my shorts. My hands fisted the back of his t-shirt in anticipation of what I knew Alex was going to do next.

Just as he started to pull at the knot, we heard Mike clear his throat loudly and called out, "Why don't you two get a room?"

"Alright," I replied in a breathy voice. I then took a step back and took Alex's hand in my saying to him, "Let's go upstairs."

Alex didn't move, so my hand fell out of his as I made my way back to the stairs. Mike quickly stepped in front of me to block my pathway and grabbed my arm in his free hand protesting, "Oh no you don't... Not in my house, Young Lady."

My cheeks rouged instantly, causing me to duck my head and turn to retreat to Alex's side. Mike noticed my embarrassment right away, so he didn't let go of my armed and asked in a tone that made it sound like he really didn't want to ask his question of, "Okay… but it was just in your room, right? I don't have to sanitize the whole house or anything, do I?"

I wrenched my arm out of Mike's hold as I mumbled, "Yes, we were just in the guest room." Once I was back at Alex's side I whispered, "Right?"

He wrapped his arm around my waist and confidently answered Mike saying, "We were only in her bedroom. But if you're worried about what we may have touched, she did give me a granola bar and bottle of water as I rushed out the door the next morning. If you want, I could pay you back for that."

"Seriously? Brie, that's all you gave him as a parting gift? Sorry about that Ellis, normally I would do better than that," Mike retorted in a joking tone.

Mike continued into the kitchen to pour a couple more glasses of orange juice for himself and I. By this time, I had my face fully hidden into Alex's shoulder because this was SO NOT the conversation I expected the three of us to be having over a meal.

Alex didn't seem to be bother by it at all because he replied in a light-hearted tone, "Oh, no worries there, Captain. Brie has more than made up for that over-sight."

"Alex," I whined out as I slapped his other shoulder.

He just laughed at my response and squeezed his arm around my waist so that I couldn't leave his embrace. Mike seemed to be completely oblivious to our back and forth because he continued working on cooking our food and simply said, "That's good to hear."

My head shot off of Alex's shoulder so I could stare at my brother's back and cry out an indignant, "Mike!"

He turned with a plate in each hand and simply just shrugged. As he placed them on the island in front of Alex and the empty seat to his left. Once his hands were empty, Mike gave me wide eyes and innocently asked, "What'd I say?"

I could feel Alex's body shaking from silent laughter at that, so I figured I had lost this argument. Neither of them seemed to be bothered by the exchange, so I tried to let it go too. If I kept protesting, then they would just use it as fodder to tease me more than what I had endured already. Plus, I'm sure that something else would come up over brunch that would get them both picking on me again, which meant that it was in my best interests to pick my battles, especially now that it appeared that I was now outnumbered during said 'fights'.

With that thought in the forefront of my mind, I extracted myself from Alex's arms and sat down without saying another word. Alex watched me closely out the corner of his eye as I slowly started to eat my food. He grew more and more concerned the longer that I remained silent, prompting him to reach over and place his hand on my thigh. Since I really wasn't angry with either of them, just slightly annoyed how quickly and easily they ganged up on me, I placed my right hand over his and laced our fingers together.

Mike didn't witness our silent exchanged because he was focused on plating his own meal and pouring coffee for each of us. But he did notice that something might be off with me when he sat down at the island opposite from the two of us. He looked us both over for a second then asked, "Everything alright?"

Alex nodded answering, "Yeah, the food is great. Who knew you could cook?"

Mike smirked, but it quickly disappeared as he refocused his attention on me to quietly ask, "Brie?"

I was pushing my scrambled eggs through the ketchup on my plate, making it look like I was m tiny organisms and smearing their blood around with eggs. I kept my eyes on the hot sauce I was trying to mix into the ketchup with my forked eggs as I answered, "Actually, there's something I wanted to run by you… both of you… but I'm not really sure where to start."

"Okay. Well, then just take your time," Mike answered in a confused tone.

Alex leaned over so his lips were touching the shell of my ear as he whispered, "Is it about Ginny?"

I simply nodded as my reply. He smiled and looked over at Mike to explain for me, "Brie got an interesting proposal last night… WORK PROPOSAL! Not… I mean, I didn't… Anyways, I think she'll be a perfect fit for it, but Brie's being Brie and has convinced herself that she isn't good enough for it. Which is absolute insanity."

"Alex!" I called out as my head whipped around to allow me to glare at him.

He smoothed the frown lines on my forehead with his fingers of his left hand as he replied, 'Don't get mad at me for telling Mike the truth."

That made my frown deep and I opened my mouth to protest or give him a piece of my mind, but what came out was, "Fine, you're right. Whatever." I was still trying to gather my thoughts to explain what Alex had said to my brother, so I slowly finished my orange juice to help me stall for time. "So… before the game yesterday…" I finally started my narrative. "Ginny and Amelia had a pretty nasty argument and… well… Amelia quit. That's why none of us could find her at the ball park after Ginny got hurt."

Mike froze mid-bite and stared at me in awed surprise. I leaned over and pushed his chin up to close his mouth saying, "I know, right? But that's only the half of it. Before that fight, she had an equally heinous one with her brother as well and he's skipped town. So, now I'm thinking we need to designate someone to argue with Ginny before all of her starts so that she can pitch another no-hitter."

"And she wants that person to be you?" Mike asked in a tone that sounded to genuine or confused for it to be a joke.

I glared at him, but it didn't hold any heat at all. "No, she didn't. But I think I should volunteer YOU for the roll."

Alex snorted out a laugh and nearly choked on his orange juice. I reached over to pat him on the back while Mike tried to give us both a wounded look. He couldn't quite pull it off, so he opted to give us a cocky smirk instead as he retorted, "Nah, that wouldn't work, Lil Sis. My Rookie LOVES me."

"You wish!" I countered with a laugh. That got Mike laughing and helped to ease the tension that was wanting to build in the room. 'But back to reality. Before I left the hospital last night, Ginny asked… Well… she thought it might work if… if… I was her agent."

"She did?" I must have given him a truly chagrinned and hurt look, I know that's how I felt at hearing his pure and utter surprise, because Mike very hastily added, "I didn't mean it like that! I was just thrown off because I thought you were heading back to school and you aren't actually working at an agency… in THAT compacity… well not officially, I know you're interning with… but that isn't the same thing. Not that you have to work at an agency or whatever, but it's just that…"

"Mike," I interrupted over the rest of his rambled words and thankfully he stopped trying to defend himself. "I say this with the utmost, sisterly love… If you would just shut your cake hole, I could explain everything to you."

He shoveled in a large forkful of sautéed spinach and made a show of eating it with a meticulous slowness. I chuckled at his antics, while Alex opted to remain silent. It was kind of disheartening that things had been so weird between Mike and I that Alex really didn't know what to do or say when he was hanging out with both of us. I was really hoping that issue would be resolved before we left Mike's house today.

"Alex had the same questions last night too… I woke up in the middle of the night and called him to let him know where I was so that he wouldn't worry about me. By the way, thanks for calling him after you carried me to bed." Mike smile and just nodded in understanding at that. Alex's eyes lit up with new questions, so I turned to him to say, "I'll explain later. Now back to the topic at hand. I haven't said 'yes' yet, mostly because there's a few things I need to look into before I do. Number one, I'm not even sure that Ginny CAN sing with anyone else right now. Once she's out of the hospital, she's going to email me a copy of her contract with Amelia so I can look it over. Number two, I want to talk to Mr. Cecil to check if he or someone else at CLM can take care of the day to day tasks with her while I'm at school. Oh… side bar? Davis has offered me a job already. We'll be signing paperwork later this week to confirm it, so someone else at the firm could feasibly take care of her in my place before I officially start my employment there."

"Baby, that's awesome!" Alex praised as her turned to pull me into a tight hug.

While I was in his arms, I quietly said to him, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I didn't want to say anything to anyone until the contract was signed."

"Coming from you, I get that. But, it's still fucking awesome news."

"Congrats, Brie. I knew Davis had good taste," Mike stated warmly as I settled back into my seat.

"Thanks… both of you, seriously, thank you. So… what do you think about it Mike?"

"You being Ginny Baker's agent?" He clarified with a tone that gave nothing away in regard to his thoughts or feelings. I bit my lip in nervous anticipation and nodded. "Well, I'm sure Davis will be expecting you to work on building a client base independent of leads he gives you, so… I'm sure he'll be thrilled you've started working on that already. Obviously, it would probably be more impressive if your first client was a future Hall of Fame catcher…"

"Mike!" I cut in. "I can't represent you. It'd be conflict of interest because you're a blood relation. Plus, it would be bad if I had to get you traded away from the Padres so I could make sure that I don't get put in jail for murdering my first client."

"Plus, it would probably look bad if every time we're seen together that everyone would be able to see how much you've been lusting after me." He paused to look over at Alex to say in an eerily sincere tone, "Sorry you had to hear about that part of your girlfriend this way."

Alex shrugged and nonchalantly replied, "Brie and I have already had more than one in-depth conversation about her feelings for you."

This time it was my turn to snort out a laugh and choke on my drink. Just as I had done for him, Alex reached over to pat me on the back a couple of times. While I returned to slowly eating my cooling food once I had stopped coughing, Alex kept his left arm draped over my shoulders while he used his right hand to continue eating his brunch, but neither of us made a move to elaborate on Alex's last comment.

Mike had a look that was a mixture of shock and chagrin as he asked, "You have?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically as I replied, "He already knew everything I told you last night about my youth and that the only person I'm IN LOVE with on the Padres' roster is Alex Ellis and NOT a delusional, soon to be retired catcher."

"Oh, you love me, Brie. You just can't admit it." Mike smirked and laughed at the annoyed look on my face. "But back on topic. I think Ginny would consider herself lucky if you decided to take her on. You understand the game; not just on the field, but the office politics and you get how all of that affects us as players… people too. Plus, you more than understand how hard we have to work to keep a proper balance between our time at home, on the field and doing public appearances. And for you to have Ginny Baker as your first client? I'm sure you'll have athletes and movie stars clamoring to have you represent them too."

"Holy shit," I breathed out.

"What?" Mike asked with a mild amount of concern in his tone.

"I'm pretty sure you just complimented me there. Are you feeling okay? Should I call a doctor? Or the team trainer?"

Mike looked completely unimpressed as he replied, "You're too funny. Are you sure you aren't a professional comedian?"

I laughed then more sincerely said, "Sorry, I'm still trying to get used to this whole you and me getting along again. Alright, sarcasm officially turned off… for now. So, from what you just said, you really think that I can… should do it?"

"You don't?" Alex barked out an involuntary laugh causing Mike to almost angrily ask, "You find that funny, Ellis?"

I held up my hands to keep both Alex and Mike quiet as I answered, "Yes, he does. But that's only because he gave me the exact same answer when I asked him that."

"Oh. I guess you are as smart as Brie says you are."

Alex smiled saying, "Thanks. And Brie, I second everything my Captain said. You'll be great, Baby."

I blushed at their compliments then said, "Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I have to talk to Mr. Not Quite My Boss Yet before I can finalize anything."

Mike reached over to squeeze my forearm. "Those are just the details. There will be lots of those to work out, but first you have to make a decision. Is this what you want to do?"

I took in a deep breath and gave myself a moment to really think about what he had just said. A smile spread across my face as I heard myself say, "I can't say this is how I expected my career to start, but then again…" I leaned over and put my head on Alex's shoulder. "I also didn't expect to be living with my boyfriend this summer either. I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself and screw it up by over-thinking problems that don't yet exist."

Alex hugged me into his body, quietly proclaiming, "Hear, hear."

Mike smiled and offered, "You can have the signing party here if you'd like to."

I sat up straight and tried not to look overwhelmed as I replied, "Seriously… Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Mike. First, I have to get all of my ducks in a row so that I CAN sign Ginny."

Mike opened his mouth to offer a few more words of wisdom, but he got cut off by AC/DC's 'Back in Black' play. I pulled my phone out of the pocket of my shorts and laughed when I the call display.

"And speak of the devil." Into the phone I said, "Hey Gin, what's up? Okay, sure… Yeah, I'll swing by your place and then I'll get there as soon as I can… Absolutely. Okay… See you soon."

After I disconnected, I turned to the two men in the room and announced, "Well, I guess work starts today. I have to get home and pick up my car."

Both Alex and Mike raised an eyebrow and did a deliberate once over the length of my body. My eyes travelled down my torso and my cheeks immediately felt hot. "Right, I should probably change and not look like Robert De Niro in 'The Fan' when I go to pick her up."

Alex wiped his mouth on his napkin and pushed back from the island saying, 'Sorry we had to cut this short, Captain."

Mike tried to shrug it off. "Duty calls. There'll be other times."

I walked around the island to give Mike a hug. "You guys have a rare day off at home coming up. Maybe we could do lunch or dinner and… umm… I could maybe bring a bag and pack up the rest of my clothes."

Mike turned in his seat so that he could return my fierce hug and replied, "Nothing would make me happier."