Note: Sorry it's been soooo long since I've updated. It's a short chapter, but it's at least a start on the next phase. I hope you enjoy :D

Foreman walked into his office, nose buried in a patient file. He took a seat behind his desk and it took him several minutes to realize Chase was sitting in one of the chairs near the window.

"Oh for the love.." he gasped as he dropped the file in surprise. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" he asked.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Chase smiled just a tiny bit.

Foreman could tell something was bothering him just by looking at him. The fact that he was just sitting in his office was also a bit of a clue. "What's going on?" he asked. "Another lover's spat?"

"She doesn't want kids."

"And you do?" Foreman closed the file, knowing this could take a while. He wasn't sure how it was that he had become Chase's sounding board, yet that's exactly what had happened.

"I'm open to the idea." Chase got up and took a seat across from Foreman.

"Tell her that." he felt like he was stating the obvious. "You'd save a lot of time you know."

"I'm okay with the idea of not getting married again, but having kids is different." Chase continued, totally ignoring what the other man had just said.

"And you're telling me this instead of Park..."

"I don't know. For some reason when she said it last night, I just found myself agreeing."

"You need help, my friend." Foreman sighed. "You two seem to have a pretty solid relationship, if you ignore the fact that you keep coming to me with these problems before you talk to her."

"I know." Chase got to his feet. "I will end up talking to her, I just needed to talk a bit before I do."

"So, you use me for practice?" Foreman asked.

"Yeah, kind of." Chase smiled. "Oddly enough, you're kind of my surrogate Park."

"I'm not sure how to take that, so I'm just gonna say that I have work to do, and so do you." Foreman shook his head. "Talk to your girlfriend."

"I will." Chase nodded. "Thanks."

"Please, don't mention it." Foreman shooed Chase so that he could get back to reading that file. "And I do mean that. Don't mention again that I'm your surrogate girlfriend."

"You could do worse than me."

"And I love you man, but as a brother and nothing more." he laughed. "Can you get out now, please?"

"I'm going, I'm going."

Chase didn't know why he couldn't just bring up some of this stuff with Park when the topic first came up. Some how he found himself freezing, agreeing with stuff, and then having to talk to her about it later. Maybe it just took him a while to process what was being said, but he didn't like to think of himself as being so...dense. That was the only word he could think of for the way he had been acting lately.

Chase let himself into his apartment, removing his jacket and kicking off his shoes before the door even had a chance to close behind him. He knew Foreman was right. He had to be honest with Park about important stuff while they were actually having the discussions. He headed for the fridge and grabbed a beer as he looked down at his watch. She was out with one of her cousins and wouldn't be home for an hour or two at least. Time enough for him to gather some Dutch courage before tackling the issue of kids.

Popping the top off the beer he saw that the light was flashing on their answering machine and made his way over to it. Three messages awaited them. He felt so popular. Pushing the play button, he carried his beer into the bedroom and began to change into some comfortable lounge wear. One could only do the slacks and tie for so long after all.

"Hi, Chi?" a man's voice drifted into Chase from the living room. "It's Chris Yuen, I'm calling you about an opening we have an opening in our operation in Daeseong-dong. I know you applied quite a while ago, but if you're still interested, give me a call..."

Chase walked out of the bedroom, his t-shirt only half-way on, one arm in the sleeve, the other just hanging bare outside of it. Park applied to work...well, he couldn't pronounce the name of the place without having to replay the message and he didn't want to do that. When did she apply? Why hadn't she mentioned that she'd applied. She must have done it well before they became involved. Had she forgotten about it? Of course, how likely was it that she would have applied for a job and then forgotten that she'd done it?

"Okay, there's nothing to worry about until you speak to her." he told himself. "Even if she decided she wanted to go to..." he got to his feet and replayed the message as he opened up his laptop and tried to figure out how to spell the damned city's name. It took him a few tries, but he finally got it. South Korea. She'd applied to work in South Korea? "Stay calm until you've spoken to her." he told himself as he closed the laptop. "Stay calm." he repeated as he made his way to the fridge and took out another beer. He had a feeling he was going to need a lot of courage for the night ahead of him.