Andrew noticed that his parents were very subdued in the morning, not being careful with each other, like they did after a fight, but still a little 'off.' He caught them glancing at each other thoughtfully when the others' back was turned, then their gazes would turn blank as they became lost in thought. Shannon touched Boone often, trailing a hand down his arm, or resting it on his hip as she stood beside him watching him cook. Andrew had notice that his eyes looked a little puffy and wondered if she'd made him cry again and was attempting to make amends. He wanted to know what was up, but decided to bide his time for a while, figuring that if it was any of his business, they'd spill the deal eventually.
After the dishes from Boone's famous French toast breakfast were washed and put away, they strapped the travel bags on the two motorcycles and headed for the open road. Boone had Map quested their journey and laminated the resulting instructions, giving them to Andrew to tuck into his inside jacket pocket, right at his fingertips if they were needed.
After the second stop for gas, with his parents' still acting weird, Andrew pulled his ear buds out, 'Boone?' It took him two more tries before he got a response.
'Yeah, bud?' Boone's answer finally sounded in his head.
'What's going on with you and Shan?' Andrew came right out with it.
'What makes you think something's going on?' Boone wanted to know, the bike revved slightly as he missed a shift. He cursed himself out loud and Shannon shot him a concerned glance, he shrugged.
'Well to begin with that's the third time you screwed up a gear, and you never do that.' Even though he was usually a klutz, Boone had become highly skilled when it came to piloting the bike. 'And you guys are all, I don't know, kind of thoughtful or distracted I guess, like you've got something major on your minds, but I'm kind of nervous about reading either one of you. I don't know if I'll like what I find.'
'I didn't know we were so obvious,' Boone laughed.
'You are to me. So what gives? Can I know? Is it about me? Is it…bad?' He rattled off the string of questions, adding the last very tentatively.
'It's not bad, it's just big, and in a way I guess it's about all of us. Just give us some time with it first okay? Please don't pick it out of our heads till we're ready to tell you. And I promise you, we will tell you.' While Shannon and he hadn't had time to revisit the subject of the previous nights' bombshell, they had talked enough that morning, while preparing for the trip, that they'd agreed about sharing the information with Andrew once their decision was final.
The answer or lack thereof, made Andrew decidedly uncomfortable. 'You're not going to finally sell me to the gypsies are you?' He joked trying to settle a bit of his unease.
'Not this time,' Boone laughed again. 'They only offered me a goat in exchange for you, and I don't eat red meat, nor am I in the market for a farm animal as a pet, so I said no.' He gave the smart ass question an equally smart ass remark, then added some additional reassurance. 'Don't worry, bud, it doesn't involve any one of us leaving or us moving or anything, it's just something your mom and I need to talk through. We're all okay.' Boone took his left hand off the grip and dropped it to Andrews' leg, giving him a comforting squeeze.
'Okay, Boone,' Andrew slid his arms around and gave his dad a little hug, comforted only slightly, hoping that whatever it was, it would be resolved quickly. He didn't want to have to spend his vacation with two people who were only partially there.
Arriving at the residence of Franks' winery in the early afternoon, Boone pulled to a stop on the cobbles of the massive courtyard fronting the enormous home, and the three of them approached the large iron-bound wooden door.
Obviously expecting them, and most probably having heard the roar of the two bikes, a man dressed in a typical California casual outfit of golf shirt and khakis was already swinging the door wide, even before they gained the top step.
"Mr. Carlyle?" He asked.
"Boone," he automatically corrected, nodding his head.
"I'm Grant," he extended his hand and Boone shook it, not sure if it was the guys' first name or his last, no further explanation forthcoming. Maybe he was one of those one-name people, like Prince, Madonna or Cher, he speculated? The man greeted the others, "Ms. Rutherford, Mr. Carlyle."
Andrew giggled at the form of address; he'd never been called Mr. Carlyle before. They followed Boone's lead, providing their first names.
Grant advised them that he was the head of Frank's house staff as he ushered them in and lead them up the stairs to their rooms, inquiring after their trip. Suggesting a tour of the house, and a relaxing swim and afternoon by the pool once they'd freshened up after their long ride, he left them to get settled in.
Once he'd changed into his swim trunks, Andrew bounded down the stairs; Grant was standing at the bottom, waiting for them. Eager to get out to the pool, Andrew eschewed the tour of the house and asked for directions to the promised swimming instead, he figured that if he needed to find a room in the place, he could just get the information from Boone or Shannon. The water beckoned him, as enticing to him as it was to Boone, and he wasn't going to wait another minute. Grant put a bit of a crimp in his plans however, extracting from him a promise that he wouldn't actually go in the pool until his parents arrived and he had supervision.
"Jeeze, you sound just like Boone," he groused. His enthusiasm only slightly diminished, he gave his word and headed off to the grounds at the rear of the house.
When Shannon got out to the back, Andrew had been there for a while and was rummaging through a bin inside the pool enclosure. Getting closer she could see that he was busy examining the floaty toys that it contained. Obviously none met with his satisfaction as he rejected each one, leaning further and further down into the bin, straining to reach the ones at the bottom, and find the one that struck his fancy. She came up silently behind him, and slapped his butt lightly; he jumped, startled, and almost fell inside the box. She grabbed him quickly around the waist, and righted him laughing.
"You scared me half to death!" He complained, twisting in her grasp to face her.
"I meant to," She said still chuckling. She ruffled his hair and then raked her hands through it, drawing it into a short ponytail at the nape of his neck, while he rolled his eyes at her playful amusement. Her mirth gave way to a smile as she considered him, her wrists resting on his shoulders. 'Why do you wear your like Sawyer's?' She asked, the question suddenly occurring to her out of nowhere.
'I didn't know I wore my hair like James, I just thought I wore it like me.' He shrugged.
'You like him a lot, though, don't you?' Andrew nodded. 'You know if anything happens to us, you go live with Charlie and Claire, would you rather it was Sawyer? I could ask him.'
He pushed her away, alarm in his eyes, 'I know it's Charlie and Claire, and I don't think that James would have any idea what to do with me anyway, that is unless he's read Oliver Twist and sets me to working the streets! But why are you bringing this up now? Boone said what you guys were talking about wasn't anything bad. What's going on?'
Shannon pressed her palm to her forehead at her stupidity. 'Oh shit, I'm an idiot. I'm sorry baby. I didn't mean to scare you, bad timing,' I'm having a lot of that lately, she considered to herself ruefully. 'Boone told you the truth, what we're discussing isn't anything bad; don't worry. I should never have said anything about what I did. I just noticed your hair, and verbal diarrhoea kicked in.'
'Way to scare the little kid, Shan! Where is Boone, anyway?' He frowned at her from under lowered brows, pouting, not willing to forgive her just yet.
She shrugged and laughed, 'Kitchen, where else?' The tour had ended in that room and Boone had typically stayed behind, sending her on ahead to the pool. Grant had advised them of Andrews' decision, and the promise he'd made, so Boone didn't want the boy to have to wait any longer than necessary before getting to enjoy some swimming.
As Shannon crossed to the water and bent to feel the temperature of it, Andrew finally found what he was looking for wedged between the box he'd been searching through and the fence; an inflatable raft. After throwing it in the water at the deep end, he dove in smoothly.
Shannon lowered herself into the cool refreshment as well, slipping in off the side and plunging deep beneath the surface. The fatigue that had overcome her, caused by the baking heat of the ride compounded by Boones' firmly enforced rule of leather jackets regardless of the temperature, lifted almost immediately. She paddled about, pushing Andrew around on the raft as she awaited her husbands' arrival, and the resumption of their discussion. She wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible; she was just as aware as Andrew that it was casting a pall over their holiday.
Shannon was almost as conflicted as Boone over the decision, but for totally different reasons. She hadn't considered the difficulties their possible child might face as he had, she'd only thought of the impact on the two of them; it hadn't occurred to her to even take Andrew into account. Though she'd lived with the awareness of the possibility of another baby far longer than Boone had, she'd actually only given it minimal thought. When away from him, there was no reason to act, or even to ponder her options; quite obviously the only person she'd ever have more children with was Boone. Without him in the picture, it was about as much on her mind as calling Sabrina to say hi.
When she finally spied Boone crossing the lawn, she swam for the side and pulled herself out onto the concrete, suddenly nervous.
Boone entered the pool enclosure and eyed the water longingly, but with Shannon standing there, obviously waiting for him, he sighed and skirted the edge, closing the distance between them. She reached out and slid her hand from his shoulder to his upper arm, giving it a little squeeze.
'Cool off first, Boone, this can wait a few more minutes.' She pulled the towel from around his neck and nodded at the water.
Once he was sufficiently refreshed, they sat facing each other on the bottom of side-by-side lounge chairs, their knees almost touching, as their animated but silent conversation got underway.
Over the next few hours Andrew watched them occasionally, on some instances from the water, at others from the slide, a chair, or the raft. They didn't sit still long, though they always returned to their original positions. He surfaced once, after diving for a golf ball on the bottom, to see Shannon sprawled face down on top of Boone, kissing across the scars on his chest. Another time when he glanced over Boone was standing with his back to her, Shannon still seated on the lounge, he was leaning against the fence, his head bowed, half an hour later, the positions were reversed with Shannon standing at the fence and Boone seated.
The discussion had reached a particularly vigorous point when Andrew realized that someone was approaching from the house. Not wanting whoever was coming to see his parents gesturing wildly, but not saying anything, he called out a warning to them.
They stopped immediately and Boone rose to open the gate for the woman who was carrying a tray of food and beverages for them, a pre-dinner snack, she explained.
Thanking her as she placed it on a table and left, Boone checked out the selections with approval. He'd taken the time while in the kitchen, to advise the chef of their food restrictions, unnecessarily as it turned because Frank had already outlined them.
The three of them filled small unbreakable individual plates and carried them, along with plastic tumblers of lemonade back to the lounge chairs. They sat facing each other, Shannon scooting up to make room for Andrew on her chair.
They ate quietly, the comments mostly restricted to the food. Part way though, Boone suddenly looked at the two of them, seated facing him beside each other, and a smile creased his face.
"No," he said, decisively, immediately feeling the weight of the world slide off his shoulders.
"Are you sure?" Shannon knew exactly what he was referring to.
"I am," there was a bit of surprise in his tone. "I really am."
"Alright then, it's done." She put her plate down and half rose to give him a kiss.
While looking at the two who made up his world, Boone had come to the realization that they were his world, and he was okay with that, more than okay actually, he really didn't want any more than just them. He hadn't made the decision lightly; it was the culmination of everything they'd discussed that afternoon, though he'd had more than an inkling half way through just where his position lay. Shannon hadn't really strayed much from how she'd presented it the night before; that she'd do it for him, though he could tell that she was struggling with it too. He, however had been truly torn, flip flopping from 'yes' to 'no' several times.
Boone heaved a sigh of relief as they revealed to Andrew exactly what it was they'd been so conflicted about.