A/N: Wingmen and questions and hurricanes, oh my! And more Shusco hi-jinks!

As always, enjoy x

Chapter 28: Mercury

Saturday 15th October 2016, 8.44pm, Rebel-Eats Food Market, Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn

It was that time of the week for Shaw and Fusco to hit the town again with her playing Robin to his Batman. This time, she'd scoped out a pricey 8-'til-late food market on Flatbush Avenue in the formerly-abandoned garage turned concrete pop-up spot for food trucks and stands, with picnic tables and plastic crates for seats. Shaw brought Bear, not for company or protection, but because she'd factored him into her plans.

"You brought a dog to a food thing?" Fusco asked, wondering why.

"It's a different crowd and you want someone who loves dogs. So here."

He took the studded leather leash from her hand. "So there's kielbasa to your far left, injera and curry to the right and there's sushi somewhere in the middle but you don't want that. You want a girl who eats." She strained her neck zeroing in on the first 'lucky' lady. "Go to the beer stand and ask that pretentious blonde in the suede boots out."

"But she's not my type." On spotting the beret and the long voluminuous blonde waves, Fusco kew she wasn't it. He liked more down-to-Earth women with curly hair who liked Jack Nicholson and Robin Williams movies and ate pizza out the box.

Shaw rolled her eyes. "I know. But when she curves you – 'cause she will curve you – the brunette in the sweater dress will think you're a nice guy."

"I am a nice guy." He insisted.

She jabbed him for the fun of it. "You're a wise guy, big difference. And 'cause of Bear, she'll know you're not trying to take her home tonight."

"You're good at this. How?"

She didn't appreciate the tone of surprise in his voice. "I'm good at most things. Picking up chicks is a forte."

"What're you gonna do tonight?"

She checked out the time on her phone. "I've got a date with a banjo player after his next set."

"A date?" He repeated; Shaw didn't date, unless 'date' meant knock her next conquest over the head and drag him back to her man cave. "He must be a unicorn."

She shook her head. "Nope. No wand, just fingers. He plays this song in the key of-"

He cut her off but the image was already in his mind. "I get it. Thanks."

9.13pm, Joss' apartment, New York

Since Joss reached the age where working out was a necessity if she was going to keep eating John's buttery servings of medium rare steak and fried eggs and still fit into any of her clothes, sometimes she managed to catch a trainer at the gym and talk them into the 'single-mom of college kid' discount for an hour of pain. There was no surprise that John wasn't home to help her out of her gym clothes, as it hurt to lift her arms over her head after the rope slams, because she gave off the impression she would never be satisfied with his choice. She didn't want to think about herself too much so she called her cousin instead. It was noisy on CeCe's end, because she was still on campus walking to a bus stop on the main road after Reggie's team won. "…Don't act like you don't know 'cause I know you already know. Aunt Rosie told everybody."

"Yeah, I heard. I'm sorry, C."

"Nothing I can do now. At least Reggie played how he's supposed to. 34-31 against the Seahawks."

Joss congratulated her. "That's really good."

"Yeah." CeCe knew her cousin was down but the tone of her voice. "What did John do now?"

"Nothing bad, it's just this new apartment thing."

CeCe was surprised, she had the impression the only Joss was leaving her nest was in a pine box. "So you're looking?"

"Yeah, saw the first place today. It didn't feel like home. But we'll find something."

"I get you. Josie, you know got a good deal with John, right?"

"I know."

"Really? 'Cause it sounds to me like you're dragging your feet."

Joss didn't like advice, didn't take advice but was good at dishing it out like most people. "C, I know what I'm doing."

"Okay. Thought I knew what I was doing too."

The weight of CeCe's words didn't go amiss, at least she didn't get time. "That's different."

"How?"

Joss had tried to be a diplomat for over two decades because she knew how it felt to have people badmouth her man. But there was only so much tongue-biting one could do. "'Cause Reggie's never been serious. He never saw your worth and neither did you."

CeCe drew in a sharp breath, because even though this heartbreak had lasted over 20 years it was still fresh. The first cut was indeed the deepest. "So you're gonna let the ghost of you and Paul's marriage roam free, huh?"

The one thing they had in common besides being the only daughters of almost-smothering mothers was and sharing the last three letters of their names, they were never good at taking their own advice. "I'm taking my time. It's okay to do that, you know."

"Was that shade?"

"Maybe." They both smiled. Joss changed subject. "How's the class going?"

"Josie, they've got me in there with coke-snorting bankers and soccer moms on crystal meth and every week there's someone who killed someone drunk-driving. This week it was a teenager who hit one of his classmates after prom. Poor kid had epilepsy and died seizing 'cause they didn't know what to do. I don't belong there. And the stories…matter of fact, it's driving me to drink. Pun intended."

Joss laughed, because if she was able to make fun of it then she was on the mend. "And how's the car pool working out?"

"It's okay. I told Reggie what happened when he came home 'cause he wanted to borrow the car. Aunt Tullie's got it 'cause I can't walk past it every day without thinking of that MF."

"How did he react?"

"To which part? The half- and kind-of-step siblings, which he doesn't mind so much 'cause he expected that. Or his dad living closer than ever with another woman? Let's just say; he either needs a beep-button or a mouthful of soap."

"And you? How does he feel about what happened to you?"

She sighed. "He didn't say; he hit the weights for a couple hours though. But the way he looks at me, it's like he doesn't respect me like he should."

"I could ask John to talk to him, or Mr Greg; it sounds different coming from a man."

"Anything to make him feel better.

"And what would make you feel better?"

"A peach Schnapps and lemonade on ice – which I can't have 'til I get my license back, a neck massage, and a stiff wood to put me to sleep 'til next year."

Joss couldn't help with two of her requests. "So a trip to the spa, then?"

10.23pm, Rebel-Eats Food Market, Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn

Shaw knew 10.30pm was the cut-off point for the kind of women Fusco had a chance with and the place would soon be flooded with college students with money to blow on artisanal burgers on ciabatta and Belgian beer. After Fusco's rejection, he didn't get to speak to the brunette for long before other women started to interject in their conversation. Shaw called that the K-Ci effect – no-one wanted him either until he was Mary's man. With 1 and a half beers and a beef taco in her stomach, she checked in before leaving. "So, did you score?"

"We exchanged numbers and I'll see her next week for lunch. And her name's Vonnie."

She patted him on the back and made a mental note to give her a nickname later. "Good idea to check her out in daylight. I heard there's a 100% Woman Weekend Conference coming up at the Meridian. All those "I complete myself but really want a man" types."

He figured Shaw was the brother he never had; his real brother Frankie was a pencil pusher who lived in Elizabeth, New Jersey with his high-school sweetheart who ran a customised cupcake business from home and their three kids. Frankie wouldn't know the first thing about getting him back in the dating game and for that, she deserved his respect. "You got skills, Shaw. Superior skills."

"Bear wants steak." She gave him a mock salute and left him with the dog.

Sunday 16th October, 9:43am, Joss' apartment, New York

When the Drop Dead Fred credits ran the night before, Joss gave up waiting up for John and went to sleep. So it was rather timely that he reappeared when she was out of the shower, already running late. "Stay home with me." He requested, as she avoided contact with the hypnotic blue eyes that gave her problems and made her act out of character. Her clothes were already laid out on the bed waiting for her to fill them out and be Evelyn's good daughter. But John had no intention of spending the morning alone.

"Don't do it, John." She warned, fishing through her jewellery box for a simple pair of earrings with her head down. If she didn't look at him he wouldn't be able to change her plans.

"Come to St Cereal and Oats. We have eggs…and lots of sinning." He teased.

She tugged at the sweater because it was working. "They warned me about men like you, John."

"Men like me? I'm just an upstanding citizen."

She spotted him in the corner of her eye with no shirt on. "On what planet? Saturn?"

"Mercury…no storms."

"You are the storm, John. Can't imagine what it would take to contain you…"

And with that dare, Hurricane John swept her clothes out of its way like a torrent, showed no mercy, powered through the room disconnecting phone lines, drummed through her walls and rippled through her sheets until she crumbled and crashed like a dilapidated building, and left a memorable, thankful silence in its wake. "Eggs?"

11.56pm, Cocoa Café, Emory University

After he came out of his mathematic bubble, Taylor remembered how it felt to be stood up and have nowhere to go on a Friday night when the whole world seemed to be out so he caught up with Zahra to iron it out because his conscience was pricking him. "I got you a croissant. I'm sorry about Friday."

Her faint smile said she only came because she wanted to see him again, whether he apologised or not. "Okay." She sipped her apple juice. "So did you crack that thing? Whatever it was."

"Yeah, kinda. What's up?"

"I told Jamil about you."

He didn't know what to make it. "Your brother?"

"Yeah, so he knows. My parents think I 'shouldn't' be dating."

"Because of Islam?"

"Yeah and 'cause they're old-fashioned." She explained. "They know Jam does but they ignore it 'cause he's a guy and their rules only apply to me – which is why I went out-of-state."

"So what does your brother think?"

"That you better be a good guy or he'll knock your teeth out."

Taylor swallowed. "So you're close?"

"Yeah, it's just the two of us. But it made me think; are we actually dating or just hanging out?"

The clanging bell from the old clock on campus signalled the new hour and alerted Taylor to the severity of her question; the wrong answer would either make her leave or cry or leave crying. And he hated to see girls cry. "I like you, but it's soon, but I really like you…" She nodded because she didn't know where he was going. "And…I'm not seeing other girls so…"

"So?" She prodded, because when she was stood up her friends had a conference about it where they encouraged her to DTR – Define The Relationship. "I wanna keep seeing you, just you."

In the moment, Zahra thought she was happy with his answer but afterwards it dawned on her they had had one of those conversations that didn't have a clear ending. Her friends had advised her to make sure she was the only girl in his life on just on campus, which she had, but she didn't know if she was his girlfriend or not and thought it sounded too clingy to ask. The truth was, usually she wouldn't let it get that far because guys just didn't understand. Or so she thought.