"Family Ties" Chapter 13

Joshua sat at his desk, staring at his phone. He had been sitting there for twenty minutes, in that time he dialed , hung up, and repeated the process many times over. He hadn't been able to concentrate on anything , although , he hoped that he could snap out of it before it resulted in a mal practice suit... so he picked up his phone again, dialed and actually let it ring more than once. The voice that answered was not the usual cheerful voice he was used to hearing, but none the less the sound of it caused his stomach to flip -in the same way it would when you'd go on a roller coaster . Avery in the past few months had become his roller coaster; she was- his excitement and his fear... the adrenalin that surged through his body when he was around her was unbelievable... the only downfall was that to her, he was no more than a good friend.

"Hello?" The soft voice asked once again snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Avery, it's Josh." he spoke up, " I hope I'm not disturbing you ?"

A bit more cheerful, "No not at all. I was actually hoping you'd call."

"Really?" he asked his tone hopeful.

"Yeah. I wanted to apologize for everything that's happened recently. I never wanted you to be dragged into all this the way you have been. You've been such a great friend Josh I don't know what I would have done without you."

'Friend' his face fell into a frown , that was the role he fell in to soon after offering his medical services. It started off as him just up holding his oath to promise to do no harm but to help those who were in need that he could care for medically . He treated her strictly as a patient , never once considering breaking his doctor -patient confidentiality with her in order to help his father... quickly, though those professional feelings turned into friendship... and slowly as he was beginning to realize, love.

"Don't worry about me I have no regrets for what I did and neither should you. It was what was best at the time. How are you feeling, any complications from the DNC?"

Avery smiled , he had become her closest confidant next to her sister and she welcomed the change of his unbiased opinions. He was a talented physician and the most caring man she had ever met.

"No I'm doing okay physically, the last HCG test showed my levels were down to normal. The doctor said I was in the clear."

"And what about emotionally?" he knew her to well, despite her fears, she really did want that child. She had confided in him once that although she had dreamt and craved to be a lawyer like her parents , her biggest dream was to be a mother. After the shock wore off she slowly allowed herself to get excited about one of her dreams coming true and he allowed himself to share in that excitement of the future as well.

He heard her sigh on the other end of the phone... " I'm hanging in there I guess... I don't know. I'm cooped up in this house, Horace and Amy hate me, grandma keeps trying to stuff me with cookies and my dad... I don't even know where to start with him... I just feel really alone here."

"Well I know how we can fix that do you think you can get away for a few hours and meet me for dinner at my apartment?"

" Yeah I'd like that." her voice sounded more uplifted.

"Okay I'll see you around seven then."

He hung up the phone.

"Like hell you will."

Nathan Templeton entered the office.

"Dad what are you doing here?"

"Saving you from the dumbest thing you have ever done."