A/N Thank you all again for reading and reviewing! I have say that this chapter surprised me the most when I wrote it. Pete makes an appearance and I hate Pete, I enjoy fanfiction where Pete is a jerk who gets what's coming to him. So I was very surprised when I wrote him as a, dare I say it, likeable guy. I tried to to find a way to make him a jerk but it just didn't fit and this made more sense. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 14: Mark's revelation

Mark can't decide if the drive to Denver is long or short, but either way, he's here now. He glances at the navigation system in the rental car, 30 more minutes and he should be at his destination. He feels bad about leaving, especially with Onica crying the way she was. Mark just can't fathom why she would lie to him, he wonders what else has been a lie. If she had only said something, then Sam would never have started dating Jack and none of this would have happened.

Speaking of HIM, how can Sam possibly think she can stay with him? It's not going to happen, his sister will not keep dating his wife's ex fiancé. It's just too weird. No, Sam will just have to end it and that's final.

The more Mark thinks about everything, the angrier he gets. He decides that he needs to think about something different, so he turns the radio on only for the song 'Does he love you' by Reba McEntire to be playing. He glares at the radio, the last thing he wants right now is to listen to a song about a love triangle. Okay, he's not exactly involved in a love triangle, but he did just meet his wife's ex lover and the jerk did try to kiss her, so close enough. Mark changes the station and the song 'Remind me' by Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood comes on. Great, now Mark is thinking about Jack and Onica being all over each other. Now that's an image he never wanted. At this point Mark decides to turn the radio off, he figures he's better off stewing in silence, without help from songs that remind him of his situation.

Before Mark can dwell any further the GPS system announces that he's arrived at his destination. He looks around and sees his buddy's house and parks the car. The street is filled with houses on every lot, not super nice and expensive houses, but nice enough. His friend's house is a small panel sided one story house. The yard, if you call this a yard, isn't fancy, there's hardly any grass and no trees. It's not much to look at but Mark figures that it's less upkeep, and he knows that his friend is busy so he probably doesn't mind not having to mow every week. Mark steps out of his rental car just as he sees his friend coming out of the house to meet him, his friend says, "Hey Mark, how are you buddy?"

Giving his friend a bro hug, Mark replies, "Hey Pete, it's been a long time."

"Yes it has," Pete says smiling, then he bends over and looks through the car window, he frowns when he sees nothing and asks, "Where's the wife and kids?"

Mark shuts the front door, opens the trunk and pulls out his suitcase. After he shuts it, he says, "It's a long story, why don't we go inside and I'll tell you."

Pete nods and leads the way inside, he's concerned about his long time friend. Mark had called him a couple hours ago and said that he was able to come to Denver to see him after all, Pete just assumed he'd have his family with him.

Once inside Pete shows Mark to the guest room, tells him to make himself at home, then excuses himself when he hears his phone ringing.

After Mark gets himself settled, he pulls his phone out and dials Onica's number, but just can't bring himself to push the call button. It's probably better he doesn't talk to her just yet anyways, as he's still so angry. He'll talk to her after he's had time to really calm down. He puts his phone aside and heads out of the room in search of Pete.

Pete looks up from his spot on the couch when he hears Mark walk in and says, "Beer's in the fridge if you want one."

Mark nods and changes direction and heads for the kitchen. After getting a bottle of beer, he goes back to the living room and sits down in an easy chair.

Pete studies his friend for a moment before he says, "Ya know, it's not that I'm not happy to see you and all, but wanna tell me what's going on?"

Mark takes a long drink of his beer then proceeds to tell Pete the entire story. When Mark is done, Pete sits there in silence for a moment processing everything Mark has just said.

Pete takes a deep breath and after blowing it out says, "Well, that's random."

"You see my problem now?" Mark replies.

Pete sits forward and puts his elbow on his knees and says, "Yeah man, that sucks. What are you going to do?"

Mark shakes his head and says, "I don't know. This is such a mess."

Pete sits back against the couch now and puts his beer aside and says, "Yeah, that is totally bizarre."

"Tell me about it, I mean, how could something like this happen? What are the odds that my sister would start dating my wife's ex fiancé?" Mark asks in disbelief.

"Yeah, that's rough man." Pete sighs.

"I guess the only good thing is that my sister will be single again soon." Mark says looking at Pete knowingly, then adds, "If you're still interested."

Pete leans forward again, looks down to the floor, then back up at Mark and says, "Mark, look man, don't take this the wrong way but, from what you've said, it sounds like your sister is really into this guy. I don't think it would be right if I swooped in, ya know?"

Mark waves his hand back and forth and replies, "No, no, Pete, she only thought she was into this guy, but now, after everything, there's no way she can make things work with him."

"And I suppose that's her business," Pete starts, then adds, "Besides, I'm seeing someone."

Mark sat up at this, "What? You are?"

"Yeah, that was her that called right after you got here. We were supposed to have plans tonight but I told her an old buddy of mine was coming over so we rescheduled," Pete says in reply.

Mark looks down to the floor and says, "Well, I'm happy for you. I guess I was just hoping that you and my sister would meet and hit it off."

Pete lets out a breath and says, "And I would love to have met her, but man, from everything you were saying, she sounded happy. I didn't want to mess that up. Besides, I met Sofia, and she's wonderful. I can't imagine being with anyone else now."

Mark nods slowly, "That's great Pete, really."

Pete gets up and walks over to the chair that Mark is in and pats him on the back and says, "Everything is going to work out man. Things with your sister, things with your wife. I don't know how, I just know things are going to work out."

"I don't see how," Mark says dejectedly, then adds, "Onica lied to me, and Sam is dating her ex fiancé. And the guy is a jerk, this is all his fault."

"How do you figure that?" Pete asks, confused.

Mark shrugs and says, "Who else's fault could it be?"

"Ya know Mark, my mom was a therapist and I learned a thing or two, so how about I ask you some questions and see if we can work this out." Pete suggests.

Mark stands up and turns to face Pete and says, "I don't need a therapy session."

Pete calmly lifts his hands up in the air and asks, "Then why did you come here?"

That made Mark stop, he had no answer for that, so Pete continues saying, "Why don't you sit back down and let's reason this out."

Mark sits and nods his head and mutters, "Fine."

Pete nods now and says, "How about we start with identifying the problem."

"The problem is HIM, Jack, he's the problem." Mark all but shouts.

"Okay, let's start there then." Pete replies patiently, then asks, "How exactly is Jack the problem?"

Mark looks as though he can't believe this needs explaining, but he goes along with it anyways and says, "He's my sister's boss, he shouldn't be dating her in the first place. If he wasn't then none of this would be happening."

Pete sits back and rests his right ankle on his left leg and puts his right index finger on his chin and asks, "They're both Air Force right?" After Mark nods, Pete says, "I thought that wasn't allowed if they work together?"

"It's not, but I guess there's an exception being made, Sam said it's all above board." Mark sighs.

Pete nods slowly, "Okay, I've never heard of that, but it's been a while since I was in the Army, so what do I know? Anyways, there's nothing wrong with the two of them dating, legally?"

Mark just shakes his head, then Pete continues, "So, if there's nothing wrong with it, why don't you like him?"

"Because he's a jerk!" Mark reiterates.

Pete chuckles a little and says, "So you've said, but you haven't actually said what makes him a jerk."

Mark huffs and explains, "A few years ago, Sam was dating a guy named Jonas Hanson, they actually got engaged. Anyways, Jonas was Air Force, special forces, and the guy was a total nutcase. He was rude and controlling. He made all the decisions and Sam just had to go along with what he wanted."

"That doesn't sound too good, but how does that explain why Jack is a jerk?" Pete asks, curiously.

Mark looks at Pete like he's dumb and says, "Um because Jack is exactly the same. He's Air Force and ex special forces, the same type of guy that Sam always falls for. Which is exactly why I tried to get her to meet you."

"So Jack is rude and controlling too?" Pete asks, ignoring the last thing Mark said.

"Well, I," Mark starts, but realizes he doesn't know what to say.

Pete looks at Mark quizzically and says, "You know Mark, just because there are some similarities in Jack and Jonas's jobs, that doesn't automatically make Jack a jerk just because Jonas was."

Mark just sits there in silence stewing. Pete looks at his friend and knows that he's hit the nail on the head, now he has to drive home the point so Mark can understand it too, though Pete suspects that Mark already knows.

"It seems to me," Pete starts slowly, then continues, "that Jack isn't really the problem, he's just convenient to blame. And the fact that he was engaged to Onica in the past, makes it really easy to blame him for everything."

"If it's not his fault then who's fault is it?" Mark asks, defiantly.

Perhaps he was wrong, Pete thinks, maybe Mark didn't get the point after all. Pete takes a breath and says patiently, "It's no one person's fault Mark. A series of events and decisions made by all four of you took place that led to this."

Mark looks up at Pete confused and asks, "What are you saying?"

Pete sighs and answers, "I'm saying that a long time ago, Jack and Onica met, fell in love, and planned to get married. For whatever reason, that didn't work out and Onica met you, and Jack met your sister. No one could have predicted that would happen, and you certainly can't change the past. Yes, it makes things awkward now, but that doesn't mean that Jack is the bad guy, or that he's the wrong one for Sam."

"How could he not be the wrong one?" Mark argues.

"Mark, consider this," Pete says carefully, then continues, "you're the big brother, you saw your sister in a bad relationship before and you don't want her to go through that again." Mark nods, then Pete finishes, "Well, then you get the idea for me and your sister to meet, but she turns down your offer to set us up and tells you that she's already seeing someone, and the new guy is Air Force, special forces and all you think is that this is going to be a repeat of last time."

"I just want what's best for her." Mark says quietly.

"Of course you do." Pete replies, understandingly, then adds, "But Mark, you have to understand that your sister is a grown woman, one capable of making her own decisions, and those decisions aren't always going to be the ones you think she should make, but that doesn't make them wrong."

"How could it not be wrong?" Mark shouts, then adds, "Look what's happening now, all because she's dating him."

Pete closes his eyes and feels his patience running thin. There's a reason he didn't become a therapist like his mother. He looks at Mark and says bluntly, "Mark, the real problem here is that you're not getting your way." When Mark starts to say something, Pete stalls him by raising his finger, then adds, "You had everything planned out, you told me as much. You could set up a meeting for me and Sam and she and I would hit it off right away and by this time next year we'd be married. Well, things didn't go that way, she's with someone else, and apparently she's in love with him, and you're just going to have to get over that. Besides, I'm with Sofia, and if I had met your sister, I may not have met Sofia. And I'd like to think that things worked out the way they were supposed to."

Mark sits there stunned, he can't believe Pete just said all of that. Though he has to wonder if Pete is right, is he mad because Sam didn't take his offer to meet Pete? Even if that's true, it still doesn't solve the fact that Jack was engaged to Onica.

Pete breaks the silence and says, "I'm sorry that you're not happy about this Mark, but I think you need to acknowledge that Jack isn't the jerk you think he is. Only then can we address the rest of this situation."

Mark bobs his head from side to side for a moment thinking, then he lets out a long breath and says reluctantly, "I guess you're right. I don't know him all that well but from what Sam has told me, he seems like a decent guy." Mark takes a deep breath and lets it out with a sigh saying, "I probably formed an opinion based on Jonas, and I probably decided I didn't like him because I wanted Sam to give you a chance."

Finally, Pete thinks, finally Mark gets it. His friend has always been strong willed and stubborn, but he's also proven to be reasonable once he gets out of his own way.

Pete understands why Mark is frustrated, he himself was disappointed when Sam turned down meeting him, but about a month later, he met Sofia and he couldn't be happier about that. Of course Mark didn't tell him right away that his sister was already involved with someone when he offered to set him up with her. He was a little upset with Mark over that, I mean, what an awkward position to be put in. After he found that out, he was kinda glad Sam had not agreed to meet him.

"So... what now?" Mark asks quietly, pulling Pete out of his thoughts.

"Now, you have to decide what to do," Pete says, looking straight at Mark.

Mark shakes his head, "I don't know what to do." Then as an afterthought, he adds, "I told Sam to break up with him."

Pete just stares at him and Mark says sheepishly, "I guess that probably wasn't the best thing to have done."

"Probably not," Pete says in reply, then adds, "Mark, when all of this is said and done, you want to have a relationship with your wife and sister right?"

"Of course." Mark says, shooting Pete a look.

"Then making demands isn't the way to go. I mean, how will your sister feel if you and Onica work everything out and are happy, but she's miserable because you made her break up with the man she loves?" Pete asks, pointedly.

Mark hangs his head, feeling ashamed. He knows he shouldn't have reacted the way he did, but he was just so angry. He had never considered that he was angry at Sam because she didn't listen to him, and that he was blaming Jack for everything because of that. He also never expected Onica to have kept such a huge secret from him. He feels like his whole marriage has been a lie. Suddenly he wonders if he demanded for Sam to break up with Jack because he didn't want her to be happy if he wasn't. What kind of person is he? Surely he should want his sister to be happy no matter what happens with him and Onica.

He looks back up at Pete and says slowly, "I'm the jerk."

Pete shakes his head and replies, "You're not a jerk, Mark. You certainly have reason to be upset. You just need to be sure that you're upset about the right thing."

"What am I supposed to do?" Mark asks, feeling desperate, then as tears fall adds, "How are we supposed to get past this?"

Pete feels bad for his friend, he hates seeing him like this. What a messed up situation, he really hopes everything can work out for everyone.

A sudden thought occurs to Pete and he asks, "Do you love your wife?"

Mark looks up, stricken and replies, "Of course, how can you ask such a thing?"

Pete nods and asks, "And you love your sister right?"

"Yes, of course I do. What are you getting at?" Mark asks, feeling irritated that his friend would ask him such questions.

Pete chuckles slightly and says, "Love is all you need bro. The rest are only details, and if you all love each other, which I know you do, then you can figure this out in a way that makes everyone happy."

Mark huffs and says, "You make it sound so simple."

Pete shakes his head, "Naw man, it won't be simple but, this is your family, so you adjust."

Mark nods slowly and says, "You're right, oh man I was such an idiot. I was rude to Jack, I demanded that Sam break up with him, and I left my wife crying on the couch," then in a whisper he adds, "They'll never forgive me."

Pete walks over and pats Mark on the shoulder and says reassuringly, "Yes they will, but not if you don't talk to them."

"I punched him in the face," Mark says quietly.

"Come again?" Pete asks.

"Jack, I punched Jack in the face. Though thinking back on it, I'm pretty sure he let me," Mark says sitting forward, cupping his hands around his face.

"Why do you say that?" Pete asks.

"He never tried to hit me back," Mark sighs.

Pete nods, "Probably for the best."

Mark nods, then stands and looks at Pete and says, "Yeah probably, I'm gonna see if I can switch my flight back, it might cost extra, but it'll be worth it."

Pete watches Mark leave the room and smiles softly. He was always annoyed when his mom psychoanalyzed him with her therapy skills, but right now he's glad that he actually listened and watched her. He may have just saved Mark's marriage and his relationship with his sister.

About 20 minutes later, Mark reemerges looking solemn and says, "Well, I can't change my flight back, my spot has been filled, so I guess I'm stuck."

"I'm sorry to hear that, I guess there's nothing they could do?" Pete asks.

Mark nods and says, "No, not unless someone cancels, in which case I'm," he looks at the piece of paper in his hand, "14th in line, so it's not likely."

"Gee that sucks," Pete says, not knowing what else to say.

Mark plops down on the couch and says sadly, "I called Sam and Onica, neither of them answered, I guess they don't want to speak to me."

"Give them some time, they'll come around," Pete assures his friend.

"My flight leaves at 10:43 tomorrow morning, if Onica doesn't call me back before then, I guess I won't get to talk to her until she gets home. Her flight leaves at 2:50," Mark says dejectedly.

"Maybe she'll call you before her flight takes off," Pete suggests, hopefully.

"I hope you're right, I really want to talk to her and try to make things right. I hate us being mad at each other," Mark says, still looking down.

"Well, " Pete says, slapping his knees and standing up, "how about we have a boys night in then? Order pizza, play cards, and drink beer," Pete suggests cheerfully.

Mark smiles a little and nods and says, 'Yeah, that sounds good."