Chapter Two

"I can't believe he did this!"

"I can't believe it either!"

"It's completely out of character for him."

"Well there's no way I'm going along with this. He can't make me agree."

"It's unbelievable! And unacceptable!"

"I think it's a good idea and I'm glad Victor suggested it."

"Well of course you do Austin. You're getting the sweetest deal of all." Lucas shouted.

Not quite. He'll be stuck with Aunt Carrie. Will hid his smirk behind his hand as he stood unnoticed at his bedroom door and watched the chaos that had erupted in his father's living room since Victor's phone call to Lucas an hour earlier.

"Hey cut it out." His mother hissed to the group as she suddenly spotted him standing there, hearing every word. "Little guys have big ears."

Will chuckled as he pushed away from the wall and sauntered towards the sofa. "Uh newsflash Mom. A – I'm not little anymore, and B – I'd have to be completely deaf not to hear you guys fighting out here."

"We're not fighting." Sami said defensively. "We're just hashing some things out."

"Well could you hash a little louder? I don't think the people in the building across the street quite heard you."

"We're sorry Will. We didn't mean to disturb you."

Will held up his hand. "It's okay Aunt Carrie. I was just in there listening to music. What's going on?"

"A travesty. That's what's going on." Lucas muttered as he walked into the kitchen and angrily opened the refrigerator door.

Will watched bemusedly as his father shuffled items around, finally locating one of the cans of diet soda that Carrie always kept in there. With a grunt Lucas lifted the tab and swigged a gulp, then just as quickly spit it out into the sink with a muttered curse about that "diet crap".

"Problem Dad?"

"Yes I have a problem!"

Will raised his brow at his father's tone.

"Sorry Will. I didn't mean to snap. I'm just not that happy right now."

"I gathered." Will bit his lip to keep from laughing. Sure, he felt a little bad for the distress his father and presumably his mother were feeling at the moment, but if things went his way, within a week this unpleasantness would be nothing but a memory.

"Your father's upset because of a phone call he received from Victor."

"Oh?" Will feigned innocence. "This isn't about my internship is it?"

"No, no Will." Lucas quickly sought to reassure him. "That's still on for next week. Just some other things will be changing."

"Oh?"

"I won't be at Titan."

Will mustered up his best shocked expression as he turned to his aunt. "You won't? Why not Aunt Carrie?"

"Well… Victor Kiriakis has asked your Uncle Austin to form a joint venture for one of the projects that Titan in Paris is working on."

"Why? I thought ARC and Titan were competitors."

"The client is one that I used to handle when I worked for Titan – years ago when you were just a baby Will."

"Okay..."

"So long story short, Titan's client threatened to pull out of the project unless Victor enlisted the help of Austin's company." Carrie quickly explained.

"And you know, that's the part I just don't get!" Lucas injected angrily. "I was the one handling that project and they never said one word about Austin. How the hell did they even find out that Austin was back in town and has his own company?"

"Victor said he accidentally let it slip during a casual conversation with one of their executives. And once they knew that Austin was still around, they pressed to have him included." Will resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he watched his aunt attempt to pacify his father.

"Victor doesn't do anything accidentally." Sami reminded them. "This smacks of Kate's interference. Especially since Victor also insisted that Carrie be the Titan liaison with ARC in Paris."

"My mother?" Austin shook his head. "Not likely. She doesn't have that kind of influence with Victor anymore, and considering that Victor specifically requested that you Sami take over Carrie's Titan position in Salem, it just doesn't add up."

"Well I haven't agreed to Sami working there yet, and—"

Seeing that his dad was about to say something negative about his mom's new job Will interrupted enthusiastically. "You're going to be working at Titan Mom? That's awesome! Now I'll be able to observe both of my parents at work next week. That'll make my report so much better. And just think! The three of us will be able to spend so much time together – you know, family bonding time. We can go for lunch together everyday, maybe even some dinners too, after work. You know that's all I ever wanted – for the three of us to be able to do stuff together – as a family." He internally cringed at how lame he sounded, and was thankful that none of his friends were around to witness, but he knew it was the only way to guarantee that his parents wouldn't try to weasel out of the arrangements Victor had made. Sami and Lucas were a lot of things, but when it came down to it, they were both good parents, and neither could deny him his hearts desire for very long.

"That sounds like a great idea Will." Austin smiled as he stood up. "So now that it's settled, I guess there's nothing left to do but pack for Paris."

"Luckily for me, I never completely unpacked from my move from LA. It'll only take me a few minutes to get everything together."

"When do you guys leave?" Will tried his best not to let his overwhelming joy seep into his voice.

"Midnight. Victor promised us the Titan jet for the flight."

"That soon!"

"Yeah, we can't believe it either Will." Sami said as she moved next to him and put her arm around his shoulder. "I know you'll miss your Uncle Austin."

Not really. It wasn't that he didn't love his uncle – he truly did, and enjoyed spending time with him. But Austin was simply in the way of the plans he had for his parents. "It's okay. We can text each other or chat online."

"And it'll only be a couple of months, 3 or 4 tops."

"It's still too long for my liking." Lucas grumbled. Will suspected his father would be a bear to be around for the next day or two, and he supposed his mother wouldn't be much better either. Hopefully their moods would improve once they were forced to work together at Titan on Monday, although he was realistic enough to know that they'd probably spend the better part of the first day bickering. No worries though. With Austin and Carrie gone for Europe, and Victor Kiriakis on my side, my parents won't even know what hit them.