Common Bonds (Chapter 5)

A/N: Chapter 5 of this story sat for a while as I worked on some of my other more popular stories. Then when looking at AO3 one day I noticed my first ever fanfic, this, my Single Father story, actually had a subscriber. So, to whoever you are, my lone SF subscriber, this chapter is for you. You inspired me to sit down and flesh out this chapter. I was intimidated by my lack of knowledge about football and Scotland. Thanks to basmathgirl for her help!

"Are you sure I look fine for a football match? A proper Scottish football match?" Alex stood back up away from her phone, which she had propped up so that her brother, Nathan, could see her whole outfit on camera via the video chat. She spun around another time.

"Alex, it's 6:00 in the morning here. You're asking your big brother for fashion advice. For the first time in the forty-some years of your life, might I add. And now that you're asking, you aren't going to believe me? I said yes. You said the team colors were the same as the Scotland National Football Team – that's blue, and they wear white shorts. You are wearing a blue and white striped sweater with your blue jeans. This is a kid's football match. No national crises will come from your outfit choice. I'm telling you, you're good to go. Why does this matter so much that you had to wake me up an hour before my alarm?" Her brother still looked half asleep as he grumbled at her.

She came back up to the desk and sat down, now only her face showing in view on the camera. She scratched the back of her neck and scrunched her face up a bit. "I'm not so much worried about a national crisis as a business one."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"I told you, this guy, Dave—we're doing some work together here. He's a photographer. And he has four children living at home, and one adult child who works with him. If his children have a good impression of me, it can only help our business relationship. It's important to me to make a good impression. It won't do for them to think I'm a daft American who doesn't know about things like this," she insistently explained.

"But—isn't that basically what you are then? A daft American who doesn't know about things like this?" He smirked.

Her face dropped into a frown and she rolled her eyes at him. "You are NOT helping. I'm using my resources. You're the family member into sports and stuff. I'm the artsy one. Remember?"

He chuckled then gave her a questioning look. "Are you sure this is only about business? No other reasons you're trying to impress his kids?"

She growled, "It's not like that. We've only known each other two weeks. Friends, maybe. Nothing more."

He shrugged. "You know, some people have already made their move by two weeks."

"Yes, well," she flatly stated, "some people aren't me—or him for that matter."

"Clearly." He nodded. "I'm just saying, Lex—it's okay if you are trying to impress him and his kids for—other—reasons. You're allowed to find someone. To be happy."

She smiled. "Thanks, bro. Yes, I know. I'm just cautious, you know that. I don't want to rush. Or mess things up."

"Well. Just go out and have fun, okay? Send us some pictures. You know Danielle and the boys love to see your pictures."

"Will do. Thanks for taking my early morning call. I waited as late as I could to call you. I needed time to be able to change before leaving if I had to. I'll call later this week for a dad update, unless I hear from you first. Give my love to Danielle and the boys."

"Sounds good. Will do. Love you, bye."

"Love you, bye!"

She hit 'END' on the video call and sat back in her office chair. When she moved to Scotland a year ago, her brother thought she was crazy. They had a few arguments regarding her timing, her motivations for moving so far away, what she was running from, etc. Within weeks of her moving, they had patched things up after a long phone conversation. A few months after that and he had even gone so far as to say she sounded happier than she had in a long time, and that maybe the move really was good for her.

They rarely spoke before John and the kids died. After that, they began speaking more often. Now that she was in Scotland, they spoke on a weekly basis.

She took the opportunity, while she sat at her desk, to pull together a few files. Since Dave had mentioned discussing their upcoming projects after the game, she wanted to take the information she had gathered so far with her. She put the folders in her bag, along with her tablet, and went to eat a small lunch before heading out. She wasn't sure if they'd be having anything at the match, or having tea afterwards, so she thought it best to have something that could at least hold her over till afterwards if necessary.

She timed it perfectly, and just a few minutes before 1 o'clock she was pulling up at Dave's house. Being honest with herself, she was more nervous now than she had been when coming for dinner that first night. Now that she knew the kids, and they knew her, and everyone knew a bit more about each other's past—it made it a bit more daunting. Since moving to Scotland, she rarely told people about her past. She never wanted to forget about the family she had lost, but the move was supposed to be a fresh start. It was frustrating when people started 'walking on eggshells' around her after finding out. She took a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. Anna was right, she was glad Dave now knew—he was someone who could truly understand loss—not just pretend to. She slipped out of her car, pulling her messenger bag out behind her and slipping it over her head, across her body. She was just a few steps away from the door when it opened, and a football came rolling out, Ewan running out after it.

"Oh, hello," Ewan said to her. "Dad! Alex is here!" he yelled back into the house before running after the ball and kicking it around in the front garden.

"Hi, Ewan!" She smiled after him.

"Come on in!" she heard Dave yell from inside. She stepped in the door and saw Evie running up stairs, with Lucy following close on her heels. "We're almost ready," Dave said as he checked through his camera bag. He looked up after a moment. "Oh, look at you!" He looked at her clothing. "You're prepared to cheer on the team, aren't you?"

Alex looked down with concern. "Is it too much? Do I look foolish?"

"No, no. Not at all!" He smiled, stepping over from where he had been, moving closer in front of her. "Thank you for making such an effort to support Ewan."

"Alright, Dad! She's ready!" Lucy came barreling down the stairs, Evie following behind.

"Where's Paul?" he questioned her.

"Getting his shoes on. Ewan's already out-front—practicing," Lucy replied as she grabbed her own bag off a hook by the front door.

"Alright then, everyone, let's go!" Dave yelled, and Paul came running from his room and down the stairs.

As they stepped outside and shut the door behind them, Paul piped up, "Dad, how are we all getting there? There's not enough room in the car for all of us and Alex."

Dave stopped suddenly. "Oh, uhh-" He glanced at the four children and Alex.

"It's okay, I'll drive!" Alex chimed in.

"Yes, but have you ever been to the field? We don't want you to get lost," Dave said, annoyed with himself that he hadn't thought through this far.

Paul stepped up next to Alex. "I'll go with her, Dad. We'll follow you, and I know the way if we get separated."

Dave smiled at his oldest son then looked to Alex. "Alright with you?"

"Sure!" Alex smiled at Paul as he went around to the passenger's side. As they both got into their seats and belted in, she started the conversation with, "So Paul, would you be willing to give me a quick overview of how football is played here? You know where I'm from it's soccer—football is a very different game. I want to know what's going on so I can cheer for Ewan properly during his game."

Paul smiled at her. She really was trying hard, and he remembered the conversation his dad had with he and his siblings earlier. "Sure, I can do that."

An hour later, Alex jumped up and down where they stood by the touchline as she yelled, "Go Ewan! Wooo!" The boy had scored a goal, even she knew that was a good thing. She was standing next to Evie, who had insisted she stay by her side. Paul stood next to Evie, then Dave, then Sam and Tanya.

Alex didn't notice Tanya, who after catching the perfect shot of Ewan after his goal, had turned and snapped one of her cheering. Dave was clapping at the game, but smiling and looking over at the American. Tanya leaned over Sam to her father, and whispered, "I like her, Dad. She seems fun."

Dave had turned back to watching the match and didn't look at Tanya as he responded quietly, "Yes, she does."

Tanya grinned at her dad and whispered again, "And she's single?"

That got his attention and he turned towards his oldest child. "Not you too. We're just—"

"—Business partners. Yes, Dad. I know. But I see the way you look at her. C'mon, just give yourself the chance to consider it a possibility?"

Dave swallowed hard, not responding, and glanced back over at Alex at the same time she happened to glance at him. They both smiled at each other then turned back to the game.

Tanya leaned in to her dad one last time. "You said you two needed to go over work. Why don't I watch the kids after the game, you can show her the studio, then take her out to dinner."

Dave's left eyebrow raised. "You are offering to babysit?" He looked at her for a moment longer, her not giving up the smile on her face. "You really are serious, aren't you? Okay, we'll see—"

Shortly before the game ended, Evie and Sam were both complaining of needing to go to the toilet. "Okay, c'mon, I'll take you." Tanya stood up and took each child's hand and let them off the bleacher.

Paul had left their group earlier to stand with friends, which left Alex and Dave alone. Dave looked away from the field to Alex, whose head was turned towards the other end of the field. "You've kept up very well, with as little as you knew about football before today." When she turned towards him, he realized something was wrong. He could tell she was on the verge of tears. He stepped over towards her, moving right next to her and put his hand on her back to comfort her. "Are you alright?"

"Sorry, yeah. It's just—" Alex wiped a hand across her cheeks to catch the tears that fell. "I haven't been around this many kids in a long time. It makes me start to miss mine." Dave made a quick decision and moved his hand the rest of the way around her shoulder and pulled her into a side hug. She allowed herself to lean into it for a moment before straightening up. "Oh, I'm embarrassed now, I'm so sorry."

"You're kidding right?" Dave turned his body to face her more directly. "You never have to apologize to me for being upset, mourning your loss. You know that, right?" She nodded and smiled at him, glancing around a bit anxiously. He watched her, thinking a moment longer before continuing, "Listen, Tanya had a suggestion. The kids are going to be climbing the walls after the game, she suggested we might be able to get more work done if we headed over to my studio, so she offered to watch the kids." He paused, then seeing her still fragile state, continued, "Would you like to get out of here? You could head on over there? I'll give you the address and my key. I've got everything you might need for tea or coffee. You can have some peace and quiet, clear your head, and I'll meet you there once I get the kids home and settled."

"I feel horrible though about leaving early— but I can't say it doesn't sound like a great idea right now." She glanced around again. "It's just gotten a bit overwhelming all the sudden—"

"It's settled then." Dave reached into his pocket and took his keys out, taking off the key to the studio, and then pulled out his wallet to get a business card with the studio address on it. "Here. Now go, I'll make your excuses to the kids, don't worry about anything. Text me if there's a problem."

An hour later, Dave drove up to the studio on his motorcycle, having left the car behind at home since the day's weather was favorable. He saw Alex's car parked there and entered quickly, his backpack on, carrying his helmet, and a shopping bag in one hand.

"Hello! Alex?" Dave questioned as he came up the stairs.

"Hello! Up here!" Anna called out.

As Dave came up the last of the stairs he saw Alex sitting on the couch, legs curled up under her, with a cup of tea held between both hands.

"I just made tea, the water's still hot in the kettle if you'd like some." She started to get up, but he waved her off.

"I've got it, you stay there." Dave went over to the kitchenette and set down the shopping back, pulling out a few things. He prepared himself a cup of tea before dropping his book bag off at his desk and moving to sit on the other side of the couch from Alex. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks to you." Alex smiled genuinely at Dave, then looked down into her cup of tea. "I'm sorry I freaked out a bit."

Dave shook his head, brushing it off. "Don't worry about it, really. I can't count the number of times I've started to have a panic attack in the past three years at the craziest things. The smallest thing would remind me of Rita and I'd be off hiding, sobbing like an idiot. But it's gotten better."

"For me too. That's why it was so surprising today. Hasn't jumped up on me like that in quite some time." She looked back to her tea for a moment as she thought, then looked back up at Dave as he gazed at her. "It gets better, but it'll never go away, will it?"

"I'd think not. I suppose it changes, doesn't it? Into a different sort of thing. The grief just changes. I don't know if I ever really want it to totally go away. I'd hate to forget all those years I had with Rita. It would be wrong. But it changes. I guess I feel more like I can actually live now than I did just after it happened. That it isn't wrong to have a life now, to be happy again."

Alex nodded with a small smile. "Yes, I know exactly what you mean."

Dave smiled back. "Yes, I think you do." He paused as they watched each other a moment, then made a further admission. "I rushed into a relationship too quickly after Rita died. It was unhealthy, born out of grief and the rise of passionate emotions that comes with it. It ended terribly but I know now it wasn't right. I wasn't ready."

Alex slowly nodded her head in understanding. "I tried an internet dating site a while after it happened. It was horrible. Thankfully nothing came of it."

Dave nodded back, waiting a moment before he then changed the subject. "So, what do you think of football?"

Alex smiled back. "I have some vague recollection of my brother playing soccer, our American equivalent, when he was in high school and I was just in elementary school. It was fun to watch again, and Paul is a great teacher, he gave me some tips to make sure I didn't look too foolish."

"Well, you were brilliant." Dave grinned then. "I'd say your cheering skills matched most of the parents there."

Alex blushed. "I didn't embarrass Ewan, did I?"

"Are you kidding me, he loves the attention!" Dave chuckled.

A half hour later, Dave was standing by the desk as he allowed Alex to sit at the computer and load up the work and research she had so far on their next two clients. Once she had everything loaded he pulled up a chair next to hers. They discussed various items, looking at prior photographs from their old websites, looking at layout options. At one point, Dave was trying to point out something in particular and leaned over to point to the screen, with Alex watching. As he finished, he turned to find he was much closer than he had realized, but felt unable to move as he looked closely at her face. A second later she realized the same and turned her face towards his with a shy smile and blush creeping into her cheeks. They were so close they could feel each other's breath as they searched out each other's eyes.

Alex felt her heart racing, her breathing was quickening—what was she doing? She turned back towards the screen. "So, that's that. We should schedule their photography as soon as you're able to."

Dave gulped and sat back in his chair, taking his cue from Alex. "Yes, right, of course. Why don't we set up a conference call for Monday morning to schedule something with the clients?"

"Right, sounds good." Alex was working with the computer mouse, closing programs she had used, and quickly finished up and pulled out the flash drive connected to Dave's computer.

As she stood, Dave did too, and they both looked at each other quickly, speaking on top of each other, "I'm sorry—" They both laughed nervously.

Dave continued first, "I'm sorry if I made it awkward."

"No, no, I'm sorry for that."

Dave chuckled again. "Sooo, just to be clear, we're both sorry for making it awkward. But—" He chanced taking a single step closer and smiled as he spoke quietly. "—If we're both sorry for making it awkward, should it really be awkward?"

"No," she responded quietly. "No, I guess not."

"Alright, then." It was then that Dave decided to go ahead and take his shot. "So, are you hungry? Tanya has the kids, willingly, for a few more hours. We could go out for a bite to eat, or get a carry out?"

Later that evening, Alex lay in bed reading a book. She was a few pages in when her phone beeped. She picked it up to see a text from Nathan.

Hey sis, how'd it go?

A: Except for a bit of an emotional breakdown by me, it went well.

N You okay now?

A: Yeah, I'm fine. Dave was very supportive. He understands.

N: Glad you have someone who understands and can be there for you. Don't be afraid to let him in.

A: Are you giving me dating advice?

N: Danielle wants pictures.

Alex took a moment and pulled up a few pictures she had taken on her phone from the football match, including one of Dave and his whole family. She sent them over to Nathan and Danielle.

A moment later a new text popped up from her sister-in-law, Danielle. C'mon girl, he's single, he's gorgeous, and he can legitimately understand your past. I know you don't want to be pushed, but don't let this one get away.

Alex rolled her eyes, then decided to give away a bit more information. She began typing again. We had a work meeting this afternoon. Then we went to dinner, that felt distinctly non-work related.

You mean a date? Danielle quickly responded.

Well, we didn't discuss work the whole time? She frowned as she continued to type. I don't know, Danielle. I feel almost like a teenager again, trying to figure out what dating even is.

It will become clear when it's supposed to. Night, sis. Danielle ended her text, and Alex smiled.

Before she had a chance to put the phone back down, her brother texted again. By this point, Alex was certain they were probably sitting right next to each other reading off the texts to each other. We're happy for you sis. Good night.

Alex smiled and put the phone back down on the side table. She had just began reading again when her phone beeped. She growled and grabbed the phone again, but quickly her expression turned into a smile.

It was Dave, I had a good day today. Pretty sure it was the company.

She blushed, then rolled her eyes at herself. Yup, just like a teenager. She debated what to respond with, but kept it to one word to start. Same. Then she felt like an idiot for being so vague and typed more. I really enjoyed the day, despite the emotional breakdown. Thanks for being so supportive. I really enjoyed spending time with your family. It was great going over work with you. And the non-work dinner afterwards wasn't so bad either. There, this was his chance, maybe he would respond explaining he takes all his work partners to dinner, or he enjoyed their 'friendship' or—

Dinner was nice. It was nice -not- talking about work. And I'm sure this sounds horrible, but it was nice not talking about the kids either.

She stared at his response. Okay, no doors shut. She grinned and typed back. You mean you are a person outside your work and fatherhood? I'm shocked. ;-)

D: :-) You didn't seem too shocked during dinner. It was great conversation. Maybe we can do it again sometime?

A: Maybe :-)