Chapter 6: I'll be home soon, I promise.
September, 2002
Telling Elaine that Drew had been delayed yet again had been difficult. In fact organising flights at 4am in the morning with no notice hadn't been even half as hard as that - he'd called Major Michaels at Travis and located a KC-10 transport aircraft that had undergone maintenance there and was due to begin a resupply mission to Iraq. Major Michael's had agreed to divert it via Cold Lake with the valid excuse of picking up supplies for the Canadian troops stationed in Iraq. All Evan had to do was get from Nellis to Travis in time for it's departure. Nellis was large enough that there were always flights scheduled - he'd hitched a ride in the back seat of an F-16 and arrived at Travis AFB just in time. Colonel Baker had approved the arrival of the KC-10 at his end making the entire transaction a lot easier to arrange than it should have been.
It had all happened quickly enough that Elaine hadn't heard the news before Evan got to her. She'd known as soon as he'd turned up on her door step unexpectedly that something was wrong and he'd had to scramble into hurried speech to assure her it wasn't what she was thinking, that Drew was fine.
"Drew had no choice Sis," he concluded his explanation of the situation, unnerved a little that Elaine listened to the whole thing without saying anything, without giving an outward reaction. She hadn't personally known Lieutenant Rochelle so that was one small blessing in the whole mess. "The rest of his guys are too inexperienced to be left there without half their wing – Drew's in command, it's his responsibility to bring them through this."
"How long?" Elaine asked simply.
At seven months pregnant she was still not as big as Evan would have thought someone only two months away from giving birth should be. Not that he knew – Elaine had mentioned his last visit that first pregnancies often didn't show as much as subsequent ones. He'd sent up a silent prayer at that point that if Elaine did have a subsequent pregnancy that Drew be the one close at hand while Evan was posted somewhere far away. He was enjoying getting a much closer look at the whole deal but it came at a high cost – Drew should be the one experiencing all of that and much more besides.
"How long what?" Evan asked stupidly.
"How long will it take for Drew to do all that, to be free to come home?" Elaine elaborated patiently.
"Ah ... I don't really know," Evan admitted. "They could pull the entire wing out ... Colonel Baker told me they've ironed out the bugs in training so the second rotation is pretty much ready to deploy."
"But you don't think they'll do that?"
"It might not be the best thing for Drew's wing," Evan revealed gently. "War requires soldiers to keep fighting no matter how many fellow soldiers fall beside them. I know it sounds harsh but ... removing a unit because one soldier falls would send the wrong message and it probably wouldn't be a good thing for them either. I feel for Lieutenant Rochelle's family – I'm not sure sending the rest of his wing home sends the right message to them either. All of them should have been home by now – hard not to want to blame someone for all those delays, especially if you see others returning home too easily. If they can do it now, why not before their son was killed?"
Elaine was silent for a moment, eyes on the floor as she digested what Evan had said. Nodding, she gave a little sigh and then looked up. "How was Drew taking it?"
"About as you'd expect," Evan didn't try to cushion that part. She needed to know that Drew hadn't made the decision to stay lightly, that he'd felt the conflict deeply. "You've got your computer on?"
"Yes," Elaine glanced over to the desk in the corner of the living room where she had everything set up and then back to Evan.
"Good – Drew said he'd try to call you this morning," Evan revealed. "You know he'd have told you about this himself but ...,"
"He was worried I'd be upset and he didn't want me here all by myself," Elaine concluded, a small smile appearing briefly on her face.
"Exactly," Evan moved to sit beside her, putting an arm around her shoulders. "I'm proud of you," he said, hugging her close for a moment.
"Really?" Elaine frowned. "Why?"
"Because you're not crying all over me or yelling at me," Evan pointed out. "And you'd have every right to do both."
"It's not your fault and it's not Drew's fault," Elaine said simply. She swallowed suddenly, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. "I'm just so thankful you're not here telling me it was Drew who's plane went down ... I know that sounds selfish and I'm sorry for that but I can't help it."
"Understandable," Evan returned, patting her back comfortingly.
They sat like that for a few minutes before Elaine's computer came to life. She was up in an instance, hurrying to answer the call. "Drew," she burst into tears the moment his face appeared on screen.
Evan stepped up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder as he bent to look into the camera. "She's fine buddy," he said reassuringly. "Just happy to see your ugly mug."
"Evan!" Elaine turned and whacked his shoulder irritably, tears halted to make way for annoyance.
"That's right honey – you tell him!" Drew smiled slightly, something inside relaxing as he watched the two most important people in his life acting like the siblings they were. Under the circumstances that familiarity was a welcome respite.
"I'm so, so sorry Drew," Elaine forgot her annoyance, turning back to her husband. "I want to say so many things but they all sound like clichés in my head now."
"Just seeing you is enough," Drew said simply, his eyes tracking over her face as though he were taking a mental photo for future reference.
Evan moved away, letting them have their privacy. Pacing over to the window he looked out at the ordinary suburban street, watching as the lives of people who probably had no idea there was even a conflict half way around the world went about their daily business. Contrasts ... those who gave their efforts to something bigger than themselves as opposed to those who led a smaller but no less important life. More significant in some respects because it was for just the kind of people he could see out there that Evan and Drew and those like them fought in the first place. So that they could lead a life where losing a team mate was something that never touched them.
"Evan," Elaine's voice calling him back interrupted his musings.
"Time's up?" Evan asked, leaning down to the camera again.
"Yeah," Drew admitted. "Listen ... I don't know how many favours you had to call in to get there so quickly ... this time I really do owe you one."
"Ha," Evan grinned. "Maybe this time I might actually collect."
"Anytime," Drew promised seriously. Looking into Elaine's eyes again he continued. "I'll be home soon, I promise."
"I know," Elaine smiled. "I'm not having this baby until you're here so you have to come back soon."
"Right," Drew grinned. "I love you honey," he said, eyes twinkling with amusement as he added "you too buddy."
"Okay, no need to get soppy," Evan protested, holding his hands up as though to ward off some kind of physical manifestation of that declaration.
"I love you too," Elaine told Drew firmly, "and so does Evan, right?" She looked from her husband to her brother pointedly.
"Sure, of course, whatever you say," Evan returned with a faint grimace.
Getting in to Cold Lake via air force channels had been easy – getting out the same was not so much. In the end Evan had to take a commercial flight, the last one out of Alberta airport that evening, turning his day into an incredibly long one. He had to report for duty first thing the next morning – probably on only a couple of hours of sleep - and silently hoped he'd have an easy day. He couldn't have done anything else though and would just have to suck it up and focus on getting the job done until he could go home and crash.
It wasn't until Evan got to his room an hour or so before dawn that he realised he hadn't called his Mom to let her know Drew's situation – he'd cop grief from her for not getting in touch before he'd gone to Cold Lake but she'd understand the urgency. It was too early for him to call her but Elaine had probably already filled Grace in - in fact, he was kind of surprised she hadn't called his mobile already to find out more.
Falling face first and fully clothed to his bed Lorne just let the world drop away, asleep between one breath and the next.
The alarm going off too soon afterwards was almost painful but Evan managed to drag himself out of bed on time, reporting for duty with minutes to spare.
"They want you out at Groom Lake this morning Major," his CO at Nellis, Lieutenant Colonel Harold Larkin told him. "The request came in yesterday but they delayed for your return."
"Yes Sir," Evan nodded, spinning on his heels and turning back the way he'd come. Grabbing one of the base vehicles he drove the short distance and went through the usual routine of being signed in at multiple locations before being escorted to the X-302 hangar.
"Major," Doctor Murphy greeted Evan excitedly. "Glad you could make it ... we've tweaked the inertial dampening systems since your last flight and I don't mind admitting we're all very excited to see the results."
"Well, I'm ready to go when you are," Lorne said simply, holding in an amused smile with difficultly. The science geeks were always so .... exuberant. It was both funny and kind of endearing to see that much belief in the job ... and it helped that he understood more of their jargon than any of them probably gave him credit for.
"Excellent," Larry actually rubbed his hands together purposefully before turning and leading the way to the prototype jet.
Evan followed, running his eyes over the 302 and not noticing anything different from the outside. "Looks the same," he muttered, putting a hand to the curved wing as he looked at the scientist curiously. "You gonna give me any clues today?"
It was a routine they'd fallen into – Lorne would speculate on the purpose of the fourth engine he'd yet to see up close and never tested and Doctor Murphy would retort "classified" but still not be able to resist 'marking' him on his guesses.
"Of course not Major," Larry said, smiling.
"Okay, so ... I'm gonna go with Warp Drive today," Lorne suggested with a smirk. He'd used a few Star Trek suggestions before, knowing Murphy was quite the fan of the old and new versions of the show. Expecting the usual appreciative laugh Evan's interest was piqued when Larry gave an awkward chuckle and then quickly changed the subject.
"Nice try Major but you know I can't tell you," the scientist said quickly. "So anyway, for today's test we really want you to put the jet through its paces," he explained. "One of the reasons I wanted you for test pilot was your aerial acrobatics experience. We want you to try as many of those manoeuvres as you can."
"It'd be a pleasure Doctor," Evan returned. He was curious about the man's reaction to his innocent and teasing suggestion for that fourth engine but put it to the back of his mind in the face of what he knew would be a blood pumping adrenalin inspiring test flight. All thoughts of tiredness were forgotten as he prepped the plane, running through the checks competently and quickly. Minutes later he was pulling out of the hangar and on to one of the three runways the facility had exclusive use of.
"You're clear for takeoff Test One," Larry took command of the flight control room himself.
"Flight, Test One, acknowledged." Lorne powered up and soared easily into the sky. He took it all the way up to 40,000 feet straight up, taking away the need to manage air traffic at the higher altitude. "Flight, Test One, beginning manoeuvres," he reported.
"We're tracking you loud and clear Major," Murphy returned. "Start out with something simple."
"Right," Lorne agreed. "Test One ... about to loop the loop." He took the 302 straight up to vertical, built up more altitude and speed and then levelled it out, flying upside down for a few moments before completing the simple vertical circle. "Flight, Test One, how was that?" In a smaller plane that alone could have taken him up to 10 G's but in the X-302 was probably more likely to be in the low fives.
"Perfect," Larry replied. "Our readings indicate the inertial system worked at full capacity. How was it from your end?"
"Didn't feel a thing," Evan returned. "Odd but ... a very smooth ride."
"Excellent. Okay Test One – how about something a little more challenging. Say 6G equivalent?"
"Six G's," Evan mused, thinking. "Okay Flight ... an eight point roll should about do it." He twisted the stick, sending the jet into a spin on its own axis that at the same time covered a loop through the sky. When it was done he reported back into Flight.
"Again, perfecet Major," Larry said happily. "And from your perspective?"
"I don't know exactly how many G's that would have been but I didn't feel any of them," Lorne grinned. "Kind of freaky actually – feels a little like cheating."
"The way of the future Major," Larry intoned. "Can you give me an 8G manoeuvre?"
"Ah ... none of the standard patterns would rate that high - not in this thing anyway," Evan said thoughtfully. "It's a pity you don't have another one of these because a dogfight would definitely do the trick." He paused and then continued. "I'll give you a simulated bandit BFM ... it I take it tight enough that should do it."
"I have no idea what you just said but it sounded great," Murphy admitted.
"Right," Evan chuckled. Picturing it in his mind he made himself the bandit – the guy with a mark on his tail. Picking up speed he simulated what his first move would have been, to turn defensive into offensive position. He slammed the stick back, pulling straight up into the sky, and then quickly pulled right, really hard. The turn was as tight as he could make it, enough to get the G's up beyond eight. Everything was going smoothly and he was actually pulling out of the turn when one of the lights on his front panel began to flash.
"Ah ... Doc, looks like we've got a problem here," he said, levelling out the aircraft and noticing immediately a reduction in handling. "The ID indicator is lit up."
"We see it here Major," Larry said, his tone distracted. Lorne heard voices in the background, probably arguing over whether an Inertial Dampener indicator light meant the system was actually broken or something less concerning.
"Yeah, well that's not the only problem," Evan continued. "Instead of handling like the Rolls Royce of fighter jets this thing is handling like a mini bus ... a really heavy mini bus."
"We're reading a total systems failure on the inertial dampeners Major," Murphy's voice was worried now. "Can you power down the systems and then reinitialise?"
"Attempting systems shut down now," Evan steeled himself before flicking the mains switch, blacking out the HUD and every system inside the cockpit. He felt not unlike a stone dropping gracelessly as he lost altitude rapidly in the seconds he had to wait before he could switch everything on again. "Reinitialising systems," he reported, glad the radios ran on a separate power source.
It took a moment – too long – before the aircraft responded. Enough time for his heart rate to accelerate as he contemplated having to use the 302s untested ejection system. Everything flickered, darkened and flickered again before the jet came back to life. "Flight, Test One. We're back in business," he said, watching the panel closely. The warning light started flashing again within seconds and handling didn't improve. "Great," he muttered. "Flight, no joy on the restart. ID indicator is still flashing and manoeuvrability is restricted. Something is definitely malfunctioning here."
"Is she flyable?" Larry asked in a low tone.
"Depends on your definition of flyable Doctor," Lorne returned. "I'm bringing her back in now ... you might want to round up the emergency crews, just in case."
It was probably the hardest return home flight he'd ever done ... all the grace of the 302 reversed with the absence of its inertial dampening systems. It had been engineered to fly with them operational and although aerodynamics had been addressed with its body design, the 302 just wasn't an optimal ride when flown as a normal aircraft. In fact, it pretty much sucked – the curved wing design created extra drag, and along with the greater weight of the jet made it feel like he was fighting gravity every millimetre he flew. Wishing he hadn't taken the days test flight quite so far away from the facility Lorne grimly counted every mile travelled on the way back.
"Test One, status report?" Murphy requested.
"Flight, I'm still en route," Lorne reported. "You need to put this thing on a diet because seriously, it's like manoeuvring a seriously overweight brick."
"We'll take that under advisement Major," Larry said, amused.
Evan's forearms were beginning to ache and he could feel the strain in his back as he got closer to Groom Lake. It was a constant battle to keep the stick where he wanted it and therefore the plane on the heading and approach he wanted when it seemed to just want to drop from the sky. The engines were powerful and as long as he did his bit and kept the 302 the right way up and pointing in the right direction they kept it in the sky. He was really regretting his two days of minimal sleep though, tiring quicker than he would normally.
"We're showing you just a couple of miles out Major," Doctor Murphy said. "Emergency crews are standing by."
"Right," Lorne had the ground and the runway in his sights now. "This is probably going to be ugly," he added, dropping altitude and speed. It was still too fast – the ground was whizzing by rapidly and he was too low now to have any hope of taking the 302 back up again for a second pass. The situation called for drastic measures. Hitting reverse thrusters for a second, Evan's body was slammed back into the seat. It was like doing 100 on the freeway and then slamming on the brakes only about ten times worse, but it did the trick, dropping his speed enough to make landing possible. Yeah, he was definitely feeling those G's now and wondering why in God's name he'd even for a second missed them.
Straining with the stick, eyes on the angle of approach, Lorne kept the wings level as he slowly lowered the 302 until her wheels touched the tarmac. It would have been nice if he'd kissed the runway with a soft touchdown but he didn't. The wheels screamed and the entire aircraft bounced hard, the wheels hitting the runway a second time before sticking. Breaking hard, it was still an effort to keep the jet balanced and upright as he tried to rip enough speed off before he ran out of runway.
And then abruptly it was over – the 302 jolted to a stop and Evan sat back, panting in the pilot's seat, wondering how the hell he'd managed that.
"Flight, Test One. 302 is on the ground and mostly in one piece," he ground out, wincing as he shifted in the seat and felt the answering pain across his chest. The force he'd taken against his restraints when he'd fired the reverse thrusters had probably left it's mark, hopefully without the accompanying whip lash a car accident victim would have walked away with. "You might need to change the tires though."
"Thank you Major Lorne," Larry said gratefully. Evan knew enough to understand the X-302 was the scientist's baby – he'd have been destroyed if Lorne had crashed it. "Well done."
Evan slumped back in his seat tiredly, deciding that resting until one of the ground crew drove out to get him wouldn't be a bad thing. A jaw cracking yawn heralded the abrupt end of his adrenalin fuelled attentiveness. Man, he really needed to get some sleep!
He had severe bruising forming an interesting pattern across his chest and abdomen and a headache to accompany the pain by the time they let him out of the debriefing. Lorne considered the mission one of the worst he'd ever done but the scientists were excited now he'd managed to come back in one piece. To them failures were valuable because often you learned more from observing things going wrong than you did if they only ever went right. Doctor Murphy had shaken Lorne's hand, muttered that they should get Evan checked by the base doctor, and then completely forgotten all of that in his eagerness to run through the system readings with Evan's input.
He'd remembered at the end though, when they'd milked all the information out of the experience that they could, and had escorted Lorne to the medical bay himself. Evan had sat patiently while the doctor on duty had pressed and poked at his chest before declaring the absence of broken ribs. The whiplash had come up negative too and he'd left with a prescription for muscle relaxants and orders to rest over the weekend. He'd been told off for flying with so little sleep after admitting he'd done a round trip to Canada inside of 24 hours – but at the same time he could see Murphy was impressed that he'd managed to think so well on his feet under those conditions.
Because Evan didn't have to report to Nellis for three days he decided rather than call his Mom he'd go see her instead. That way he'd get her annoyance out of the way and hopefully get some unwitting TLC at the same time.
Her oldest turning up on the doorstep of his childhood home without prior warning was common enough that Grace Lorne hardly raised an eyebrow when she opened the door to see Evan standing there.
"Don't think a personal visit makes up for not calling your Mother young man," she warned sternly, even as she stepped aside to let him in.
"Wouldn't dream of it," Evan returned, bending to kiss her cheek on his way through. He couldn't keep a slight wince off his face as he straightened and just hoped his Mom wouldn't ask him about it. It was nice that she'd 'look after' him while he was home but there was no way he was telling her about his injuries and adding fuel to that fire.
"So, how bad is it with Drew?" Grace asked after she'd installed him in the front lounge room. "Elaine filled me in but I want the un-sanitised version."
"It's not good," Evan admitted, settling himself back carefully and trying not to look like he was being careful. "You know how hard it was when we lost John ... it's bad losing a friend in the line of duty but someone under your command? On a mission you were a part of? For Drew that's gonna take a while to get past."
"And so he stays over there," Grace commented sadly. "To punish himself because he couldn't save that young officer?"
"Maybe subconsciously," Evan allowed, "but it's more than that Mom. You serve with a group of people in an isolated situation like that and you can't help but form strong bonds – you have to trust your team mates and they have to trust you. All of that creates a strong sense of responsibility even under the simplest circumstances – Drew would be feeling that enough to override everything else right now." Evan paused, realising how that sounded. "Not that he doesn't feel responsible for Elaine," he hastened to add. "But he's trusting us to look after her while he does what he needs to do over there."
"I want him home Evan," Grace said firmly.
"I do too but there's nothing I can do that I haven't already done," Evan insisted. "There's still plenty of time for him to get back before Elaine's due date – and I honestly don't think he'd miss the birth if it's inside his control."
Grace nodded, looking thoughtful. "Can you do one of those video calls while you're here?" she finally asked.
"Sure," Evan agreed. "It might be hit and miss on getting hold of Drew but we can give it a go."
It took them a few attempts throughout the day but eventually they did succeed in getting Drew called to communications in Kandahar and on the line. Evan said a quick hello and then left his Mom to talk to Drew privately.
Grace sat in front of the camera, watching her son-in-law closely. He looked tired ... and troubled ... and her heart went out to him, this man she'd taken so fondly into her family.
"Mom," Drew's mode of surprised greeting had her smiling – it was still a pleasure to hear him call her that, particularly because he did it so rarely. "Not that I'm not pleased to see you but ... is everything okay?" he asked.
"Of course dear," Grace returned. "Elaine and Evan both filled me in on what happened to that poor boy – I needed to see for myself that you're okay."
"I'm fine," Drew insisted. "Not a scratch on me," he added grimly.
"I hope you're not sitting there blaming yourself," Grace said pointedly, "because that would be very silly. The only ones to blame are those al-Qaida people."
"It's not as simple as that," Drew protested. "It was my mission – my command."
"I didn't realise Elaine had married a God, Andrew Rider," Grace was being deliberately sarcastic now, her years of teaching students a lot stubborner than Drew giving her the experience to know what he needed to break him out of his destructive thinking. "Nor someone around whom the entire world revolves."
"I never said that," Drew flushed, shifting uncomfortably under her stern regard. He felt like he had whenever he'd gotten into mischief as a kid and his Mom had sat him down at the kitchen table to force him to see the error of his ways. She'd never quit until he'd fully admitted to all his wrong doings and their probable consequences and he was realising that Grace Lorne had the same relentlessness in her nature. "I just ...," he wasn't sure what he was doing."
"You just thought someone should be at fault so why not you," Grace summarised. "You know better than that, don't you?"
"I guess," he admitted reluctantly. He didn't add that he'd already been cleared of any wrong doing in his command of the mission even though the investigation was still ongoing. He just wasn't ready yet to take the comfort and reassurance that result offered. "Hard admitting there are some things I can't influence."
"I know dear," Grace softened abruptly. "Now, you do what you have to do over there – see to the rest of your team. And then you get your butt back over here. My first grandchild is not being born without its father in attendance, is that clear?"
"Crystal," Drew gave her a genuine smile.
"Good," Grace looked at him fondly, wanting to keep the line open but knowing the time was limited. "We miss you honey."
"I miss you all too," Drew returned. "You're a keeper, Grace Lorne, you know that right?"
"Oh, away with you, you charmer," Grace scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "Don't you try and butter me up young man. You just look after yourself and you make sure you come home as soon as you can."
"Done," Drew promised.
"Okay ... well, we'll see you soon," Grace finished the call reluctantly, sitting quietly looking at the empty screen until Evan returned.
"Okay?" he asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"We will be," Grace returned, patting his hand fondly.
Evan slept late on Sunday morning, his last before he had to head back to Groom Lake. Dragging himself out of bed, he stood for a moment in front of the dresser, rubbing a hand through his hair as he contemplated the coming day. His Mom had roped him into taking her to a function at her school and he was less than thrilled at the prospect even though he couldn't tell her no. Grabbing a shirt he started to pull it on, cursing again the deep bruising that had him moving a lot slower than usual.
"Evan, are you -," his Mom opened the door and then stopped abruptly, her eyes on his partially bare chest.
"Mom!" he protested, pulling his shirt down and frowning at her. "What happened to knocking?"
"What are those?" she completely ignored his complaints, moving forward and putting a hand to his shirt.
"Nothing," he dismissed lightly.
"Nothing my foot!" Grace pulled his shirt up faster than he expected, revealing a chest that was still mostly black and blue – the pattern crisscrossing with a darker circle in the middle. "You've had these all weekend and you said nothing?"
"I had a rough landing last week," Evan admitted casually, stepping back and covering the evidence again. Putting his arm around her he steered her back towards the door. "It happens sometimes – they don't put a six point harness system in the cockpit for nothing. It hurts a little but I'm fine so stop worrying okay?"
"You come home from Afghanistan barely able to stand on your own two feet and then only weeks into a new job hurt yourself again and you want me not to worry?" Grace shook her head. "Sometimes I think I was better off before I started taking such an interest in your career."
"Ignorance is bliss huh?" Evan grinned. "See, I tried that but now you're all upset so clearly that won't work either."
"You could just stop injuring yourself!" Grace said irritably.
"No guts no glory," Evan teased, "no pain no gain."
"You're such a child at times Evan," she shook her head, trying not to be amused. "Now that you're a Major surely it's someone else's job to take these risks."
"Ah ... no, not really," Evan countered. "Being a Major just means more responsibility, more decision making." Evan didn't add that he liked it that way – that he wasn't ready to hand the risk taking over to someone else.
"So you say," Grace let herself be ousted from his room with little effort on his part. "Don't forget the party you said you'd escort me to," she added as he moved to close the door.
"I'm on it," he called back, chuckling.
The party was being held where Grace Lorne taught, at the local community college. It was an annual event celebrating the colleges opening fifty odd years before and was always well attended.
Evan stood off to one side, watching his Mom mingling with her colleagues. She'd begun introducing him to everyone after they'd arrived but when the names began to blur he'd pleaded a break and gone to get a drink. Smiling he watched as those around his Mom started laughing at something she'd said ... she was in her element here and it pleased Evan to realise it.
"She's a great storyteller," a soft voice commented from his right.
"Always was," Evan agreed, glancing over to see one of those faces his Mom had introduced him to. "Ah ... Karen, right? Creative writing?"
"Good memory," Karen complimented him. "And you're Evan – Grace's air force son."
"She talks about that?" Evan asked, surprised.
"Not often, but enough that most of us in the arts department would recognise you," Karen admitted. "She's a proud Mom ... there's nothing wrong with that."
"Not unless you're the one she's talking about," Evan muttered. Looking more closely at the younger woman he nodded towards where his Mom was still holding court. "Just tell me she hasn't offered up anything embarrassing and I'll feel a little better."
"Depends on your definition of embarrassing," Karen said with a smile.
"Yeah, I kinda thought you'd say that," Evan rolled his eyes. "Whatever she said, it wasn't true."
"How can you know that if you don't know what she said?" Karen asked reasonably.
"Oh, I'm sure I could come up with a few good guesses," Evan retorted, "none of which I'm going to admit to here on the grounds that I could incriminate myself even more."
"Sounds reasonable," Karen agreed with a chuckle. They stood together for a few moments and then Karen spoke again. "She's really proud of you, you know."
"She's my Mom, that's kind of her job," Evan said modestly.
"Well from the sounds of it you make it an easy one," Karen insisted. "She worries about you too – but I'm guessing you already knew that too."
"Life can't always be as safe as she'd want it," Evan glanced at Karen and then turned his eyes back to the mingling crowd. "I'm sure that's just as true here as it is anywhere else. You manage the risks, don't take stupid chances, and hope that's enough to get you home at the end of the day." Seeing his Mom looking his way, he waved and then turned to Karen. "And my break is over ... I should rejoin my Mom. It was nice talking to you Karen."
"You too Evan," she returned quietly.
"So, what did you think of everyone?" Grace asked casually as Evan drove them home a couple of hours later.
"They were all very nice – very friendly," Evan said noncommittally, keeping his eyes on the road. Not at first, but pretty soon after they'd arrived he'd begun to think his Mom had had an ulterior motive for asking him to go with her and now he was interested in seeing how she'd play that out.
"And Karen?" Grace persisted. "I saw you talking to her – you seemed to be getting along."
"Because we were talking about how often you talk about me Mom," Evan shot back pointedly. "And to answer the question you really want to ask, yes she was very nice, very attractive, but no, I have no interest in seeing her again. And I can't believe you tried to hook me up with one of your colleagues!"
"I wasn't trying to 'hook you up'!" Grace protested. "But what's the harm in meeting a nice girl?"
"There's no harm – unless you're secretly hoping it's a prelude to white picket fences and more grandkids!"
"You don't want what Elaine and Drew have?" Grace was genuinely curious. She'd always thought her son would have those things one day – when he was ready. But as time passed she'd begun to wonder if that assumption was still accurate.
"I ... don't know," Evan couldn't bring himself to say what his first impulse had been to say – that no, he really didn't want any of that. "My head and my heart are just somewhere else right now Mom ... and I don't know if that will ever change. You have Elaine and Drew for the happily ever after stuff – you'll just have to be content with that."
"It's not about me Evan," Grace said a little sternly. "It's about you. I don't want to see you look forward a few years from now and realise it's too late to add a family as part of your life."
"I know that, but it's my call, and my responsibility," Evan pointed out. He glanced over at her again, relenting when he saw her sad little nod and putting a hand on her knee. "I'm okay Mom ... you can trust me on that, okay?"
"Okay," she agreed quietly.
Authors Note:
Look at that - a chapter two days in a row! There's only one more chapter left in this - if I'm good maybe I can get it done tomorrow - no promises though. Thanks for reading!