"Remind me again why this is a good idea?" Lucky asked Cruz as they stood outside Patrick's door. Cruz had shown up this morning and insisted all three of them had to do something together today and babbled something about bonding and guy time. Roughly translated, Lucky took that to mean Aunt Bobbie, Elizabeth, and his mother were spending far too much time talking to each other and his friend had been singled out as the weakest link to get whatever plan those three had in motion.

"Because we're his friends?" Cruz attempted to throw logic at Lucky. Bobbie had been talking his ear off about going to see the guys.

"Who know that you don't wake a sleeping bear like Patrick when he's moping. You let him come to you."

"Well he doesn't seem in any hurry to do that and I've gotten used to the two of you hanging around."

"And your great plan to convince of him this is what? Stirring discussion of manly bonding?"

"Better than any plan you've come up with." Cruz shot back as the door swung open. Patrick put his finger to his lips and said something into his phone that they didn't catch.

Ignoring the annoyed look on Patrick's face, Lucky pushed past him and strolled into the apartment. "We're bonding." He explained as he patted his cousin on the chest.

"Bonding." Patrick mouthed and ended his call.

"Bonding. It's a great plan that Cruz came up with."

"Yes, bonding. Whether you like it or not."

"Aunt Bobbie got to him." Lucky said in a stage whisper to Patrick, nodding seriously.

"What is this about?" Patrick hadn't met their eyes once, his mind still going a mile a minute from the phone call he had just received from Doug.

"Ask the party planner over there." Lucky shrugged as he threw himself down on the couch. "I was just told my presence was required not requested."

"I'm kind of in the middle of something..." Patrick's voice trailed off.

"No you're not. Your phone call's over." Cruz pointed out.

"Since when is Cruz logical?" Patrick shared a worried look with Lucky.

"I don't know, but he has made a rare point. And since the twins are over at Mom's with Elizabeth, I know you weren't just talking with her and planning the next battle in the uncle war." Lucky smiled slowly. "How's your life partner by the way?"

"That's not funny." Patrick stuck out his tongue. "At least I'm winning."

"Oh I disagree. That was hysterical. And how can you be winning when Dillon was the one who calmed the twins down?"

"Because the contest has already started and we're not taking in late applicants." Patrick replied swiftly. "You guys want a beer? Sorry Cruz; I'm all out of Corona." He teased, disappearing into the kitchen.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Cruz fell back on the couch and stared up at the vaulted ceiling. "In case you weren't aware of your over-the-top mentality, this one room is bigger than any of our houses."

"Well you know what they say about guys who have to buy the biggest toys Cruz." Lucky said in mock seriousness as Patrick re-entered the room. "They are trying to make up for some shortcoming."

"You better watch what you say. When you two get tossed out on your asses, you're going to need somewhere to camp out." Patrick countered taking a long swig of his beer before handing them theirs.

"We only seem to get tossed out on our asses when we listen to you." Lucky took a drink out of his own before placing it on the stack of papers Patrick had littered the coffee table with.

"So, what's new with you?" Cruz was already bored of this "bonding" expedition. For some reason, it had gotten more and more difficult to just be themselves around each other. They always seemed to be holding back.

"I'm flattered you're worried about my well-being." Patrick replied.

"You're an asshole." Cruz declared, throwing back his bottle.

"At least he's consistent." Lucky agreed as he went to retrieve his own bottle. A scribbled number on the paper caught his eye and jingled some long forgotten bell in his brain. Why was this so familiar to him? He shook his head. It was probably just a repeat client's number and nothing else. "We could ask you the same thing Cruz. Patrick at least hides at my place."

"I haven't gone anywhere. I've been around...you know, busting wolves in sheep's clothing and watching the baby." Cruz knew it sounded lame, but it was the truth.

"Majandra talking yet and living up the super genius rep you've given her?" Lucky couldn't help but tease Cruz. Not that he was much better than his friend when it came to bragging about his children.

"As a matter of fact she is. She's mastered 'Daddy.'" Cruz beamed with pride.

"And you mean to say she's not being cast on American Idol? That Simon." Patrick shook his head, smiling into his beer bottle.

"I thought we agreed speaking his name was forbidden." Lucky teased. It wasn't that he exactly wished ill-will on someone else with his exact same job responsibilities, it was just he wished him less luck than his rival seemed to be having.

"Sorry. Sorry. It's hard to keep up with who we're allowed to talk to. You're worse than a woman sometimes." Patrick finished off the bottle and set it on the side table.

"Does your girlfriend know about this enlightened attitude of yours?" Lucky shot right back.

"You hoo?" Though her hair had been grown a few inches over the last several months, Patrick recognized Greta immediately. She had one arm behind her back, but he couldn't tell what she was holding. "I'm sorry to bother you..."

Lucky and Cruz exchanged a look. Beautiful women coming over to Patrick's place had been commonplace when he lived in the loft but it was a habit that they thought had died since he started up with Robin. One brief shake of the head was all it took to see neither one recognized the woman as a former client of Patrick's. As she made her way inside, they stayed quiet, waiting to see exactly what Patrick would say.

"It's no problem. Come in." Patrick beckoned her forward.

"They sent this to your old apartment by mistake." Greta kept one arm firmly behind her back when she handed him the letter. The name scribbled across the top was clear and visible to Cruz and Lucky. "And I signed for it." She handed over a black and silver helmet. "How could you not tell me you were racing with Doug Bellamy?"

"Doug?" The annoying bell became louder as the owner of the phone number finally made itself known to Lucky's mind. "Since when have you been talking to Doug?"

"I'm not racing with Doug. He called me on Sunday and wanted to catch up. End of story." Patrick told the group.

"But that's a new helmet." Lucky pointed out. "And Doug tends to stay on the cheap side."

"Well there's obviously been a misunderstanding." Patrick stressed each word.

"You are racing, aren't you? After all this time...that's why you haven't met with clients in God only knows how long..." Cruz realized.

"Your theories are more half-assed than your bonding attempts." Patrick cut him off.

"No he's right. About this at least." Lucky retorted. "Doug only called you about one thing and that was racing. Or you racing specifically."

"That's not true." Patrick demanded.

"I thought this would be good news." Greta mumbled. "I didn't mean to start a fight..."

"Greta, maybe it'd be best if you left. Do you have a form so I can send this to the correct address...?" Patrick suggested.

"Yeah sending it here is going to be much easier." Lucky nodded. "Much less chance someone else will find out."

"I don't care if you believe me." Patrick told them.

"That's good because we don't." Cruz folded his arms over his chest.

"Here you are." Greta placed the form in his hand. "Your address is clearly printed on it."

"Gosh who could have figured that one out?" Lucky feigned shock.

"If I were racing, why would it matter to either of you?" Patrick challenged.

"I don't know. Maybe because the last time you decided to try this, we were the ones that had to go to the hospital to pick your broken ass up?" Lucky answered crossing his arms over his chest.

"It's temporary." Patrick assured them.

"But why? This is Doug Bellamy." Greta said the words slowly in case he didn't pick up on how big a deal this was.

"And he doesn't do temporary." Cruz reminded Patrick. "The last time this was supposed to be just temporary, you had to jump through hoops for months."

"It's not like that this time. I'm just replacing a driver for a race." Patrick argued.

"What race?" Lucky eyed his cousin suspiciously. He had enjoyed Patrick's obsession with racing and had even cheered him on in high school. But the look of his cousin's bloodied and bruised face after the accident in college was something Lucky preferred to forget than live in fear of a reoccurrence.

"Doesn't matter." Patrick replied.

"If you're planning on racing, it matters." Cruz pointed out.

"And if Doug is trying to convince you to come out of retirement, it's not a small one either." Lucky deduced remembering Patrick's old crew chief well. "He wouldn't bother if it was small. You wouldn't be interested if it was small."

"I don't know what you want me to say here. You've already made up your minds." Patrick snapped, all but pushing Greta out into the hall and closing the door behind her.

"Let's start with the truth and work our way to what the hell you're thinking." Lucky suggested.

"How can I make this any clearer? I'm helping out an old friend who saw potential in me once upon a time. That doesn't mean I'm going back on a regular basis." Patrick blew out a breath.

"A friend who likes to cash in on a good thing. Face it Patrick; you're the cash cow." Cruz retorted.

"And if it's a one-time thing why are you hiding it from everyone?" Lucky questioned.

"You just answered your own question there Sport." Patrick threw back.

"So when we have to call Robin to come to the hospital, do you want us to wait before or after she goes into labor to tell her it's a one time thing?" Cruz wondered.

"What?" Lucky turned quickly to stare at Cruz. "When did you find out?"

"When Bobbie did. She totally broke and told me." Cruz answered.

"She had no right to do that." Patrick said through gritted teeth.

"You had no right to keep it from me." Cruz argued.

"He's got a point." Lucky nodded. Turning to Cruz, he held up his hands. "He swore me to secrecy."

"Then I'm guessing she also told you why we didn't want it blabbed all over town."

"She did." Cruz confirmed. "Still doesn't let you off the hook."

"Probably not, but I'm used to being the villain in this story." Patrick rolled his eyes.

"Oh spare us the pity party." Lucky rolled his eyes. "It's never worked. And this isn't about the baby anyways. Separate issue. This is about you risking your life."

"I'm not an idiot. There's no way I'd even fill in for this guy without practicing."

"Oh well as long as you practiced. That makes everything okay." Lucky shook his head.

"What are you trying to prove?" Cruz demanded. "This isn't high school, or even college. You're going to be a husband and a father. This is a stupid idea."

"Wow," Patrick ran his hand through his hair. "I thought if anyone could understand why I'm doing this, it'd be you two."

"I'm sorry, but I really don't." Cruz shook his head.

"Then get out. Both of you. I didn't ask for your input and I don't need it."

Previews:

"But can he back up that arrogance where it counts?"

"Yes and that's part of the reason he's so impossible. Of course there is this really annoying habit he's got that I cannot get past."

"Being good in bed?"