Chapter 2: "Enjoy my wife"

"Fred, it's your duty to represent our company!" Kate blurted out, as she was trying to convince a young man in front of her to agree. "And this may be one of the most profitable and most advantageous collections we have had so far!"

"Excuse me for my brutal honesty," the man replied politely. "But they're going to realize just how much unprofitable the collection is for people real soon."

"That's not your problem." she remarked, placing her hands on a desk and propping her weight up on them. "You are just supposed to make them sign the contract with us, that's all you need to worry about."

"I may be able to represent our company aggressively and ethically," he announced. "But Kate, I won't lie."

She sighed heavily and narrowed her eyes at him, then smiled.

"Then we'll just have to find someone who will."

"Dad, are we really going to wrestling?"

"Absolutely, Max Factor!" Sawyer assured him with a wide grin. "We just have to stop by the office for one minute."

When they were almost inside the company, an old man with grey hair and in dirty, smelly clothes approached them.

"Excuse me, sir. Any spare change?" He asked in a husky voice and Sawyer just smiled apologetically, not even stopping.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm all out." The Southerner responded and walked away, holding Max's hand in his. They entered the building and got into the elevator.

After a minute, the elevator bell dinged and the door opened.

"Twenty-first floor," Sawyer said seriously. "Men's wear."

Max giggled and they both exited the elevator and began to walk to Sawyer's office. However, he could never walk by unnoticed.

"Hello, Mr. Ford!" The woman with a terrible haircut greeted him with a dumb smirk on her slim face.

"G'afternoon," he replied politely, fighting his laughter. A big, fat man caught his eyes. "Parker!"

"Hey, nice to see ya again, man," the guy said, grinning.

"Damn, you're thinner and thinner every time I see you, I swear to God!" Sawyer exclaimed "Looks and personality. A double-threat guy!"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Ford."

Sawyer turned to look at the tall man with blonde hair, who had just spoken to him.

"Hey,....uh--?"

"It's Randy, sir."

"I knew it!" Sawyer growled with a smirk.

After a long while, they finally made it to the office.

"Hi, Rose!" Max greeted the secretary.

"Hi, Maxie," she drawled, giving him a smile. "What's new?"

"It's my birthday tomorrow and we're having a party!" The boy said excitedly.

"Wow! I am sure your daddy has got you something wonderful!"

Sawyer stiffened and his eyes widened.

"Yeah?!" Max asked, glancing up at him. The Southerner shook his head and returned his gaze.

"Yeah, you bet!" He assured his son, leading him to the door of his office. "Listen, kiddo. Why don't you play in my office for a minute. Sue somebody for everything they've got." He ranted, opening the door and gently pushing him forward to make him come in. "Maybe you can send a fax to one of your girlfriends." At that, Max glared and rose his small fist to his face. "Hey, sorry."

As soon as the door was closed, Sawyer turned around with a look of pure horror on his face.

"Dammit! I completely forgot!" He hissed in a desperate voice. Rose just rolled her eyes at this.

"Oh, what a surprise!" She exclaimed and then bent down to grab a box, wrapped with beautiful red paper and decorated with a gold knot.

"You are a saint!" Sawyer gasped, taking it from her. "I really should buy you a gift."

"You did," she replied, showing him a rectangular, smaller box. He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"I always do the classy thing."

Rose mouthed 'right' to herself and then somebody cleared their throat and Sawyer turned around to see Kate behind him.

"Hey!" He greeted her. "How nice to see you! Again!" He growled and then glanced at Rose. She was watching the gift he had given to her and was right about to unwrap it, when Sawyer tore it out of her hands. "Here! I bought you a gift," he told Kate, giving it to her instead. She took it from him with a seductive smile.

"Thanks," the brunette drawled in a husky voice. "You know, you're making quite an impression on the partnership committee."

He stared at her for a few seconds, as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Oh, that's right!" He growled suddenly. "You folks are meetin' soon! I've been so busy, I haven't even thought about it." He added with a chuckle and she just responded with another sweet smile of hers. "Anyway, I have a client in my office. Better not keep him waiting." He said and moved to walk away, when she spoke again:

"Actually, something rather important's just come up."

Sawyer closed his eyes for a brief moment, before turning around to face her again.

"Um, you're not busy tonight, are you?"

Sawyer entered his office with two big boxes full of papers, as Max was watching him from a chair he was sitting on. The Southerner placed the boxes on his desk with a heavy sigh and his son looked at him sadly.

"We're not going, are we?"

Sawyer glanced at him and the boy sighed and looked down at the floor, his good mood long gone.

"Ana?"

She snapped out of her daze and looked at Jack, who was sitting opposite from her. They were eating a dinner in a romantic restaurant. It seemed you could say this wasn't in character of Ana Lucia to do stuff like that, but, after being married to a guy like Sawyer, she found herself liking these kind of dates. At least Jack was never late.

"You ok?" He asked her softly, as he placed his hand on hers, that was laying flat on the table next to her plate with spaghetti she didn't even touch with a fork.

"Yeah, I was just thinkin'." Ana assured him. To be honest, she was thinking about Sawyer. She was wondering whether he and Max were having fun. And she could only hope her son didn't have to watch his father work, like many times before.

Jack smiled at her and it was obvious he was trying to say something.

"You know how there are moments you know are critical?"

Ana glanced up and nodded, taking a fork into her hand and preparing to eat.

"And choices that have to be made..." he continued "...upon which all one's future happiness will depend?"

She murmured under her breath, letting him know she'd heard him and realized what he had meant.

"This is one of those moments." Jack said, sending her a gentle smile. Something she wasn't used to. Sawyer always used to give her those half-smirks, enough for his goddamn dimples to show. Nothing was actually sweet when it came to them. Everything was always fast and rough. And Ana had liked it, until it became too much and until she noticed she was spending more time with her partner in work, than with her own husband.

"What are you trying to say?" The Latina asked, trying to shrug off her thoughts about Sawyer.

Jack just smiled wider and took a deep breath.

"Will you marry me?" He blurted out and she choked with pasta she had just taken to her mouth, almost spitting it out. Everybody in the restaurant looked at them, as Jack jumped off of his chair and ran over to her, patting her back lovingly. After ten seconds, Ana's face became bronze again and she started to breathe slower.

"Here, have some water." Jack advised, offering her a glass. "You all right, honey?"

She took the glass for him and took a big swig of the liquid from it. She put it down after a short while and looked at him with widened eyes.

"You're moving." She reminded him and he just shook his head knowingly.

"I know, but I want you and Max to come with me!" He explained and her eyes widened even more. She was not expecting anything like that. "Ana, I've been giving this a lot of thought and you know I'm not prone to wild flights of romantic fancy."

"Mmm..." Ana confirmed, taking another swig from the glass.

"But the thought of you and I together just makes sense!" Jack announced with a happy smile on his face. "Now I'm ready. I think you're ready. I love Max. You love Max. It's right. It fits."

She stared at him, surprised and shocked to say the least, not knowing what to even think, let alone what to say.

"So what do you say?" He asked, taking her hand in his.

And right then, all she could do was chuckle breathlessly.

Keyboard tapping, computer beeping and sounds of printer chattering could be heard in Sawyer's room, as he was working on his announcement that he was going to deliver today at the most important meeting of his whole life. Their company created a new collection of some random products he knew nothing about. But that didn't matter. He just needed to convince a few important people of weight. If he did that, his boss would probably promote him, he would make partner and his whole company would be even more grateful.

He heard the whole collection was bullshit. He heard the products were just a mass of useless shit and that nobody with two eyes and a working brain would ever want to sign a contract with the company that had created it. And that was the whole point of it. But Sawyer was a very good liar. He knew he was going to make them believe in everything he was planning on saying on that meeting to actually make that collection look juicy, fresh and useful.

It was almost 8 a.m. and Sawyer was sure his little son was still asleep, but he found out he was wrong as he heard sounds of footsteps, getting louder and louder, until Max entered his room with messy hair and sleepy, but sad eyes.

"Hey, creepy!" He greeted his son, grinning "Happy birthday! How old are you now, 22 or 23?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"I'm five, dad." Max corrected him with a chuckle.

"O--kay." Sawyer drawled, grabbing a pen and pretending to be writing something down on a piece of paper on his desk, while murmuring, "Return the beer keg... Cancel the dancing girls..."

Max giggled and the Southerner let out a heavy breath and turned to face his kid.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do," he admitted. "I feel completely unprepared for this. You see," Sawyer said, turning his back on Max and reaching for the box Rose had given to him and then putting it under his t-shirt on his stomach. "I bought you a present, but last night..." he turned around again with the present under his cloth with a serious expression on his face, "...I accidentally swallowed it."

"Dad, it's in your belly!" The boy exclaimed, pointing at his father's stomach.

"Scalpel!" Sawyer ordered and Max came over to him and gave him an invisible scalpel and Sawyer pretended to take it and then put his hand against the hem of his t-shirt, growling, "I hope it's not partially digested! OOH, look out!"

He took the box out fully from under his t-shirt and handed it to an excited Max.

"Cool! What is it?!"

"Cool!" Sawyer agreed and then his smile faded a little. Well, he couldn't know what this was, "It's uh... It's a surprise... All right, it's a pony. Just open it!"

Max began to unpack his present quickly and Sawyer helped him, murmuring under his breath, "I'm gonna help, 'cause I can't stand it!"

After a short moment, Max had his box opened.

"Baseball stuff!" the boy exclaimed happily, as he realized what was inside.

"Baseball stuff!" Sawyer echoed him, spreading his arms and thanking Rose in his mind.

"Cool!" Max said "Can we play?! I'll be Nomo! You can be Jose Canseco! Dad, please, can we play?!"

"Absolutely!"

"Yeah!"

Sawyer laughed and stroked his hair.

"Right after your party tonight, we'll do it!" he assured Max "You and me." he added, pinching his son's nose playfully, just the way Ana usually did it. "I just have to really concentrate on this right now."

And with that he turned to the desk again, carrying on with getting ready for his big announcement. Max's eyes saddened and he looked down, grabbed his present and slowly walked off.

There was a horn honking and Max smiled as he and Sawyer stood in front of the building Sawyer had his apartment in.

Ana and Jack exited the car and came over to them with smiles on their faces.

"Mommy!" Max shouted and ran over to Ana. She grinned and pulled him into a hug.

"Well hello there, little Cowboy! Happy birthday, baby!" The Latina said and the boy chuckled.

"Thanks, Mom!"

"Happy birthday!" Jack said, kneeling in front of him to be able to face him, as Sawyer and Ana were watching them. "One, two, three, four, five and one for good luck!" he said, giving him light punches in his chest with each word.

"He struck the child," Sawyer announced, glancing at Ana. "Did you see that?"

"Look at what Dad got me!" Max exclaimed happily, showing Jack his present.

"Whoa! Great!" Jack said, smiling from ear to ear. "Hey, I have my glove in the car." Sawyer rolled his eyes, "Maybe we can stop at the park on the way home and play catch. Then tonight we can rub oil in it and wrap a big rubber band around it, huh? It'll be great!"

Max nodded and Jack got up and began to lead him away.

"Hey, great gift, Dad!" Jack shouted to Sawyer over his shoulder.

"Thanks, Son!" The Southerner growled, raising his hand and watching them get into the car. "I'm so glad my gift could bring those two together. My plan to phase myself out is almost complete."

"Something's come up," Ana threw in, ignoring his last sentence. "And we need to talk. It's kind of important. Tonight, ok?"

"Tonight?" Sawyer frowned, thinking.

"Yeah..." she drawled, rolling her eyes. "Max's birthday party? Does that ring a bell?" She asked him ironically and he scoffed.

"Yup, sure. We'll talk tonight then."

She just nodded and walked away to the car.

"Maximus!" Sawyer yelled and the boy stuck his head out of the window. "I'm outta here!"

"Bye, Dad!" Max said, waving his hand.

"Hey, doc!" The Southerner added, apparently not being done yet. "Enjoy my wife!"

Ana turned to send him a cold glare, as she reached forwards to open the door. Sawyer just chuckled wickedly, raising his eyebrows with a crazy grin on his face, which soon turned into a grimace as he turned around and walked away back to the building.

A/N: Big thanks to Amy, who agreed to beta the 2nd chapter for me, exceptionally, because my Beta for this story has been away. Hope you liked it and I'll try to update as soon as I can. =)

In the next chapter, Max makes the wish!