New Directions...
Ethan could not recall at time when he felt happier than he did the moment that Drew told him he had found a job. That was good enough in itself, but looking across the table at him as he said it, he saw the young man that he had known at Dalton for the first time in a long time; the same hopeful person that had joined him in travelling to England for college. It wasn't just the return of the familiar haircut, the reduction in the worry lines that had marked his brow, and the less haunted look in his eyes; it was the fact that he seemed to be glowing with health and vitality. It was the animation in his face and voice as he talked about his new job. It sounded like the perfect fit for the single father, and the fact that he would be working with people that he had known back in Oxford had to be another advantage; they would know what he had been through, thanks to all the rumours that had circulated after he had been forced to resign…
Evie was every bit as delighted for her daddy, as it made him smile wider than he had for a long time. When after dinner Drew posted on Facebook the words "Guess who just found himself a new job…", he found himself with several dozen likes in just a minute or so; given that he had posted it in good time, they included three from the trio in London, checking the page before midnight their time. It also triggered a knock at the door, Beats choosing to come down and hug him, showing his pleasure for his old friend face to face. He also came down with a message from Dante; his high school was next door to the kindergarten, and if he ever needed someone to take Evie to school, or bring her home at night, he would do it happily. The unexpected gesture had come from the young man without any prompting when he had heard Beats say Drew had found a job. The offer was accepted cautiously, although Drew hoped to tailor his working hours at the office to Evie's school day, but it was nice to know he had a back up plan.
Just as Drew was about to get Evie into her bed, his phone rang. Thad had decided to call up, and as he would likely be chatting to the Head Warbler for some time, Ethan offered to get Evie into bed instead. As he did so, Evie asked "Uncle Thad is a kind of a leader for you all, isn't he?"
"I guess that you could say that," Ethan replied. "He is good at keeping records of events, and has a great memory. He knows more now than the rest of us ever will. If you ask him though, he would not say that he was our leader; he would always say that in his eyes, the leader will always be Wes. You would have loved your Uncle Wes, and he would have loved you too."
"Is he dead, or has he just gone away?"
"He is in heaven; he must be an angel by now, because he was so good and kind," Ethan replied with caution. "Thad was Wes' boyfriend, and because Wes knew he was going to die, he left us a letter, in which he made it plain that Thad was to take over. We let him without question, because it also gives him something to do instead of just grieving for his loss. He is good at it; he was there for me when I was most sad about your daddy being away and being hurt, and he is there for your daddy now."
"He is a good person too then, if he does all that for other people when he must feel so sad inside," said Evie, before she yawned and closed her eyes. Ethan could only nod in full agreement…
David had also considered heading along the street when he had heard the news, but in the end he decided against it. He was tired after a busy day at the UN, a place he had settled into with ease; he could see why Nick liked working there so much. There was an atmosphere of friendliness amongst the staff at even the most formal of events, and the team that he was now working within had come to New York from all over the globe. There was none of the resentment that he had feared existing, being the new guy that had been seconded in from elsewhere, something he had experienced during a fortnight at Harvard last year. His working hours were strictly regulated, and he had even been threatened with removal by the security team by his immediate boss on his first day, when he had gone half an hour over his scheduled finishing time as he tried to finish a task. As a result, he was able to spend much more time at home with his wife and son.
It was the latter that helped keep him at home that night. He was in the teething stage, and although Mercedes had told him to go and see Drew, he had refused, noting how tired she looked after a day of childcare, whilst trying to finish writing the lyrics for the last of her new songs. He was more than happy to sit with Simon whilst she did some work in peace, shut away in the comforts of Nick's study. He was aware however that they would soon need to find someone to help them with taking care of his son. Mercedes would soon be in the studio, laying down the tracks for her new album, and he would be at work at the same time. There was a crèche facility at the UN, but both he and his wife thought Simon was a little too young for that yet. They had turned to Isabelle, and she had supplied them with the name of an agency that she knew. They were going to have to start interviewing for someone soon, but for now, David was more than happy to relax and enjoy fatherhood.
Across town in Murray Hill, another person was deep in thought, contemplating the future direction of their life. Their college days were over now, but the job that they aspired to was proving all too illusive. Roderick had come top of his class in English and Journalism, but finding at post even in one of the more minor news agencies seemed impossible. His resume was out there, and he had been submitting articles as a freelancer; they had been highly praised, and published, but a post on staff just wasn't out there, or so it would seem. He had begun to question whether he had made the right career choice; he had spent the evening looking online at available courses in a new field - nursing and child care. Helping to deliver the now boisterous twins upstairs had been a wonderful moment, and he was starting to wonder if that was the field he should have entered all the more seriously. He didn't know if he could hack it day in, day out though, and he come to realise that only a bit of practical experience would resolve that question. Fortunately, there was someone that he could ask about the work, and they weren't too far away…
The following day saw Roderick up early as usual. He checked his e-mails, but there were still no replies to the job applications that he had sent in to a plethora of organisations. He had discovered early on that the newspapers still sent out their responses during the night, as that was when they were hardest at work getting the next day's issue ready. He then checked for open invitations for submissions from the same companies, and made a note of a couple of things that interested him, and on which he could easily prepare something. That done, he had breakfast, then headed upstairs, hoping that it would be the man he wanted to see that came to answer the front door. Sure enough, it was Nils that answered the front door, and after greeting him warmly, made to call for Cooper.
"Actually Nils, it is you that I wanted to speak to. Do you have a few minutes to chat to me about what your job actually entails? Okay, so that could have been better phrased; I am considering making a career change and going into the world of childcare myself, given that journalism seems to be a bit of a dead end right now, and well, I kind of thought that you might be my best source of advice."
Nils smiled and ushered him in, walking him through to the kitchen. "Well, if you are really sure that is what you wish to do… To be honest, the job is not as simple as some people think. I love Devon and Lily, but you cannot take your eyes off them for more than a few seconds. Then there is the fact that there are still a lot of people out there that think that a man shouldn't be doing my job. When I told my family that this kind of work was what I wished to do, my father saw it as a betrayal, as it meant that I was not going to be entering the family business, as he had always planned. I am his only son, and it was just expected of me; he felt that what I am doing now was no job for a man. Even once I was at school, taking the courses for my qualifications, I felt that there was opposition from some of my professors and tutors. We may hear about equality, but it isn't always there. When the Hummel-Warblers hired me it felt like a miracle, given how many rejections I had had before. What I am saying is that my line of work will not be any easier to obtain than a journalist's role." Nils paused, and looked at Roderick, then continued, "The easiest way to see if you can handle the role is to ask around and see if anyone needs a sitter first; one night on your own looking after kids can change your whole mind about doing this as a career, trust me. Then maybe, if Cooper and Grace approve, you can spend a day or two with me."
Roderick thanked him, and as he had always believed in striking whilst the iron was hot, he headed up to see Cooper, who was enjoying some dad time with his kids before he headed off to work. Roderick sat down and explained all of his thoughts, and Cooper listened. He had no issue with him spending a day helping Nils, and then he made a suggestion as to who he could potentially ask if he could babysit.
"As you know, David and Mercedes have moved to town for a while, and have jobs that will keep them busy. Just now Mercedes is able to stay at home with their son, but soon enough she will be in the studio, and that will mean that they will probably need a sitter during the day whilst David is at his work too. You have always got on well with both of them, and I am sure that they would both prefer to have someone that they know and trust looking after Simon whilst he is so young."
"I guess that they would be a good couple to ask. I mean, I was thinking of asking Kitty and Artie too…"
"And there are occasions when Nils wants a night off when we are both busy, and you would make an excellent choice for us if my mom was busy. I am just sorry that all of the plans that you had for your future aren't working out for you."
"That's life I guess; I mean, I can still write freelance, but it doesn't have a reliable income. Doing this would give me a source of cash to get through life. I don't want to use up all my savings just paying my rent and eating."
"Well, if a month does come along when you are really struggling to make ends meet, don't worry about paying the rent. I am lucky enough not to be reliant on the money from you to pay my bills, so you can always pay me later," said Cooper, who knew better than to suggest Roderick just not pay at all, as the young man had his pride.
"I hope that it doesn't come to that," he replied.
"Well, if it does, it is okay. As I have said before, you and Mason are like family to me, and I believe in taking care of my family…"
Roderick returned home to write a submission for one of the articles that he had seen that morning; a piece defending the Democrats' proposals to reduce the cost of college tuition for all, and to relieve the debt of those that had already paid those eye-watering sums. He was lucky in that he had incurred so little in the way of extra costs, and that his parents had scrimped and saved for years to cover his tuition. He knew that there were many others that were not so fortunate as himself and his closest friends.
He had the example of Beats of course, who when he had been left in a financial hole, had turned to a role in the adult entertainment industry to make ends meet; he also knew that even with the money from Dalton and the inheritance from Wes, Colin, Edward and Skylar were almost broke, and without their part time jobs, they would be in debt. He had friends from college that he knew had amassed six figure debts that they would spend the rest of their lives paying off. With all that in his mind, the words flew from his fingers, scathing at all of those that felt that they should do nothing about the situation. His task done, he checked it over, then ran through it again before he sent it off, fingers crossed that he would be the lucky person that gained publication…
As he walked to the theatre for work that lunchtime, Cooper quite literally bumped into Isabelle on Fifth Avenue. Although the offices of Vogue were now down at the new World Trade Center, most of the stores and designers that she had to liase with were still up in midtown, which meant that she regularly had to head north for meetings. Having got over the abruptness of their meeting, they began to chat, as they were both headed in the same direction, and as it so often does with parents, the topic of their conversation quickly turned to their children. As both of them had spare time, they decided to get a coffee, and have a catch up.
"I still wonder every day how some mothers manage to work, have two kids, and get no help," Isabelle admitted as they sat down. "Don't get me wrong, Julian is a wonderful father, very hands on like you, but if we didn't have someone in to help neither of us would be able to do the jobs that we do."
"I have to agree with you there. Grace and I do have a slight advantage in that we work such different hours, but if we didn't have Nils around, it would be a struggle to cope with my matinees, and the days Grace is in court. Good help however is very hard to find, even in this city."
"Don't I know it! Even the best agencies are struggling to find people now. I said as much to Mercedes only this morning. She is getting ready to head into the studio to lay down the tracks for her new album, and with David being at the UN all day, she needs someone reliable and trustworthy to take care of Simon. I gave her my usual go to number, but they have a huge waiting list, and even the name Mercedes Jones won't help her get to the top of it."
Cooper nodded, but his thoughts had turned entirely to his young tenant. Yes, Roderick lacked all the formal qualifications that people seemed to demand these days, but he had one major advantage; the two parents both knew him. He resolved to call Mercedes when he arrived at work, and just put Roderick's name into the mix. He could easily look after Simon and still have time to do his writing. David's hours at the UN would also give him a very comfortable length of working week. He said nothing of his thoughts to Isabelle, just moved their conversation on to the latest Broadway rumours, including the fact that he had heard that a revival of Anything Goes was in the works. In return, she told him that a little bird had told her that Jesse St James was facing a problem with his Bronte musical, namely that it needed a whole new choreography for its new home…
Cooper arrived at the theatre in good time as always, and went to say hello to Sam first, who had beaten him in thanks to his coffee detour. He looked a little stressed, and Cooper surmised that it might be down to the fact that his wife was stressed about the problems with Jesse's show. "I came in early today to get a little me time," Sam admitted. "Barbra is teething, and as for Rachel… well she is being very Rachel about some choreography issues with her new show. On top of that, Stacey is fighting with her boyfriend, and well, family life is hard going sometimes!"
"Trust me, I know all about that. So I heard that there were choreography issues, but that Jesse had been talking to a few people. Have they all turned him down?"
"Yeah, and don't repeat this," began Sam, before looking around to see no-one was in earshot, "one of them told me it is all apparently because, during the preparation for Funny Girl, Rachel might have said something bordering on the offensive to one of their number… Fortunately he did not tell her that, or my life would be even worse. It would explain why nobody is willing to touch the show…"
"Well, that is going to be a big hurdle to overcome; I guess that his two options are asking Rachel to apologise publicly…"
"Like that is ever going to happen," said Sam, which made Cooper laugh.
"True, so that only leaves option two; find someone that had no experience of choreographing a Broadway show to do just that."
"Jesse did say the same, but he added a third option; however he quite likes being alive, so firing Rachel is another no no."
"I think that the entirety of New York can be grateful that he has taken that decision. It's a pity that Mike couldn't do it, but he has his own job to do, and the City Ballet might not take too kindly to him moonlighting," continued Cooper. He glanced at his watch, then said "I had best go and get started."
As he headed off to his own dressing room, Sam was left with a new thought in his head. Had Mike Chang even been considered as a possible option? He might just have to speak to him quietly, and see if he would even consider taking on the task. If he did it that way, then he could say no; if he spoke to Rachel first, and he did after that, then his life would not be worth living…
In the room next door, Cooper quickly checked his mail and messages, then made the call to Mercedes. She greeted him warmly, and they engaged in the usual round of chat for a moment or two, before he came to the point. "So I was talking to Isabelle today, and she told me that you were looking for someone to help out with Simon…"
"Yes, we are, but the agency were not very encouraging. They didn't seem to think they would find anyone in the time frame we need them in."
"Well, I might be able to offer a solution to your problem…"
"Yes, we will happily borrow Nils from you," said Mercedes with a laugh, "although you had better ask Grace first, because I think she might want to kill you."
"First off, Nils is ours, so hands off! No, I was talking about someone else; someone that came to ask Nils this morning for advice about how they could get into a career in childcare. Someone that is considering a career change, possibly into nursing. Now he doesn't have all the fancy qualifications, but he has babysat for me and Grace, and he is the most lovable guy that you could ever wish to meet. In the short term, Roderick might just be the answer to all of your problems…"
"Roderick?" said Mercedes with a hint of doubt in her voice. "I guess that he is a lovely guy, but I don't picture him as a full time nanny in the long run."
"Maybe not, but he is honestly in a rut career wise right now; he is the kind of guy that should have found a position easily enough, given that he achieved the highest grades of his year at college, but the plain fact is that the news media is not hiring right now and he is looking at all of his options. He is good with kids, and I know that from watching him with mine. He is also available right away…" replied Cooper. "Of course, we aren't actually having this conversation, but if we were I might suggest that you give him a try. You might just happen to need an emergency sitter, and he might be the only person available."
Mercedes laughed at that, and said, "I doubt somehow that he would fall for that, because he is a pretty smart guy. However, I do happen to have a meeting tomorrow whilst David is at work; he has offered to take Simon with him and leave him at the crèche at the UN if he can't manage himself. I am not keen on that idea at all, given how young Simon still is, but it seemed like the only choice. I don't want to be one of those celebrity mothers that just drops their kids off somewhere either… So I guess that I can have a chat with David and see how he feels about asking Roderick to help us out, just as a one off for now. It will only need him to sit with Simon for a couple of hours at most. I will also mention that he was suggested by you, because otherwise he will wonder who gave me his name."
"I guess that does make sense, so no problem. Thanks for thinking about it, it will really help perk him up. Anyway, I have to go, but I am sure that you will let me know how everything pans out." Cooper ended the call, and crossed his fingers that he might actually just have done something that would benefit his tenant in the long run…
The next morning saw Roderick heading down to the West Village for 10.30am. He had been surprised when the phone call had come; coming from a different generation of the New Directions, he had only had limited contact with Mercedes, and even less with her husband. That Cooper had been involved did explain things, and at first he had not been all that happy about the fact that he had been discussing his life with her without his permission. He had calmed down quickly though, and had agreed to coming down to sit with Simon whilst she went to her meeting, as it would fill up the space in what was promising to be another dull and empty day. After all, he had received no feedback on the articles that he had submitted the previous day, and once again there were no new jobs advertised in the kind of role he wanted.
He arrived in good time, smartly turned out and ready to handle pretty much anything. Mercedes did look happy to see him, and insisted that they sit down for coffee and a chat first, which he had been expecting to happen if he was honest. Simon was of course in the room, and she made introductions; she was pleased to see that the two of them seemed to take an instant liking to each other. She had been concerned that her son might not take to Roderick, and she would never leave him with someone that he did not like… She watched with a smile as Roderick took Simon into his arms and held him, paying attention to him whilst still talking to her; it transpired he had a lot of older cousins, and he had often found himself taking care of their offspring at family gatherings…
Then it was time for Mercedes to go. She repeated all her instructions again, making sure that he had her phone number. She warned him once again that Simon was well developed for his age, and could crawl quite quickly, and had recently started to haul himself up on his feet using the furniture, and she was always concerned he would hurt himself when he fell back… Roderick nodded, and then saw Mercedes to the door, Simon in his arms. There was a slight look of concern on Simon's face as his mom left and he was left alone with a stranger, and for a moment Roderick expected tears, followed by Mercedes coming back in. However they did not come, and once they were back in the kitchen, and Simon was back with his toys, with Roderick down at his level, singing softly to him, a smile returned to his face. He was soon sharing his toys with Roderick, and they were playing together…
The day flew by for Roderick after that. He managed a nappy change with no problem not long after Mercedes left, and then saw that he got a good lunch, as left by his mom. He remembered Mercedes' instructions about nap time, and was gratified when Simon fell asleep almost as soon as his head touched the pillow. Roderick then took the chance to grab some lunch himself, then cleaned the dishes. As Simon was still asleep, he quickly tidied around the kitchen, finding a cloth and duster and leaving everything spick and span. Then he recalled that Mercedes had plans to be back in time to cook dinner; a beef and vegetable stew from a recipe given to her by David's mother. He saw that recipe pinned on the bulletin board, and he decided it would do no harm to prepare the vegetables to save her time. Having done that, with his young charge still asleep, he opened the fridge to find the beef inside, waiting to be cut up into appropriately sized chunks, so he did that too. As he finished, he suddenly wondered if he had overstepped the mark, but it was too late now, and in any case, his young charge was stirring…
Once Simon was back up, and had been given a drink and a snack, Roderick wondered what to do next. He looked in the toy box, and discovered a box of paints; as he held them up, his young charge made such a happy noise that he knew they had to be used. He decided to show the young man the fine art of potato printing. He prepared some chunks of potato, and then he and Simon had great fun in placing the vegetable into the paint and making marks on the paper. The process was simple, made Simon very happy, and had the same effect on Roderick. He made sure that no mess was left, and that Simon stayed clean for the return of his parents later. Sure, he had ended up with a splodge of red paint on his shirt, but he had wiped off the worst as Simon giggled, and now that he was putting everything away, he could put his jumper back on over the top of it so no-one need know he had made a little error at the start. He wasn't worried about it himself anyway; it would wash out, and he had enjoyed the afternoon immensely in any case.
Mercedes had been expecting that her meeting would last until 3.30pm, but in the end it dragged on, and it was much closer to 5pm by the time that she got away. Roderick had told her that she did not need to hurry back, as he had no plans for the day in any case, but she still felt bad that she had left him for so long, and had not even had the opportunity to call him and let him know that she was going to be late. When she did get out, she was tempted to hail a cab, or even just jump into the town car that she had been offered, but it was now the start of the evening rush hour, and the roads of the city would be extremely congested as a result. Instead she donned her dark glasses and headed in the direction of the subway, where she would go unnoticed amongst the throngs of people trying to get home before the worst of the crush loadings began around 5.30pm.
Like most savvy people, she had quickly learned which car to board to be closest to her exit in the West Village. She was also not in the least surprised when the man that dashed on to the train at Times Square just as the doors were closing happened to be her husband, having just run from the shuttle train to Grand Central. He did not notice her at first as he got his breath back, but on spotting her, he managed to move through the other people standing to be at her side, and take her hand discretely. They did not speak, both of them just content to be together as they headed homeward. It took no time to reach the station at 14th Street, and soon they were out in the street, where amongst the noise of the city traffic, they managed to speak.
"Well that was a pleasant surprise; normally at this time of night I find myself jammed up against someone unattractive in both looks and smell, but tonight I ended up with the most attractive woman in the whole of New York City," said David, which make Mercedes shake her head but smile nonetheless.
"If my meeting hadn't overrun, you would have been; I was intending to be home over an hour ago. I didn't even get the chance to call poor Roderick and tell him that I was going to be much later than I had said."
"I am sure that he will have managed."
"So am I, but I still feel uneasy about leaving Simon with someone that is still a virtual stranger to us. I mean, we aren't that close to him. I didn't even check my phone to see if there were any messages," she continued, and went to pull it out.
David stopped her, and then with a smile said, "Well I didn't get any from him, and knowing that you were in an important meeting, he would probably have called me first in any case." Mercedes had to concede that he had a point, and so she left her phone where it was, and walked on, soon reaching the corner of their street. "Right, so I don't smell smoke, or see flames. I don't here any sirens. So at least we know that he hasn't burnt the house down, or had to dial 911 for any other reason," David joked. Mercedes shook her head at him, and hurried on to the front door of their temporary home, looking out the keys as she walked.
The first thing that she noticed as she stepped through the front door was the smell that was now wafting through the house from the kitchen. She paused as David came in behind her and closed the door. He too sniffed the air, and smiled at the smell. "Well, he had the sense to put the casserole that you had prepared into the oven to cook," he said as he hung up his coat.
"That's just it; I didn't leave a casserole ready to cook. I told him that I was planning on making your mother's recipe for beef and vegetable stew when I arrived home, and even showed him where the recipe was… Has he done what I think he has?"
"If you are thinking that he saw the time, realised you were caught up in your meeting and were going to be late, and so decided to prepare dinner for us, then I think you might well be right," replied David.
Mercedes looked worried at the idea. "I honestly don't know what to think about that. I mean, it was good of him to think about it, but at the same time I hope that he hasn't made a complete mess of Nick's kitchen."
"Well, there is only one way to find out, my love," said David. He took his wife's coat from her, hung it up, then lead the way down into the kitchen. As it happened, all of Mercedes' fears were groundless and instantly dispelled; the place was spotless. The table had been set for two, and whilst the stew was cooking away nicely in the oven, Roderick was sitting on the sofa with a very contented Simon in his arms, pulling faces, which was much to the amusement of their son.
Roderick looked up, and started just a little at seeing them there. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in. I was too engrossed in making up my story to hear the door open…" He then realised that he had some explaining to do. "When you didn't come home on time, I waited a little bit, and then I checked the stew recipe. I had already chopped up the meat and prepared the vegetables for you whilst Simon was sleeping, just to save you time, and now time was getting on, and it didn't seem too complicated a recipe, and so I just decided to go ahead and make it for you. I know it was overstepping, but I didn't want to have you coming home and getting dinner late, when I could do something to help. If it wasn't okay then I will pay for the ingredients…"
"It smells perfect," said David with a grin, hoping it would calm down the younger man. "I guess however that the proof will be in the eating."
"Well, it should be about ready now, according to the recipe," replied Roderick. "once again, I am sorry if I have overstepped in doing it."
Mercedes smiled at him, and said, "You did, but it is more than okay. It was very kind of you to even think of doing it when all we asked you to do was sit with Simon. I can also see that you have tidied the place up, which is not a problem either. Now, seeing as you have cooked it for us, it would be wrong of us not to insist that you stay and enjoy it with us."
"Agreed," said David, and neither accepted a word of excuse otherwise from Roderick. As she set a third spot at the table, David took his son from the younger man. He glanced across at his wife, and the look that she gave him made him sure that she felt the same way as him; Roderick was the answer to their sitter problem…