Quick Note: I love the Ghost Bird series dearly . . . but I'm not a fan of swearing, so that won't be in this fic. I'll try to have the guys talk like themselves as much as possible other than that!

Mr. Blackbourne

Regret was a hard thing to bear. But hindsight was always 20/20. When Mr. Blackbourne proposed the plan to bring Miss Sorenson onto his team, he knew there was a concern of hero worship from her, of her wanting them because they'd saved her. And he'd known she'd never experienced anything else, never had any other type of romantic relationship. He also knew at least half his team had never had a serious girlfriend before Miss Sorenson.

He'd been wrong to rush them all into a relationship with her. Not because he felt like it was wrong and not because he felt that it wouldn't work. But because it wasn't fair to all those who hadn't experienced other types of dating, who didn't know what it was like to be in a one-on-one relationship. How could Miss Sorenson know she really wanted to be with nine men if she'd never been with just one? How could everyone on the team really understand if they would be satisfied sharing Miss Sorenson with eight other men if they didn't know what it was like to be with a woman where they were the only man she cared for romantically?

He was the head of this team. It was his job to make sure everyone was taken care of—which included making sure they understood every aspect possible of their major life decisions before they made a choice. This worry had been growing in the back of his mind for some time now. After some of the boys told him they were having discussions with Miss Sorenson about taking their relationships further, now that Miss Sorenson was eighteen, his worry had nearly grown to panic. He didn't want Miss Sorenson or any of the others to look around at other families one day and wish they'd made other decisions.

He wanted everyone to be sure—which meant experiencing what it was like to be in a one-on-one relationship. Or, at least, having the chance to experience it. He certainly wouldn't force such a thing on anyone.

And . . . his desire to push this, to at least provide the opportunity for everyone, might also be related to their latest mission. The Academy usually had them work at the local level, but multiple divisions of the Academy had started tracking major bribery corruption within members of congress and government going all the way up to a presidential candidate for that year's election. Due to that, several teams were working together to expose or remove these men and women from public office, hopefully before the election at the end of the year.

Miss Sorenson would certainly be useful for a job like that, especially with her ghost status. And the Academy would want her there. In fact, her being a member of his team might have been one of the many factors why they were approached for this job. But . . . the easiest way for Miss Sorenson to get information from their targets and their associates would be for her to get close to them, which often led Academy members into situations of sleeping with their targets. It was, of course, never required, but there would be some pressure for her to do so. Which was utterly unacceptable to him.

This job helped bring home for Mr. Blackbourne why Kota was so opposed to Miss Sorenson joining the Academy. She was just capable of so very much . . . but he didn't want her in situations where sleeping with someone outside the team even came up as a potential tactic for accomplishing their goals. Or for her to wind up in a situation where she wasn't sure how to get out of sleeping with someone who expected it due to how she'd drawn close to them.

He could have refused the job, but it was so perfect for his team in every other way, and he wanted them to do their part to help weed out this corruption. While corruption in government was, unfortunately, unavoidable, taking down a major operation like this would be a big blow and likely make other corrupt factions quiet for a bit due to a fear of being rooted out and exposed as well.

And his other concerns still stood and were still valid. He loved Miss Sorenson dearly and wanted to be with her, wanted her to stay with his whole team and for all of their family to always be together. But only he and Sean and a few others had really experienced what it was to have a close relationship with only one person. He wanted—needed—to make sure that this was truly what everyone wanted. So he planned for Miss Sorenson to join a year-long program that would help her figure out what she wanted to do with her life while he and the rest of the team went on this job. That would give everyone an opportunity to work out what they really wanted, and the year timeline felt perfect to him.

Mr. Blackbourne looked over at the sound of someone scuffing their feet on the rooftop of the townhome they all shared and found Sean coming his way, his hands buried in his pockets.

His mouth was pursed in a troubled expression as he looked out over the city before quietly asking, "Are you really sure about this, Owen? We've about reached the point where we can't back out of this." He gave an unhappy huff. "Honestly, I'm amazed at the amount of doubt you've managed to plant in so many of the guys about pursuing our plans with Sang right away. I really didn't think you'd be able to . . ."

He paused, missing Mr. Blackbourne's wince over Sean claiming he'd planted doubt rather than persuaded the boys to take precautions just to make sure everyone really knew what they wanted.

"But I've researched enough psychology studies to know better," Sean continued, his tone heavy. "Authority figures have more influence on people than anyone would like to believe, especially if they're respected. And our whole team looks up to you." He slid his eyes toward Mr. Blackbourne. "Some of them might even think you're infallible. That makes it hard for them to argue against you if they disagree with anything you say."

The edges of Mr. Blackbourne's lips tilted downward. The team was plenty willing to disagree with him. He'd had many discussions with all of them—mostly separately—about this year-long separation. "This is what's for the best."

"This is what you think is for the best," Sean corrected him. "That doesn't mean you're right."

"You haven't done much to stop me," Mr. Blackbourne snapped in a harsher tone than he'd meant to. He was still feeling guilty over the doubt comment. It made it sound like he'd manipulated everyone into agreeing with him.

Sean buried his face in his hands. "I love Sang. I adore her. And I love our team. I want to be with her and my brothers. I want the whole nine yards. Marriage, even if it's just a ceremony we decide on, a house with a yard for playing, kids."

He hesitated, slowly lowering his hands before speaking up in a reluctant tone. "But you're right that Sang was so incredibly innocent when we first met her. Her parents kept her so isolated, and she hasn't experienced anything romantic other than what's happened with us. I don't think she's affected by hero worship, like you're worried about, but as for if being with nine guys all at once is really what she wants . . ."

Sean gave a defeated sigh. "I'm worried she can't really know if that's what she truly wants for her life without experiencing anything else, and I don't want her to one day look around at normal married couples and wish she had that instead."

"So we're in agreement about my plan," Mr. Blackbourne pressed, needing Sean's support. Not just to make sure the rest of the team agreed, but for his own piece of mind. He'd never claimed this was a pleasant idea. He didn't want to be separated from Miss Sorenson for a year any more than any of the others did. But that didn't mean this wasn't necessary.

Sean gave another sigh, one with a reluctant tone before finally admitting, "Yes. We should act quickly, though. With the doubt some of the guys are having—for some of them because they're more worried that Sang needs to discover if this is truly what she wants rather than being worried about themselves, though some of the more inexperienced ones are starting to wonder if they'd prefer a one-on-one relationship—they're starting to pull back from Sang, and she knows something is off."

Mr. Blackbourne nodded his agreement. It had been a careful balancing act, working to get everyone on board with the plan without revealing too much at once. If he'd simply presented the plan in its entirety to begin with, he would have had a riot on his hands.

"As things stand with all this, when can we start?" Sean asked, his voice low. "Because the sooner we start this year, the sooner it ends."

"I've discussed the program with Miss Sorensen, and she seems interested, but I have yet to explain that the rest of the team will be gone—or that I would like her to take this year to explore if a polyandry relationship is truly what she wants." He didn't want to hurt her, and telling her that the rest of them were—temporarily—leaving would very much hurt her. But he hadn't figured out how to explain his concerns while also explaining that none of this impacted his feelings for her or his desire to be with her. Except he also didn't want to put pressure on her that she had to wait for the team.

Sean shook his head. "Is there any way to do this without devastating her? We're leaving her, Owen. And she's almost never been without at least one of us since the day she met Kota."

Which contributed to Mr. Blackbourne's fear of her suffering from hero worship, yet Sean still claimed he didn't see it as a possibility. "She's much stronger than she used to be, and she'll go along with it for the sake of the boys to make sure this is what they really want, even if she believes that she's certain."

"Yeah," Sean muttered, "because it's not at all manipulative to get Sang to do this for the guys' sake or the guys to do this for Sang's sake."

Mr. Blackbourne pretended not to hear those words, even if he'd arguably engaged in manipulative tactics in using some of the boys' concern and love for Sang to get them to agree with this, and planned to do something similar with her.

He never should have let things get this far. He should have pushed for them to have more one-on-one experiences with relationships first, and then brought Miss Sorenson in as he had. Except she'd been in no position to do anything of the sort when they'd found her, and each of them began falling for her almost before you could blink.

"There is one other issue besides still needing to explain more of the plan to Miss Sorenson," Mr. Blackbourne admitted. "I believe that I have just about everyone convinced to go along with this except for North."

"He always has been the most stubborn," Sean agreed, his tone unsympathetic. He hesitated before adding, "When will you talk to Sang?"

This time, it was Mr. Blackbourne's turn to sigh, though he hoped it didn't sound too despondent. "Tomorrow."