Chapter Eleven:
Meeting the Parents

FLASHBACK
SEPTEMBER 1985

"I see you through the smokey air. Can't you feel the weight of my stare? You're so close but still a world away. What I'm dying to say is that I'm crazy for you. Touch me once and you'll know it's true I never wanted anyone like this, it's all brand new-"

Mic reached out, quickly turning the dial down on the radio, silencing Madonna. Gillian, looked over at him from the mirror in the sun visor, where she had been applying a fresh layer of lipstick.

"Why did you turn it off?" she asked, her red lips turning down into a frown. "I love that song."

"Don't you think we should be heading in?" Mic craned his neck to try and see inside the Arthur household, trying to gauge what he would be met with on the inside by the appearance of the inside. The lights were on on the first floor, and some of the bedroom lights were on, but Mic couldn't see anyone.

Gillian shrugged. "I told them we'd be there at seven, it's sixt-fifty."

"I know," Mic reached up to tug at the tie around his neck - he knew he'd tied it too tight before they'd left his place. "I just want to make a good impression."

He glanced into the back seat, where Gillian had tossed her jacket and where Mic had delicately placed the bouquet he'd bought as a housewarming/please-let-me-date-your daughter/sister-gift. Tonight he was just meeting Gillian's mother and sisters, something that oddly intimidated him more than meeting Gillian's father, which would be happening a couple of days later.

Mic reached into the backseat and picked up the bouquet, trying to suppress thoughts of what he and Gillian had been doing in the back seat the night before.

"Are you sure they'll like me?" he turned to look at Gillian, the strong scent of the lilies mixing with the stronger scent of Gillian's hairspray.

Gillian paused, closing the tube of her lipstick and looking at Mic for a few moments. "Ummm…" she bit her lip. "I think it's possible that you all might need some time to warm up to each other, but I think you'll all get along fine."

Mic frowned. "How long will it take?"

"What?"

"How long will it take for us to warm up to each other?"

"Ummm…not long, surely," Gillian leaned over, placing a kiss on Mic's cheek. "It'll be fine love, don't worry."

Mic looked at his reflection in the rearview mirror, his frown deepening when he noticed the giant print of red lips on his cheek from Gillian.

"This'll make a great first impression," he said dryly, pointing to the mark.

Gillian shrugged as she opened the passenger side door, "At least they'll know I really like you," she replied with a wink. "You can wash it off in the bathroom once we get inside."

PRESENT DAY

0945 LOCAL

BRUMBY-ARTHUR RESIDENCE

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

For the Brumby residence being as large as it was, AJ wasn't expecting it to be so quiet. He knew things were different with only children, but he still wasn't expecting an eerily silent house as he padded down the stairs to the kitchen. Keeping in mind Ellie's coffee order she'd murmured to him from underneath the covers and Gillian's insistence from the night before that he make himself at home, AJ tried his best to act like he wasn't doing something illegal.

Even as he and his siblings got older, there was always something going on in the Roberts household, some kind of noise or activity. But in the Brumby household, at nearly ten o'clock that Saturday morning, things were dead silent. Everything was also almost a museum-level pristine, with the only evidence that anyone lived in the house being the shoes on the rack at the doorway, jackets draped over the backs of some chairs, and the fact that the throw blankets on the huge sectional sofa in the living room were unfolded.

And the furniture. All of the furniture was white - except for the kitchen appliances, which were stainless steel. Until he'd stepped foot in the Brumby household, AJ thought all-white furniture was something that only existed in movies and reality-tv shows. Even when his mom had started to make some good money from writing and they'd been able to have the house redone, the two rules had been nothing white and nothing that you couldn't get stains out of easily.

AJ felt like walking on tip-toe around this house. He was even afraid to touch the Keurig, which probably worked the same as any other Keruig. As he stared up at the white cabinets, trying to figure out where the mugs might be, he felt like a stranger in a very strange land.

The night before he sat with Ellie and her parents in the Very White Living room on the Very White Sectional and tried his best to relax as they watched TV. This was difficult on its own, but they were also drinking Red Wine on the Very White Sectional, and while AJ was grateful for the alcohol to calm his nerves, he also felt like he was detonating a bomb every time he picked up his class from the coaster on the coffee table.

"Could you relax?" Ellie murmured into his ear during one the commercial breaks. "I've known both of my parents for a very long time and can confirm they don't bite."

"I'm trying," AJ replied through gritted teeth. "Drinking red wine on this couch is kind of stressful."

"Don't worry about it," Ellie said.

AJ's eyebrows shot up. "Don't worry about it?" he asked. "How much does it cost to get a stain out of this couch?"

Ellie shrugged. "We get the furniture replaced like every three years, it's not that big of a deal."

"That often?"

Ellie gave him a strange look. "You don't?"

AJ sat back on the couch, jolting a little when he felt the wine glass shift in his glance. He tried his best to ignore the fact that he was sitting on a couch that was less than three years old, and the fact that he had probably never sat on a couch that young before.

Even though they hadn't talked about money yet, because who would bring up a topic as fickle as money after only a couple months of dating, but AJ inferred rather quickly after getting to know her that Ellie had money - not just money, but money. This wasn't something that bothered him, until he suddenly found himself in Ellie's home and found that it did bother him. While the wine and the night time did help to assuage some of AJ's worries, seeing everything in the white, stainless steel stark light of day made everything more apparent as AJ opened the cabinets, looking for the coffee mugs.

Mom's parents were loaded and she still ended up marrying Dad, he tried to rationalize to himself, Maybe this can work.

Mic slept pretty well considering he had the knowledge that there was a man sleeping in his daughter's bed last night - granted it was a man he knew, but it was still a strange situation. None of Ellie's previous boyfriends (at least to Mic's knowledge) had ever had a sleepover under the Brumby roof before, and that was something he'd liked.

The night before, they were sitting on the couch watching some true crime documentary Mic was pretty sure he'd seen before but didn't want to be contrarian and insist they watch something else. The red wine should've helped put him at ease, but something very important kept nagging at him.

During one of the commercial breaks, he leaned over to whisper in Gilian's ear.

"The guest room."

She jumped. "What about the guest room?"

"Did you get the sheets changed?"

Gillian looked at Mic like he had three heads. "Why would I get the sheets changed in the guest room?"

Mic nodded over Gillian's shoulder to AJ, who looked to be very involved in conversation with Ellie - Mic wondered what they were talking about. "Well then where is he going to sleep?"

Taking a moment to inhale deeply, Gillian took Mic's hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. "With Ellie dear, because I am not naive enough to believe that they haven't shared a bed before, and you shouldn't be either."

The next morning, when Gillian turned over in bed and poked Mic's leg with her foot, Mic was already wide awake.

"Love, could you make me a cup of coffee and bring it to me?"

Mic looked down at her. "You know the novelty is really lost on romantic gestures when you ask for them."

"I never said anything about romance," Gillian said as she poked her head out from underneath the covers, lifting her sleeping mask off her eyes. "I said I wanted coffee. There's a difference. I figured you weren't going back to sleep, anyway."

As Mic rolled out of bed and left the bedroom, he immediately sensed that something was off. Someone else was awake. This was strange, considering Mic was traditionally the only early riser in the household - Gillian and Ellie were perpetually in search of how long they could stretch their beauty sleep.

Then Mic remembered a certain house guest, shocked that he could have forgotten him in the first place.

It became evident about five minutes after meeting him that AJ was an exact, odd combination of both of his parents. He had Bud's endearing awkwardness and constant need to be useful and Harriet's desire to always have all the ducks in a row - Mic was once again wondering what Ellie, who was endearingly graceful, enjoyed when no one asked anything of her and had no desire to have her ducks in a row as long as they were in a shape that worked for her, saw in him. It was strange. Maybe there was some astrological explanation for it, but the only thing Mic knew about astrology was that apparently he and Gilian weren't compatible in the slightest, and yet here they were.

When Mic entered the kitchen, the first thing he noticed were the cabinets. All of them were flung open in a desperate attempt to find…something? The second thing he noticed was AJ standing there in the middle of the kitchen and the open cabinets, looking completely and utterly lost.

When AJ turned around to see Ellie's father standing in the kitchen entryway, he became acutely aware of two things: he'd managed to open every cabinet in the kitchen in a span of two minutes, and he didn't have a shirt on.

"Need help finding something?" Mic asked, raising an eyebrow.

Feeling his face grow hot, AJ looked back at the cabinets and then back at Mic. He crossed his arms over his chest. "Uh, yeah," he replied sheepishly. "Ellie wanted some coffee so I was uh…trying to find the mugs."

Mic chuckled as he walked into the kitchen. "Did Ellie tell you to make her a cup of coffee and bring it back up to her?"

"Uh, no - I offered. I thought it would be nice."

AJ noticed Mic's smirk dim as he opened the dishwasher, and he wondered if he'd somehow managed to say the wrong thing.

"All of the mugs were dirty, here they are," Mic presented a small collection of mugs from the dishwasher. He turned to look at AJ. "Are all of your shirts dirty as well?"

"Oh -" AJ's eyes widened. "No, they're uh, clean it's just that-"

AJ was cut off by the sound of another pair of footsteps entering the kitchen. He looked up to see Ellie shuffling in, her curls tied into a bun on top of her head, wearing AJ's Star Wars t-shirt that he'd worn to bed the night before.

"There!" AJ announced, pointing to Ellie. "There's my shirt."

Ellie gave AJ a strange look as she walked between him and Mic to grab her mug from the lineup - one that she'd apparently purchased in Las Vegas, if the design was any indicator. "Good morning to you, too."

"I was just explaining to Mic - your dad where my shirt was."

Ellie's glance flicked over to Mic. "Right…" She turned back to AJ. "Glad to see you guys are getting along ... .or talking, at least."

She sat her mug down under the Keurig and turned around to face the two of them. "Why are you both looking at me like that?" she asked. "Oh my god -" she huffed, lifting up the hem of the shirt to show a pair of black shorts underneath. "I'm wearing pants, okay? Stop being so weird."

"I wasn't being weird," AJ replied quickly.

Mic shrugged as he leaned against the counter. "I'm fine," he briefly glanced over at AJ.

Ellie sighed. "Whatever you say."

1230 EST

JAG HEADQUARTERS

FALLS CHURCH, VIRGINIA

When Petty Officer Finn Gregory got appointed to be Admiral Rabb's yeoman six months ago, he was more than a little intimidated. Harmon Rabb Jr had a reputation that preceded him and stories from his Naval career had made their way through the grapevine, all the way to Finn's classes at Annapolis. Thankfully though, the Admiral didn't seem to be nearly as much of a hard ass as Finn was worried he'd be.

"Petty Officer, where's that coffee I asked for?"

Well, most of the time.

Finn looked up from the stack of budgeting paperwork he was trying to organize into a neat pile - the task the Admiral had asked him to do right before asking for a cup of coffee from the breakroom.

"Oh, right sir -" Finn looked from the pile of papers to the Admiral, not quite sure what to do, but positive he had done something wrong. "I was going to get it to you right after I finished stacking all of these papers - it's -" he looked down at the stack of papers again. "Not going well."

The Admiral raised an eyebrow. "I have a phone call with the SecNav-"

"I'll have everything done by the phone call sir, I promise-"

"The phone call is right now, Gregory," the Admiral snapped. "I needed the paperwork and coffee five minutes ago."

"Oh!" Finn began to scramble to gather up the stack of papers into a neat stack - in the process he dropped most of the stack on his desk, papers scattered everywhere.

"I'll handle the papers, Petty Officer," the Admiral said with a heavy sigh. "You just focus on the coffee - hopefully you won't mess that up."

"I will, sir - I won't, sir. I promise."

Leaving Admiral Rabb to deal with the mess of papers on the desk and floor, Finn rushed off the breakroom to the coffee machine that looked like it had been there for at least ten years - apparently it was very low on the JAG budget to get an updated coffee machine. Finn's time working as a barista in high school paid off in this one respect: the Admiral complained about a lot of things, but he never complained about the coffee Finn made, except when it was late.

After walking in and trying to deliver the Admiral's coffee as silently as possible, Finn exited the Admiral's office to find someone sitting at his desk. She was wearing a baggy pair of linen pants and a black tank top that showed off her tattoos. Her long brown hair was tied into a ponytail on top of her head - she looked as good as she always did whenever Finn saw her.

She smiled. "Hey Finn."

He paused. "Oh - Hey Clara, what are you doing here?"

Something that made Admiral Rabb even more intimidating than he would've been under normal circumstances was the fact that Finn had a crush on his daughter. Finn really wasn't sure what it was, actually. Calling it a crush seemed oddly juvenile, but there was no other word to really describe how he got even more awkward than he usually was on the occasions she showed up to the JAG office.

Finn was determined to keep his feelings to himself, though. It wasn't the age difference because he was only a little over two years older than Clara, or the fact that Clara wasn't his type because she definitely was. The Admiral's daughter had to be off limits, especially when you were the Admiral's yeoman.

It was a weird reversal of how things usually went when Finn was interested in a girl - usually he met the girl first, not the girls' parents.

Clara shrugged. "I didn't have class today and I don't have work until six, figured I'd come here to study."

"Right, you have your developmental psych exam on Monday."

Clara's eyes brightened. "You remembered?"

Finn shrugged. "You told me the last time you were here, it wasn't that long ago."

"It was two weeks ago."

"Oh," Finn paused, trying to ignore how his face began to feel warm. "Right," he smoothed his hands over his uniform, which was already slightly wrinkled from spending the whole morning running around the office. "Well I'm sorry but you can't study at my desk. Your dad - the Admiral has a lot of stuff for me to do and I can't work in the breakroom again-"

"I was actually going to study in my dad's office this time. Is he free?"

"He's on the phone with the SecNav right now."

Clara raised an eyebrow, a gesture that reminded Finn a little too much of her father. "Do you know when he'll be done?"

Finn shrugged. "Sometime today, hopefully."

Clara looked around at Finn's desk - more accurately at the disheveled state of it. "Well…" she paused, looking up at Finn with the most beautiful pair of blue eyes he'd ever seen. He avoided eye contact with the Admiral often enough that he didn't associate the two of them with having the same eye color.

"Can I sit here and study until he's done?"

"Yeah sure, just grab Commander Wright's chair from her office - she's TAD right now."

Finn and Clara sat next to each other in silence for a little while, Clara too engrossed in her textbook to even care that Finn was in the same vicinity as her, and Finn too engrossed in the fact that Clara was sitting beside him to concentrate on the sticky notes of things he had to do. The list went as follows:

Buy Mac's birthday present, buy Mac's mother's day present, buy AJ's birthday present, start looking for Adam's birthday present, make sure I have no meetings the week I'm on vacation, reschedule any meetings I have the week I'm on vacation, look at restaurants for anniversary, look at anniversary presents-

This sticky note list wasn't written by Finn, but written by the Admiral and pasted on the screen of Finn's desktop - the biggest two hints to this were that Finn would never call Colonel Mackenzie anything other than Colonel Mackenzie and he had no vacations planned for the foreseeable future. Finn got a new set of lists similar to this one every week or so. The only thing crossed off on this list so far was Mac's birthday present, because her birthday was today.

Finn looked over to Clara. "Do you have anything for your Mom's birthday today?"

Clara looked up from her textbook and shook her head. "No, but we're having a party tomorrow at the Admiral's house."

Finn's brow furrowed in confusion. "The Admiral?"

"Not my dad, the guy who was the Admiral when my dad was a lawyer here. Back when I was a little kid."

"Ohhh, okay. That Admiral. Makes sense."

Though he still lived in the area, Admiral Chegwidden remained an illusive presence, something akin to a mythical being, or Santa Claus. He was someone people at JAG talked about often, but never saw. There was a rumor that he swore to never set foot in the JAG office ever again after retiring, but there was no way to confirm whether or not this was actually true.

Clara's eyes suddenly brightened, and Finn became overly optimistic that something had magically clicked in her brain and she suddenly saw him as something more than her father's assistant.

"Oh my god, I have to tell you something."

Finn's eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"You'll never guess-"

Finn was hoping he'd be able to guess.

Clara pulled out her phone. "Look at who AJ is dating. Here, let me show you her Instagram…"

Instead of getting one step closer to dating Clara Mackenzie-Rabb, Finn received more information than he ever thought he'd need about the love life of AJ Roberts, and even more information about Eleanor Brumby - whoever that was.

"I mean look at her-" Clara said, shoving another photograph from Eleanor's instagram under his nose. "Does she look like someone he would date?"

Finn shrugged. "I've never met AJ so I wouldn't know."

Clara looked at him pointedly. "Would you date her?"

Finn balked, finding himself at a loss for words more than usual. "Umm..well…I don't know…"

"It's a yes or no question, Finn."

"I like to get to know people before I decide whether or not I would -"

"Yes or no, Finn," Clara snapped, in a tone extremely reminiscent of the one her father had used on him an hour before.

"No," Finn answered instantly, because there was only one girl he could imagine himself dating. "She's not my type."

Clara's eyes widened, amusement glimmering in her eyes. "You have a type?" she asked in mild disbelief.

Finn shrugged. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Yeah," Clara nodded. "But you're my dad's assistant - I guess I never thought of you like…dating anyone."

Finn sighed, leaning back against his desk chair. Of course.

"Well," Clara sat her phone down and folded her arms across her chest. "Let's here it. What's your type?"

"Ummm…well," Finn purposefully looked away from Clara, deciding to concentrate on the aquarium-themed home screen on his computer while he spoke. "I like…this is weird, but I like girls."

"That's it?"

"No, you didn't let me finish. I like girls who are…tall-er. On the taller side, I guess. And with brown hair -" he nodded down to Clara's phone. "Her hair is too dark, and I like blue eyes better than brown - personally. Not to say that brown eyes are bad because I know your mom has brown eyes but - Also, tattoos are nice and I don't think she has any - the girl AJ's dating, not your mom. I don't really care if your mom has tattoos or not because that would be weird, but yeah. That's it. That's my type."

"So you like tall girls with brown hair that isn't too dark, who also have blue eyes and visible tattoos."

Finn finally braved a look over at Clara. "Yeah, I do."

"That's oddly specific."

He nodded. "It is."

"Well, if I ever find any girls like that I'll be sure to send them your way."

Finn sighed again, turning to look back at the tropical fish scattered across the computer screen. "Yes, please do."

Clara picked up her phone again, scrolling further down on Ellie's Instagram feed. "Do you think I should tell AJ?"

"That he's dating the daughter of your mom's ex fiance she almost married like a week before getting together with your dad? The guy who also used to work here and was like…a really close family friend before you were born?"

"Yeah," Clara looked at him - with the same pointed glance she'd had before. "I think he has a right to know."

"I guess he does but….I don't know, Clara. Don't you think that would cause a lot of drama?"

She snorted. "Not anymore than what's already happening. Between my parents and my aunt it feels like a ticking time bomb is going to go off at any moment. The only person who still doesn't know is Bud."

Finn shrugged. "I think you should do whatever you think is best."

At the end of the day, it wasn't Finn's family drama.

Clara beamed. "Great, so I'll call him after work."

Finn's eyes widened. "Wait, really-"

"See Finn, this is why I love you."

Finn's eyes widened more. "You what-"

"No one enables me like you do."

"Right. Yeah."

Finn opened up Google, searching up ideas for a birthday present for a twenty-something nephew living abroad. He supposed Clara seeing him as her number-one enabler was better than her seeing him as just her father's assistant.

"What is it now, Gregory?"

"Dad, it's me."

Harm looked up from the mess of budgeting paperwork strewn across his desk to see his oldest standing across from him, her backpack slung over one shoulder and a psychology textbook tucked under her other arm. When Harm heard someone knocking on his door not even ten minutes after getting off the phone with the SecNav he couldn't help his annoyance, but was now grateful that it was someone he actually enjoyed spending time with.

"Oh, hi honey," Harm took off his reading glasses - something he swore he would never need. "What are you doing here?"

She walked over to the red leather settee on the other side of the room, the same ancient one that had been there since Harm first joined JAG - as evident by the paperwork, getting new furniture was extremely low on the priority list for the budget.

"I'm studying," she said, dropping her bag down onto the settee with a heavy thud. "I have an exam on Monday."

"Honey, I'm kind of swamped with meetings today-"

"I'll blend right into this leather, you won't even know I'm here."

"Some of them are confidential-"

She pulled the case to her airpods out of her pocket and held them up for Harm to see. "I won't hear a thing, either."

Harm opened his mouth to protest, but Clara continued talking. "If I really have to leave, I can just go bother Finn some more."

Harm looked up at her in surprise. "Finn?"

"You know, Petty Officer Gregory. The guy sitting out there to whom you are so mean to."

"I'm not mean to him," Harm looked down at the half-empty mug on his desk. "If he didn't make such good coffee, then I'd be mean to him."

Clara shrugged as she sat down. "Whatever you say…" she opened her textbook, then paused, looking up at Harm. "What do you think of him, by the way?"

"Gregory?" Harm paused. "I think he's….extremely disorganized, but getting the hang of things. I also think he makes really good coffee."

Clara laughed. "So you've told me."

"Why?" Harm asked. "What do you think of him?"

"I think he's…a nice guy."

"That's all? A nice guy, huh?"

"Yeah, that's all."

1345 LOCAL

ARTHUR-BRUMBY RESIDENCE

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

AJ was sure Mic was a nice enough guy under the intimidating exterior, but he'd known from previous relationships that the one parent you truly had to impress was your girlfriend's mother. He wasn't quite sure the best angle of approach when trying to win over Gillian, but he was determined to find out. She wasn't the overly warm, welcoming homemaker type like his own mother or the tough, no-nonsense mom who had a softer side like Mac, but rather a third maternal archetype he'd had yet to encounter. Still though, he was determined to prove himself to be the golden boy he knew he could be, the one he'd always at least been told he was.

But Gillian was an obstacle AJ would have to tackle later, because he was presented with a more pressing matter. After breakfast he'd opened his phone to see three missed calls from Clara, one of his many family members he'd been trying to avoid over the past couple of weeks. AJ decided that now was the time to take a page out of her book and face problems head-on.

He walked into the Brumby's lush backyard to make the call, sitting down in one of the plastic chairs at the pool's edge. He was staring down at his phone screen, trying to muster up the courage to return Clara's call, concentrating so intently that he didn't notice there was someone sitting beside him.

Finally, he noticed something shift in the corner of his eye. He jumped, whirling around to see Gillian in the chair beside him.

"Oh, Mrs. Brumby I didn't see you-" AJ made a move to stand up, but Gillian gestured for him to stay put, so he stayed put.

"It's fine AJ," she said, quickly tucking the book she was reading against her side. "This pool is big enough for the both of us. And don't call me Mrs. Brumby - that was Mic's mother."

"Right. I'm sorry….Ms. Arthur?"

Gillian smirked. "That was my mother. Just call me Gillian, please."

"Sorry, Gillian."

"It's alright," Gillian turned away from him to face the sun, pulling her sunglasses down over her eyes. "I hope you've been enjoying your stay at the Brumby Bed & Breakfast so far. Michael hasn't been scaring you too much, has he?"

Unable to see her eyes, AJ couldn't tell if she was joking or not. "He's been fine," he said, not quite sure if that was the right thing to say when Michael had actually been terrifying. "And everything in general has been fine - really good, actually. You have a lovely home."

Gillian smiled. "Thank you, we're very lucky."

"I can see - that's great, I mean. That's great to hear."

AJ's blunder made Gillian laugh, and he was grateful he'd at least somehow managed to amuse her. "I think I know what your problem is," she said suddenly, reaching over to gently poke his arm with a well manicured nail. "You need to relax."

"I do?"

Gillian lowered her sunglasses so she could look AJ in the eye. "Yes. You do," she replaced her sunglasses back over her eyes. "Michael will warm up to you a lot better if you're more direct and show you're not intimidated by him. He appreciates an even match when it comes to conflict."

AJ made a feeble attempt to square his shoulders. "He's not intimidating me."

"Darling, please don't lie to me."

Blushing, AJ leaned in close to Gillian. "How do you - why is he - how are you not intimidated by him?"

Gillian laughed again. "Because he's just Michael. Plus, he's my partner. We obviously have a different dynamic than you would with him."

AJ nodded. "Obviously."

Gillian reached out to pat his shoulder. "You went to one of the best colleges in the US. You're smart enough to figure him out.. Plus….he has bigger things on his mind right now than just you, I promise."

AJ frowned, unconvinced. Desperate to change the subject, his eyes landed on the corner of the book tucked into Gillian's side. It looked familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he'd seen it before.

"What are you reading?" he asked.

"Oh," Gillian briefly looked down at the book, swiftly tucking it closer to her side. "Nothing. Just some silly romance novel."

"My mom actually writes romance novels."

"Oh really? I never would've guessed that! How interesting."

AJ's phone buzzing in his lap interrupted their conversation. He looked down to see Clara's contact picture lighting up his screen.

"I'm sorry," he apologized hastily as he stood. "I need to take this. It's a…family thing."

"Of course. Don't let me keep you."

AJ walked away from the pool and onto the soft green grass of the backyard, walking over to the corner of the perfectly trimmed hedge. He picked up the call, trying to ignore how his stomach was in knots.

"Clara, I know -"

"No, I know," she responded in a singsong voice. "I know something you don't know."

AJ sighed. "About what?"

"Your girlfriend."

Two more chapters and everyone will have their little reunion, I promise. Thank you for reading! I'll go through and proofread this later - I just wanted to get this published before something pulled me away from writing again!

-Harper