"Ugh, damn it," Brian sighed exasperatedly. A voice inside him was still screaming no, but he knew what he had to do. He intercepted Roy and grabbed the freshly-signed contract out of his hand with one quick motion.

"Hey hey what's going on here… no!" Roy cried as Brian tore the paper in half and crumpled it. "We got a deal here!"

"We're not selling," Brian said as he threw the crumpled ball to the side. "No deal," he added, staring straight at Joe as he said it.

Joe couldn't believe what he just saw. "Brian, what are you doing…"

"Go," Brian cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"…what?"

"I said go," he repeated. "…I'll stay. I'll run Sandpiper… for a year. One year!" he pointed for emphasis. "…when you come back, it'll be here."

"Brian, you know you don't want to do this," Joe started.

"Look, just… agree with me, okay? And quickly," Brian stopped him again. "I don't know how much resolve I have in me."

"I don't understand why you're doing this," Joe protested again.

"…let's just say it's your turn," Brian replied with a knowing smile.

Joe was stunned. He didn't know how Brian had known, but it didn't matter. He pulled his brother into a tight hug.

"Hmm, you know…" Brian mumbled. "I just got a taste of the satisfaction that comes from personal sacrifice… and it's pissing me off!" He heard Joe let out a chuckle over his shoulder as he said it.

"…fine, I didn't want your lousy plane anyway! It's, it's small, and dinky and… it's just stupid!" Roy could still be heard rambling in the background as he stormed off back to his office.

"Hackett, are you in there?" The loud voice shook Brian out of his daydream. A series of knocks followed from the other side of the door.

"Yeah Roy, door's open," Brian called out.

"No it ain't," Roy replied. "If it was I would have been in there already."

Brian sighed and pulled himself off the chair. He had been hoping that he wouldn't have to get up as moving up and down still caused some discomfort because of his ribs. Could have sworn I left it unlocked for this reason, he thought to himself as he turned the lock.

As soon as the door unlocked, Roy burst in without waiting for further invitation, holding a newspaper in his hand. "…come on in," Brian said rhetorically with a sigh, heading back to the desk.

"I've been looking for you, Hackett," Roy said as he sat down in the chair at the far side of the office.

"Well, I shouldn't be too hard to find these days," Brian replied with a sarcastic smile as he sat back down himself.

"Easy there tiger, I'm not here to pick a fight," Roy said defensively. "I just came to see how you're doing."

"About as good as someone can be running an airline that doesn't fly," Brian answered. "And before you ask, no I'm not selling," he added with a stern look.

"You made that VERY clear the last time," Roy said as he glared back, but his expression softened right after. "But I'm not interested in buying at the moment."

"Then why ARE you here?" Brian snapped impatiently.

His tone seemed to take Roy by surprise, as he simply stared back apprehensively. Roy knew from experience that of the two brothers, Joe could be prone to angry outbursts when pushed, but it was something almost never seen from Brian. Even in a serious situation, the most Brian would do was to stop joking around like he usually would, but he would rarely show anger.

The truth was that Brian had been feeling more agitated over the past few days ever since he had been grounded because of his injury. As tiring as flying a full schedule was, going from that to not flying at all was a major shock to his routine. Despite Casey's protests and insistence that he should rest at home, Brian had still gone to the terminal every day with the excuse that there was work to be done even without flights, and was generally found brooding in the Sandpiper office during business hours.

"…sorry Roy, I didn't mean to go off on you like that," he said after a pause, feeling a pang of regret. Roy hadn't done anything (this time, yet) to warrant such a reaction. "I've just been dealing with a lot lately."

"Well talk to me, Hackett," Roy said in an encouraging manner. "You can tell me anything."

As antagonistic as Roy was when it came to their business relationship, over the years he did come to be someone that Brian considered… something more than an acquaintance, at least. Brian's male social circle had gradually shrunken over the years, partly because of how he had spent more and more time chasing women but also because he was getting older now, and a lot of the friends he had made from his past lives were slowly falling out of contact. Now even Joe was gone, and he didn't even really have an urge to trawl for dates now because of…

All of that was to say that Roy was one of the few people he could turn to these days, despite their (considerable) differences. "Sometimes I wonder whether I can do better than you," he replied with a bit of a forced smile.

Roy took that as an invitation to press on. "Tell me why you haven't run any flights in four days now."

"I'm grounded," Brian answered flatly. "Can't fly, doctor's orders."

Roy looked mildly surprised. "Grounded for what? High blood pressure like your brother that one time?"

"Something like that," Brian lied. Despite his willingness to open up to Roy to a certain degree, his specific situation right now was something that he didn't want everyone to know about if he could help it.

"For how long?" Roy pried.

"…don't know yet. Need to get checked out again later," Brian replied vaguely.

"So that explains why you're suddenly looking for a new pilot then," Roy said as he stood up, opened the newspaper he had been holding and laid it on the table. Brian saw that the paper was today's edition, and Roy had opened it to the classifieds page where the small advertisement he had taken out this week could be found.

"I can't run an airline without having a single person who can fly," Brian said rhetorically.

"You could barely run it even when you had two," Roy snickered.

A good shot, but something Brian had little patience for at the moment. "Clearly you've done your research already, so did you just come here to gloat?" he said as his temper flared again slightly. While talking with Roy did provide a bit of release for him, this was still Roy after all. Expecting genuine emotional support from him was not something to be counted on.

"No, I didn't," Roy answered, surprisingly letting it slide. "I'm here because I might have a solution for your pilot problem," he said, his voice dead serious.

That got Brian's attention. "…and what would that be?"

"Well you see, I have a bit of a pilot problem of my own," Roy continued. "I've got one too many and I have to let one go."

Brian raised an eyebrow. "So you want to dump your deadwood on me?"

"Hey hey hey, I'm really trying to help you here," Roy said indignantly. "You could at least sound a bit more grateful."

"…what's wrong with the guy you're getting rid of?"

"Nothing, I swear!" Roy answered, raising his hands.

"What's in it for you?"

Roy paused for a moment before answering. "…nothing."

"I don't believe you," Brian said immediately.

"Look, Hackett," Roy started again, his own patience starting to wear thin now. He turned away from Brian while rubbing his forehead. "What do I have to do to convince you that I'm really trying to help you here?"

"You want to help me?" Brian repeated. "When have you ever done anything to help me or Joe in any of our business dealings, huh?"

No answer.

"Just tell me the truth, Roy," Brian continued. "Just tell me why you want to 'help' me so badly."

"Because I'm your friend, damn it!" Roy yelled as he turned back to face him, with both anger and sadness in his eyes. "…aren't I?"

The feeling of regret from earlier returned, but this time it wasn't a pang; Brian felt like he had been hit by a truck. Was this what he really wanted? To push away one of the few people close to him, when he might actually be trying to do something for him? The fact remained that Brian needed a pilot desperately, and even if Roy stood to gain something from this arrangement of his, he was still offering a lifeline right now.

Casey had even told him as much earlier. He had requested that she keep what was happening from Roy, but she didn't entirely understand why. "I know that Roy is… well, Roy, especially when it comes to business and money… but he's still our friend, isn't he?" she had asked with a confused look.

"…yeah, he is. I don't know how to explain it, but just… don't tell him, okay? For me?" was all he could say in response.

"I won't say anything if that's what you want," Casey said, mimicking the motion of a closing zipper over her lips. "…but at least think about it. You never know, maybe he could even help somehow. There isn't anyone else around here that has the knowledge and business connections like he does now."

Roy was still staring at Brian waiting for some kind of reaction, but his patience finally ran out. "To hell with this," he said as he turned and headed for the door to the hangar.

"…I've got broken ribs," Brian said, before he could leave.

Roy stopped immediately and turned around again with a look of legitimate shock. "What did you say?"

"Broken ribs, Roy. Might be more than that, something else inside, but still waiting on some test results. That's why I'm grounded."

Roy came back to the side of the desk. "What happened? How the hell did you do something like that?"

"…I fell off a ladder in the hangar while working on the plane last weekend," Brian answered. "I must have landed badly, worse than I thought."

"…you know how long you're going to be out for, don't you?" Roy was starting to connect the dots.

"Doc said six weeks for the ribs, give or take," Brian replied. "Hopefully that's the worst of it."

"Hackett, you know you can't wait that long," Roy said as he sat back down. "I know you just came into a fair chunk of change, but six weeks without any revenue would be a death sentence!"

In his mind, Brian knew Roy was right. For one thing, while he had promised Joe that he would keep Sandpiper running in his absence, he was not going to sink all of his newfound fortune into the business just to keep it above water. The other thing is that while Edgar Clayton remained a silent partner and did not meddle or inquire about any of Sandpiper's day-to-day activities, Joe and Brian were still required to report on how the business was doing every six months at a board meeting as a condition of their partnership. As luck would (not) have it, the next meeting they had to attend was coming up in four weeks, and bleeding money for an entire month with no revenue would be difficult to explain. Clayton pulling out of the deal would require repayment of his investment, and that would certainly be a death sentence.

"You're right," Brian said quietly as he ran his hands through his already-messed hair. "Look Roy, I'm sorry for… being difficult just now," he continued. "Tell me about this pilot you got."

Roy leaned back in his seat. "Name's Scott, Scott Sommers. Maybe you remember seeing him around; I think he was close to signing on with Sandpiper full-time a year back, when your brother almost threw you out."

Brian had a vague idea of who this person was, but couldn't put a face to the name. "So what happened, you sign him up right after?" he asked.

"Sort of," Roy answered. "Sommers wasn't looking for a full schedule at the time so I brought him on as a part-timer, and he's been flying for me ever since."

"So why aren't you keeping him now?"

"He's looking for more hours, saying something about personal circumstances changing," Roy said. "Also asking for a bit of a raise too, surprise surprise," he added with a roll of his eyes.

"How much are we talking here?" Brian asked, aware that pay had traditionally been a major hurdle whenever Sandpiper had tried to hire anyone previously.

Roy got up off his chair and whispered something into his ear. "I mean, that's a bit more than I was hoping to have to pay," Brian said after a slight pause.

"There's an old saying, Hackett," Roy said as he sat back down with a smug look on his face. "Getting half of something is better than getting all of nothing."

Brian gave a half-smirk in response. For all of Roy's questionable personality traits, no one doubted his ability to run a business, whether by hook or by crook. "…any issues with his flying?"

"None that I know of. All the flights he's run for me have come back clean," Roy said. "Says he's flown 402s before, and your brother even gave a good reference when he signed on with me."

"How do you know he'd be willing to come fly for me?"

"I don't," Roy replied with a scoff. "I'm already setting you up, you want me to wine and dine him for you too?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," Brian said, his signature carefree grin finally making an appearance.

"Well whether it works out for you or not, I'm not keeping him," Roy said, moving the conversation along. "So now the question is, do you want to talk to him before or after I give him the boot?"

Ah, there it was. One of Roy's own signature expressions, a devious smile that Fay frequently described as the look of the cat who ate the canary. Brian knew what he was getting at; there would be more leverage in negotiating with the guy immediately after the rug had just been pulled out from under him. "Let me talk to him first," he answered after a moment.

Roy looked skyward and let out an exasperated sigh, as if he was watching a child botch a simple math problem. "That's what your brother would have said too. I thought you might have more sense than that rube."

Brian couldn't help but chuckle. "We're not you, Roy. The soap will actually wash the grease off when we shower."

Roy's look turned indignant. "It's a dog eat dog world out there, Hackett. The sooner you recognize that, the sooner you won't need me to always save your sorry behind," he said with a huff as he got up to leave.

"…Roy," Brian started as he looked up at him. "You really meant what you said earlier?"

"What did I say?" Roy asked, confused.

"That the reason you wanted to help me was… because you're my friend."

Roy looked nauseous all of a sudden. "I said it once already Hackett, don't make me say it again."

Brian shook his head and smiled. "In that case, there's something that I'm only going to say once too."

"And what's that?" Roy asked quizzically.

"…thanks. I owe you," Brian said as he looked back up and extended his hand.

Somewhat surprisingly, Roy accepted the handshake. "Just remember that nobody's allowed to put your lemonade stand out of business except for me, Hackett," he said as he strengthened his grip for a moment and sneered down at him. "And when that time comes, I want you to be good and healthy when you're begging to sell it to me."

Brian chuckled again. "You want me to be good and healthy? Might be waiting a while then, you know."

"Then for goodness' sake, get yourself a pilot so you can run something resembling an airline again," Roy said as he headed for the door back to the terminal. "And get yourself some rest while you don't need to fly, you look terrible."

"Hey Roy," Brian said right as he was opening the door. "…you want to go out for dinner and beers later tonight? You, me, Antonio, guys night, what do you say?" he said with a wave of his arm for dramatic effect. "It… feels like we haven't done that in awhile," he added.

As Roy turned back around, Brian saw a widening smile opening on his face, a genuine expression of affection untainted by any of his usual deviousness. "…I'd like that," he answered with a nod as he left the office.

A/N: This was originally going to be a much smaller transitional interlude, but it seemed like a good opportunity to weave in a bit of interaction outside of the main characters. I always found it interesting how for as close to an antagonist Roy was throughout the show, he was nevertheless still always included as part of the social circle and did show a decent side from time to time.

As a programming note, there will be a bit of a delay for the next update as I will be away for a month soon. Chapters 5 and 6 are interconnected and I don't know if I'll be able to finish and edit both of them before I leave, so will most likely do so after I get back.

Also a big thank you to NanHackett for the correction on the Chappel surname - you are indeed correct. Wanted to mention this here as I don't know if you've seen my replies to your reviews (should be in your PMs?). Thanks to you and everyone else who is reading.