Mark Arbour

Brad will most definitely have a well-deserved comment for Will. SMILE. I think the deal with the carpenter was that based on the kiss, they just weren't connecting. I think that if it would have been better, he would have been tempted, but even then, I'm not sure Brad would have followed through.

Glad you liked it. Gotta have a cliffie once in a while!

Excellent choice!

June 12, 2002 Escorial, CA I was heading back to my room, stumbling a little bit, since I’d had so much to drink. Wade had already bailed on us, so I was planning to check in with him. I felt someone slide in under my arm to prop me up. “Thanks for that,” Will said. “It will be fun to spend time with you guys,” I said. “Just don’t go somewhere shitty.” “That’s Zach’s call,” he said. We got to my door and stopped to open it. “You really bailed me out. I spend mos

Kody, Length is usually not something I'm worried about. ;-) You certainly don't have to apologize. The problem is that the system is cumbersome, so multi-chapter reviews are difficult to respond to. I love your reviews and feedback, though, so don't worry about it. I'll work it out. The upgraded system (which is in the works) will hopefully make it easier. Meanwhile, I liked your review, and I really like how you summarized the situation, especially with Wade. Matt doesn't see it (and we don't either), but Wade would have been separated from Matt for six months, as you noted. During that time, he would have had to cope with their relationship being over, and with all the pain that Matt is grappling with now. I can visualize Wade, finally getting a handle on it, only to have Matt blast back into his life wanting to turn the clock back. That would be extremely disorienting.

With the ground being laid, we should be able to set sail in a few chapters!

Thanks! As I said, Jason appearing is quite common, and predictable. It would be entirely in the traditions of the time for a captain to take on board the relative of his mentor, and fellow captain, who died so bravely.

I am so glad you are enjoying the story!

Thank you! I think that with Valiant's modifications, it's nice to see the beginning. Because she is so unique, I think that also makes it more interesting.

Thanks for the review, Ricky! Jackson has been on board, and was referenced in this chapter, having an idle conversation with Andrews as they were shipping their water. Llewellyn has obviously been posted to another ship. It is likely we'll run into him in the future, but as of this point, he's not part of Granger's crew.

Well, there are always risks going to see in this era, but ironically enough, the risks of death or maiming in battle were considerably less than those of disease, and weather.

Where to? Chapter 5 will enlighten you. ;-)

Thanks for the review! I'm glad you're liking the story. Remember that the Royal Navy at this time was dominated by influence. It's very likely that Travers' family would want to use their connection with Granger to launch one of their progeny into the Navy. It gives them an ideal opportunity to set Jason on a path to success, and it also gives them a chance to complete the recovery from the shame Travers' father brought onto the family.

I completely understand where you're coming from, and tend to agree with you, but I think it's important to look at things from Wade's perspective. As I said in some of my responses to the reviews, a significant amount of time has passed. Six months is a long ass time frame when you're a senior in college. Wade has adapted to not having Matt in his life at all, and all of a sudden, Matt reappears and wants to turn the clock back. Wade sees them going to completely different cities, and is probably not convinced that Matt is really all that different. What he wants is time. Time to let himself stabilize in Boston, and in Grad school. Time to grapple with the issues he faces with his family. Time to see how Matt handles things. Matt's protestations, and his actions over a mere two week period of time, are probably not very convincing to Wade. All it's probably done, in reality, is pop open a bunch of old feelings, much like the opening of a can of beer. For Wade, that flood of emotions is probably not pleasant or welcome.

I think your first paragraph is one of the best summations I've seen of where Wade is at. As it's structured, I can see these guys traveling, where Zach and Will are wrapped up in each other, and Matt is experiencing men from various different cultures. ;-)

I think that makes so much sense, since breaking up with someone is usually a life experience, and that shapes us, and helps us mature. If you think about it, Matt hasn't really dealt with a break up of this magnitude. It's bound to impact him.

LOL. Not everyone. Read the other reviews.

Interesting, and a propos.

You make an interesting observation here: Matt just wants to go back in time. My experience with break-ups like this (personally and as an observer) is that that is very common for one of the players. They long for the past, when things were good, and they were tight.

I think their relationship is a two-way street, and it's probably not fair to put all the blame at Matt's feet. I've had reason to go back and read through Paternity, and seeing how Matt backed Wade up, and how he handled Wade's issues, was pretty golden, IMHO. Neither one of them is perfect, but Matt's point, that he's been there for Wade in the past, has a lot of merit.

I think, as I said below, that both of these guys have been living apart for a while, so now that they try to rectify those latent feelings, it's bound to be tumultuous.

I am so sorry. That's always one of the toughest things, when I write something that hits a reader close to home. I hope you manage to work through this with less drama than these guys do. I get what you're saying about the emptiness. I'm thinking that it may be less intense for Matt, since he's been dealing with this for six months. I wonder if, in situations like this, there isn't a finite personal amount of pain one must suffer before one is willing to let go. If my hypothesis is true, than Matt has already been building up some chits on the pain and suffering scale. I'll work on the sex part

I think it's important to put these events into context. Consider that Wade has basically been living his life without Matt for the past six months, so he's adapted to not having a relationship with Matt. Then Matt comes blasting back into his life, reawakening all those old emotions (and problems). Wade's natural reaction is to raise his shields.

I really thought that your review was spot-on. I kept trying to think of something to comment on, but in the end, I found myself just nodding my head in agreement.

Dude, you were so stoned when you wrote this! LOL! To answer your question, I didn't know this was the anniversary of the opening of Dartmoor Prison, and since I'm not Irish (or Catholic), the significance of St. Patrick's Day was lost on me. Rather, it was posting based on a bloodlessly deliberate posting schedule.