Mark Arbour

We won't get to see that until the next book. Sorry.

December 21, 1798 Portland Place, London “It must be strange to be home after all this time,” Caroline said to him as they ate breakfast. Granger smiled at her to thank her for reading his mind. “I am not sure that strange is the correct word for it, but that is probably close enough,” he said. “I am happy to be back, happier than I can say, but I am used to living on the edge, and here, I feel safe and loved. It is a foreign feeling.”

mm! Great to hear from you, and thanks for the review! Not all of these guys are doing badly, but this definitely isn't the most fun they've ever had!

I'll bet you find the next Wade chapter (I think it's 72) to be dramatic enough. :-) I think that Frank generally is a little slow on the uptake. He's the kind of guy where you have to give him some time to come around. Matt..well, he's just fucked up.

First of all, thank you for coming out from under your rock and posting a review (SMILE). I always like them, and this one is no exception. Some of what you mentioned I addressed in the review response below, but you raised a really important issue that I want to emphasize. Wade is usually very logical, very contained, and very deliberate, but when it comes to Matt, he loses all three of those traits. Matt evokes a reaction from Wade on a much deeper level.

Thanks for the review. In real life, I find that relationship difficulties are rarely one-sided, and I think this one is no different. Right now, I think Wade is looking at his relationship with Matt and he's using a starting date of 9-11. His thinking beyond that is vague, a recollection of feelings and annoyances, most likely. At the same time, if Wade were to go back and fully evaluate his time with Matt, remembering how Matt saved him from his abusive father, and brought him out of his shell (and the closet), I think Wade would have a harder time with the equation.

It's really scary for him. I'm not going to comment too much on this, because we'll see Wade's perspective pretty clearly in the chapters ahead. I do want to correct you on their relationship and it's format: that was definitely a joint decision, not just Wade's. Personally, I can completely understand Wade's frustration. He's struggling like Matt, but he's been ignored and sidelined by his partner. At dinner, Frank laid out a plan for Matt, and Wade heard that and probably thought "well, if he does that, maybe we can fix things." When he came back from DC to find an entirely different proposal in place, he probably felt very betrayed. If I was him, I'd be thinking that since I'm basically alone as it is, why put up with this crap? I think that Matt, despite his current struggles, is a much tougher and resilient person than either Jeff or Robbie. And I think he's a little too into himself to cause himself the kind of damage that Jeff did.

Yeah. I know. No rest for the weary. We'll see how things go. We still have a few chapters left in this story. Eight, to be exact. ;-)

Jason, I get your point, in that if these guys would simply be monogamous, or follow that as a norm, their lives would be a lot easier. Then again, it makes for a less interesting story, and realistically, lots of couples struggle with these issues. Their biggest flaws are, IMHO: 1. not recognizing that the relationships and the rules need to adapt...because things change. 2. Underestimating the emotional impact of the attacks on each other.

Wow. That was one long-ass review. Thanks! Let me see if I can address some of your points. My experience with guys at this stage of college (about halfway into the senior year) is represented by the polar opposites of Matt and Wade. There are indeed some who are still partying like it's their last hurrah, but I find just as many who are done being in school, and are very focused on getting out, and on what comes next. I think the term "maturity" is too broad and encompassing to use in this context, and I think that's what causes our confusion when looking at this issue. There's a lot more going on here, and a lot of it revolves around the frayed emotions caused by their collective losses. With Will, I think that's a good description, and quite frankly, I think it applies to most people. Growing up is sometimes messy, and rarely linear. I wouldn't place too much emphasis on Will banning Tony from Escorial; he knows that's JP's option. He's basically telling Tony to stay away from him, and letting Tony decide whether he wants to force the issue with JP.

There was definitely some drama here, and things are beginning to sort of congeal. I think that Frank's recovery is a good thing, but it doesn't sound like he's really given Matt very good guidance.

I don't think it's fair to blame Wade's emotionalism on Will, but I do think he's more emotional than normal. Then again, Wade's father was vaporized less than two CAP months earlier. JP allows drama at dinner, just not shouting. :-)

I think that the GMC and Escorial are both safe. We have limited exposure to Zach, so it's difficult to tell if he's evil or not, but the signs point to him not being evil. Rather, it seems he was a major shit disturber as a kid, probably a reaction to his father's unyielding criticism and being stuck under his older brother's thumb.

Thanks for the review, MDK. I'm glad you liked the chapter. The age issue is important with Will and Matt. Will is 15, but an emancipated minor, so legally an adult. I think he acts more like an 18 year old. They're not noted for their maturity, but they are farther along than a 15 year old. Matt is 21 years old, and is about to graduate from college in six months. He's acting like an 18 year old college freshman. So from where I'm sitting, I've got a 15 year old acting like he's 18, and a 21 year old acting like he's 18. Pretty easy to decided which one lacks maturity.

Thanks for the review, MDK. I'm glad you liked the chapter. The age issue is important with Will and Matt. Will is 15, but an emancipated minor, so legally an adult. I think he acts more like an 18 year old. They're not noted for their maturity, but they are farther along than a 15 year old. Matt is 21 years old, and is about to graduate from college in six months. He's acting like an 18 year old college freshman. So from where I'm sitting, I've got a 15 year old acting like he's 18, and a 21 year old acting like he's 18. Pretty easy to decided which one lacks maturity.

Thanks Miles! Matt must be hella confused inside his mind

To me, the irony is that people rant about Will's immaturity when Matt has a corner on that market. You haven't figured out that link to Escorial dinners and drama. :-). They're my equivalent to the Scaffold scenes in Scarlet Letter

Thanks for the review! I'm not sure if Matt really got it, but Wade is pretty much making his own plans at this point.

November 4, 2001 Washington, DC “Ready to go, Mr. Danfield?” the copilot asked. I handed him my bag and smiled. “I’m ready,” I said, and climbed the steps to Brad’s plane. I sat in the ‘captain’s chair’, as we called it, the seat on the right, next to the phone to the cockpit. He climbed in after me and sealed the door behind him, then went up to the cockpit. The engines were already winding up, and in no time at all, we were taxiing down the runway.

I hope you have a blast. Those are three of my favorite places to go!

Why would he cook? Let's start with the basic assumption that it's not something he'd do for fun.

Well, there was that. At the same time, even when he ran away, or when he was dealing with Norway and the emancipation thing, I think that his touchstones (JP, Stef, and Wade) could have reeled him in if they thought he was dead wrong.

He's a kicker. Duh.

An interesting character discussion. I'm not sure if being fiercely independent and having strong family ties are mutually exclusive. Logically, that would seem to be the case, but if you look into it deeper, I think they can coexist. Will isn't willing to let his family (or anyone) control him or his life. To me, that's a very reasonable attribute for him to have, especially when you consider how controlling his father has been in the past. But as long as they're not trying to run his life, his family is very important to him. Going back to the whole incident with the Bastille Day party, where Will was sidelined: that evoked a very strong reaction from him, because it hit on something very important to him. But taking a scenario that B1ue sort of hypothesized (I'll flesh it out a bit), let's assume that Will and Zach truly did fall in love and were aware that they were in love, and decided to run off and be by themselves somewhere. To do that, we have to ignore Zach's key motivator (football), so let's do that. I think that in that situation, Will would be much more likely to fight it out with his family (big surprise) and only if he felt that everyone was against him do I see him making that kind of decision. And in reality, for everyone to be against him (especially JP), it would probably register in his mind that he was making a bad decision, and he'd probably reconsider. In all of his conflicts, he has generally looked to those people he respects the most for validation. Without that, he doesn't usually make rash decisions.

I don't see that happening. Will is much too focused on his family to bail like that. In addition, he's got way too much to lose by bailing on them. I think the character I see most likely to do that (say screw it, and run away) is Matt.