Mark Arbour

Our little boy is growing up! (SMILE) But it's true. I'll bet he relapses once in a while, though. Just for fun.

Your thoughts on Tony grappling with this are pretty spot on. He went through all this trouble to make it this romantic moment, so it obviously means something to him. And as he does that, with the Gods watching him, he has to be thinking of his father and his mistakes.

I'm willing to attribute your fading annoyance with Will to his increasing maturity, but don't worry, he'll piss you off again soon enough. ;-) I think that this thing with Tony could be dangerous for Will if he was naive, and if he didn't have an idea of where Tony was coming from. I would bet that behind the scenes, Wade's done a pretty good job of laying that out for him, if Stef, JP, or even Brad already haven't. Stef tends to work with Will on a suggestive basis, where he'll remind Will that Tony is damaged goods, and he needs to be gentle with him. I think Will's internalized that.

You raise some interesting points. I wonder how many of the people who 'turn people on to drugs' (to use a Nancy Reagan-esque term) are really trying to get them hooked. I've been around people who do mild to medium drugs, and for the most part, there's no real malice involved. It's more of a 'lets have fun together' thing that sometimes goes awry. Maybe that's just my white-bread suburban take on it. I'll bet that Cody keeps an eye on Will because he probably reminds Cody of how he was at that age.

See Mark M two reviews below. He's the odds maker. :-)

It could be Rico. That would be interesting. Come on. You know guys like Tony. You called it. He goes to Rome, gets all into the romance, and makes this big declaration. And it freaks him out. What's his next step? If it's true, he'll have to deal with having it out there. If it's false, if he doesn't love Will, he'll totally blow him off.

Your foreshadowing is foreboding. :-)

I wonder how well-equiped either one of these guys is to really be in love, or even know they're in love.

I think the thing with a guy like Tony is that he takes two steps forward, then one step back.

I think Hank is just a simple gal, doing her job as a cop, and she suddenly latched on to this old girlfriend who happens to be rich as hell. That would freak anyone out.

First impressions can be misleading.

I'm so glad I made you giddy. I usually don't get that reaction, at least in real life. :-)

Plus you were a total dork. Just saying.

In response to similar whining from my Yahoo group , I posted this update: Here's the deal. Granger's character and his scenarios require a lot more thought and planning than the CAP series. The time differential makes it less natural, and simple things that I might say in every day conversation (like 'network') simply won't work there. Ponder this. I have Granger traversing the Pacific. If I have him stop at an island, which one (get out map, look)? Does it have water? (search Wikipedia). Has it even been discovered yet? (Wikipedia and beyond). And if he lands there, are the natives going to fuck him, or kill him (like James Cook)? It takes time, and this is a hugely busy season for me. I am pretty much tied up until the end of May, so whatever I can write is something that I've eked out in my spare moments. With that being said, what I've found is that by having a new CAP story, it's actually fueled me to focus on Granger more, not less. It's an interesting paradox, and I'm not sure I've figured it out yet. In any event, I've roughed out the next two chapters, and those will work their way through editing at various stages. They'll get posted probably within a week or two, and then we'll go dark until June.

Congrats on being an editor. Spend some time with Sharon. She'll break you in.

June 15, 2001 We’d just sat down to eat at this uber-fancy restaurant when Cody walked up to the table. He was about 30 and a total god. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and a body to kill for. I would do anything with him he asked me to do. He came up to me and gave me his lopsided smile, then gave me a hug and a kiss that was way beyond friendly, just to tease me. “Dude, you got your ass kicked,” he said. “It was worth it,” I said in a slutty way. “I’ll tell you a

I'm tracking with you.

I think that Will is evolving through this, and he'll figure it out. As has been pointed out before, and as you've noted here, until he experiences that pain himself, I don't think he'll get it. I think the thing with Zach and John must have been so far out of his memory that it's not resonating. It would not be a bad idea for someone to point that out to him, but I suspect they (Brad, Stef, JP, etc.) know that he'll get the lesson better if he figures it out on his own. None of that excuses, in my opinion, Marie's actions. I think in that situation, it's less about the basic infidelity issue, and more about family loyalty. Will has been raised in a family where the family is prioritized very highly, and he's internalized that. That means that he expects Marie (and John) to be his allies, period. And if they have issues, they certainly aren't supposed to take them outside the family (which is what she, in effect, did). If Marie really had major ethical issues with what Will was doing, she should have gone to her mother, or barring that, to JP.

I'm probably going to get shit for stereotypes, but I figured it was time to bring a few in. I haven't spent a whole lot of time writing Julian in yet, but he seems like a good foil for Stef. We haven't seen Ryan and Jeff interact yet, so the answer to that question is that we don't know.

You know me: you just don't know what to expect. ;-) I like that you picked up on how well Brad and Will are doing. It's really important to Will that people have his back, especially his family members. Brad seems to get that.

I'm glad you enjoyed it. As you can see, it's been a while since I've been here, at least to do more than lurk. Will matures in fits and spurts, but he's learning to handle people better. Italy should be an interesting trip for both Will and Tony. I can see how Jeanine would really relish some strength and stability at this point.

You figured me out; that gives me pretty much limitless options. I can kill anyone. Muhahaha. I'll check out your comments in the forums.

I'm with you. That review was fantastic.

I think that Will is going to handle the pain pills just fine, primarily because, as you noted, he doesn't have an addictive personality. If Tony does have an epiphany in Rome, will it last?

That's an interesting observation, that combatants are now allies, but I don't think that's unusual. Hell, we see that geopolitically. Here in the US, we would view both Japan and Germany as staunch allies, a bit different than the situation in 1942. I think you're right about Marie. I'm not sure if it's dominance, but it's reasonable to expect that Marie would experience issues as she matures, just like Will did. Not sure about Brad, but I do have someone who I think is just as good in mind.