Mark Arbour

I would suspect that when they went in to tell JJ, Brad and Robbie tried to be as supportive as they could. My guess is that JJ broke down, and they comforted him as best they could, then he told them he wanted some time to himself. I don't think they would consider that unusual or unreasonable, since both of them would probably do the same thing. Both Brad and Robbie have a need to calm down and process things when they're hit with them. After that, presumably Tiffany went in to check on him, probably to reassure him that this wouldn't ruin his skating career, but he didn't want anyone bothering him. I guess the alternative is that they could have forced him to put up with their company, and stayed there with him, but I'm not seeing that JJ would react well to that.

I've gotten some comments over the years about how it seems that no one really locks their doors at Escorial (or Malibu). Every once in a while I throw something out there to remind us of that. :-)

I can see Will being tempted to do that, but I think he's fought too long and hard to get to where he's at...to get his freedom. He's also smart enough to realize that the dynamic would probably revert to how it was before he left, just out of force of habit. I can't see him going back, if he does, for at least a semester.

We're at 809 right now, and that's really exciting, but I doubt we'll make 1000. I've been busy, and let my writing lapse, so I've only got through Chapter 95 penned out. There will not be 100 chapters, so that's the limit.

That's a really interesting point. We saw in "Poor Man's Son" that Will and Darius didn't have the jaded view of cops that most teen males (like Gathan) had. Neither Will nor Darius really has to worry about a cop pulling a power play on them, and being totally at their mercy. I think that would give them a healthier respect for the law.

I agree with you.

Somehow, killing off Carson and Brian in Millennium seemed OK, but this didn't.

In their own ways, they both are quite capable of making those who annoy them miserable. But JJ isn't going to rebel like Will, because as we've noted, he's conditioned to tow the line. He's going to ultimately yield to authority. Will is an independent free spirit type, where authority is something that should be questioned.

Thanks for the review Cat! I'm glad you like the main characters...makes the story a better read.

I think I understand what you're saying here, but your words aren't really resonating. JJ hasn't been quiet and obedient, he's been incredibly bitchy and obnoxious.

Thanks for the map of the currents! I was looking for one of them. The closest friendly port would be Rio. The closest English port would probably be St. Helena, followed by Antigua, then England herself.

If Corbin was messed up after Mike fucked him, I can't imagine what he'll be like after this deal with Lee.

It's possible that David set it up. On the other hand, it may genuinely be an accident. Either way, it saved Will some serious pain.

Thanks Kevin! I appreciate the review!

Thanks for the review! I think that the reason Brad didn't inform Will when he was freaking out (that they didn't have a hand in killing the coach) is probably because he didn't know. I would guess that Brad found out sometime after they found out the coach was killed.

You are too funny. All in a day's work. :-) I wonder what will happen the next time there's a crisis, and the family opts for vigilante justice? I'm betting they don't get the rubber-stamp agreement from Will that they got this time. In fact, I'll bet they know that, and they don't consult him.

As I said, I don't see Granger sending Santa Clarita anywhere until they've resolved the issue with San Augustin. There are some other things to consider, though: 1. Granger does not have the authority to commission the Santa Clarita, which means that she's just a captured prize he's drafted into service. 2. Until the ship is processed through an Admiralty Prize Court, and is bought into either the navy or some other service, no prize money will be awarded for her. If Santa Clarita is damaged before then, it would significantly reduce her value. 3. Granger is probably on solid ground here, but it's also possible that a pissed-off Admiralty would disagree with him. He's basically established Santa Clarita as a Royal Navy ship, and will incur the expenses to operate her as such. What if they decide not to pay for those costs? 4. There are some (his enemies) who will point to his creation of a little fleet and use it to damage him, suggesting that he overstepped his orders and is trying to establish himself as a commodore when he doesn't even have his three years of seniority as a post captain. The normal course of action would have been to send the Santa Clarita to a friendly port with a prize crew immediately. Under these circumstances, that's not likely, nor is it wise, but that's the basic expectation.

I'll bet the coach told that to all the skaters (that he loved them more) in order to better manipulate them. If they're fighting for his attention and love, and it gets really competitive (in an already-competitive group), it seems to me that they'd be willing to do whatever he wanted to get his love and attention. I can see that at a time like this, JJ would reach toward things that are important to him, comfortable to him, and define him. I think that skating falls into all of those categories, so I'd expect him to latch onto that in the same way that a drowning man grabs a life preserver.

I'm so glad you're enjoying the story! I think that in order for the relationships in the family to fully heal, JJ has to fully heal, or at least get on the pathway to said healing. I suspect that his relationship with Will is going to get much better now that the big elephant has been let out of its cage.

I agree with your assertion that people who view the world in such definitive terms have a hard time being happy, but at the same time, isn't that what moral codes (like the bible) are designed to do? To take away the need to think in the gray areas, and to guide people down a strictly defined pathway? In any event, I think that figuring out how to work within those gray shades without surrendering his core principles will be the key part of Will's maturation process.

December 29, 2000 Escorial, CA Will A knock at my door woke me up. “Come in,” I croaked as I tried to wipe the slumber from my eyes. “I need your help today,” Nana said crisply. I kind of spazzed out, making sure my body was covered and that my morning erection wasn’t visible. I hadn’t really expected a little old lady to be knocking on my door at 11am. “What do you need?” I asked. “Wade’s got a visitor coming up around quarter to one. He’s got a couple of littl

If I wrote about that in Chapter 32, what would I cover in Chapter 33? If we were to dive into Granger's mind at this point, I bet we'd discover that he himself isn't all that sure what to do about Santa Clarita. He knows he needs to keep her around until he encounters San Augustin, or manages to avoid her for his tenure in the Eastern Pacific, but then he has a conundrum. Does he send her home, or does he keep her with him?

Two thoughts: 1. So your idea of a committed monogamous relationship is one that is perfect, with no affairs or peccadilloes? As B1ue noted, that makes for boring soap opera material, and I'm not sure that, given the world these guys live in and the challenges they deal with, it's all that realistic. 2. A lot of people had a problem with the storyline for Millennium? If I were being a smartass, I'd point out that it won the Reader's Choice Award for Best Story that year, so clearly not all that many people had problems with the storyline. One comment: I think that relationships in general are a challenge. That's not to say that they're not rewarding, or that they can be, but they are a challenge. With Millennium, I was trying to capture the gay version of that classic heterosexual conundrum: the guy hits his mid-life crisis and dumps his loyal wife for a young, hot chick. In this story, we've seen that the challenges to Brad and Robbie's relationship haven't gone away, but they have, I think, grown as a couple. This time around, when they were driven apart, they both found sexual solace elsewhere. I hope that throughout each chapter, readers got the feel that there really wasn't a risk of them breaking up. Yes, they were pissed, and yes, they threw their tantrums, and yes, Brad tossed Robbie out of the house, but I tried to convey a more mature relationship theme here, where they knew they were fighting and that things were ugly, but whether they ultimately stayed together or not wasn't the big question. I think that's why, after Will drug Robbie back into Brad's room on Christmas Eve, they were able to reunite without a long, drawn-out process as happened in Millennium. So are Brad and Robbie exclusively monogamous? No, not exclusively. But we really haven't seen them hooking up with Cody or Kevin too much, and I think that they're pretty damn close to the real deal, as far as that goes.

I think he already is. I think in real life, he's Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Mr. Arbour is a whore for praise, so he probably does need a bath. :-) Thanks to all of you who "liked" the chapter, reviewed the chapter, and/or commented on the forum!