Carter's Shadow - 21. Chapter 21

The measure of a man, it seemed, was a point that Greenwood wanted them to dwell upon. It had been the theme of the year. The merchant of Venice, it seemed, was the way he choose to drive it home.

West sat staring at the screen, at the finishing touches he was trying to put onto his term paper. Drawing from each of the sources he had studied that year, and trying to show what he had learned. Trying to show that man was more than the sum of his parts, it was his actions that defined him, not some preconceived stereotype.

His MSN, predictably, chose that moment to make its presence known.

T-dawg says: Hey

West frowned a moment wondering who T-dawg was, before he clued in to the fact that it was Tony and leaned forward to reply, "Hey yourself, how's it going?"

T-dawg says: Good, just catching up on some studying, you?

"Great," West replied with a slight smile, "Just finishing a paper."

T-dawg says: What's it on?

"The measure of a man." West replied.

T-dawg says: Six and a half inches.

West laughed shaking his head, "No, no, not the "Measurement" of a man, the measure of a man, what makes a man a man."

T-dawg says: Oh, well my way's more interesting.

"You should change your nickname from T-dawg to Horn-dawg." West laughed again as he leaned forward to take some notes in his spiral notebook, continuing to work while he talked to Tony.

T-dawg says: I'm not a total horn dawg, besides I haven't even slept with the guy I'm seeing yet.

West glanced up at the screen and smiled, "Yeah, hey you have no problem waiting for that right? I don't want to lead you on and stuff."

T-dawg says: No, no, it's cool. I like the idea of waiting.

"Cool." West replied, "So what did you get up to today?"

* * *

William Carter entered his house tiredly; it had been yet another long day at the call centre, dealing with training new telemarketers in how to use the phone systems. All of them had been literally hired that day and thrust onto the phones at the speed of unprofessional. He hated the massive call centre turn over that had left him scraping the barrel to put people into seats. People with language barriers, or social barriers, or both.

Andrew followed him in, respectfully giving him the space he needed to decompress. Walking through and stopping short when he noticed Peter already a resident on the rug in front of the Television, visor cap turned backwards nudging Blake sitting beside him.

Both turned to look up at him sheepishly, "Hey," Peter said cheerfully.

"Hello mister...err Highmore." Blake said pausing their game, some hack and slash game involving a lot of excessive violence, the kind of game Peter tended to love.

"Hello," Andrew stated nodding and pushing his hair back from his eyes looking mildly amused.

"What's up?" Will asked walking through into the living room, loosening his tie and noticing Peter and his friend, "Oh they multiplied." He commented to Andrew folding his arms, "Think I could start a Sprog farm at this rate?" He teased.

"Hey Will, this is..." Peter began.

"Blake, yes I've met him." Will replied nodding to the new comer to the house, "So I take it I'm cooking dinner for one more?"

"I'll do it," Andrew said touching his arm in concern, "You just relax."

Will glanced at Andrew's hand then up into those warm sapphire eyes staring at him in concern before nodding, "okay." He caved in with a smile, "Just nothing too spicy." He winced knowing that with all the stress from work he was under the last thing he wanted was heartburn.

He followed Andrew through into the kitchen where Andrew began to dig through the fridge tossing ingredients up onto the side. As usual there was a lot of green in there and Will wondered what concoction Andrew was planning.

"Think it's a date?" Will asked leaning back a little to look through the dining room into the kitchen where the two boys had resumed their game.

"If it is we should give them some privacy," Andrew said, leaning round to look as well.

"Yeah, we 'should'..." Will said quietly, "But..."

Will felt Andrew wrap his arms around his waist and draw him close against him, and Will sighed as he closed his eyes feeling Andrew's cheek against his, the coarseness of his five o'clock shadow, the rhythm of his breathing and the light smell of cologne and leather that Andrew seemed to carry with him everywhere.

"I could fall asleep like this." He murmured after a moment.

"You could use a good nights sleep." Andrew observed quietly, his lips brushing Will's ear as he spoke, "You're exhausted."

Will opened his eyes and glanced over towards the chrome toaster, catching sight of himself in it. He looked older, the constant stresses of his job taking their toll on him. The weight of responsibility of a thankless job that paid the bills by taking little pieces of his soul away from him.

He sighed, "I'll eat and then go to sleep." He said tiredly.

"If you want to go to bed now, I'll bring supper up to you when it's ready." Andrew reassured.

"Thanks," Will said gratefully as he started off winking to Peter before climbing the stairs to bed.

* * *

Tony stood out on the balcony of his apartment smoking a cigarette and looking over the beautiful night skyline of Ottawa. It was one of the few things he liked about his dingy little apartment in Lee's, the great view of the city that it gave him.

Some kids were down playing basketball in a parking lot beneath him, dodging about as they passed the ball from one to the other, the sound of the ball bouncing against asphalt blending with the music coming from an apartment below him.

He stood, resting his elbows against the concrete railing, taking the occasional drag on his cigarette as he thought about his earlier conversation with West.

He liked the guy, who wouldn't? The guy was tall, athletic, handsome and intelligent. There was an almost all-American quality to West, the kind of guy you expected to bring home the championship, to go on to father children and own a white picket fence, coaching football on a Saturday afternoon.

Tony had never been one of those guys, he had hated school, the fact he was in university was a quite testament to the fact that he hated his home more and had done what he had to get out and away from there. But there was this guy now, bright and intelligent, alluringly shy and...

Tony took another drag on the cigarette and smiled thinking of West. Enjoying the electric thrill that ran through him at the memory of that kiss. The silken caress of West's skin, the soft pressure of those lips, that feeling of someone so self-restrained giving in to his emotions and getting swept away with them.

* * *

Andrew came back downstairs with the tray, Will had fallen asleep, before he had even had a chance to take off his clothes. Andrew had wisely decided to just let him sleep; knowing how much Will had needed it.

The two boys were now chowing down gratefully on the stir-fry watching some cheesy sitcom and laughing along with it. And Andrew smiled to himself, remembering many a night curled up with Will on that very couch, laughing...

It seemed so long since those days. Life just content to throw its obstacles in the way, irregardless of some people desperately needing a few seconds to catch their breaths. But Andrew smiled anyway, sure life was tough, but all it took was to hear Will laugh and he felt better. Surprising after so many years, but it was still the smallest things that reminded him of how much he loved his partner.

He re-entered the kitchen, setting the plate down and scooping up a fork. He might as well eat it, and if Will woke up hungry there was nothing stopping Andrew from cooking up some more.

He climbed into a stool at the kitchen island and sat staring up out of the big window overlooking the front yard, where Brody's car was pulling up. Andrew smiled to himself, Will's roommate tramping up onto the porch in his usual flurry of extroverted style. Banging through the door and setting down his back pack and taking off his wool overcoat.

"Yo!" he called, looking through at Andrew sitting at the island and nodding as he stamped through to look into the pan, "You burning something?"

"Stir-fry." Andrew replied, "Help yourself, Will fell asleep before he could eat it."

Brody let out a long yawn as he scooped up a bowl and heaped a meal into it, "So I'm out today, as you do..." he stopped noticing the four pairs of eyes in the living room and he leaned around to get a better look, "Another one?" he inquired rolling his eyes, "All these kids in my house..." he shook his head with a grin, "Anyway, so I'm there today at the store and this pretty young thing came up to me, now me I'm always the first to compliment a pretty girl...anyway before I can get the words out of my mouth she's all like 'how you doing!'..." he laughed, "Girl's a player and I'm thinking 'damn girl... you can take me out anytime...'." He shook his head.

"Yeah?" Andrew asked smiling, "And did you?"

"Well I was about to, and then this little 'un came running up all 'mommy mommy' and..."

"You ran a mile?" Andrew replied with a light smirk and a nod.

"Hey, I'm no body's daddy!" Brody said holding up his finger.

"You're a shallow, shallow man." Andrew replied with a nod.

"Shallow? Me?" Brody feigned being wounded, "no, no seriously I mean she was hot, it's just I don't want a ready made family, if I want kids they're gonna be my own kids... ya know?"

Andrew quirked his eyebrow.

"Right," Brody said snapping his fingers, "I need to start getting some straight friends, so they know what I be talkin' about."

"Might help bud." Andrew nodded.

"So who's this?" Brody up nodded to the living room.

"That would be Blake, Peter's friend..." Andrew replied following Brody's gaze towards the living room.

"Oh, right 'friend'." He added quotation marks with his fingers, "When did my house get nominated as the dating hub of Ottawa?"

"Hello?" Lisa called sticking her head around the front door.

"I really should learn to lock that." Brody commented dryly under his breath. Andrew flashed him another smirk, knowing full well Brody loved being the centre of attention.

"In here," Andrew called through, as Lisa entered the house, taking off her coat and kicking off her shoes.

"Phew that was a long day." She remarked walking in and sitting down across the island from them, stretching out dramatically.

"Don't any of you have homes to go to?" Brody commented looking at the pair of them.

Andrew and Lisa glanced at each other and shrugged, "Nope."

Brody rolled his eyes again, "Well wrestling starts in twenty minutes," he raised his voice, "And there better be room on my couch, or I'll be pissed!"

Lisa leaned round, caught sight of Blake with Peter and she leaned back offering a questioning gesture.

"Blake," Brody offered, "I think its lil'petey's boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend," Peter replied walking into the kitchen to put the dishes into the sink, "And keep it down he can hear you guys!" his cheeks were suddenly very red.

"Hey," Brody gestured with his fork, "We be talkin' about you not too you."

Peter shook his head as he grinned and darted back towards the living room.

"So," Lisa said trying to change the subject, "I'm on this work computer bulletin board, and Mary Conner's from training thinks it's a good idea to pose the question 'If you woke up and I was in bed with you, what would be your first thought?'."

"Uh oh," Andrew commented, "I see nothing but bad coming out of that. What did you say?"

"I didn't, I stay well away from those types of conversations." Lisa said straightening up.

"Well," Brody said with a smile, "Is she hot?"

"Mary?" Lisa asked, "Well she's a bit older, but yeah she's hot. Why what would you say?"

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Andrew nearly spat his stir-fry across the counter as Lisa gaped at Brody in shock. "That's wrong on so many levels!" she accused.

* * *

"They always like that?" Blake asked quietly, they had long since given up on the sitcom, the one unfolding in the kitchen was much funnier to the two teenagers.

"Always." Peter replied folding his arms and shaking his head, "It's worse when Will's around. They usually end up picking on him."

"So these are you're friends?" Blake asked resting his head on his hand watching Peter.

"Yeah, I've been coming to this house since I was Twelve, Will's kind of like my big brother, he looks out for me." Peter smiles, "It's probably less chaotic at your house."

"It's nothing like this." Blake admitted, "My place is quiet, my Dad's usually late getting home, so its mostly me in a big house all by myself." He flashed his toothy grin again, "So what other secret's are you hiding McCormick?"

"I'm not hiding anything," Peter said with a shrug, "This is about it."

"Well," Blake said ginning mischievously, "Coach Highmore is kinda cute..."

"Ewww!" Peter screwed up his nose, "He's too old!"

"That's right," Blake grinned, "you like younger hockey players."

"Would you stop with that?" Peter batted Black with a socked foot, "I am not in love with West."

"Nope, not love, but you still like him." Blake caught Peter's foot and yanked on it, causing Peter to slid along the couch.

"I do not!" Peter said coming up co grab Blake's arms, Blake rolling with it till the two thumped to the hardwood floor.

"When I said Wrestling," Brody said standing over them, Andrew and Lisa standing behind him, "I meant on the TV, not in the middle of my living room." He shook his head, "this is all Will's fault." He sat down on the recently vacated couch and turned the channel to the right one.

Blake chuckled as he sat up, Peter, slightly flushed, coming up to sit beside him as they all settled down to watch.

* * *

West finished the last line of his paper, smiling to himself as he read over it. It had taken him much of the night to put together. His mother had brought his supper to him, which he had appreciated. She was pleased that he was getting the work done and didn't mind the fact that he was skipping the typical family dinner to finish up.

He saved the paper, yawning as he pushed back from the desk, and retreating to his couch to spread out and scoop up the clicker. If he was lucky he could catch the Daily show or something and get a good laugh before he fell asleep.

The knock at the door, caused him to look up at it tiredly, "Yeah?" he called as Joey poked his head around it.

"Hey," Joey nodded stepping inside and sliding the door closed, "I'm just going to be, but I wanted to know what you thought of Tony?"

"Great guy." West replied sitting up and straightening his messed up hair, "I like him a lot."

"Good, 'cause he was asking if you were talking about him, and I was wondering what I should tell him."

"He was asking about me?" West grinned in amusement, it was a new feeling and he shook his head to try and shake the broad smile on his face.

"Yeah," Joey said nodding, "so I did good huh?"

"Yeah," West said with a nod.

"Cool." Joey said, shifting a little, "So Friday night you're coming to watch us skate then?"

"Am I?" West inquired.

"Tony's hoping so, he was badgering me to ask you..." Joey smiled, "It'll be cool you should do it."

"You're okay with that?" West asked suddenly concerned, Joey was a guy that typically liked his space, and his Friday nights were a way from him to escape from his family, and West didn't want to intrude, even if he was unofficially dating one of Joey's friends.

"Yeah, it's cool." Joey admitted with a nod, "Be good to show you some real skating."