Carter's War - 5. Chapter 5

He'd taken a combination of Dayquil, Neo-citron and enough Tylenol cold and flu tablets to make him rattle each and every time he took a step. He felt like death reheated, which was to say he felt like complete crap.

The pharmacists at Union Station had looked at him strangely when he had stumbled up to the counter with his arm full of anti-cold medication. There may not have been a cure for the flu, but dammit, he was going to drug himself so powerfully that he wouldn't feel a thing.

Jared had tried to make him stay home, but Will was resolutely stubborn. If Brody was arriving then it was only right that his friends meet him at the station. So, sufficiently drugged up to the gills and wrapped in an impossible amount of layers, he suffered for a friend.

They were standing under the large clock near to the information desk, Jared reading a newspaper as he kept one eye scanning the crowd. "You think his train was delayed?" Jared asked, returning his gaze to the daily stock report; as was typical with Jared, even when he had a day off, his mind was still on his job. He took his responsibility of investing other people's money very seriously. It made Will smile to know that his own investments were well-looked-after.

"He'll be here," Will said blowing his nose on a tissue. His eyes were red and his nose swollen but he soldiered on, knowing full well that he should have stayed in bed. "He's probably chatting up one of the ticket clerks, knowing him."

Sure enough, the moment he said it the crowd parted slightly to show Brody leaning on the ticket counter, sunglasses in hand, as he said something smooth and witty to a beautiful young woman in that way of his, making her giggle in delight.

"I don't know how he does it," Jared said in wonder, shaking his head. "If I could bottle it and sell it I'd make a fortune."

"Wouldn't work," Will said sagely. "It's not about what he's got, it's all in how he delivers it."

"On a velvet cushion," Jared said, staring at the young woman longingly. "Two beautiful velvet cushions..."

Will coughed and sniffed again, "Yeah, well since that's satisfied your masturbation fantasies for the next week perhaps we should go get him?"

The two friends made their way over to Brody, who disentangled himself from the clerk and slipped her number into his pocket as he tapped his sunglasses down to get a better look at his two close friends.

"You look like shit," he said with a grin to Will.

Will coughed helplessly and lifted the half-finished bottle of Dayquil. "I hate Canadian winters," he offered as a reply.

"That's 'cause you're a wimp, dude," Brody replied looking up at Jared who was still staring at the gorgeous ticket clerk, his tongue hanging out and love in his eyes. Brody rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers in front of Jared's eyes to snap him out of it. "Wake up!" he said with a smile. "Jared this is Colleen, Colleen this is Jared."

It was cruel: he stood back to allow Jared to bluster and fumble his way through trying to pick up a girl who was obviously out of his league, taking personal delight in Jared's pathetic attempt at flirtation.

Once he had failed miserably, Jared shrugged, "Well I tried; guy can dream, though." He bent to pick up some of Brody's bags and juggled them about as they set off for the parking lot where the Jeep was parked. The spring air was rapidly melting the remnants of winter, turning once-white snow to grey slush that slipped beneath their feet.

Brody strode through the lot, completely oblivious to the state of the expensive Italian leather shoes he was wearing. But that was Brody; he enjoyed looking sharp, stylish, but didn't allocate much material wealth to possessions. Shoes were shoes to him, he either liked them or he didn't.

"So," Will said, clambering into the back seat of his jeep to which he'd been relegated because it had been decided he was in no fit condition to manage the Don Valley Parkway dosed up on medication, and that Jared should drive, "what business brings you back to the great white north?"

Brody chuckled, "LA's too hot this time of year, and I have a few meetings to go to."

Will shook his head. Vague as ever, no one was exactly sure what it was Brody did to earn his money, but no one could doubt that whatever it was it was highly lucrative and probably just as illegal.

Brody's cell phone rang and he snapped it open as he watched the city streets whisk by the Jeep as Jared drove it carefully out of the downtown core. "Go," he said, frowning as he talked in a low voice.

Will didn't pay much heed until Brody closed the phone with a sharp snap, "Not even in town five minutes and she's callin'. Girl's gonna be the death of me."

"Girlfriend?" Jared asked, making a left after crossing the queen street bridge and turning onto the Parkway.

"Dude, please!" Brody protested. "She says I'm her girlfriend(boyfriend, I assume) though I'd like to know when I was asked about this arrangement."

Will chuckled as he wiped his nose on another tissue, glad again that some people never changed. It would be good to have Brody back in town for a little while; things always seemed to work better with him around.

The city was soul-destroying. It was a slow process, the sheer weight of so many people stacked so close together threatened to crush the life out of a person. Will missed Ottawa, he missed the home he shared with Andrew and the life he had there. But that was the past.

The townhouse wasn't as big as the one he had shared with Brody when they were roommates back in the day but it was spacious and comfortable enough. Once Brody had dumped his suitcases in the guest bedroom, the three old friends were sitting in the living room catching up.

Will was starting to feel better, sitting with his feet up on the coffee table talking to Brody about the wonder of working for Avery-Woods. Brody listened with interest, chuckling as Will described the transvestite incident.

"Only you," Brody said with a grin, "would send a drag queen to work for a homophobe."

"It really wasn't my fault," Will protested. "I didn't hire him... her...whatever."

"Sure," Brody said sounding unconvinced, as his phone rang again. He grimaced, checking the call ID before dropping it onto the table where it continued to ring.

"You gonna answer that?" Jared asked curiously.

"Hell, no," Brody said with a look of shock. "It's just the girl calling again to check up on me."

"Wow, it's like you're married," Will said with a smile.

Brody's face was priceless--it was a combination of shock mixed with fear, "Married? Screw that shit. She's just being needy right now; I'll wait a day and call her then."

"One of these days," Will said sounding serious, "you are going to find yourself trapped, and a girl is going to get a ring on your finger."

"That day's a long ways away, my friend." Brody grinned, "For now, I'm gonna keep playing the game."