Trigger The Years Past - 6. Chapter 6: Man Of The Sequel

"How come I can't look?" Sterling asked as he was rolled from one room to another on a massage table by two of Lacey's girl frields that blind folded him.

"Because...it's a surprise." Lacey grinned down at Sterling and his new hair, shaven at the sides and the back and crop cut short on the top and dyed blonde, definitely very different. "Now you're getting a tattoo. Give you a hint...I'm going to make you the man of the sequel." Lacey grinned.

"Tattoo? Wait! What kind of tattoo?!"

One of the girls grabbed the tattoo machine and sighed. "Listen, my name is Mysti, okay doll? And I'm just going to roman numeral two on your shoulder. Lacey wants you to be the sequel man."

"And if it fails...I know some people who can laser it off." Lacey smiled.

Mysti starts to work on the tattoo. "And my sister, Rayne over there, shes going to do your piercing."

Sterling grabbed the sides of the table nervously.

"Don't be so scared, this is all for Miracle! Be tough." Lacey laughed and fell back on the couch and grabbed a beer and took a sip.

"Relax and hold still, trembling makes it more difficult." Mysti smiled and continued her work on drawing the roman numeral two on the side of his shoulder.

"Keep it small, that way you get it done quicker. His nerves, get on my nerves." Rayne mumbled.

"Quit being such a bitch." Mysti shook her head.

"If I'm a bitch, you're a bitch, sista'." Rayne sterilized the needle and then walked over and laid an ice cube over Sterling's right eyebrow. "Hold that there, let it get numb."

Sterling reached up and grabbed the ice cube. "My eyebrow?!"

"Yes, now stop bitching." Rayne looked up at Lacey. "You seriously owe me."

"I could gag him for you." Lacey joked and took another sip of her beer.

"Or I could show him the wonders of a belly button ring." Rayne laughed and reached into a bag and tossed a gummy bear in her mouth.

"Ooo Mysti, it would be so hot if you did a heart on his chest, on fire." Lacey laughed, teasing Sterling.

"No! No more tattoos!" Sterling flinched.

"Or put a big S on the middle of his chest." Rayne laughed.

"Super man!" Mysti grinned and kept working, keeping it fairly simple.

Lacey danced her head to the beat of the music playing and then tilted the bottle of beer up for a big gulp.

Miracle opened the door to the trailer and walked inside, finding Gavin walking into the living room. "Where is Andy?"

"He should be home from work soon, why?" Gavin asked.

"Oh, because he's in big trouble." Miracle grinned and spun around and looked around the room.

"You know, the world can be small." Gavin walked over to Miracle. "I needed some film equipment if I'm going to try it out as a film student and...Wayne's sister, her son had some, and I just got sent a bunch of stuff in boxes." He paused. "There was...a documentary about you."

Miracle spun around. "What? Faye..as in Cody's mother...is Wayne's sister? And you got that...not even finished documentary?"

"Yeah, I watched some of it, not sure if I seen all of it or not." Gavin said.

Miracle nodded. "Well, can't bitch, I made it to be seen. Sadly I wanted the thing finished first...though there wasn't much to be seen. Most of the things were filmed on his phone."

"The phone footage and all of it, he edited together and put it on a tape." Gavin said.

"Oh, he did." Miracle slowly nodded.

"I was thinking, if I'm going to be a film student, I have to go in with some kind of work. What if we finished it?"

"Finished it? How can we finish it?" Miracle asked. "There would be a pretty big time gap in it."

"Well...it would be a then and now piece...especially with...all your theories about the future, finger prints..." Gavin trailed off.

Miracle slowly nodded until he turned around as the door opened and Andy walked in. "You!" He pointed at Andy.

Andy sighed, letting the storm door slam shut. "Miracle, I'm hot...and I'm tired...and I really just want to take a shower and lay in an ice cold room."

"Should of thought about that before you called daddy on me!" Miracle crossed his arms. "Seriously? Laying into Cheston yourself wasn't enough? You gonna call my mom next? Get the whole calvary in? Hey, I know, we can have them arrive in horse and carriage with torches!"

"Your dad had a right to know. I told you, Miracle. I was sick of lying for you, I've been sick of it. How he handles the information is his decision." Andy said, only to then quickly turn and stumble out of the way as Sterling came stumbling in.

Sterling let the storm door slam shut. "They blinded me! My right eye is blind!" He had a piercing needle stuck through his eyebrow, blood running down his face and a bandage over his tattoo that was half hanging on and blood seeping through his skin, looking terrible.

Miracle's eyes widened. "Sterling...what did you do? Who did it?"

"Lacey! It was her idea and her friends did it! And she fucked up, and now I'm half blind!" Sterling screamed in pain.

"Oh god...Rayne must of hit the nerve." Miracle's hands moved up towards his mouth. "Okay, someone needs to call the ambulance..."

"Yeah! And she wanted to get my other eye too, so I couldn't identify them! Mysti was going to let her do it, and Lacey stopped them!" Sterling slid down to sit on the floor. "I did this for you, Miracle! For you!"

Miracle's eyebrows lifted as he stared down at Sterling. "You cut off your hair, dyed it, got a tattoo and tried to get a piercing...for me?" He then looked at the tattoo. "Number two? What is that supposed to even mean?"

"Okay! Stop being so dramatic, he doesn't need an ambulance." Andy sighed. "Sterling, get up, we need to get you to the car, drive you to the hospital."

"No! That's where Lacey works! They might be there to finish the job!" Sterling screamed.

"Lacey would never do that!" Miracle screamed, shaking his head.

Gavin looked between them, silently watching the drama unfold.

"Sterling, please, like we would leave your side for a second." Andy grabbed Sterling by the arm and pulled him from the floor. "We need to get you to the hospital." He said, helping him out the door.

Miracle stared at the door after they left. "I...don't get it." Miracle turned towards Gavin. "How did he think any of that would make us together?"

"Maybe...he thought you would be attracted to some sort of style." Gavin took a guess. He looked around. "Sad thing is, bad thing is, he's already playing this, I did it for you, now I'm blind."

"So? Either I'm a bitch or he's a pity party, people will see it one way or another." Miracle then fell on the couch. "That was so insensitive." His face fell into his hands. "My best friend has been blinded, I was so happy he returned from war without a scratch...and a piecing does this..."

"Why do you reject him?"

Miracle's head lifted and he sat back in the couch. "I don't know, I just do. Maybe it's subconscious, but some of our most intimate moments are so close to some of my most worst moments. And I guess...if I had to give someone a knowing answer...he's safe, he's from the past, I've known him for so long, he'd never betray me. All great qualities, but I need the risk, the adventure, the excitement and the thrill of every beginning, we know each other to well for that. And...I guess it's just part of me trying to...move on as they say."

"And why not Andy?" Gavin asked.

"I was a wreck when I met him, you can't start like that, and once you form the way you feel about someone, it usually sticks. Like...it's hard to see myself actually loving him. Plus, he's a construction worker and so much like Sterling that it's not funny."

"And me?"

Miracle looked at Gavin. "To be honest? I haven't been around you enough to know. The fact that we met under a trick, that is kind of awkward, the fact that I initially felt like I was supposed to be a superior to you when in relationships I expect the other to be superior. I guess it's hard for me to see you outside of that role you played, but I haven't really seen you much since."

Gavin nodded. "The tall dark and handsome attorney just...does it then?"

"When it clicks inside..." Miracle shrugged. "Listen, after this...I'm probably not going to have any reasons to come here anymore. The house is big, if you want to move one more time..." Miracle looked at Gavin.

"If...you'll do the documentary..." Gavin grinned.

"Bribery. Okay, I'll do it, sounds like a good idea, not leave it unfinished."

"It's really deep...and telling. Until it gets to the part of you and uh...Melanie."

"Melanie?" Miracle thought over it. "You might have to let me watch it again." He smiled. "I didn't think I had anything to remember her by."

"Well, it's good, I like how you didn't hide yourself. Far different from the you that I met. You were an open book back then." Gavin cleared his throat. "Which, by the way, sorry for...the things that...happened to you."

Miracle looked up at Gavin. "Regarding that, I have a very interesting update. And you don't have to move into the house, I was just kidding." He stood up.

"Okay." Gavin nodded.

"Well, I need to call my dad, should probably cancel our plans. Lacey was part of them, so..." Miracle smiled and then headed outside and sighed, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Jeremy answered.

"Dad, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to cancel our plans. The most fucked up thing in the world just happened. I came over to yell at Andy and Sterling stumbled in with a pierced eyebrow and the needle still stuck in and the girl hit the nerve and blinded his eye. Andy took him to the hospital. I kind of just want to go home, but I know I should be at the hospital."

"I'll meet you at the hospital." Jeremy said.

"Okay." Miracle hung up and then headed down the steps, sending a text off to Cheston to come to the hospital and then he headed for his car and climbed in.

Gavin stood at the storm door and watched Miracle drive away and then pressed his head against the glass and closed his eyes and sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't crush on you, maybe you do just need a friend."

"What are you doing here?" Andy looked at Miracle as he walked in.

"Checking on my friend. Why? I don't have any business doing that? I've known him far longer than you have. If anyone doesn't have any business here, it's you."

Andy laughed sarcastically. "Really? If I'm game on being kicked off the chess board for not knowing all the pieces, then shes equally game." His thumb swung at Lacey.

"Hey, for one, I work here." Lacey said.

Andy turned towards her. "You got him into it in the first place!"

"Yeah, well if he would of stopped bitching about Miracle! If he would have just accepted that Miracle didn't want him! Now he's blind in an eye!" Lacey waved her arms.

"Yeah, thanks to your, oh so professional piercer, what's her name? Rayne?" Andy rolled his eyes and shook his head.

Miracle pushed between them and headed through the waiting room after seeing a nurse go into the back, he ignored the receptionist who started calling out to him and grasped the door before it had a chance to close and lock. He walked into the back and yanked the door shut and headed through the back, looking through each of the rooms that he went by until he found Sterling's. He walked inside and shut the door, locking it, that was when he walked into the curtain and saw Sterling laying there with a patch of gauze over his eye and wrapped around his head.

"So what's the prognosis?" Miracle asked, crossing his arms.

"They haven't said anything." Sterling looked down. "Just fixed it up, gave me something for pain...probably send me to a specialist or something."

Miracle slowly nodded and stepped closer, yanking off his shoes in turn, then he climbed onto the bed, straddling Sterling, on his hands and knees as he came face to face with him. "Well, you wanted my attention, now you have it. What do you want?"

Sterling looked up at Miracle with the one good eye he had. "Not your pity."

"This isn't about pity." Miracle shook his head. "It's the fact that you thought you had to completely change yourself. Sterling, you can't make yourself into what I want...because what a person wants, it's not pre-planned, it happens in a moments notice. Attorney's never even crossed my mind...like ever, until that one day that it happened. And it's not even about his job, it's about who he is."

"What he looks like." Sterling mumbled.

"So you thought you'd get a make over?" Miracle frowned.

"Why not, you did. You became the blondie...and never went back." Sterling managed to grin.

"Minor alteration, and besides, it suits me." Miracle looked up at Sterling's new hair. "You're a mess..."

"Least I can say it wasn't my idea." Sterling looked down.

"So you want me that bad?"

"I never stopped." Sterling looked up at Miracle. "Aside from them messing with my head about Ashley, you were all I thought about, the one time we saw each other, before you ran off, that moment stuck in my head for the longest time. Miracle...it was between Jaemin and I...and not to make something petty of it, but I'm here."

"But, what if I just want someone new entirely? What if it has nothing to do with not loving you and everything to do with...the new life I started?" Miracle asked.

"New life? What new life? Miracle, you're in shambles, just because you have a new relationship with a financially well off attorney, it does not make for a new life." Sterling said.

"Being with you wouldn't either, and all you could do is promise to help me, just like he did, just like anyone would, because that is all anyone could promise me." Miracle paused. "And actually, I do have a new life forming, it's just...small right now."

"I don't want you here to rationalize your rejection..." Sterling looked up. "I don't even know why you crawled on top of me."

"Because I'm pissed." Miracle said. "If you want me...then have me, right here, why not?"

Sterling grinned. "So that's it? You think if I bang you then it'll be over? Miracle, you know me better than that."

"Could be, I could always succeed at ODing this time." Miracle crawled off of him. "You know I can disappear...anytime I want, and I'm good at it." He turned and started to head out of the curtains, grabbing his shoes on his way.

"Miracle, wait!" Sterling called out.

Miracle stopped and turned around and looked at Sterling.

"Jaemin died for you...and I know you hate that. He didn't think about anything, he just took what he thought and perceived. But...this." He pointed at his eye. "An accident, a horrible accident that happened because I was going out of my way...for you. Even if it was stupid or foolish...it was for you. Does that not mean anything at all?"

Miracle stared at Sterling and then dropped the curtain and walked over to his bed side. "A make over? That was incredibly stupid." Miracle looked down. "Sterling, laying that on me like that, it only hurts me. I know that you were doing it for me...and it's horrible." Miracle looked up at him. "It only makes you just less worse than Jaemin, doing something you perceive is what I want or need, for me. And then I have to lay with the pain of it."

Sterling reached up and gently took Miracle by the chin. "You don't, I'm telling you not to. I guess I just hoped...it'd be seen as a sacrifice..." Sterling pulled his hand away. "When really it was just an accident."

"Maybe...it's time that you go, you have a mother that can help you through this..."

"Maybe." Sterling frowned. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Every time I try to love you...I get hurt."

Miracle leaned down and gently kissed him on the lips. "Part of me will always love you, always has, and...always will." He then turned around and left the room.

"Yo, nurse! Chill out! I'm out of the back room, damn!" Miracle yelled as he was practically paraded out of the back by one of the nurses.

"I tried to stop him!" The receptionist called out to the nurse.

Miracle glared at the receptionist. "I needed to see my friend, so fuck off."

Gavin's eyebrows lifted from the seat where he sat.

Cheston had arrived by this time and he walked over and a mixture of a polite yet apologetic smile was sent her way as he grabbed Miracle's shoulders and spun him around. "What happened?" He asked.

"Uh...oh my god!" He looked at Cheston. "He wanted a make over, thinking I would love him, and my friend Lacey, well her friend Rayne screwed up the eyebrow piercing and hit the nerve and blinded his eye."

"Yeah, good going Lace." Andy clapped.

"I'm about sick of your crap. Why don't you go back to your little bar?" Lacey crossed her arms. "It was Rayne that screwed up, not me, and she has never messed up before."

Andy looked at Cheston. "What if she purposely done it then? Since her rep is so good." He looked at Lacey.

"Well, she was getting irritated by his bitching." Lacey shrugged. "She seemed just as surprised and freaked as Mysti who was right there beside her. Thing is, Mysti knows nothing about piercing, except for your ears."

Cheston looked around. "Okay, so what are you all saying? You want me to try to do something to this...Rayne girl?"

Lacey's face fell into her hands. "If you do, my name can't be in it. Nor can any details that only the three of us would know."

"Then that sinks the case, unless Sterling knew her name." Andy shook his head at Lacey. "More concerned with your girlfriends."

"I came here from Australia, I don't have a lot of friends!" She screamed at Andy.

"Okay...is Rayne even her real name? I would need her real name, full name." Cheston said.

"You can't, she'll know I told." Lacey pulled her hands away. "Sterling wouldn't know that."

Miracle sighed, caught in the middle, he could feel for Lacey. "Does this matter? It's not going to fix his eye! I doubt he's going to want to spend his money or be in the mood to."

Lacey waved at Miracle. "What he said. If my eye was blinded, a bunch of money wouldn't do anything for me. I wouldn't want to do anything with it."

Cheston remained silent, feeling as if he were standing in the middle of a high school drama. He rubbed his chin which had a little bit of stubble from his five o'clock shadow.

"It wouldn't be about spending it. You and Miracle really need to mature! It could be used for far more important things! Like go towards a surgery!" Andy yelled.

Okay, Andy seemed at least a little more mature, Cheston thought as he watched on.

"What kind of surgery can fix his eye?!" Lacey asked.

"And you're a nurse?!" Andy laughed.

"Being a nurse has nothing to do with eye surgery!" Lacey shook her head.

"Okay, guys, just stop!" Miracle walked in between Andy and Lacey. "I'm tired of you both bitching and fighting."

"Yeah, really, Rayne and Mysti need to walk up in here. Where are they? Probably in some crappy hotel somewhere hiding!" Andy yelled.

"Andy!" Miracle screamed.

The receptionist finally stood up and walked to the scene. "I'm going to have to ask all of you to take this outside, you are upsetting the patients waiting to be seen." Hell, they were really entertained.

Miracle looked around. "Where is my dad?!" He looked around.

"He went out for a smoke." Lacey said.

Gavin sighed, wishing he had brought that camera, this would have made for some good reality television drama, really though, he wanted to start with a more proper opening, but if he had to film out of order to get this, if he had the camera, he would have. He stood up and followed everyone outside to the parking lot where Jeremy was sitting on the bench smoking a cigarette.

"Screw cigarette free zones." Jeremy sighed.

"Nice going Lacey, they are probably going to come out here and fine him now." Andy sighed. "Miracle's girlfriend here said you were outside smoking in front of the receptionist."

Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I'm finished with the thing anyway." He tossed it down and smushed it out with his shoe.

"I don't understand. Andy, Lacey, would one of you please tell me why you hate each other? And this goes beyond Sterling's accident, this was just the reason to blow. It wasn't even Lacey's fault, not directly." Miracle looked between them.

Cheston and Gavin sat on the bench on either side of Jeremy.

"It's like watching a reality TV show." Gavin mumbled.

"More like...some high school teen drama show that I don't know about." Cheston's eyebrows lifted. "Didn't feel like daring to name one, out of the very few names I know."

"I...don't hate Lacey." Andy admitted. "She frustrates me, when she comes around and drags you back down."

"Having a little fun in life is dragging him down? Everyone has fun, and it's not like I was letting him make horrible mistakes, I knew what I was doing." Lacey frowned. "I didn't even come around that much."

"Can we have a clean slate, please?" Miracle asked.

Andy looked away. "Fine."

"Stubborn ass." Lacey folded her arms and looked at Miracle. "If he does, I will."

Miracle nodded and walked over to Cheston and fell down in his lap and wrapped an arm around his neck. "I'm so stressed." His face fell onto his shoulder. "And I got like ten voice mails from Conner, probably about the next filming date, then I have to find time to film the update on my old documentary that Gavin found, that I agreed to do..."

Cheston wrapped an arm around Miracle and grinned. "You wanted to be an actor."

"I know." Miracle heard his phone ring and grabbed it and lifted his head up. "Hello?"

"Finally! The hell is going on?" Conner asked.

"Sorry, life's been happening. Normally it's not this crazy and...well now I'm at the hospital, my friend's eyebrow piercing blinded him."

"Seriously?!" Conner tried not to laugh.

"Don't sound so heart broken." Miracle said, sarcastically. "Look, I can make some time to film tomorrow. Are we doing day scenes or night scenes?"

"Night scenes." Conner said.

"Locations?" Miracle asked.

"Park, you and your boyfriend." Conner said.

"Hold on." Miracle pulled the phone away and put it on mute and looked at Cheston. "They are giving me a boyfriend in the film."

Cheston frowned. "Well, I guess I'll have to deal with it, besides, the only real part is the kissing, right?"

"Of course, that's how it works." Miracle nodded.

"Go ahead." Cheston nodded, still hating the idea.

Miracle unmuted the phone. "Okay, so night at the park. Does eleven work? You never know when it's going to get really dark around here."

"Eleven works." Conner said.

"Okay, I'll be there." He pulled the phone away and hung up. "Okay, Conner's film at eleven, documentary while Cheston is at work and then home time in between." He looked at Cheston. "Sound like a plan?" He smiled.

"You're quite the scheduler, one reason to hire you at my firm, keep giving me reasons, Secretary." Cheston teased.

"I might, let me go around through your junk, the basement, whatever, and reorganize...or if your actual files are in serious chaos, I might could fix that too." Miracle nodded.

"I would actually like if Miracle worked at your firm." Jeremy said after lighting another cigarette. "It's a secure and decent job. I mean, Miracle, have you even thought about where your next acting gig will come after this? Your documentary is free, it's pretty much your own project."

"I'm just going to walk around that building again. I'll be a job hooker." Miracle grinned. "And I'll need that contract to do that, if that guy bumps into me and asks about it, I'll have to show it to him and tell him that I'm still thinking about it, tell him I'm just taking a tour of the place." He shrugged.

Cheston sighed. "Just make sure you get all the information on any jobs that might come up, I don't want you to end up on one of those movies that actually has a plot around it's porn. Some do that, like an alien movie but really it turns out to be..."

"Ew." Miracle looked at Cheston. "I wouldn't take a job like that in a million years."

"Yeah, I don't think we did anymore of the documentary after that...because Melanie died shortly after." Miracle said after reviewing the old footage. "Okay, I think we should put this tape to the side, start with a new one and then edit all the footage together."

"How did Cody transfer the footage from phones and computers to tapes, and what not?" Gavin asked.

"Well, phones you can hook to computers, easy enough." Miracle walked over and sat on the couch in Gavin's house. "The tape part is...a little more technical for me." He said thoughtfully.

"Well, it's camera tape, so it had to be with the camera." Gavin said. "There is a USB hook up."

"Then that's it, he hooked it up via USB, the computer would pick up the device, in fact, I bet that camera has a memory card that temporarily holds the footage of whatever tape you put in. The footage would of temporarily copied onto the memory card which could then be extracted onto the computer, editing could of been done, in this case, all he did was put the clips in order and then sent back to the memory card, in that case, overwriting what was originally on the tape." Miracle explained.

Gavin looked over the camera and studied it. "Yep, there's a memory card slot, two of them. Permanent memory storage and temporary, the temporary one has a card in it." He looked at Miracle. "So it kind of acts like a flash drive."

"My theory." Miracle nodded. "Kind of like a fancy way of recording over a tape on a VCR."

"Okay." Gavin took that tape out and took a permanent marker and simply added part 1 to the existing label and put it in a protective case. "Okay, since we'll be using a new tape. Do you know of a safe place you want to keep this?"

"I know a good place, you'll think it's awesome." Miracle grinned and walked over and grabbed the tape and walked over to a wall where there was a long table with various decor sitting on top of it and some shelves on the front and above it was a picture of Cheston's parents. He grabbed the edge of the picture and it opened like a door, revealing a safe.

"Woah." Gavin grinned. "And you already have access to that?"

"It's the living room safe, hardly has any of the real goods." He turned the dial for the combination and opened it. "A few wads of cash." He pulled a banded wad out. "Probably twenty thousand in total, including my ten thousand he put in there." He tossed the money back. "He decided to put my locket in there and several copies of my picture of Jaemin and Issac, it's fire proof, so if anything happened to the one I have on the dresser, I would have copies. He put Jaemin's cell phone in there, though he respected me in not watching it, I might let him watch it."

Miracle put the tape inside. "Most of the stuff is mine, precious things to me." He locked the safe back and replaced the picture. "He said he wants my parents, birth parents to have a picture made so he could replace this picture, since it's for me."

"Why hasn't that happened already?" Gavin asked.

"Ha." Miracle turned around. "You'd have to pry my mom away from Craig long enough, get her out of New York. I talked my dad into staying in town a few more days. I am going to call my mom. Really lay into her about how shes been so wrapped up in her marriage, even if I have to use David against her."

"David?"

"The video clip at the waterfall? The things I said? The man's name was David, and it happened because she gave me up for adoption. I've forgiven her, I really have...but if I have to use it to get them together for a fucking picture, I will." Miracle walked across the living room. "So we could go into Cheston's room, he has a balcony that kind of straddles the pool and the garden, half sun, half shade, so the lighting could be really perfect."

Gavin nodded. "Okay, sounds good." He started to get up.

"Hold on, I have to call my mom. Need to get her out here so that Cheston can hire the photographer, he knows the camera to use and the size to make it." Miracle grabbed his phone and dialed Erica.

"Hello?" Erica answered. "Miracle, what's going on? Your father called, told me everything. Sterling's eye is gone?!"

"No, his eye is not gone, they pierced his brow and hit the nerve and now he's blind in an eye." Miracle shook his head. "Look, mom. I am with an attorney now, not legally either. I'm with one, relationship wise. Anyway he gave me a safe behind a picture to protect some of my precious things, the safe is fire proof. It's hidden behind a picture, like in the movies. The only problem...and it's tacky and he agrees with me, is that it's a picture of his parents over my safe. Now, I already have daddy here, is it to much to ask for you to come here to take a picture with him so I can have a picture of my parents hiding my safe? Is it to much to ask for you to sit beside him and smile? Honestly, I haven't seen you since I got out of the psyche ward and he showed me the blue house."

Erica sighed. "Honey, I'm sorry. It's just that, I got so much time with you, I thought you were spending a lot of time with your father and I didn't want to get in the way of that."

"Really? And it has nothing to do with being wrapped up in Craig or the fact that regardless, I want you two back together? Because I do, but you know what, I won't even mention it, I just want you here...because you're my mother, I have room for both of you in my life, you don't have to take turns, and for two, I need a picture to go on this wall."

"No, I'm not wrapped up in Craig, in fact, to be honest, I feel like I am becoming Martha. You remember when I was talking about jobs and I asked him to get me a secretary job or something at his work? I've been at him about it and he won't do it. And I refuse to be some food worker, so it leaves me at home, just like Martha. I am starting to feel like an old woman, and you know that is not what I am about. I haven't told you or anyone about a lot of things. And Hunter? What's there to say, he follows in daddies footsteps, I don't even see him anymore. The idea of your father is so tempting to me, Miracle, and it's why I've stayed away, it's because I'm scared things won't be the same, it's because I'm scared I won't be happy, and then I will have ruined a good memory, something that should of been left alone."

"You're sad...then please come. Just be honest about everything. Dad, you know dad, he is level headed, rational, he won't let you do anything that he might think will hurt you. Just come, he will be here for a few days, get a flight tonight...or in the morning. Please." Miracle begged.

"Okay, I'll pack and..I'll try to get a flight tonight, if I can't, then tomorrow morning." Erica sighed.

"Thank you, besides, I have someone really great I want you to meet. I love you."

"I love you too."

"Bye." Miracle hung up and sighed. "Sorry, okay, ready to film this thing?"

Gavin smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

The golden French doors in Gavin's bed room were opened up onto a spacious but not overly big balcony that over looked the swimming pool out back with cobblestone all around it and a cobblestone trail that lead to a black metal gate that lead into a shaded garden that normally saw the sun in the middle of the day as it shifted. Miracle pulled a white plastic cushioned chair from the small two seater glass table with a small mini umbrella above it. He pulled it over into the shade while Gavin pulled the other chair around the table and sat it in front of Miracle, just in the shade enough to avoid any sun glare but he would be pretty much sitting in the sun.

"Recording...now." Gavin hit the button.

Miracle lifted his hands at the wrists and splayed his hands out. "So when was the last time I filmed anything? 2008? Well, it's been, what? Five, maybe six years since then?" Miracle smiled briefly and looked down. "No guest starring for Jaemin, not then, not now...not ever." He looked up at the camera. "Melanie's dead, that's a sad thing, she was my best friend and out of all of my old friends, she would have been one that I'd want to see the most. She died shortly after filming that scene, I'll debate on whether to include any funeral footage or not, it was taped for those who missed it."

Miracle looked up at the camera. "And Jaemin died, I don't know if I ever mentioned it, but we fell in love, we fell into a great love, for me, it transcended everything." Miracle smiled briefly. "But I guess for him...love could be a trap. I'll consider letting him explain his own reasons, he made his own video...before he picked up that gun...and pulled the trigger."

"That was maybe five years ago." Miracle continued. "And I still struggle, not just because of him, but because of me. I'm trying to find my way. Trying to grow and...let go."

"As you look around me, it looks beautiful, doesn't it? Kind of reminds me of a house plucked right out of France." Miracle smiled. "Life is much different after high school, it can be harder to build a life, to meet people, but I think I'm starting to manage." He looked at the camera. "If I had to give any advice, don't lose yourself in a person, because you lose that person and then you lose yourself, I couldn't think, I couldn't make words, barely at all, I didn't want to come out, because that meant it was real. Finally I did and it was sad and it was lonely, make sure you have someone there when you do come out. It won't happen right away...and it won't be quick, but I believe you will find your way."

Gavin cut filming and brought the camera down. "Good opening."

Miracle smiled. "Just the truth, and I am debating on that other footage."

"The funeral footage, maybe." Gavin said. "I don't know if I would put Jaemin's video in there. Not that I've seen it, but...that just seems very personal for both of you."

"You're probably right." Miracle nodded. "The funeral footage would make a good transition clip between the then and the now."

Gavin nodded. "It would, the finality that the past is over." He stood up and pulled his chair back to fix it like it was. "Do you have the funeral footage?"

"Um...I might have it in my stuff somewhere. I'll have to do some digging." Miracle said.

"Okay, well I'm going to get this to the house and uh...find something to do." Gavin nodded.

Miracle smiled. "Gavin, I know things are really awkward right now, but...next time, maybe we can just hang out after we're done, when I don't have so much scheduled on my plate."

"I'm down for that." Gavin nodded and walked off into the bed room, followed by Miracle, who shut the French doors and locked them and went after him. He followed Gavin down to the front door as he stepped out.

"I'll see you later." Miracle smiled and shut the door.

Cheston walked in, finding the whole house dark save for the light above the stove but what caught his attention was the table on the patio outside with the two tall candles lit up. He walked over to the sliding glass door and slid it open, stepping outside to find dinner all ready and a glass of champagne chilled in a bucket of ice. What he didn't see was Miracle.

"Surprise!" Miracle jumped out behind him.

"Woah!" Cheston spun around and sighed.

Miracle grinned. "That was fun."

Cheston grinned. "You did all this?"

"No, silly, I paid a restaurant to do it and deliver it and put it on our dishes so it looked like I did." Miracle grinned.

Cheston laughed. "So you did." He said, thinking it was Miracle's sarcasm.

"No, I really did have a restaurant do it." Miracle then walked over and pulled out a chair and sat down.

"See, you and that sarcasm..." Cheston laughed and sat down. "You can't cook?"

"I can...I'm just kinda lazy, I'll put a microwave to work, though." Miracle said. "I called my mom and shes flying in, so you need to call that photographer of yours, I think I might finally get that picture to go over my safe."

Cheston grabbed the champagne and opened it and then laughed. "Well, that's great news." He filled Miracle's glass and then his own.

"Yeah." Miracle nodded. "Sorry if I seem a little sad, I just had to dig into some...well bad things in order to update the...documentary, otherwise it wouldn't of made sense."

"It's okay." Cheston said. "You know I'm always here to comfort you."

"I actually thought of letting you watch the video, you know, the phone. Would you want to see it?" Miracle asked.

Cheston thought about it as he started to eat. "Well, I know that you told me what you told me, but of course I would want to fully understand what devastated you."

"The suicide isn't on it, if that's what you think, he stops recording, lays the phone down and then grabs the gun." Miracle said.

"Oh god, I really didn't think that...and that part must of been..." Cheston trailed off.

"It's like...everything being sucked out of you. It's like feeling but being unable to cry, being unable to speak, being unable to utter a sound, it's like having some force take your feet out from under you and you just fall to your knees and your mouth just falls open and you tense up and you want to yell and cry...but in those first initial short moments, nothing comes out."

"It's the shock." Cheston said as he reached across the table and took Miracle's hand. "Maybe you never felt true shock before. I mean there are things that shock you but...then there are things that just...shock you worse than any shock before."

Miracle nodded. "Well I felt more shock in that moment than ever. Then I took the locket from his other hand and that's when it all came out. And I left and went to the train tracks, so numb that I almost felt normal...yet empty, like a void. Like jumping down and stepping in front of that train was the easiest thing in the world to do."

Cheston rubbed the top of Miracle's hand with his thumb.

Miracle shook his head. "I'm sorry, this is supposed to be our time. It's just...the documentary, it was...well the opening kind of sucked emotionally." Miracle smiled. "So do you like my restaurant dinner? Could of lied." He laughed and took a sip of his drink.

Cheston shook his head. "Don't be sorry for being sad, you don't ever have to be perfect for me." He pulled his hand back and then smiled and laughed. "Yeah, you could of. I appreciate the honesty." He nodded. "And the foods great."

"So, Miracle..." Cheston looked up. "You know how in the movies...how some of those business people have those house parties? My parents are coming in and we're having one of those...and you know, of course I'll want you there with me."

"Oh no, snooty parties?" Miracle started to laugh. "I'm horrible at those. Besides, they will all look down at me for so many reasons. And your parents will totally grill me."

"No they won't." Cheston looked off to the side. "For one, my step dad and I are far from close, he was closer to my brother and even they were a thousand miles from close. He isn't even that close to my mother, always on business trips. Thing is...since my brother died, they have actually gotten closer, doesn't say much for me, still."

"How did your brother die?" Miracle asked.

"He was shot, murdered with one of his associates and some teenage kid and then another kid down stairs killed himself. He actually left a video behind, confessing to two other murders but never confessed to the ones where he was at." Cheston said.

Miracle's eyes began to slowly widen, his mouth slightly falling open. "What was your brothers name?"

"Eric, we were only step brothers though, and he was older than me." Cheston said.

"Oh my god." Miracle grabbed his glass of champagne and stood up from the table and headed towards the open glass door.

"Miracle?" Cheston stood up.

"Eric..." Miracle turns around. "He was the obsessive stalker, the mob boss, the one that did the sex trafficking." He looked at Cheston. "His dad was at a party that I was forced to go to and Eric hired a man to strap my adoptive mom with dynamite under her clothes and made her cut my friend open on the stage and her fetus fell out and they both died. My adoptive mom is in prison for that, they escaped."

Cheston's eyes widened. "I knew they were into some shady business, that was why I distanced myself, I told my mom to do the same, the best she could, to get a family house and to stay in it while they do their business elsewhere. The island home? That was Eric's place, then my step dad had his own place, he respected my mother to keep it out of the family home." He shook his head. "I had no idea, my mom and I had the same policy, we didn't ask and we didn't tell."

"Did you know about Skylar?" Miracle asked.

"I was just told that Skylar was Eric's daughter from a one night stand, the mother was kept in the house and would be sent off with a lot of money if she gave up the baby and left. Then I was asked if Skylar could stay in my old apartment in the city, I told them go ahead. I used to live there, better law schools there for sure, but I needed to get further away."

"And what about Aunt Rachel?" Miracle asked

"Aunt Rachel?" Cheston thought about it. "Eric had a sister when our parents got married, yeah, I had a step sister."

"So far from true. Rachel was Skylar's mother, she was paid and kept up to play Aunt while Eric raised Skylar as his own. Skylar was my half sister." Miracle explained.

Cheston let out a breath of air. "I had no idea." He shook his head. "Miracle, please, I swear to you, I...had no idea. You bumped into me at the mall."

Miracle's face relaxed and he walked closer. "You think that I think you're targeting me?"

"I'm not, I swear that I'm not. I have us sleeping in separate rooms for Christ sake, I left it up to you if you wanted to move in, if you hadn't, I would still care as much as now." Cheston stared at him, crushed by everything that just came out.

"I don't think that, Eric was after me, a man, one man, if it was a family thing, you'd of probably been sent right after...or his dad would of come." Miracle's eyes shifted away. "I do worry if his dad recognizes me. Do you know how he was when Eric died?"

"Upset, like normal, but he didn't act sinister or anything." Cheston shrugged. "Even still, I wouldn't let him touch you."

"He wasn't even supposed to die, he was just supposed to pay the gang some money and then..." Miracle trailed off. "I was supposed to get away."

"That means they would of killed him anyway." Cheston said. "The deal was made for your freedom, and Eric was to pay for it, with his money...and his life."