*James*

Paul is the one to get me up and ready this morning, letting Julia sleep a little more. At first, I say nothing. Mainly because I don't know what to say. I really had no idea Paul had any interest in Julia. To hear he has been in love with her all this time is a little shock to the system.

"Are you pissed at me, Gallo? Is that why you're not talking?" Paul asks while squeezing toothpaste on my toothbrush for me.

 I don't answer and decide to brush my teeth first.  But I can't be mad at the guy. It seems like everyone is in love with Julia these days. Not only that, but I've also known Paul for a long time. He may be a quiet and mysterious man, but he's a good man. A man who has helped me out tremendously, taken me under his wing, showed me the ropes of being a bodyguard and manning the 4th floor for extra cash for my family. He's a man that would be good for Julia.

"I'm not pissed, Paul. Ju-just surprised is all. You're good at hiding shit."

The bodyguard shrugs.

"But I swear to God, if I hear you two knocking boots I'm punching you." I squint my eyes at him, getting a little smirk before Paul moves on to get Mike up. Mike, who really doesn't look too hot this morning, doesn't have a choice but to go to the a.m. session. Trevor walks us down.

This morning's session doesn't really pertain to me but I go anyways. Sometimes Cara will sit next to Mike and I, depending on her mood, sometimes she sits alone with her nurse. She looks about as good as Mike right now. They are both detoxing hard along with the rest of the people in here.

Today the poor thing decides to sit alone. She brings her knees up to her chest on the chair and buries her head, not wanting anything to do with today's session. The topic is about marriage and the struggles couples go through when one or both are addicts. The counselor is a middle aged heavyset black woman who speaks softly and looks like the type who would make your whole day better with one hug from her.

If anything, Julia and Nate could use some of her advice on couples and addiction. The woman, Mary, stresses on how it's a trillion times more difficult to get involved with an addict when you yourself have addiction issues. It's frowned upon here at the Avalon big time, Jeremy has made that one clear to Julia and Mike.

"This is lame." I hear Cara say, getting a nasty look from her nurse. Cara never cares though. I will have to make it a point to go visit her today. She could use a friend.

We get through the session and Jeremy pulls Trevor aside for a meeting, so Mike walks with me back to the apartment, opening doors I can't open and such.

"You slept through it all last night, didn't you?" I ask while we make our way down the hall.

"I'm fucking tired all the time lately, bud. Why? What happened??"

"There was a bit of a blowout. Nate came by and caught Julia and Paul kissing." I explain, making Mike stop in his tracks hearing this.

"For real?? Ok, I didn't see that one coming."

"Yeah, so, today may be a little.... tense. I don't know if Nate will come back or what's going on really but just wanted to warn you ahead of time. You know, in case Julia goes off the deep end." I laugh. "We'll have to make light of things."

*******

*Trisha*

I wiped out Nate's entire schedule for today. The last thing I want to deal with are people. Especially Richard, since we had a meeting scheduled with him, Grant Berkeley, and possibly Mila. I didn't even call or text Richard. I just flat-out crossed off every meeting on the shared calendar app with no reason given. He'll chew me out about it later, but I don't really care right now. 

I don't even bother taking a shower and plop myself down on the couch next to Nate where I plan to stay and sulk today. Both Nate and I are in rare form and the rest of our roommates now get to deal with the two of us and our snarky attitudes ALL day long.

"I have a target order to drop off to Julia's this afternoon." Nate announces while we watch TV. "Who's coming with me?"

"Not it." Casey says without missing a beat.

"Yeah, no thanks. Someone may get sent to the E.R." I can't even think of seeing Julia OR Paul right now. I want to deck em both.

"Do I have to babysit everyone around here?" Jonah rolls his eyes. "I'll come with you."

"Why don't you just have it delivered to them?" I purposely kick Nate with my cold feet, making him jump a little.

"This couch is the size of your fucking apartment. Move over." He kicks me back per usual.

"Kids, keep your hands to yourselves." Jonah reprimands in a fatherly way. "This is why we're not having kids, Case. These two children, right here."

Casey and Evan both laugh.

"This is why you need to get snipped. I can only handle parenting one Nate Hollan." Jonah continues. Is this something Nate has been thinking of doing? If so, he should just do it. Especially after the scare we had not too long ago. Nate DEFINATELY does not want to be a father, that much he has made clear.

"Can we not talk about my sperm right now? They aren't swimming anywhere at the moment."

"Tell that to Mila Giovanni." Casey is convinced Hollan is gonna slip up with Mila.

"Shit, Nate. I'm learning all sorts of new things lately." Evan smirks.

"Yet we know nothing about you, Scofield." Nate retorts.

"Hey, man. I'm shooting blanks. Made sure of that before I went into the military."

I raise my eyebrows. Everyone turns towards Evan.

"You knew when you were that young you didn't want to plan a family??" I sit up a little to look at him.

"When you know you know." Evan shrugs.

"Makes sense." Jonah eyes Nate now, hoping to drill this into him.

"Paul and James did the same. Well, James didn't want to go through with having another child he could possibly lose after Carter passed away. He said he knows he limits. That would send him over the edge." I immediately regret my words, knowing I just shared personal information about James when it's not my place to.

"Jesus." Evan mumbles in a sad manner over James. "That man has lived a hard life."

"I really didn't need to know about James and Paul's sperm count." Nate redirections the conversation and I let out a sigh of thanks.

"Get it done, Nate. If you really don't want children......do yourself a favor and get fixed." Jonah continues.

"I could take over the world with mini Hollans since everyone else around here is sterile."  Nate laughs. Oh God.... here we go.

"Little Mila Hollans." Casey teases.

"I'm not sterile but I have more brains that you do to know to wrap it before you tap it, my man."

"Jonah! Gross!" Casey throws a pillow at him. "You do not! I'm the one with the IUD, not you!"

"Ok. this conversation ends here. Holy Hell. FINE. Ugh. Make the fucking appointment." Nate lets out an exaggerated sigh.

"Told you. You owe me 50 bucks. Just one mention of Mila and he's ready to get a vasectomy."  Casey smirks at Jonah and I have to laugh because this is something Paul and I would do all the time. It fades quickly when I think about him though. I wonder if we will even be friends after this. We would joke around together all the time, usually at Moretti's expense. Obviously, that has all changed. I don't even know if I will be able to look at the man again. This one stung.

******

*James*

Paul knocks on the door and Mike and I quickly cover our eyes like we planned while walking in.

"Are you decent?" I ask.

"Ha......Ha....Ha...." Julia rolls her eyes at us and we both smirk. Paul goes outside with the dog, probably feeling awkward about all this. Mike heads to his cot like always.

"Hi." I pull Julia in for a hug and whisper in her ear. "Why didn't you tell me?"

 "I didn't mean to hurt him, James. It wasn't supposed to be like that. I ...it's Nate, you know? I love him. I didn't mean -" She begins to cry. I wasn't awake when it all went down but I saw how distraught Nate was in the middle of the night and can only imagine what happened.

"I know." 

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away." She explains. "But I'm not confused. This feels... different."

"Then I'm happy for you, Julia. You deserve to be happy." I give her a nod then try to lighten up the mood a little.

"Now I need to find a way for Lindsay to break up with her new boyfriend so I can have my bootie calls. God, babe, you make life so difficult for me." I tease and get a laugh out of my best friend.

"Can you two fucking cackle somewhere else? I suddenly have a killer fucking headache. Shit. And the lights. Shut the effen lights off." Mike sits up and squints, turns a little and then-

The guy fucking throws up all over the floor. I can't handle the sight of it.

"Oh shit!" Julia, being the caretaker she is, rushes over to help Mike. "I bet he has a migraine. Get Paul. Tell him to grab the puke bowl. He knows where it is."

I squeeze through the half open glass slider to get Paul who is outside.

"And keep Maggie out there or she'll eat this shit off the ground!" Julia yells.

"She needs your help. The guy is throwing up everywhere." I tell Paul who puts his phone in his pocket and sighs.

"Seriously?  I didn't sign up for this." The bodyguard grumbles and heads inside. Right as we walk inside Mike throws up all over Julia.

"So disgusting." I mutter and look away right as Maggie runs in to investigate.

"NO!" I try to get Maggie's attention, but the dog has a one-track mind.

"Grab the dog! Ew! Grab the dog, Paul!"  Julia yells and everything becomes chaotic. Paul drops the plastic bowl and grabs the dog's collar right as someone knocks on the Avalon door. 

"Paul! The door!" Julia demands.

"Jesus!" The bodyguard lets go of the dog to get the door and she runs to the puke.

"NOO!!" Both me and Julia holler for Maggie to get away.

"Guys, seriously... be quiet. Oh God." Mike throws up again right as Jeremy walks in to witness the chaos.

"Someone grab the fucking dog!" Julia is hysterical.

"Holy shit. Wha the-" Jeremy walked into a shitshow and is probably wishing he never came down this way. Paul rushes back over and grabs the dog's collar, dragging her away.

"You nasty mutt." I smirk at my pup and shake my head. Paul brings Maggie outside and shuts the door.

"Um." Jeremy is standing in the doorway frozen, now holding his shirt collar up to his nose. "God, it wreaks!"

"A little help here???" 

"Looks like you've got it all......covered." Jeremy chuckles.

"He has a migraine. From detox. Help me get him into the shower."

"Whoa. No fucking way, Moretti." Paul goes right into bodyguard mode. "I will help you. Not him."

"Hey, I just realized." I begin to ponder. "If you're with Paul... does that mean everyone in this room has seen you naked?" 

"JAMES! Find something to do!" Julia yells at me.

"Shhhh!" Mike holds his head.

"Can SOMEONE please give us a hand?!"

"I'm going to call the hospital cleaning crew to come in and take care of this. And um... yeah." Jeremy looks around. "I'll grab you some Excedrin Migraine and fresh clothes." He bolts out of the apartment.

"And my hands don't work so I'm going outside......if someone can open this door for me that is." I snicker as Paul opens the door. I hear one last thing from Julia before heading outside which makes me laugh.

"I hate you all." 

Hey, she's the one who wanted to help the guy detox....

******

*Trisha*

"I can't believe he is going over there." I vent to Casey after Nate and Jonah leave. Evan has grounded us while he goes downstairs to the gym so we are stuck here in Nate's apartment. Not like I planned to go anywhere today but still can't wrap my brain around Nate actually wanting to see Julia.

"Yeah, I don't know. Nate is a different breed." Casey unloads the dishwasher while chatting. "How are you though?"

"I'm fine, aside from wanting to deck both Julia and Paul right now. You know what the worst part is?" I pout.

"What's that?"

"Paul said he was in love with Julia from the very beginning. We were together twice. What the hell was I to him if his mind was set on Moretti?"

"Well, I don't think it was like that. I saw the way Paul looked at you. Maybe he was interested in Julia in the beginning but then when she started dating Nate he gave up? I'm sure he wasn't in love with her while with you." Casey tries to cheer me up but it falls flat.

"I can't wait to go on tour and forget about them." 

Maybe this is a blessing in disguise. Maybe by then, Nate will be somewhat ready to move on from Julia. He won't feel tied down.

 Maybe by then he'll come to his senses and decide we are a better fit after all.

"I'm more worried about Nate. He doesn't handle this stuff well. He only goes to his AA meetings when he feels like it these days and Jonah, being his sponsor, covers for him. He has a suspended license and was told to go to every one of his meetings, but he doesn't, so he doesn't have any coping skills." Casey leans against the counter once done unloading the dishwasher.

"I don't think Nate will drink, if that's what you're insinuating, Casey."

Nate has worked hard to stay clean. He may slack at the AA meetings, but I highly doubt the man will go guzzling down a bottle of whiskey...

*******

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