72:Passing the Torch

“I like your friend,” Jon commented as the taxi whizzed them through New York traffic on their way to Brooklyn and the counselor’s house.  Okay, so maybe “whiz” was a bit of an exaggeration.  Trudged was a more apt description of the stop and go crawl they were currently executing.

“Isn’t she great?”

The old woman was pretty cool, but he would reserve “great”.  That's how he would describe the opportunity to watch Chiara interact with her. 

There was never a moment where she treated Millie with anything other than the mutual respect that defined friendship.  Jon never got the feeling that she was there on charity work or doing something just to make herself feel better.  She listened to the woman as much as talked, and her offer to bring needed items was only a quick inquiry that completely respected Millie’s wishes when she declined.

He strongly doubted that the feisty senior citizen in the red beret had ever met Charlie Del Vecchio.  Jon surely hadn’t seen a sign of her during that visit.  It was all Chiara – sweet, kind and considerate.

“She is.  I get why you don’t want to miss your dates with her.  Talking with her could give me several song inspirations every week.”

Turning a smile on him, the counselor agreed.  “She fascinates me.  So very determined to live life her own way, regardless of what someone else thinks.”

“Sounds like somebody else I know,” he observed wryly, sliding his hand into hers and bringing them into his lap.  “Problem is, that someone invited my input when she shared her dark secrets with me.”

“Input.  Not decisions.  Not everything is black and white, you know.”

“No, it’s not.”  He had no qualms about conceding that point.  “Everything’s got a touch of gray to it.  All I’m asking is for you to acknowledge there’s more than one shade and that yours might not be the only one.  So you actually gonna listen with an open mind to what I have to say?”

Because he’d been thinking about it a lot during the last several hours.  Almost exclusively, in fact. 

The thing that he really wanted to do was call Luke – or make her do it – and tell him what was going on.  Jon hadn’t been kidding earlier about her brothers killing Owen.  While he may not have met the other two, between his conversations with Luke and the counselor’s possession of a firearm, he believed they were just as protective and unhappy on behalf of their sister.  At a minimum, the cop could make life very difficult for her leech husband.

Husband.  Of all people for him to end up involved with, it still baffled him as to why it had to be a married woman.  There were millions of women who would make dating so much simpler.

                                                                                                                                             

You’ve never wanted what was easy.  The level of difficulty in attaining your goals has always made it that much sweeter.

He feared that he would need to remind himself of that – a lot – during this relationship.  Maybe a new tattoo was in order.

“I’ll listen,” she promised.  “Just don’t try and shove something down my throat.  It will only cause an ugly fight.”

A smile that was too lazy to lift both sides of his mouth accompanied his soft guffaw.  “It’s been a while since we had that kind of foreplay.  Might be worth it.”

Her lips twitched, but she doggedly schooled her features into a display of sternness.  “Don’t even think about it, buddy.”

“Why not?”  He scooted closer to her on the taxi seat.  “Think about how hot it would be.  I present a reasonable plan.  You refuse because you’re fucking stubborn and didn’t think of it yourself.  I push.  And push.  And push, until we resort to a physical negotiation of terms.  In that scenario, there can be no doubt in your mind how much I want you.”

The idea appealed to her.  Jon could tell it in the way she was only breathing through her slightly-open mouth and by the tightening of her hand around his.  She missed going three rounds before one more explosive round in bed.  It was her kinky little fetish, and he knew exactly how to exploit it.

“I have a love/hate relationship with how well you’re starting to know me.”

Chuckling smugly, he leaned over to kiss the side of her ponytailed head.  “I’ll use my powers for good.”

She was quiet as they crossed over the Brooklyn Bridge, looking out the window on her side of the taxi at the river below.  With her facing the opposite direction, he almost missed the subdued, “Do you have a reasonable plan?”

“Yeah.”

Reasonable to him, anyway.  It was difficult to say whether or not the counselor would agree.  One never knew, particularly since she’d been hoarding this information for so long.  She may have very definite ideas as to how it was going to play out and refuse any alternatives that didn’t involve another four years. 

All he could do was wait and see, he thought as the taxi pulled up in front of the brownstone.

“Shit.”

Fishing money out of his pocket for the driver, Jon glanced over at the mumbled swear.  “What?”

She picked up her overnight back and nodded toward the truck parked across the street.  “Luke’s here.”

Jon followed her out of the vehicle, unsure as to whether this was good or bad.  He chose to view it as neither.  It was just a coincidence to be dealt with very briefly until they continued with their day.  He also chose to stifle that nagging temptation to spill the beans to Luke.  The counselor shared her story in confidence and it belonged in the “Secrets to the Grave” folder.  He had to respect that.

She twisted the knob and pushed the door open, barely over the threshold before calling out, “Luke!  Where’s my baby?”

Jon smirked at Nana’s yip in the distance and shut the door.  Passing around the foyer wall into the living room, he noted that quite a bit of work had been done since his last visit.  “Looking good in here.”

“There she is!  Look at Mommy’s pretty little fur girl!”  The overnight bag hit the floor and the running, short-legged fur ball was scooped up so that Chiara could perform an unbalanced pirouette with the dog in her arms.  She was twisting her head to endure a face full of canine kisses when laughingly telling Jon, “They must’ve worked again this weekend.  Looks about done, and that makes me happy.”

Her happiness didn’t take a Ph.D. to decipher.  The counselor’s eyes sparkled and her smile was as wide as he’d ever seen it as the pup squirmed in her arms.  She loved that dog, as evidenced by all the silly baby talk she was chirping, and the drastic change of personality made Jon shake his head and laugh.   Pets and babies could do the strangest things to people.

“Hey, kiddo!”  Luke spoke coming through the doorway from the kitchen, and when he caught sight of Jon, his smile went as wide as his sister’s.  Making a beeline in Jon’s direction and pulled him into a back-thumping man hug.  “Dude.  You’re my hero.  No shit.”

“Luca…”

Jon took a step back and chuckled at Chiara’s warning growl of her brother’s name.  “I keep telling you, it’s got nothing to do with me.  She does what she wants.”

“And she happens to wanna do you.  That’s everything to do with you.”  Turning to the counselor as she put Nana down, he asked, “So have you filed already?  What’s gonna happen with the brownstone?  Because if I worked my ass off on this place and that dickhead ends up with it, I’m going to be pissed.”

Jon squatted down to pet the dog who was on her back legs pawing at his shin.  “Slow down, man.  Give her time to decide she’s made a mistake with me first.” 

“Things are complicated,” she said while giving them both a dirty look.  “It’s going to take time, so don’t start counting your community property before it’s split.”

“What’s complicated?  You’re a fucking divorce lawyer.  Write it up and move on.”

They both assumed a confrontational stance and, with personal experience telling him that siblings could talkfor days without listening to one another, Jon rose to his feet and went to loop an arm around the counselor’s neck.  With any luck, a semi-neutral third party could stop this before it got started. 

“She just told you it’s complicated,” he asserted firmly, meeting the taller man’s eyes without wavering.  “Respect that and let her do her thing, okay?”

Long, lanky arms folded over Luke’s chest as he kept their gazes locked.  “What’s complicated about it?”

“With all due respect, unless Chiara decides you need to know, it’s none of your business.”

Jon didn’t want to get into it with her brother.  Hell, he wanted her brother brought on board, but it wasn’t his decision to make.  Ultimately, she was the one driving the bus on this, and he would support how much or how little information she felt like sharing. 

Later, they would have their own discussion on when that should happen. 

“Thank you,” she said quietly before slipping out from his arm to go and rest a palm against the chest of the glowering Del Vecchio who wasn’t happy about being left in the dark.  “Luke.  You’ll be the first to know when the papers are ready, but don’t push me.  Please?”

“But he…”  His chin was tossed toward Jon.  “Knows what the ‘complications’ are?”

“Yes, and so far, he seems willing to accept them.  If he hadn’t, we would’ve gone our separate ways without hard feelings.  You and I can’t go our separate ways, Luke, so just trust me for a while longer.  It’ll all work out in time.”

Luke’s struggle was visible.  The Italian temperament wanted to bubble to the surface, but he was clearly trying to keep things in perspective.  At least his sister wasn’t indefinitely staying married to someone he hated.

“Is he going to help you deal with this?”

“Yeah, I am,” Jon answered for himself. 

The terms were still up for negotiation, but as he’d told the counselor, he hadn’t ever run from a problem and didn’t expect to start now.  Even if they decided to stop seeing one another, he would still want to make sure she got away from Owen the Blackmailing Leech – who used his kids as pawns.  That was simply unacceptable to Jon, regardless of how he felt about Chiara.

“I’m trusting you with my sister.”

The counselor lifted the palm on Luke’s chest and smacked it back down as Jon laughed.  “Man, if you didn’t trust me, you wouldn’t have been pushing me at her for weeks, so don’t try and be all bad ass now.”

“How about you talk like I’m actually in the damn room?” 

“Nobody forgot you’re here, baby,” Jon assured her evenly while looking at her brother.  “Luke feels obligated to play protective big brother to your new boyfriend, and I’m just reminding him there’s a reason he wanted me in the picture in the first place – and letting him know nobody intimidates me but my mother.”

“Hey!”  She raised a hand into his line of vision and loudly snapped her fingers to draw Jon’s attention away from Luke.  “We’re not passing the torch of custody here, you know.  I still don’t need either of you to run my life.”

“You’ve made that crystal clear, Counselor.”

“Crystal fucking clear,” he brother echoed under his voice. 

“Good.”  A smirk creased one side of Jon’s face when he saw her surprise at how easy that was.  “Then we’re done here.  Both of you will wait patiently with your mouths shut for the time being, until I’m ready to move forward.”

That’s where she was wrong – at least as far as Jon was concerned.  He might wait, but it wouldn’t be patiently, and he definitely wasn’t keeping his mouth shut.  He would just save it until they were alone.