Just To Be With You (5/9)
Title: Just To Be With You (5/?)
Word Count: 3,514
Summary: Babe makes a big mistake that sends the one he loves into the arms of another. Now he has to chase him across the globe to tell him how he feels before it's too late. Seriously AU. Various pairings
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. I don’t own anything….so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
“I was kinda getting used to the idea of Paris.”
Dick wasn’t sure that he thought going to Belgium was a smart move. Although he could certainly understand how Eugene might think otherwise.
Now that he had spoken to Renee’s father, Gene was feeling more righteous in his plans than ever before. Personally, Dick took Renee’s absence as a sign.
A sign that the two of them just weren’t meant to be. That God was trying to steer Gene away from Renee, and trying to give Babe and the others more time.
He knew he needed to get in touch with Lew and let him know their change in course, but he wasn’t yet sure how to pull it off right under Gene’s nose.
Presently, Gene was busy making phones calls to find them a way into Belgium, so Dick felt it was safe to wave Lipton over. He glanced at Gene once more before whispering to his blonde friend.
He had a couple ideas. But he was going to need Carwood’s help.
“What should we do?”
“Um…open the door?”
“Dude they’re cops!”
“Well if you ain’t gonna open the door than they’re just gonna bust it down!”
“Right….”
The door swung back to reveal three very peeved and also very young policemen.
“Can we help you officers?”
Nixon’s first instinct was to ask who had called in the puberty police, but figured maybe he should keep his mouth shut for once. The cops immediately walked in and surveyed the room.
“We’re looking for a young man who assaulted a police officer early this morning. We received an anonymous call that he may be here….” The officer trailed off to give Babe a strange look as he groaned and rolled drunkenly off of the bed.
Nixon considered that maybe he should stop pushing alcohol onto the kid. After all, having Babe hung over wasn’t really going to help him win Gene over. Plus he was so skinny that two sips in and he was already gone.
“…but none of you really resemble the sketch we were given.”
Lewis knew it wasn’t necessary to point out that the man who had probably described Speirs wouldn’t even know what his own mother looked like after getting whacked that hard.
Nixon then felt the urge to throw himself in front of one of the officers as soon as they turned towards the bathroom door.
“Is there someone in the shower?”
“No.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
Nixon and Bill just glared at Luz, who looked too shocked at what he’d said to do anything about it.
“Is there some kind of confusion?” A second officer asked from the doorway.
“No!” Nixon and Bill both forced out quickly. They looked over at Luz.
“Yes.”
Fucking damn it!
Nixon sucked in a deep breath as the first officer went to grab the handle of the bathroom door.
“Officers wait!” A new voice jumped in from outside the door. The policeman dropped his hand and turned his head.
They all looked over and gaped as a familiar looking blonde came into view, “I’m sorry. I was the one who called it in. I wasn’t sure then but I’m pretty sure now…that um, the guy’s actually in room 112.”
Buck pursed his lips and looked at the assembled law enforcement before pointing to the ground, “Downstairs.”
The officers shared a guarded look before turning back to them, “We’re going to go check this out. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Of course.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Staying put sir.”
“This carpet smells GROSS!”
When the men left, Nixon blew out a harsh stream of air that he wasn’t aware he’d been holding in. They waited a couple of moments. Nixon thanked God that they had been lucky enough to get a bunch of 12 year old cops who didn’t think to leave someone there with them.
“So…let’s get the fuck outta here?”
“Oh yeah.”
In the rush to get all their shit together, none of them really knew what to make of Buck’s presence.
Nixon glared at the man as he grabbed his pack, “As soon as we’re out of the woods, you’re gonna fucking explain yourself.”
Luz looked at him curiously as he helped Babe sit up. “Someone needs to get Speirs.”
Bill rolled his eyes and turned to rush into the bathroom to get the prick to hurry up.
However he came out much quicker than he’d gone in, face red. “He’s still in the shower.”
Nixon groaned, “No duh,” rushing over he banged on the door. “We need to go! NOW!”
A couple seconds later a shoeless, shirtless and still dripping Speirs busted out of the bathroom, buttoning his jeans and rushing to get his things together.
“What happened?” he asked as he tossed his things into his bag and shoved his shoes on.
“No time.” Luz added, still struggling with a very out of it Babe. A VERY out of it Babe.
As Ron crouched down to get a shirt, Bill noticed a tear of water roll down his spine, but he was very much NOT staring at it………..he WASN’T.
Speirs pulled on a white tee and then went to grab Babe away from Luz. Bill, still not entrusting Babe’s care to just anyone, went with him.
Speirs stopped and looked at Buck, “When did you get here?”
Luz peeked out of their motel room and into the night. He didn’t SEE any cops. That would have to do.
“Coast looks clear.”
Trying to be discrete was not really their strong point. Especially not with a drunken teenager and Ronald Speirs, who was pissed off about not being in the loop.
Speirs and Bill were practically dragging Babe down a set of stairs when Ron pointed at Buck and said, “Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing following us? Cause I highly doubt that this is a happy little coincidence.”
Luz wasn’t sure what was with the hostility all of a sudden, had they forgotten that he had just saved their asses from the police?
Buck looked (wisely) terrified of Speirs and started to fold, “Well I wasn’t…following you. I mean I was following Luz-but then I got a call,”
Wait what?
“You were following me?”
Buck looked at him for a minute, “I didn’t mean to say that. I wasn’t like, going to mug you or anything I swear.”
Luz shook his head, “No I know. I mean-”
“Nobody gives a crap!” Nixon snapped, “So you got a call saying what?”
Buck looked away from Luz; he seemed to have forgotten what they were talking about. “Oh right, well my ex calls me up and tells me he’s in Paris. I’m thinking he just wants to hook up or something but apparently his friend has lost his mind and traveled all the way to Paris to ask this girl to marry him and he wants my help getting in touch with his friends who are trying to find them. Turns out I already have. I asked if he knew Luz and he said yeah. He wanted me to get in touch with some guy named Nixon and tell them that they weren’t going to be in Paris.”
Holy crap! Luz was busy trying to comprehend all the insane ways that God had worked recently as he listened to Buck. Obviously the most important question to ask now was where they were going to be if not Paris.
Or at least that’s what HE thought. Apparently Speirs and Nixon thought otherwise because they immediately stopped walking, which was fine since they were practically at the car. However
Bill smacked into the side of the door when Speirs jerked to a stop and both of the crazies looked poised to rip Buck’s head off.
Speirs spoke first, “Who’d you say your ex was?”
The hand that wasn’t holding up Babe had been balled into a fist and although he looked calm as always, Luz saw his knuckles turn white and knew that some bad shit was coming Buck’s way if the name out of his mouth was Lipton’s.
Although to be fair, Nixon looked just as scary. He was chewing on his bottom lip and cracking his knuckles repeatedly, his eyes already burning a hole through the blonde’s skull. It was a lose-lose situation really.
Luz slowly inched himself in front of Buck, who looked back and forth at the two, “I didn’t and don’t think I want to say.”
Smart man.
Nixon and Speirs definitely looked like they wanted to beat it out of him but thankfully Bill interrupted. “Would you two nut jobs get over it for now? In case you don’t remember we got these guys looking for us and these guys are called COPS!”
Speirs nodded and unlocked the car, Bill situating Babe into the back.
Nixon tore his eyes off Buck finally, “Well where the hell should we go? The clerk’s probably the one who ratted on us and if this shithole can’t keep it to themselves I doubt anyone else will.”
They all got quiet. Nixon had a point. Where could they stay where they wouldn’t have to talk to anyone?
“You can stay at my suite. It’s way too big for me anyway, and you wouldn’t have to check in.” Buck offered from where he was hiding behind Luz.
Luz just beamed. Buck just kept getting cooler and cooler. Even though it looked like Speirs and Nix had decided they were going to kill him, he was still trying to help.
Speirs stared at him for a second then nodded, “Fine-lead the way. Luz, Nixon, get in the car.”
“Actually,” Buck put a finger up to stop them, “Luz I was wondering if you wanted to ride with me?”
Luz looked up, “Huh?”
Buck smiled, “Hold on.”
He rushed off and a second later Nixon and Speirs rounded in on Luz.
“No way in Hell are you-”
“That guy was stalking you!”
“-going with him. He’s obviously a creep-“
“He’s probably going to drug you and drive off and-”
“Holy crap that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” Luz interrupted them.
Buck was back and so was his ride. Buck was explaining that it was some expensive Italian make, but that it was much safer than it looked as he gave them the address to his hotel and his suite number.
All Luz saw was a kick ass black motorcycle that he was totally getting on.
“Fuck you guys, you ain’t my parents!” He hollered over his shoulder to Nixon and Speirs as he straddled the bike and smiled at a pleasantly surprised Buck.
Buck grinned back at him although he was still talking to Speirs, “There’s no way you’ll be able to follow me if I’m driving this. I guess we’ll be waiting there for you guys.” He ignored the murdering looks he was getting as he walked over to Luz and got on the motorcycle.
“How fast does this go?”Luz asked.
“Really, really fast.”
That said Buck pulled Luz’s arms around his waist and started the bike, “Hold on.”
After they had gotten into the car they just sat in silence for a little while.
A very angry silence.
Speirs started the car.
Bill smirked.
“You guys are pathetic.”
“Shut your fucking guinea trap Gonorrhea!”
…..Umm…wtf?
By the time Luz was in the elevator he was grinning like a maniac and he was pretty sure his hair was going to be permanently flung to the right side of his head.
“That was AWE-some.”
Buck laughed, “I thought you’d like it.”
“This is a swanky elevator.”
“Yes it is.”
“What floor are we going to?”
“The top one.”
“Sweet! Do you have a mini bar?”
“I have a real bar.”
“That might help you if you need to bribe Nixon.”
“Which one was Nixon?”
“The crazy one with dark hair.”
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
“Excellent point.”
By the time they got to the top floor, which it turned out was the 12th, Luz was just dying to know.
“So is it the blonde or the red head?” He asked as Buck unlocked a very large, white door.
“Well I don’t know who the blonde is so…”
Luz just silently stared at him as they walked into the suite. He wasn’t rendered speechless by the size of the suite, the balcony, the French glass doors leading out to it, the chandelier or the vaulted ceilings. None of those things impressed him. But how in the…
“You and Dick?”
Buck gave him an uncertain look, “Yeah. Why? Is that so hard to believe?”
“But when? How? What happened?”
Buck smiled at him and went over to the bar, pulling out two glasses and a bottle of Scotch.
Pulling his shoes and socks off he flopped down onto the floor behind the bar counter and motioned for Luz to sit.
Luz thought it was a strange sight. Then he sat.
Buck began to pour and talk at the same time. “It was a few years ago. It should’ve been a summer thing y’know? I was visiting relatives in Pennsylvania and we just hit off. We tried the long distance thing but then he met some guy at college and we knew we wouldn’t make it. So we kept in touch. Hung out if we were in the same area. Y’know-we’re pals. That kind of thing. Did he never mention me?”
Luz looked at his glass, noticing that Buck didn’t seem terribly hurt by that idea, “I’m sure he did, but he never gave any details or anything. I just…”
Buck took a deep drink and leaned back against what looked like a dishwasher. Luz couldn’t help but find it funny that they were in this big ass room and had chosen to sit on what was basically the kitchen floor.
“Why is this bugging you so much?”
“It’s not!” he protested. Except that it was. Not because of Buck but because of Dick.
Buck raised his eyebrows as if asking him to speak.
Luz sighed, “It’s just not like Dick to keep secrets like that. That’s like a big thing.”
“Maybe he keeps lots of secrets.” Buck suggested.
Luz hoped that wasn’t true. For all of their sakes. Dick was like…the person that connected them all. Even in a different country Dick was connecting them to new people. But he mainly hoped that wasn’t true for Nixon’s sake.
Dick had never told Lewis who Speirs was. They all just assumed that was because Dick wanted to keep Nixon out of trouble. But what about Buck? Why would he keep that from him? Sure Nixon was possessive but he could handle Dick having an ex right before him. Probably be pleased to know that Dick had chosen him over someone else. It just didn’t make any sense.
“You guys were serious?”
“Does Dick strike you as the summer fling type?”
Luz shook his head and downed his Scotch.
“Can I get a refill?”
Waking up was becoming a painful experience for Babe Heffron.
His head hurt. He felt super icky. And someone was yelling off in the distance.
Babe sighed, squeezed his eyelids tightly and then slowly blinked his eyes open.
Well…this was different.
He was alone in a big bed, and the sheets were soft and warm and there were beams of sunlight shining in through a large window.
He couldn’t help but smile when he heard a bird singing, remembering Gene trying to teach him bird calls when they had gone camping over Spring Break. Luz and Bill had been in Florida doing God knew what and it had just been the two of them.
But thinking about Gene reminded him where he was. Well…not entirely because he sure as hell didn’t know where he was. But he knew where he wasn’t. He wasn’t in Virginia.
Sighing he rolled out of bed and noticed that someone (Bill) had put him into different clothes and let himself laugh a little at how much of a pain in the ass THAT probably was for his friend.
Man he was thirsty. He wanted to go look for something to drink. But he was kinda afraid to leave the room. He wasn’t exactly the world’s most confrontational person. And he KNEW he heard shouting.
What was that all about?
“WHAT did you just say?”
Buck swallowed, “He uh didn’t tell me that you were his boyfriend. I mean I knew he had a boyfriend for a while but-”
“WE’RE STILL TOGETHER ASSHOLE!” Nixon hollered at Buck who decided that he should just stop talking at this point. And that Dick really owed him for this.
But then he thought about Luz and how long it had been since he’d stayed up all night just drinking and talking and figured that he was getting something out of it anyway. He would just have to man up and deal with Dick’s psycho boyfriend.
“WHERE THE HELL IS THE WHISKY IN THIS PLACE?”
….even if he really didn’t want to.
After Nixon had drunk himself into a somewhat calm state, Babe had ventured out of his room to tell them he was hungry and Buck had suggested they go get breakfast at the hotel café.
To say the atmosphere was tense would be a really lame way to put it. The only person who seemed happy was Speirs, who was probably just glad he didn’t have to compete for Lipton.
Babe wasn’t really happy. But the pancakes he was eating were freaking awesome and he knew for certain that Eugene hadn’t gotten to Renee yet. So he wasn’t too bad.
Bill kept glaring at Speirs, although Babe wasn’t sure WHY and Luz had fallen asleep right after the whole, ‘You guys need to go to Belgium’ thing had been dropped on them.
Nixon was practically comatose and Buck looked kind of terrified that his main ally had just fallen face first into a bowl of cereal.
Babe cleared his throat, “Can someone pass the syrup?”
Carwood wasn’t sure what he was so scared of. Eugene Roe wasn’t a big guy. What was the worst thing he could do?
Then Lipton started having flashes of himself waking up without a kidney or something and thought that maybe going through Gene’s stuff wasn’t such a great idea.
It wasn’t even his idea, it was Dick’s.
Dick who got to be the distraction while Carwood dug around looking for that damn envelope with Renee’s address in Belgium. Dick who wasn’t going to be the one to wake up in a tub of ice if this didn’t go well.
Dick had made a phone call to his mysterious ex to try and get in touch with the guys, but Lipton knew that he couldn’t tell him to relay much more than the fact that they would be in Belgium instead of Paris.
Which was why Lipton really needed to find that- AHA!
He quickly copied down the address and tried to make it look like he had never been there.
Babe had just been contemplating stabbing himself with his fork to break the tension when suddenly Nixon’s phone started vibrating on the table top. Nixon just looked at it.
“Answer it!” Babe urged, “It could be Dick!”
Nixon glared, “I don’t want to talk to Dick right now.”
Babe let out what he was pretty sure was a girly gasp. But seriously. Lewis Nixon NOT wanting to talk to Dick Winters? Was way weird. Haha all those words started with W’s…..
“Somebody answer it!”
Speirs rolled his eyes and picked it up, “Hello?”
Whatever the person said caused Speirs eyes to widen and he tossed the phone to Bill, who glared at him some more.
“What the Hell?”
“It’s Lipton!” Speirs hissed in way of explanation.
“I thought you WANTED to talk to him!”
“I do. Just not until-”
Babe jumped over the table and snatched the phone from Bill. After sitting back down he threw his fork at Speirs, just because Babe would have killed to have Gene on the phone and Speirs was sitting there turning down such an opportunity.
“Hey Lip it’s Babe.”
So the good news, it seemed, was that Gene, Lipton and Dick hadn’t left yet. The bad news was, after figuring out where they were headed, that they were all going to be stuck on a train together for a long ass time. And no one seemed very happy about it.
However the worst news, Babe decided, came in the realization that there seemed to be more relationship troubles than just his own that needed to be tended to.
This was turning into such a fun trip.
Word Count: 3,514
Summary: Babe makes a big mistake that sends the one he loves into the arms of another. Now he has to chase him across the globe to tell him how he feels before it's too late. Seriously AU. Various pairings
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. I don’t own anything….so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
“I was kinda getting used to the idea of Paris.”
Dick wasn’t sure that he thought going to Belgium was a smart move. Although he could certainly understand how Eugene might think otherwise.
Now that he had spoken to Renee’s father, Gene was feeling more righteous in his plans than ever before. Personally, Dick took Renee’s absence as a sign.
A sign that the two of them just weren’t meant to be. That God was trying to steer Gene away from Renee, and trying to give Babe and the others more time.
He knew he needed to get in touch with Lew and let him know their change in course, but he wasn’t yet sure how to pull it off right under Gene’s nose.
Presently, Gene was busy making phones calls to find them a way into Belgium, so Dick felt it was safe to wave Lipton over. He glanced at Gene once more before whispering to his blonde friend.
He had a couple ideas. But he was going to need Carwood’s help.
“What should we do?”
“Um…open the door?”
“Dude they’re cops!”
“Well if you ain’t gonna open the door than they’re just gonna bust it down!”
“Right….”
The door swung back to reveal three very peeved and also very young policemen.
“Can we help you officers?”
Nixon’s first instinct was to ask who had called in the puberty police, but figured maybe he should keep his mouth shut for once. The cops immediately walked in and surveyed the room.
“We’re looking for a young man who assaulted a police officer early this morning. We received an anonymous call that he may be here….” The officer trailed off to give Babe a strange look as he groaned and rolled drunkenly off of the bed.
Nixon considered that maybe he should stop pushing alcohol onto the kid. After all, having Babe hung over wasn’t really going to help him win Gene over. Plus he was so skinny that two sips in and he was already gone.
“…but none of you really resemble the sketch we were given.”
Lewis knew it wasn’t necessary to point out that the man who had probably described Speirs wouldn’t even know what his own mother looked like after getting whacked that hard.
Nixon then felt the urge to throw himself in front of one of the officers as soon as they turned towards the bathroom door.
“Is there someone in the shower?”
“No.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
Nixon and Bill just glared at Luz, who looked too shocked at what he’d said to do anything about it.
“Is there some kind of confusion?” A second officer asked from the doorway.
“No!” Nixon and Bill both forced out quickly. They looked over at Luz.
“Yes.”
Fucking damn it!
Nixon sucked in a deep breath as the first officer went to grab the handle of the bathroom door.
“Officers wait!” A new voice jumped in from outside the door. The policeman dropped his hand and turned his head.
They all looked over and gaped as a familiar looking blonde came into view, “I’m sorry. I was the one who called it in. I wasn’t sure then but I’m pretty sure now…that um, the guy’s actually in room 112.”
Buck pursed his lips and looked at the assembled law enforcement before pointing to the ground, “Downstairs.”
The officers shared a guarded look before turning back to them, “We’re going to go check this out. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Of course.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“Staying put sir.”
“This carpet smells GROSS!”
When the men left, Nixon blew out a harsh stream of air that he wasn’t aware he’d been holding in. They waited a couple of moments. Nixon thanked God that they had been lucky enough to get a bunch of 12 year old cops who didn’t think to leave someone there with them.
“So…let’s get the fuck outta here?”
“Oh yeah.”
In the rush to get all their shit together, none of them really knew what to make of Buck’s presence.
Nixon glared at the man as he grabbed his pack, “As soon as we’re out of the woods, you’re gonna fucking explain yourself.”
Luz looked at him curiously as he helped Babe sit up. “Someone needs to get Speirs.”
Bill rolled his eyes and turned to rush into the bathroom to get the prick to hurry up.
However he came out much quicker than he’d gone in, face red. “He’s still in the shower.”
Nixon groaned, “No duh,” rushing over he banged on the door. “We need to go! NOW!”
A couple seconds later a shoeless, shirtless and still dripping Speirs busted out of the bathroom, buttoning his jeans and rushing to get his things together.
“What happened?” he asked as he tossed his things into his bag and shoved his shoes on.
“No time.” Luz added, still struggling with a very out of it Babe. A VERY out of it Babe.
As Ron crouched down to get a shirt, Bill noticed a tear of water roll down his spine, but he was very much NOT staring at it………..he WASN’T.
Speirs pulled on a white tee and then went to grab Babe away from Luz. Bill, still not entrusting Babe’s care to just anyone, went with him.
Speirs stopped and looked at Buck, “When did you get here?”
Luz peeked out of their motel room and into the night. He didn’t SEE any cops. That would have to do.
“Coast looks clear.”
Trying to be discrete was not really their strong point. Especially not with a drunken teenager and Ronald Speirs, who was pissed off about not being in the loop.
Speirs and Bill were practically dragging Babe down a set of stairs when Ron pointed at Buck and said, “Who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing following us? Cause I highly doubt that this is a happy little coincidence.”
Luz wasn’t sure what was with the hostility all of a sudden, had they forgotten that he had just saved their asses from the police?
Buck looked (wisely) terrified of Speirs and started to fold, “Well I wasn’t…following you. I mean I was following Luz-but then I got a call,”
Wait what?
“You were following me?”
Buck looked at him for a minute, “I didn’t mean to say that. I wasn’t like, going to mug you or anything I swear.”
Luz shook his head, “No I know. I mean-”
“Nobody gives a crap!” Nixon snapped, “So you got a call saying what?”
Buck looked away from Luz; he seemed to have forgotten what they were talking about. “Oh right, well my ex calls me up and tells me he’s in Paris. I’m thinking he just wants to hook up or something but apparently his friend has lost his mind and traveled all the way to Paris to ask this girl to marry him and he wants my help getting in touch with his friends who are trying to find them. Turns out I already have. I asked if he knew Luz and he said yeah. He wanted me to get in touch with some guy named Nixon and tell them that they weren’t going to be in Paris.”
Holy crap! Luz was busy trying to comprehend all the insane ways that God had worked recently as he listened to Buck. Obviously the most important question to ask now was where they were going to be if not Paris.
Or at least that’s what HE thought. Apparently Speirs and Nixon thought otherwise because they immediately stopped walking, which was fine since they were practically at the car. However
Bill smacked into the side of the door when Speirs jerked to a stop and both of the crazies looked poised to rip Buck’s head off.
Speirs spoke first, “Who’d you say your ex was?”
The hand that wasn’t holding up Babe had been balled into a fist and although he looked calm as always, Luz saw his knuckles turn white and knew that some bad shit was coming Buck’s way if the name out of his mouth was Lipton’s.
Although to be fair, Nixon looked just as scary. He was chewing on his bottom lip and cracking his knuckles repeatedly, his eyes already burning a hole through the blonde’s skull. It was a lose-lose situation really.
Luz slowly inched himself in front of Buck, who looked back and forth at the two, “I didn’t and don’t think I want to say.”
Smart man.
Nixon and Speirs definitely looked like they wanted to beat it out of him but thankfully Bill interrupted. “Would you two nut jobs get over it for now? In case you don’t remember we got these guys looking for us and these guys are called COPS!”
Speirs nodded and unlocked the car, Bill situating Babe into the back.
Nixon tore his eyes off Buck finally, “Well where the hell should we go? The clerk’s probably the one who ratted on us and if this shithole can’t keep it to themselves I doubt anyone else will.”
They all got quiet. Nixon had a point. Where could they stay where they wouldn’t have to talk to anyone?
“You can stay at my suite. It’s way too big for me anyway, and you wouldn’t have to check in.” Buck offered from where he was hiding behind Luz.
Luz just beamed. Buck just kept getting cooler and cooler. Even though it looked like Speirs and Nix had decided they were going to kill him, he was still trying to help.
Speirs stared at him for a second then nodded, “Fine-lead the way. Luz, Nixon, get in the car.”
“Actually,” Buck put a finger up to stop them, “Luz I was wondering if you wanted to ride with me?”
Luz looked up, “Huh?”
Buck smiled, “Hold on.”
He rushed off and a second later Nixon and Speirs rounded in on Luz.
“No way in Hell are you-”
“That guy was stalking you!”
“-going with him. He’s obviously a creep-“
“He’s probably going to drug you and drive off and-”
“Holy crap that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!” Luz interrupted them.
Buck was back and so was his ride. Buck was explaining that it was some expensive Italian make, but that it was much safer than it looked as he gave them the address to his hotel and his suite number.
All Luz saw was a kick ass black motorcycle that he was totally getting on.
“Fuck you guys, you ain’t my parents!” He hollered over his shoulder to Nixon and Speirs as he straddled the bike and smiled at a pleasantly surprised Buck.
Buck grinned back at him although he was still talking to Speirs, “There’s no way you’ll be able to follow me if I’m driving this. I guess we’ll be waiting there for you guys.” He ignored the murdering looks he was getting as he walked over to Luz and got on the motorcycle.
“How fast does this go?”Luz asked.
“Really, really fast.”
That said Buck pulled Luz’s arms around his waist and started the bike, “Hold on.”
After they had gotten into the car they just sat in silence for a little while.
A very angry silence.
Speirs started the car.
Bill smirked.
“You guys are pathetic.”
“Shut your fucking guinea trap Gonorrhea!”
…..Umm…wtf?
By the time Luz was in the elevator he was grinning like a maniac and he was pretty sure his hair was going to be permanently flung to the right side of his head.
“That was AWE-some.”
Buck laughed, “I thought you’d like it.”
“This is a swanky elevator.”
“Yes it is.”
“What floor are we going to?”
“The top one.”
“Sweet! Do you have a mini bar?”
“I have a real bar.”
“That might help you if you need to bribe Nixon.”
“Which one was Nixon?”
“The crazy one with dark hair.”
“You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
“Excellent point.”
By the time they got to the top floor, which it turned out was the 12th, Luz was just dying to know.
“So is it the blonde or the red head?” He asked as Buck unlocked a very large, white door.
“Well I don’t know who the blonde is so…”
Luz just silently stared at him as they walked into the suite. He wasn’t rendered speechless by the size of the suite, the balcony, the French glass doors leading out to it, the chandelier or the vaulted ceilings. None of those things impressed him. But how in the…
“You and Dick?”
Buck gave him an uncertain look, “Yeah. Why? Is that so hard to believe?”
“But when? How? What happened?”
Buck smiled at him and went over to the bar, pulling out two glasses and a bottle of Scotch.
Pulling his shoes and socks off he flopped down onto the floor behind the bar counter and motioned for Luz to sit.
Luz thought it was a strange sight. Then he sat.
Buck began to pour and talk at the same time. “It was a few years ago. It should’ve been a summer thing y’know? I was visiting relatives in Pennsylvania and we just hit off. We tried the long distance thing but then he met some guy at college and we knew we wouldn’t make it. So we kept in touch. Hung out if we were in the same area. Y’know-we’re pals. That kind of thing. Did he never mention me?”
Luz looked at his glass, noticing that Buck didn’t seem terribly hurt by that idea, “I’m sure he did, but he never gave any details or anything. I just…”
Buck took a deep drink and leaned back against what looked like a dishwasher. Luz couldn’t help but find it funny that they were in this big ass room and had chosen to sit on what was basically the kitchen floor.
“Why is this bugging you so much?”
“It’s not!” he protested. Except that it was. Not because of Buck but because of Dick.
Buck raised his eyebrows as if asking him to speak.
Luz sighed, “It’s just not like Dick to keep secrets like that. That’s like a big thing.”
“Maybe he keeps lots of secrets.” Buck suggested.
Luz hoped that wasn’t true. For all of their sakes. Dick was like…the person that connected them all. Even in a different country Dick was connecting them to new people. But he mainly hoped that wasn’t true for Nixon’s sake.
Dick had never told Lewis who Speirs was. They all just assumed that was because Dick wanted to keep Nixon out of trouble. But what about Buck? Why would he keep that from him? Sure Nixon was possessive but he could handle Dick having an ex right before him. Probably be pleased to know that Dick had chosen him over someone else. It just didn’t make any sense.
“You guys were serious?”
“Does Dick strike you as the summer fling type?”
Luz shook his head and downed his Scotch.
“Can I get a refill?”
Waking up was becoming a painful experience for Babe Heffron.
His head hurt. He felt super icky. And someone was yelling off in the distance.
Babe sighed, squeezed his eyelids tightly and then slowly blinked his eyes open.
Well…this was different.
He was alone in a big bed, and the sheets were soft and warm and there were beams of sunlight shining in through a large window.
He couldn’t help but smile when he heard a bird singing, remembering Gene trying to teach him bird calls when they had gone camping over Spring Break. Luz and Bill had been in Florida doing God knew what and it had just been the two of them.
But thinking about Gene reminded him where he was. Well…not entirely because he sure as hell didn’t know where he was. But he knew where he wasn’t. He wasn’t in Virginia.
Sighing he rolled out of bed and noticed that someone (Bill) had put him into different clothes and let himself laugh a little at how much of a pain in the ass THAT probably was for his friend.
Man he was thirsty. He wanted to go look for something to drink. But he was kinda afraid to leave the room. He wasn’t exactly the world’s most confrontational person. And he KNEW he heard shouting.
What was that all about?
“WHAT did you just say?”
Buck swallowed, “He uh didn’t tell me that you were his boyfriend. I mean I knew he had a boyfriend for a while but-”
“WE’RE STILL TOGETHER ASSHOLE!” Nixon hollered at Buck who decided that he should just stop talking at this point. And that Dick really owed him for this.
But then he thought about Luz and how long it had been since he’d stayed up all night just drinking and talking and figured that he was getting something out of it anyway. He would just have to man up and deal with Dick’s psycho boyfriend.
“WHERE THE HELL IS THE WHISKY IN THIS PLACE?”
….even if he really didn’t want to.
After Nixon had drunk himself into a somewhat calm state, Babe had ventured out of his room to tell them he was hungry and Buck had suggested they go get breakfast at the hotel café.
To say the atmosphere was tense would be a really lame way to put it. The only person who seemed happy was Speirs, who was probably just glad he didn’t have to compete for Lipton.
Babe wasn’t really happy. But the pancakes he was eating were freaking awesome and he knew for certain that Eugene hadn’t gotten to Renee yet. So he wasn’t too bad.
Bill kept glaring at Speirs, although Babe wasn’t sure WHY and Luz had fallen asleep right after the whole, ‘You guys need to go to Belgium’ thing had been dropped on them.
Nixon was practically comatose and Buck looked kind of terrified that his main ally had just fallen face first into a bowl of cereal.
Babe cleared his throat, “Can someone pass the syrup?”
Carwood wasn’t sure what he was so scared of. Eugene Roe wasn’t a big guy. What was the worst thing he could do?
Then Lipton started having flashes of himself waking up without a kidney or something and thought that maybe going through Gene’s stuff wasn’t such a great idea.
It wasn’t even his idea, it was Dick’s.
Dick who got to be the distraction while Carwood dug around looking for that damn envelope with Renee’s address in Belgium. Dick who wasn’t going to be the one to wake up in a tub of ice if this didn’t go well.
Dick had made a phone call to his mysterious ex to try and get in touch with the guys, but Lipton knew that he couldn’t tell him to relay much more than the fact that they would be in Belgium instead of Paris.
Which was why Lipton really needed to find that- AHA!
He quickly copied down the address and tried to make it look like he had never been there.
Babe had just been contemplating stabbing himself with his fork to break the tension when suddenly Nixon’s phone started vibrating on the table top. Nixon just looked at it.
“Answer it!” Babe urged, “It could be Dick!”
Nixon glared, “I don’t want to talk to Dick right now.”
Babe let out what he was pretty sure was a girly gasp. But seriously. Lewis Nixon NOT wanting to talk to Dick Winters? Was way weird. Haha all those words started with W’s…..
“Somebody answer it!”
Speirs rolled his eyes and picked it up, “Hello?”
Whatever the person said caused Speirs eyes to widen and he tossed the phone to Bill, who glared at him some more.
“What the Hell?”
“It’s Lipton!” Speirs hissed in way of explanation.
“I thought you WANTED to talk to him!”
“I do. Just not until-”
Babe jumped over the table and snatched the phone from Bill. After sitting back down he threw his fork at Speirs, just because Babe would have killed to have Gene on the phone and Speirs was sitting there turning down such an opportunity.
“Hey Lip it’s Babe.”
So the good news, it seemed, was that Gene, Lipton and Dick hadn’t left yet. The bad news was, after figuring out where they were headed, that they were all going to be stuck on a train together for a long ass time. And no one seemed very happy about it.
However the worst news, Babe decided, came in the realization that there seemed to be more relationship troubles than just his own that needed to be tended to.
This was turning into such a fun trip.