Moving Forward

Of Mice and Men

Sean's POV

"What does Gabriel expect you to do with this?" I felt horrified by what I was reading.

"I'm not really sure," Owen admitted as he continued to read the slew of articles. "All I can think about right now is that poor child. She was a newborn when kidnapped, how could someone abuse a baby? Even at five, she was still a young child."

"Do you think he wants her to join our team?" I was puzzled. Gabriel had included a short message that stated she was 'Trouble'; surely, he meant she was in trouble.

"It is possible, but I highly doubt it. She has her own team; it is the one Mr. Morgan and the senior Mr. Taylor is a part of while they attend college."

"Wait," I feel appalled. "Isn't this the girl that North body slammed and I almost killed with a needle?"

"It is," he confirmed.

"Why is he prying into information about her?" I demanded. This was not good; I was in enough trouble without adding to it by snooping.

"He went with our brothers to visit Luke and Victor," Owen mused. "Maybe Luke has given him some information that can help you defend your actions when you go before the panel."

"There is nothing to defend," I reminded him. "I messed up and there is no excuse for it. I let my ego get the best of me; I deserve to face the consequences of my actions."

"Nonsense Sean, she still lives and it was a simple mistake." Owen spoke in a soothing voice. It was a lie; we both knew it and I refused to let myself be comforted. If I truly wanted to be a doctor, I had to stop running from my mistakes and become more serious about my training. I had known the rules, but I had thought I didn't have to follow them. Let me re-state that, I thought I could choose which ones I would follow. We weren't supposed to go to the school that day, I knew that, I insisted I had to set up my classroom up anyways. North tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't listen. I had taken a rare day off and I was determined to turn my classroom into a Japanese wonderland. North claimed that it would be stolen within a few weeks, I didn't believe him. Sadly, he had been right. The origami I had so proudly displayed was trashed. What wasn't broken, was missing, even the books of Japanese poetry. I had pulled North off a mission to help me, uncaring that it would anger him. While North had a grumpy personality, he hated to delay a mission and I had done it anyways. People depended on him to keep their cars running and he felt guilty when he wasn't done quick enough. Dr. Phil Roberts, my mentor, wasn't talking to me. He had warned me several times and I blithely continued on my way. I am Dr. Sean Green; age nineteen, no one could touch me. I was that awesome. Females of all ages loved me and I was the second in command of the famous Blackbourne Team. We would be the next lead team due to our sheer brilliance and diverse talents. Yada, yada, yada. Yeah, right. We were on a downward spiral; Owen started it when he kicked Victor off the team. He had thought it would frighten Victor enough to tell his grandfather that he would not go to Boston. Victor had surprised him by siding with his blood family. Then Luke stood up to Owen on Victor's behalf, easy going Luke. Owen had lost his temper and that sent the boys to James Morgan, who pulled out a legal document Owen had signed. While Owen had only been thirteen at the time he signed it, the document was irrefutable and legal. Owen owed the Morgans almost a million dollars, having accepted the responsibility to pay any debt he and the rest of us incurred by having Victor pay for things. The smart thing would have been to purchase things as we earned the money for them. That hadn't been good enough for Owen and Gabriel. Owen felt adults weren't taking him serious, that he needed to change his image. Hence the 500 dollar suits, the fancy house and expensive car. Mr. Blackbourne was born before his fourteenth birthday. He worked diligently to change his speech, removing all trace of accent and began to imitate the elite. While I loved him, I didn't always like him. There was times when his drive to reach perfection drove me nuts. I didn't want perfect, I wanted my Owen back. He has always been a bit of a stuffed shirt, but not to this extent. There was a time he could be spontaneous, not anymore. It now meant a lack of control and Owen Blackbourne was always under perfect control, even when he lost his temper.

Victor's POV

I knew I hadn't heard the end of this matter, my grandfather would not let it go on the way side. I would accept any punishment he gave me. Why, because he was right, I should have called him. Letting Owen handle it had been wrong, I should have never brought him into a private matter that involved my blood family. My grandfather was right when he said I had to learn how to deal with my parents. In spite of what Owen said, George and Jasmine Morgan were always going to be my parents and nothing could change that. 'Family is a Choice' was a crock; it was only a choice as long as the person in charge was getting their own way. Once they weren't, you were kicked out of the family. Nothing had changed, Gabriel had made it clear that my only worth to the team was my credit card. I was grateful my grandfather had brought me to Boston and was allowing me to go to M.I.T. that Luke came with me.

Raschel, Luke and I made a great team, nothing like the old one. We were equal and made decisions together. They didn't expect me to pay for everything, we each had our own money. Turned out Luke's maternal grandfather had left him his estate, bi-passing Luke's mother. Uncle had kept it secret, keeping it for Luke's future. Since Luke was attending school on scholarship, Uncle sent him the Jeep and a monthly allowance of 400 dollars. That didn't include the money my grandfather and Sven spent on us. It was nice not to pay all the time and to buy things because I wanted to, not because someone told me to.

Having the guys here wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be, it hadn't been great either. On the most part, they behaved well, except for Gabe. He took an instant dislike to Princess, criticizing everything she did. She ignored him for the most part, he was our friend and she didn't want to cause problems. She even entertained Jess so we could spend time with our friends, although it made her uncomfortable and we had wanted her with us. Both Luke and I had changed; it had started long before we came to Boston. I think we have all changed, really. Nathan, I have never seen him this content. Watching him and his aunt interact could be quite amusing. They squabbled well naturedly, constantly calling each other stubborn. Uncle and North had grown closer, something Luke had been glad to see. Silas and Charly, they were finally talking to each other and planning to reach out to Theo. While Kota was regaining his closeness to his little sister, he still had Owen on a pedestal. They were slowly learning that there was more to life than the Academy and never ending missions. Luke and I found that we liked training to be High Council better than being on a normal team; we liked the job description better.

While I was still deciding if I would continue to perform, I enjoyed my music again. Currently, I was teaching myself to play the banjo; Luke had recently joined me in my lessons. Our goal, we wished to play Dueling Banjos. Would we ever perform it, probably not, the important part is that we were having fun learning. As for Princess, she cheered us on. One thing we were learning is that not everything we do needs to have a purpose beyond our own enjoyment. It was okay to do things for ourselves, just as it was okay for us to want to help those who weren't being assisted by the normal charities, hence the Children's Home. The kids were teaching us a lot more than we could ever teach them and I was thankful for the place they had given me in their life.

"I was held up," I told Luke and Princess as I joined them in the kitchen. "What soup are we making today?"

"Bouillabaisse," Luke answered as he continued to stuff ingredients into Chel's arms.

"Fish soup," I wrinkled my nose. It wasn't one of my favorites and by the way Princess was trying not to make a face, it wasn't her's either.