Moving Forward

Contemplations

Luke's POV cont.

My thoughts returned to Gabe. I couldn't help him, I was too far away and he never listened to me in the first place. I did research on bipolar once Uncle told me Gabe needed therapy and medication. He may even need to stay in the hospital until he stabilized mentally, something he would fight. Since he made it clear that we were no longer friends, I knew he wouldn't accept my call. With Pam in detox, I wasn't sure who had Power of Attorney for Gabe's medical care. Being a minor, I knew that the final decision would not be Gabe's to make. I know Owen held one for Nathan, but I wasn't sure how legal it was or if he had one for Gabriel. Uncle had refused to sign one for North and me; he made it clear that he was to receive a call if we needed to be treated at the hospital. He didn't want Owen or Sean making medical decisions for us, especially once he learned that they had tried to convince us to have vasectomies. Not only was it illegal with us being underage, he felt that they had overstepped themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if Uncle hadn't fired off a complaint to the Academy about doctors performing the procedure on minors without parental knowledge. While Raschel may have been born when Sven was fourteen, I didn't see him requiring male members using vasectomies as birth control. He didn't see his daughter as a mistake. Then there was Gabriel, my former best friend, being sterilized may be best for him. Having a child would put more pressure on him, extra pressure he didn't need. I wasn't sure that he would ever be stable enough to be a father. Spending time at the Home, I was learning that little kids weren't all sunshine and rainbows. They could be clingy, refuse to listen and downright cantankerous. Hmm, that described Gabe pretty much.

There was also the fact that we weren't on the same team anymore. He had six brothers to help him and one was a doctor. He had made it clear that we could not be friends as long as we were on different teams. I wasn't quitting school and dumping my new team to run back to Charleston to beg at Gabe's feet for him to forgive me and re-instate me as his friend. I had just as much of a right to live my life as he did and it was time his remaining brothers learned how to deal with him. I didn't think I was being selfish. Yes, I wanted Gabe to get better and I would like to be friends again, it wouldn't happen though. I was no longer willing put my life on hold as I catered to him. It was someone else's turn. I did blame Owen for Gabe's condition partly. The team was falling apart around him and he had his head buried in the sand, blocking his ears to his brothers' cries for help. He didn't know the first thing about being a family, nor did he understand that we were always going to want to reach for our birth families, especially the ones who had not hurt us. It was human nature, the call of our shared blood.

There were times when I thought about my former brothers and wondered why we had agreed to Owen and Sean joining our team. We hadn't needed them. If we were truthful, they were the only ones who had benefitted from the new team. Doc studied medicine as we carried him and Owen decided he was God. Did we have the word 'SUCKER' written across our forehead in bright red letters? It felt like it at times with the way Owen and Sean played us. Victor and I had discussed it, neither of us can remember the team holding a formal vote to choose Owen as head of the family, nor had it been done for Kota. I'm sorry, but there is no way we would have selected North as second under Kota, not with his temper. My brother was not a leader he was a rebel. To me, that meant that we had allowed Owen to manipulate us and that was beyond wrong.

Victor's POV

I found Luke in the tree house, even though it was cold out. I was thankful when I noticed he had a butane heater lit to warm the place. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked as I settled into the beanbag chair next to the one he sprawled in.

"I'm not going back," Luke stated bluntly. "I refuse to let him ruin this for me."

"No one expects you to," I assured him.

"Don't lie," he snorted. "I'm surprised that they haven't called me already."

"Well, as to that, Raschel and I may have directed all calls from their numbers to Sven's phone." I scratched my ear absently as my cheeks heated. We should have asked him first, we decided not to so he could say with honesty that he hadn't done it. "We did forget to tell Sven until he received a bunch of calls on your behalf. When Sven asked Princess why we sent the calls to him, she shrugged and said she didn't know anyone scarier than he was. Last time I saw her, she was running from her father."

He whipped around to look at me, his eyes wide with surprise. He started to say something, and then stopped. He shook his head and then started laughing, deep belly laughs. I joined him. The look on Sven's face when he got the first call demanding Luke return to Charleston had been priceless. It had been Owen and he hadn't let Sven even say hello before he started issuing orders. Sven had informed him that Luke wasn't accepting calls from his former team and Gabriel's well being was Owen's concern as head of the so-called Blackbourne family, not Luke's. Sven had gone on to remind Owen that he had kicked us off his precious team and was no longer able to order us as if we were servants. From now on, any call to us from a member of the Blackbourne team must go through him or Colt. I related this to Luke once he calmed down, only to set him off again. I was relieved to hear him laughing; he had been subdued ever since Gabe ran his mouth while they were here.

He stood, "let's go rescue Cupcake. We can grab Colt, drag the three of them to an early movie, and try a new restaurant after."

"We already checked the listings; there are none Sven will let Princess watch." I followed him once we made sure the heater was off. "I was thinking we could go to the open art class, the one where you paint with food, using your hands and feet."

"We did say we wanted to try it," Luke agreed. Already picturing the three of them covered in pudding as they tried to paint with their feet, one of them slipping and taking the other two down with them.

North's POV

"What the hell did you expect?" I demanded of Mr. Blackbourne. "You kicked them off the team during a tantrum; they are not going to run back because you decided to forget your pettiness. It has never been Victor's job to support your ass or Gabe's addiction to expensive clothing labels. We are not children, you will never be our parent and we are finished with running the team your way. The team has fallen apart under your watch and your answer is to call my brother and demand he fix your mistake. Get your head out of your booty call's ass and start doing your duty to this team or resign."

"Respect, Mr. Taylor," Owen Blackbourne's voice was clipped with displeasure.

"Respect is earned, it cannot be demanded." Uncle spoke from the doorway. He hadn't been expecting to find a team meeting going on in his house. He turned to look at me. "What happened now?"

"Blackbourne decided it was Luke's duty to drop out of school and return here to take care of Gabe. Sven answered his call and informed him that all calls to Victor and Luke must go through him or Colt. Luke is staying right where he is and that it was Blackbourne's duty to take care of his family members since he claims to be the head of it." I knew that would piss Uncle off.

"My nephew no longer answers to you; he is training to be on the Head Council. If I was you, I would start practicing saying 'Yes Sir' when you speak to him. As for your claim that the Blackbourne Team will be the next lead team, you are misinformed. The Toma Team is the next lead team, they were chosen for their skill set and ability to work with the High Council. There is also the fact the Henshaw twins are related to the Ericsons. Your team has never been in the running. The boys have not become full members of the Academy yet and you have a long history of being difficult to work with." Uncle glared at Blackbourne.