3 comments/ 12742 views/ 1 favorites 7. The Patriots Ch. 13-15 By: inspirixis1 Chapter Thirteen Micah was so tired. So incredibly tired. The days seemed to blend into one long, painful blur. He didn't eat; he stuffed food into his mouth and swallowed. He didn't race; he got on his bike and held on for dear life. He didn't sleep; he collapsed and lost consciousness each night. When he was woken in the morning by the awful blaring of the alarm he did it all over again. Day after day after day he ate, cycled, ate again and slept. Somewhere in the mix was Ellia, his beautiful blonde angel who made sure he had everything he needed. He was so lucky Ellia was there. She provided him with safe food and friendship and at the end of the day she'd take him in her arms and kiss him and leave him thinking of pleasant things when he left to go back to his room. Some nights she wanted to do more than just kiss and he had to take her hands in his and guide her away. It wasn't that he didn't want her like that. He did. It was that he wanted their first time to be special. He wanted to take his time with her and please her the way a man should please his woman, and he knew he couldn't do that right now. His body was shot and his mind was shot. Some days it took him a second to remember her name. She deserved better than that. He tried to explain that to her one night when she got upset at him for turning her down. It was the second last day of the tour and he told her he just needed to finish the race and recover for a few days before he'd take her on their date, then he would try his hardest to fulfill all of her needs. Ellia groaned and let her head fall forward onto his chest. "Hey, it's not so bad. There's no need to rush. Why are you in such a hurry anyway?" He tried for an upbeat, teasing tone. "It's just that we don't have much time left." "What are you talking about? We have all the time in the world." She looked up at him and tilted her head in question. "What do you mean?" "Well, I thought you might come home to America with me." "For a holiday?" "No, to live with me." Her face was suddenly angry. "You expect me to follow you around like a lost puppy dog?" "No... I just... I was trying to think of ways we could stay together." She shook her head. "Haven't you been listening to me? I got an interview with the Australian Institute of Sport. That's what I want to do." "But I can't move to Australia. There aren't any pro teams there and it's too far from where the racing is. Not to mention that there aren't any mountains to train on." "So your career is more important than mine? I have to hang around Europe and America so you can fulfill all of your dreams?" She was starting to look really furious now. She had walked away from him and was standing in the middle of the room with her brow furrowed, clenching her fists. "Ellia, please..." "Because you know what Micah? I don't get to have any of my dreams. I will never be able to train and race the way I want to. I will never be able to have a baby of my own the way I want to. The only thing I get to have the way I want is my career." Her eyes watered over and a tear spilled over her cheek. He didn't know what to say. It was an impossible situation. "You could still have a career in America," he offered lamely. She shook her head. "Not representing my country. That is what I want to do. That is the only dream left for me to have." God, he was so tired. Why was he doing this? "So... if you've decided you have to go back to Australia, and you know I can't move there, then why are you leading me on like this?" Her eyebrows rose. "I'm leading you on?" "Yeah. If you know there's no future for us then why are you making me fall in love with you?" She was silent for a moment as she stared at him with cold eyes. "I'm not making you do anything Micah." "What am I to you? Am I just a summer fling? Your European experiment?" Now he was getting angry. Why did she do this if she wasn't willing to make compromises? Ellia crossed her arms and continued to stare. "Don't insult me like that." "No. You're the one insulting me. I love you Ellia. I want you to live with me and share our lives together. You made me think that's what you want too and now you're throwing it all in my face." She gritted her teeth. "No. You don't want to share our lives, you want me to share your life. There's a difference." He threw his hands in the air. "Fine. We were obviously thinking in different directions on this. I'm glad it didn't go any further than it did." She pressed her lips together and looked away. He sighed. "I'm not trying to hurt your feelings. I just don't want to be with someone I don't have the possibility of a future with." She nodded without looking at him. "Okay. Well, I've got to go to bed. I'm tired. I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" She nodded again and he left. He was glad that the last stage of the tour was just a parade. He didn't think he had anything left in him to race with. He stayed safely tucked inside the peloton all day and the only thing he felt when he crossed the finish line was relief. There were all sorts of parties that he'd been invited to, but he declined them all as politely as he knew how. He went back to the hotel, showered, packed his bags and booked himself onto the next flight home to America. He stopped by Ellia's room on his way out and thanked her for taking care of him and told her that he was going home until the Olympics instead of going back to Milan. It was only two weeks away and he needed all of the rest he could get. She nodded and hugged him tentatively. "Would you prefer it if I didn't come to London?" "No. You should come. If you don't want to stay with my family I'll understand, but you should still come." "Okay, thanks." Standing in her doorway, watching her hug her arms around herself and bite on her lower lip as she looked up at him, he couldn't help but feel that there was a lot between them that was being left unsaid. He didn't know what else to say. He'd told her how he felt, but his love wasn't enough. She needed more than he could give her. He slept on the plane. Even though the seat was way too small to be comfortable, he easily slipped into a deep slumber. He didn't wake until the stewardess shook him roughly and told him that he needed to return his seat to the upright position. Even once he'd done that he slept again until the person beside him woke him to deboard the plane in Newark. He called his dad and asked him to pick him up when he got into Denver. He didn't elaborate and his dad didn't ask any questions. He was relieved when he finally stepped into his parents' house. Even though it was close to midday he showered and went straight back to bed. He didn't know how long he'd been asleep when his mom shook him awake. "Micah, when did you eat last?" "Huh? I don't know." Why was she bothering him about food? His body needed sleep more than it needed food. "Come on, get up. You need to eat dinner and everybody wants to see you. You can go back to bed after you've eaten." He groaned. God he hated it when she bossed him around like this. She went to the windows and opened the curtains and he pulled the covers over his head to avoid the bright afternoon light. He heard the door close and waited a few moments before facing the light. He knew there was no going back to sleep. She'd just keep coming back and hassling him until he got up. The fatigue was so deep that his bones actually hurt. He moved slowly and clumsily, fumbling with the zipper on his suitcase to find something to put on. Some of his Italian clothes were packed on top and he tried not to think about Ellia as he put them away in a drawer of his old, empty dresser. He eventually found jeans and a t-shirt and stumbled out of his room and downstairs where everyone was sitting around the table eating. "Hey! He's alive!" Oliver cheered and everyone hooted and clapped for him. They all got up and hugged him and patted him on the back, but he couldn't get in the festive mood. His mom placed a heavily laden plate in his hands and guided him to his old seat at the end beside his dad. Lucas' family were there too and his dad Tyler leaned over and nudged him. "Where's this hot chick I keep on hearing about?" Micah just shook his head as he stuffed food in his mouth. "You didn't want to bring her home to meet us?" "It didn't work out," he mumbled without looking up. The entire family seemed to freeze around him as if this was the most important thing they'd heard all year. That was the annoying thing about his family. Everyone was in your business all the time. It wasn't possible to do anything without everyone knowing about it and having an opinion about it. He tried to ignore them and continued shoveling food into his mouth. His mom had said that he could go back to bed once he'd eaten and that was exactly what he intended to do. Chapter 14 Micah slept for two days. Each time he'd wake up he'd go to the bathroom then go down to the kitchen and eat, then brush his teeth and go back to bed. During this time he saw his dad once and Oliver once, but he didn't really talk to them. On what his watch told him was the third day of his sleeping marathon, he woke at six in the morning and for the first time in what seemed like an eternity he had some energy. He got up and rode his bike down to the pool to see if he could get a few laps in. Matthew, Lucas and Oliver were already down there working out. He chatted to their coach Tracy and watched them push out a sprint set from the deck. During their rest Lucas looked up and spotted him. "Hey! He has arisen! I was starting to think that you were going to sleep for forty days and forty nights!" "That was the Noah's arc story idiot," Matthew teased him. "It rained for forty days. Jesus was only dead for like, five days or something." "No, didn't he wake up after three weeks? So he was really dead for twenty-one days?" Oliver asked. Tracy shook her head at their combined stupidity. "He was resurrected on the third day." Lucas smiled. "So he really is like Jesus! C'mon, show us how you walk on water." Micah laughed and shook his head. "Oh my god! Is that a smile? Maybe that really is Micah. We should call Interpol and let them know we found him and that they can call off the international search." Tracy very graciously let him swim in their lane and do part of the workout with them. He swam last and didn't push himself too hard. They were just starting to transition into their taper period so it wasn't a huge volume of work anyway. After the pool workout they went over to the gym and lifted for a while, which Micah mostly just spotted for, and then they went back to Matthew and Lucas' apartment for breakfast. Their place was an absolute pigsty. It was so bad that he refused to eat anything from their kitchen incase it was tainted with gluten. They agreed that it was risky and so before long they were all back at his parents' house, raiding the fridge like old times. It was so good to be around his brothers again. They had a dynamic that he fit into so easily. They teased and prodded each other continuously and Lucas acted the clown the entire time. They had just gotten their room assignments for the Olympic Village and it turned out that Micah would be rooming with Oliver, which he was pleased about. He'd lived with his younger brother for a year when he'd lived in California and it was fine. Much better than the time he'd tried living with Matthew, who was a slob. He'd never even consider trying to live with Lucas because he was an order of magnitude worse than Matthew. Those two deserved each other. After eating, Micah went back out on his bike to loosen up his legs and think for a bit. He wanted to call Ellia, just to hear her voice, but he felt like he'd left the ball in her court. He'd told her that he loved her and she hadn't responded with the words you hope to hear when you put yourself on the line like that. If she didn't love him there was no point in trying to patch things up. But no matter how much he kept on telling himself that, he couldn't escape from the over powering urge to communicate with her. He searched for an excuse and finally came up with one. It would make it easier for him if she brought his track bike from his place in Italy to London rather than having to travel all the way back for it himself. He was ridiculously nervous as he waited for her to pick up her phone, but she didn't. He was diverted to her voice mail. "Um... Hi Elle, it's Micah... Ah... Well I was wondering if you'd do me a favor and bring my track bike with you to London so I don't have to go all the way back to Italy to get it. Um... well, call me back, or I guess email is fine too, or... whatever. Whatever works for you... just let me know, okay? Bye." He hung up and immediately felt like an idiot. He kept his phone on him all day but she didn't call back. He got an email from her the next morning that simply said, "Yes, I can bring your bike to London for you. E." He took that to mean she had nothing further to say to him. He'd given her the opportunity to say anything that she wanted to and all she'd said was that she'd bring his bike. No 'I miss you,' or anything like that. He tried to forget about her and just enjoy the time he had at home hanging out and doing the short intense workouts that would prepare his body for the shorter races of the Olympics. Tracy let him train with his brothers in the mornings and in the evenings he went out on his bike for an hour or two. Nothing major. He was starting to feel his body rebound. His muscles were full of energy just waiting to be burned. But he couldn't forget about Ellia. She was always on his mind. "Hey Micah?" His dad asked one night when he was cooking on the barbeque and Micah was on the back patio stretching after his ride. "Yeah?" "Can I ask what went wrong with Ellia?" He shrugged. "She doesn't want to move to America." "And that's the only solution?" "I guess I should have said that she only wants to live in Australia, that would be more accurate, and, obviously, I can't move to Australia." "No?" He looked up, surprised. "No. It's too far away." "From?" "From the racing circuit. And from here. I don't want to live in a foreign country thousands of miles away from my family." His dad nodded. "But you could." "Huh?" "You said you can't move to Australia, but really it's not that you can't it's that you don't want to." "Well... no, I can't. It would ruin my career." "Which one?" "My cycling career, what else?" His dad sighed as he flipped the steaks. "I know you hate it when I bring this up, but I really think you should consider applying for grad. school now, while you are still young." Micah felt his whole body tense. "God, how many times do we have to go over this? I'm not Matthew dad. No matter how much you wish I was, I'm not now and I never will be." His brow furrowed. "I know that. I don't want you to be Matthew, but just because he's done something doesn't mean that path is closed to you. Just because Matthew is good at science doesn't mean that you can't be, or shouldn't be too." Micah sighed. He was so sick of this fight. "Just because cycling isn't swimming doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to pursue it." He got up and started to walk away. "Where are you going?" His dad called after him. "To the golden boy's house." He could see the hurt in his dad's eyes when he said that and he was sorry. His parents had never favored Matthew over anyone else. It was just impossible to not feel inferior to his perfect big brother. When he got over to Matthew and Lucas' house Matthew was on the phone in his bedroom and Lucas was playing video games. He flopped down on the couch and watched him play Call of Duty. "Who's he talking to?" Micah asked when Matthew failed to emerge after half an hour. Lucas looked up at him with a sly smile. "Katie." "Katie? Like, Katie Powell?" Matthew's high school and college sweetheart, who he'd been vehemently opposed to breaking up with, had been off the radar for years, and now they were talking on the phone for hours? "The one and only." "I thought she was in New York?" "Yeah, she is but she's moving back here in September." "That's... random. I thought she was a high powered magazine editor or something. Why would she want to move back to Denver?" Lucas shrugged. "She showed up here one day in April wanting to talk to Matthew and looking like some sort of malnourished catwalk model, and next thing you know she's moving back here. Apparently she has a job lined up at the Denver Post." "Are they back together?" "Not officially, but if I were you I'd get your tux out and your shoes shined. You know what Matthew's like when it comes to Katie." Micah was both happy and jealous at the same time. He had always thought Katie and Matthew were good together, but the news came with rotten timing. Right when things went down the toilet for him with Ellia everything seemed to come together for Matthew. He shook his head. "Why does Matthew always get it so easy?" Lucas glanced over at him and was shot in the video game. "I don't think that's altogether true. He's gone through a couple of tough years where Katie's concerned." "I know. You're right. Sometimes I feel like I'm hexed and things just fall into place for him, that's all." "Mm... you're not though." He was concentrating on the game again. "You just can't see the whole picture. You're too close to the project." He was killed on the TV screen again by the same guy. "Damn it! That guy's totally cheating," he said as he tossed the controller onto the coffee table. "Want to play Rock Band?" "I suck at that game." "I know. Maybe you'll make enough of a racket to get Matthew off the phone." "Nah. I'm hungry. I'm going to go home and eat." When he got home he wheeled his bike down the side path to put it around the back of the house, but he froze when he heard his name spoken from the dining room. He crept forward quietly towards the window and strained his ears to hear. His mom and dad were talking about him. "I didn't even mean to bring that up. In fact, I told myself I wasn't going to bring up grad school with him again until after the Olympics," his dad said dejectedly. "I don't understand why it always has to be so difficult with Micah. I want to be close with him, but no matter what I say he interprets it as if I'm comparing him to Matthew, which I'm not. I just think he's cheating himself by only considering career paths Matthew has not taken." "Mm..." his mom murmured. "Maybe you two are just too similar to get along." "It shouldn't matter. He's my son. I should be able to find a way to talk to him." "I know you want things to be better with Micah, but look on the bright side, when he gets angry with you who does he turn to? His brothers. So even if he feels like he's being compared to Matthew he obviously hasn't let it effect their relationship, and I think that's really important. We're not always going to be around for him to rely on, but hopefully they will be. I think being close to your siblings is one of the greatest blessings you can have in life, and I think they have that." His dad sighed. "You're right. That's what I always hoped for them, I just never envisaged that I'd be on the outside." There was silence for a while and Micah peeked in the window to see his dad sitting at the dinner table with his head bowed. His mom was standing behind him, leaning over with her arms wrapped around his shoulders, kissing his neck. 7. The Patriots Ch. 13-15 He felt like shit. He walked as quietly as he could to the front door and made a noisy and protracted entrance, taking his shoes off and then lifting his bike onto his shoulder to carry it through the house to the back patio. He passed the kitchen and dining room on his way. His dad was rinsing dinner plates and stacking them in the dishwasher while his mom packed leftovers into Tupperware containers. "Hey," he said to both of them but he couldn't meet their eyes. "You want me to leave this out for you?" His mom asked. "Sure. Thanks." He heated up the leftover meal in the microwave and sat at the table while his dad continued to clean. When the kitchen was clean he came and sat across the table from him. "Micah, I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean to end up lecturing you about grad school, I was just trying to point out that there are a lot of things that you're good at that wouldn't require you to live in the Northern Hemisphere, that's all." "I take it you liked Ellia?" "Well yeah, but more importantly, I got the impression that you liked Ellia. You know, every relationship is going to have problems. There are always going to be reasons why you shouldn't be with someone, you've just got to figure out if the reasons you should be with them are more important." "Mm... Well there are some problems that are insurmountable." "It might seem that way, but..." Micah cut him off. "Like if she doesn't feel the same way. I think that's an insurmountable problem." His dad blinked a few times as this new piece of information settled in. "Oh. I'm sorry. That possibility hadn't occurred to me." Micah shook his head. "It's okay. It's probably for the best anyway." His dad continued to sit and stare at him and Micah's conscience ate away at him until he finally had to say something. "Dad... I know you don't wish I was Matthew. I don't know why I said that." His eyebrows rose. "Okay. Good." "And grad school is still on my radar. I haven't forgotten about it, I just want to make sure it's what I want to do, not just what I'm expected to do." His dad nodded. "Okay. I can respect that... and while we're clearing the air, I have no problem with you riding your bike, in fact, I'm proud of the way you ride your bike. I just worry that you'll have nothing to turn to if you're injured or when your body can't handle it anymore." "Okay. Point taken." His dad nodded solemnly. "Right. Okay then... I guess I'll go and... do something else." He started to get up. "Hey dad? Ellia's still coming to London, so will you keep what I told you to yourself please? I don't want her to feel uncomfortable." He smiled. "Yeah of course. Don't worry about it. I think Tyler has her staying in the apartment with Grace and Nicholas and you know what their kids are like. They'll keep her so busy with ballet recitals and fairy dust she wont have a chance to feel uncomfortable." Chapter Fifteen Ellia was nervous about the whole Olympics thing. She didn't know if she should try and find her own accommodation, which would be next to impossible at this late stage. She was thinking of just going to deliver Micah's bike and then returning to Milan. Unfortunately, she was already on his 'uncle' Tyler's email list and nothing seemed to dissuade him. No excuse moved him. It seemed he had his heart set on her being there and he wasn't going to take no for an answer. After she had tried to wriggle out of it the second time he had sent her a very blunt email that had both put her at ease and perplexed her at the same time. "Ellia," he had written. "Stop making up lame excuses. If you don't want to come just say so. We know that you and Micah aren't dating anymore and it doesn't matter. If we limited our friendships to people Micah dated we'd be pretty damn lonely. Just show up, hang out for a few days and see how it goes. If you're not having a good time nobody is going to force you to stick around. Tyler." She was glad that he didn't cc the entire group on that message the way everyone else seemed to. She didn't understand it. As far as she knew they were all living in the same city and yet they seemed to use email as their primary mode of communication. They coordinated flights, childcare arrangements, who was eating dinner at the parents' house that night, and countless other logistics over email, as well as sending what she guessed were rambling joke chains, such as: Oliver Watson: "Hey mom, I beat Luka in breaststroke sprints this morning. I think that means I should get a wildcard entry into that event. What can you do for me? Please advise, Ol." Lucas Gray: "I missed the start once in a set of ten. In my approximation, even Maddie could have beaten me on that one. Does that mean she gets a wildcard entry too? Please advise, Lu." Emma Watson: "Oliver, I think your chances of swimming the breaststroke are about as good as mine. Madeline's might be slightly better. Mom." Oliver Watson: "Did you even call USA Swimming? You got Micah a wildcard entry to the trials. I think that's favoritism. I think I deserve adequate compensation for my pain and suffering. Ol." Emma Watson: "Of course it's favoritism. Everyone knows Micah's my precious little pumpkin. Mom." Micah Watson: "Gross mom. I'm staying at Grace and Nicholas' from now on. Mi." Grace Watson-Gray: "Oh, but aren't you my special little space monkey man Mikey? Gr." Micah Watson: "No. That would be your son... or your husband... not sure I want to know which. I'll stay at the Grays then. Mi." Oliver Watson: "Let's get back to my compensation for being the victim of parental favoritism. Ol." Matthew Watson: "How come Lucas and my place is last on your list of places to stay Micah? Ma." Micah Watson: "It's not last, it's not on my list at all because I'm pretty sure we'd need at least one body bag the next day, possibly two. Mi." Nicholas Watson-Gray: "How to I unsubscribe from this feed? Please advise, Ni." Adrian Wheeler: "I've been trying for months. There doesn't appear to be an exit strategy. Ad." She didn't know why she was included in these day-to-day exchanges but she didn't want to complain. She got a little jolt of electricity every time she saw an email from Micah in her inbox, even though she knew it was most likely just a reply to a comment from one of his family members. He hadn't communicated with her directly since that phone message about the track bike. Even though it was kind of a thoughtless, emotionless message she had saved it and went back to listen to it every now and then, just to hear his voice. She was so lonely without Micah. She kept on getting that same feeling she'd had after Laura had left her two weeks after she'd gotten to Milan. Everything seemed grey and lifeless when Micah was gone. She thought it was just a temporary feeling, like it had been when Laura left, but it didn't seem to want to budge. She couldn't stop thinking about him. She must have gone over that argument a thousand times by now, analyzing every little detail she could remember. He'd said he loved her. Twice. Could that really be true? If you loved someone, could you really ask them to sacrifice so much and yourself make no concessions? It wasn't living in America that she objected to, it was that he seemed to expect it of her. It was that he didn't consider the possibility of himself sacrificing something to be with her. It wasn't fair, and she had no intention of letting him take advantage of her like that. As the date for the opening ceremony neared, the logistical information reached a steady flow. Everyone offered their flights and travel information to the email pool, including Ellia. Tyler sent a racing program for the swimming and track cycling events and a separate file that was called 'race times,' which was a chronological summary of the race times for the list of events, each with one of the boys names beside it. The 200 freestyle had two names beside it, Lucas and Micah. The day before she left for London she went to Micah's house to get his bike and the air was sucked out of her lungs. Being surrounded by his things in his perfectly neat and organized home filled her with such an intense longing. Her heart broke as she walked around and read the post-it notes he's left around the place for himself. There was one on the fridge that said, 'electricity due 8/9' and it took her a minute to figure out that meant August ninth, not September eighth. It was August eighth so she looked through the pile of mail in his desk drawer until she found the bill and went down to the post office to pay it. She needed to get out of his house so she could breathe. When she went back the second time it wasn't quite so bad because she knew what to expect. She packed his track bike into its hard-sided case, heated and ate the dinner she'd brought with her, brushed her teeth and went to bed. Micah hadn't said if it was or wasn't okay for her to stay at his place but it was way too hard for her to get around with his bike so she just assumed he wouldn't mind. Checking his bike in at the airport was a nightmare and receiving it in London was just as bad but luckily Adrian, the family friend, met her at the international arrivals area and took control of the luggage situation. "This is probably going to be a bit overwhelming," he warned her on the Underground ride to the apartment complex they were staying at. "But don't worry, you'll get used to it." He wasn't wrong. Micah's family had rented two three-bedroom apartments that were on the same level of a large building. When she and Adrian arrived, the front door to the apartment she was staying at was propped open and inside was crowded with people. As soon as she stepped inside, a little dark-haired girl went tearing past her and started pounding on the door to the apartment across the hall yelling, "Madeline! She's here! Ellia's here!" Minutes later the small apartment was even more crowded as people poured in from the apartment across the hall. Three little girls danced around her and talked at her excitedly. Micah appeared by her side and said hello and they shared a short, awkward embrace. He stood beside her as all of the introductions were made, but he didn't touch her. She was a bit shell shocked by all of the people and attention, so she was glad when Micah said, "Come on, I'll show you your room and you can take a shower." He led her to a small generic-looking bedroom with an attached bathroom. "This room shares the bathroom with Adrian's room so make sure you knock before going in there." "Okay. Thanks." She felt nervous. This was the first time she'd seen him in two weeks. "You look different." "Yeah. I got a haircut." He rubbed his hand over the back of his head. "No, it's not that. You look... healthier. Did you gain weight or something?" He shrugged. "I don't know. I'm a lot less tired than the last time I saw you. I slept for three days straight after I left Paris." She was surprised. "Three days?" "Yeah, I was pretty tired." "Yeah, but three days?" He shrugged again. "I've never done a race that long, and I didn't sleep that well. My feet and the other injuries bothered me pretty badly for a few nights in the second week and I think I never really caught up on that lost sleep." "Oh." He hadn't let on that there was anything like that wrong at the time. "Anyway, I've got to get going. I need to stay focused on swimming." "Yeah, of course." "Thanks for bringing my bike. I appreciate it." "No worries." There was an awkward silence while they looked at each other from across the room, which he finally broke. "Well, I probably wont see you for a few days so I hope everything goes alright staying here. If you get sick of everyone you can just go do something on your own. Don't feel like you have to do everything with them." He needn't have worried. His family was only overwhelming when they were all looking at you at the same time. The rest of the time it was easy to get along with whomever she happened to sit beside on the bus, in the stands or at dinner. It took her a while to get comfortable with their way of paying for things. Basically, Grace's husband Nicholas paid for everything. From bus tickets to groceries to dinner and drinks, it all went on Nicholas' shiny credit card and the receipt went into Grace's purse. On the first night she had tried to give him cash to cover her part of the dinner bill and he had waved her off. "I'll tell you how much you owe me at the end of the month." "But how do you know who had what?" "Nicholas has a special algorithm for working out how expensive you are," Tyler explained. "Huh? How does that work?" He shrugged. "Stuffed if I know. All I know is some months I get a bill and other months I get a credit." "A credit? How can you have a negative balance?" "Childcare," Nicholas explained. Tyler shook his head. "Apparently I charge to take care of my own grandkids." "C'mon dad, you know it's better this way," Nicholas said. "And you don't charge that much." Tyler just rolled his eyes and went back to his dinner. "Don't worry Ellia, it'll be fair," Grace said. "Everyone knows it's fair, they just like to tease Nicholas because he's so well organized." "Are you a runner Ellia?" Emma, Micah's mom, changed the topic and asked her to go jogging with her in the morning. She actually wasn't that keen on the idea but she agreed anyway, she felt it would be rude to decline. She was actually glad she'd said yes. Emma didn't pry or ask embarrassing questions about her relationship with Micah as she had feared she might, they just talked about normal stuff. They jogged past Buckingham palace and they talked about how weird the concept of a royal family was. They talked about food and Emma described in glorious detail her favorite types of fruit pies and the best flavors of icecream to accompany them. They only touched on the subject of Micah in passing. Once Emma referred to how guilty she felt that Micah's Celiac Disease had taken so long to diagnose. "You have no idea how bad I felt... I still feel guilty about it. I always just assumed that him being so skinny was a body-type thing. When he was a teenager he hated eating. I'd basically have to force-feed him. I thought that was just Micah. I didn't realize I was poisoning him." "You couldn't have known. It's not a disease anyone really thinks about until you know someone who's got it." She changed the topic and talked about the farm that Grace and Nicholas owned. "Nicholas is a farmer?" Emma laughed. And then laughed some more. "No. Nicholas is definitely not a farmer. He and Grace co-own a restaurant with our foster son Zach and his wife. They like to use organic produce but it's hard to find reliable sources in our area so they decided to buy their own farm and to have the previous owners stay on to manage the production side of things." "So what do they grow?" "All sorts of stuff. They have a rotating crop system so they get all sorts of vegetables. There was already a poultry operation onsite so they continued that. They're trying pigs for the first time this summer and looking into leasing grazing land for cattle. Oh, and there's an old apple orchard that they're maintaining for now. They might rip it out in the future though. They're not sure." They chatted on and on about inconsequential topics like this, morning after morning. It was nice. They spent the majority of the daylight hours at the swimming venue sitting in the section reserved for the families of U.S. swimmers. She felt like a bit of a traitor, but she tried not to make a big deal of it. Most of the time was spent playing with the little girls and chatting anyway. There was really only a couple of minutes of each day that was spent cheering for the swimmers. The little girls had home-made signs to hold up for each of the boys. Their uneven lettering made with felt tip pens, colored paper and plenty of glitter, was very cute. "I made this one," Adie told her proudly when they got out the one for Oliver's race. "But I didn't do this messy part over here," she pointed to a particularly scribbly section of the poster. "That was Jasmine, she's not very good at coloring inside the lines so I have to be tolerant, even if it does mess up my poster." She said it so seriously, like her poster was the most important thing in the world. Her big dark brown eyes stared up at Ellia solemnly. On the third day Matthew and Oliver came up to the stands to watch the heats of the 200 freestyle. "Do you think Micah is going to beat Luka?" Oliver asked. "Nah, no way," Matthew replied. "Not in this life time." Lucas was in the first heat and Micah was in the third. When Micah came out to stand behind the blocks she couldn't believe how small he looked. She was used to thinking of him as a giant, but compared to the rest of the swimmers he was slight. Her heart didn't seem to care about that though. When she saw him her mouth went dry and her heart rate accelerated. When his name was called and he waved to the crowd she had the ridiculous notion that he was waving to her. His whole family erupted in cheers when he won the heat. His time was only a few hundredths of a second slower than Lucas' and was good enough to take him to the semi-final. It was so exciting. She didn't realize how caught up in it all she had been until she found herself watching it on the T.V. with Grace that night. As luck would have it the station ran one of those segments that they do on sports coverage to up the drama that was focused on their family. It included some footage from a press conference in which the three brothers and Lucas were lined up in front of microphones fielding questions from the press. "Your parents must be very proud?" A reporter asked. They all looked at Matthew who leaned forward toward his microphone. "Ah... to be honest I'm not sure where winning swimming races sits on our parents' scale of pride-worthy accomplishments, I suspect probably not very high." The segment centered on the competition between Micah and Lucas. Apparently Micah had never beaten him before. There was footage of them racing from when they were teenagers. Micah had been so much bulkier back then. "God, why does everyone always have to focus on that?" Grace scoffed. "They couldn't possibly put a positive spin on it could they? I hope Micah doesn't see this." Lucas' mom Maya arrived on the day the semi-finals began and all of the boys came up from the athlete's village to welcome her. It was the second time Ellia had seen Micah and again he stood and sat beside her but didn't touch her. He seemed distracted and left shortly after Maya arrived. Sitting in the stands together, they were all so comfortable with each other. They took turns taking Jasmine, the littlest girl, and baby Alexander back to the hotel to nap, and they all ate each other's food. The children seemed to be in a constant state of feeding and the adults would just lean over and take a carrot or a handful of almonds or sultanas or whatever food was available. The little girls sat in whoever's lap was free and after a few days they were even taking turns sitting in her lap. All three of them were gorgeous in their own ways. They played games and told her about their dog Zeus and their cousin Calvin, who was at home looking after Zeus. The girls had their own purses that they pulled photographs and other small treasures out of. "See, that's Calvin," Madeline said, pointing to a little black boy in a photo. She flipped through the remaining photos in the small plastic folder. "Oh look, here's one of Zeus." She held it up for Ellia to see. In the photograph Micah was kneeling on a wooden verandah with one arm wrapped around Adie and the other around Madeline, a big smile on his face and a Frisbee in his had. A dark brown dopey looking dog sat beside them. 7. The Patriots Ch. 13-15 Matthew, Lucas and Oliver seemed to come up to the stands to watch and hang out every other day or so but Micah was conspicuously absent. Even the little girls noticed it. "Where's Uncle Micah?" Adie complained to Grace. "I haven't seen him in ages." "He's preparing for his race, monkey. You'll see him again soon." Adie pouted as if this was far from a satisfactory answer. "Can I call him?" "Okay. You can call him tonight before you go to bed." The next day was the semifinal for the 200 freestyle and Ellia held her breath for almost the entire race. Micah came in second place, which qualified him third for the final. About half an hour after the race he appeared beside her in the stands. He had a huge grin on his face as he said, "Nice hair." "Uncle Micah!" Adie squealed as she pushed past adults' legs to get to Micah. "Do you like it? Madeline and I did it." "Yes. It's very... bright. I think it's a good look on her." Ellia knew she must look ridiculous, she'd let the girls have free reign on her hair with a tool kit full of hairbands and sparkly clips and hair spray-paint that claimed that it would wash out with a mild shampoo. Adie launched into a discussion of her potential as a hairdresser and Micah sat down and lifted her into his lap. He agreed with everything she said. "I think it would be so cool to do hair all day long. If I was a proper hairdresser I could even use the scissors." "It sounds great," he said. "How about you Maddie, are you going to be a hairdresser too?" Madeline turned her head to the side and squished her brow into a thinking pose. "Yeah, either that or an astronaut." "Daddy I want to be a nutcracker when I grow up," Jasmine said to Nicholas. "Do you mean you want to be a ballerina?" Nicholas said with an amused smile. Jasmine shook her head. "No, I want to be the nutcracker. I don't like the swan one as much." "That's my girl," Grace said. Micah laughed openly and Adie said, "What's so funny?" "Oh, nothing. I just think Jasmine would make a good nutcracker, don't you?" Adie nodded slowly and suspiciously, as if she suspected there was something that she was missing but she didn't know what. As usual, he didn't seem to want to stick around. He watched a few races, cheered a bit and played with the girls a bit, then said he had to go. "Can I walk you out?" She asked. "Sure." Once they were alone and walking towards the exit she felt nervous again. Every fiber in her body wanted to reach out at touch him. She wanted to hug and kiss him and feel his arms wrap around her body. She wanted things to go back to how they were at the beginning of the Tour de France. They talked quietly. He asked how it was going staying with his family and she asked what it was like in the Olympic Village. They paused by the exit and she smiled at him nervously. She felt her head, where her hair should be and encountered something that felt stiff and stringy with adornments all throughout. "I must look like a wreck." He smiled that smile that made her feel hot inside. "Yeah. You have an interesting look going today." "It's supposed to come out with shampoo." "I hope for your sake it does." She looked up into his eyes and took a deep breath. "Micah, I'm sorry we argued." He reached out and touched her shoulder. "It's okay. I'm sorry too, but it's better that we both know where we stand. Don't be upset about it." She nodded. She didn't really have anything more to say but she didn't want him to go. "I'd better go. I should eat something." She didn't go straight back to sit with his family. She walked around at the back of the stands for a while trying to make sense of her feelings. She wanted to be with Micah, but she didn't want to give up her own life to be some sort of glorified groupie to him. She wanted what her sister Laura had with her boyfriend Aaron, stability and love and respect, all in the next suburb over from where the rest of her family lived. She could never have that with Micah because he wanted exactly the same thing, only with his family half a world away. As much as she liked his family, they were exactly that – his family. They would never be her family. Their loyalty would always lie with him. If she moved to America she would be at their mercy. She'd have no power of her own. Her thoughts always strayed back to Micah, that man whom she wanted so badly. She could feel him slipping away. Each day that passed brought them closer to a time when they would part for good, and each day the voice in her head urging her towards him got louder and more insistent. It was an impossible situation. She could choose her life, her family and her country, or she could choose Micah.