Defying the Odds (A Forbidden Sins Sequel)

Dinner Guest

"Q? Q? Hello?" Joe kept saying waving his hand in front of Brian's face. It must have been more than 90 seconds and the man hadn't said a word.

Sal and Murray exchanged worried looks. "Q!" Sal said a little louder, "Did you hear him?"

Brian shook his head finally coming out of the fog, "Yeah I heard him." He said softly then grabbed his notes again. Not another word about Skylar was mentioned the rest of the night.
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"Ni Hao!" Brock exclaimed walking up and sitting on the side of the desk that Skylar was trying to clean out. All along she had been preparing for the move so this was her first opportunity to actually clean out her desk of two years.

"Huh?" Skylar responded peaking up from a desk drawer looking at Brock in confusion.

"It means Hello in Chinese. Thought I'd pick us up a couple a these." He said as he handed her a Chinese/English dictionary.

"Us?" She asked.

"Us!" He confirmed with a smile. "You're looking at the head reporter for World News Beijing office."

"Wow...Umm congratulations Brock." She smiled politely. "Guess it will be great to know someone over there."

"Exactly!" He agreed, "When we're not working, we can explore the city together. It will be great!"

Skylar didn't know about that but it would be nice to not be completely alone in a foreign country. She quickly said bye to Brock and found out they would be flying out together the day after tomorrow.

It took a couple hours but Skylar got all her files organized and reassigned to other producers. Her desk never looked so empty. It was then that her eyes drifted to the photos on her desk beside her computer screen. The first one was of her and Brian last Fourth of July at the lake house. She was on his back and both were smiling brightly for the picture. The other picture had many more people in it and it was taken at her college graduation. Brian had his arms tightly around her waist beaming with pride and they were surrounded by Brian's entire immediate family as well as Joe and Bessy and the kids. Her eyes focused in on one person that she knew she had to muster up the courage and call. She figured there was no time like the present so she sighed heavily as she made the call.

"Skylar? Honey everything okay?" Carol Quinn's voice came through the phone. The two women hadn't spoken since Shiloh's party. Carol had called a few times but Skylar never answered, too upset and ashamed to face the one woman on this earth who was like a mother to her.

"Yeah..I'm okay." She chocked out just hearing her voice ask if she was okay. That's the type of woman she was, she had every reason to not want to speak to Skylar but was still concerned for her.

"Honey what's wrong?" Carol asked.

"Nothing." She answered wiping a few stray tears. "I just wanted to call and say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Carol asked.

"It's actually good news, I got a job heading production in Beijing. I leave Thursday." She said.

"As in China?" Carol asked stunned.

"Yeah, it's a great opportunity!" She said giving Carol the same speech she had given anyone that questioned her decision.

"Wow." Carol said on the other line, "I don't know what to say." She sighed then realized that didn't sound supportive at all. "If you're happy than I'm happy for you sweetie."

"I am." Skylar answered hoping it sounds convincing. "This is the best thing for me right now."

"Skylar...does Brian know you're leaving?" She blurted out not being able to keep the pink elephant out of the conversation another second. Carol was giving her son some space for the moment and hadn't spoke to him for a number of days. When she had talked to him, he made it clear to his mom he didn't wanna talk about Skylar at all.

Skylar refused to answer the question and redirected immediately, "Carol I just wanted to thank you for being so welcoming to me. My moms gone but you somehow filled that piece that was missing." The more Skylar spoke the harder it became. Her voice was getting shakier with each passing word.

"Oh sweetheart, don't ever thank me for that. You brought so much light to..." She began to say but stopped. It was clear Skylar didn't wanna talk about her son just as much as her son didn't wanna talk about her. "I love you so much. You are going to succeed no matter what you do Skylar."

"Thanks." She managed to get out, "I should go...I just didn't wanna leave without saying goodbye."

Little did Skylar know that when she ended the call, the older woman was crying just as hard as she was.
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"Why don't you want me at least dropping you off at the airport?" Bessy asked very annoyed.

"Why put you out?" Skylar replied, "I have a car service coming to get me, seriously it's fine Bes."

"You're so stubborn sometimes." Bessy said rolling her eyes.

Tonight was Skylar's last night in the states and she was spending it low key having dinner at Bessy and Joe's with them and the kids. Joe insisted on her inviting people over but Skylar wouldn't even entertain the idea. As far as she was concerned she had said goodbye to everyone she needed to...well mostly everyone.

Joe wasn't saying anything but since Q found out about Skylar's departure, it was like he was a shell of himself. When they weren't shooting he was off completely alone with headphones in. No one; not Joe, Sal, Murr, Bryan Johnson, his brothers; nobody could get Brian to talk about it. So far he had cancelled three times on TESD recordings. The only reason he wasn't cancelling on IJ filming was because he was contractually obligated to be there. However everyone on set could tell his heart wasn't in it. His heart wasn't into anything. Joe, among with everyone else, just prayed his heart would mend in time.

"I made your favorite Sky." Bessy called out taking the eggplant parmigiana from the oven.

"Smells delicious!" Skylar smiled.

"And I thought we could share one last bottle of wine together." Bessy said holding up a bottle of Cabernet.

"Last bottle for 18 months Bes. I am coming back ya know." Skylar reminded for the 100th time.

The kids were devouring their Mac and cheese and carrots beside the adults and just as Skylar was about to dig into her last home cook meal in awhile, the door bell sounded. With four crazy dogs barking away, Joe wiped his mouth before going to answer it.

"Hey?" Joe answered alarmed and overall confused when he saw Q standing on his front step. "What's up man?"

He'd never seen his friend like this. Standing before him was a torn up Brian Quinn. He hid his messy hair underneath a backwards Yankee hat, his face was stuck in a fallen expression as it has been for weeks. "I'm sorry I should have called first but... is she here?" Brian asked.

"She is. Bessy made dinner." Joe answered.

"I have to talk to her Joe. Can I come in?" Brian asked.

Joe smiled sadly at his friend. He didn't know how this was going to go but he couldn't stand in the way. "Of course, come on it bud."

Brian followed his friend through the living room, down the hall, and into the dining room. Skylar was laughing with Remo in his highchair making duck noises that the little boy found hysterical.

Bessy's eyes shot open in shock when she saw him. Finally he had gotten his head out of the clouds and was finally here to talk some sense into Skylar.

Skylar on the other hand, felt Brian's presence before she actually turned and saw him. As much as she hated ruining the little boy's fun she stopped immediately and looked up at the man standing in the doorway.

"Hi." She said softly.

"We need to talk Skylar." He responded.