Tomorrow May Never Come

By the time morning rolled around, Zack was waking to the feel of aching muscles and a warm body pressed up against him, like every morning.

"Mm...good morning, Laila," he groaned quietly to his dog.

"Good morning, Zack," Brian mumbled in reply still half asleep as he pressed his face into Zack's shoulder. Absentmindedly, Zack reached a hand out and ran his fingers through Brian's hair.

"Laila..."

"Zack..."

Suddenly a little more awake, and even more confused, Zack paused. "Laila...you can talk?"

Completely awake now, Brian opened his eyes to see how close he and Zack were and picked his head up. "Uh...woof woof?" he asked, and Zack's eyes shot open as he quickly sat up, confused as to why Brian was in his bed.

"Why are you in my bed?" he asked, eyes still wide as Brian stretched.

"Sorry. Last night you and Kate went nuts. I came to drop you off here but it was late so I decided to crash here," Brian replied, still uncertain as to how he actually ended up in Zack's bed.

"Oh..." Zack answered, leaning back on his arms.

After a bit of silence, the throbbing in Brian's head from the music and the drinks of the night before prompted him to speak. "Man, I need some drugs."

"Kitchen," Zack answered shortly, and the two of them got out of Zack's bed, heading into the kitchen of the apartment. Stretching as he entered the room behind Brian, who headed to the sink to get a glass of water, Zack groaned. "Oh god, last night..."

A loud gasp was heard from behind Zack, and both he and Brian turned at the sound to hear a very shocked looking woman standing there. "Oh, morning Janette," Zack said to the maid. Noticing the look in her eyes and the expression on her face, Brian smirked and waved at her in a somewhat flamboyant way, knowing that Janette was jumping to conclusions.

"The...the newspaper and breakfast are ready in the living room," Janette said, her voice wavering as she looked back and forth between the two men. "Should I get anything for the...guest?"

"Do you have any bananas?" Brian asked with a smile as he came to stand next to Zack, still watching the way Janette was eyeing them. "Oh, Zack," he said, turning to the slightly shorter man and running a finger down his cheek. "Won't you introduce us?"

"Oh, right. This is..." Zack started to say, pointing to Brian but pausing for a moment.

"Brian." Janette looked even more worried that Brian had to give his own name, as Zack had temporarily forgotten it.

"Right. And this is..." Zack said, pointing to Janette and pausing again. The headache that was plaguing him wasn't doing any good for him.

"Janette," Brian answered once more, flashing her a grin. "Janette, how are you? Good?" he asked, and he could see her practically squirm before his eyes.

"Will there be anything else?" she asked quietly, her gaze averting to the floor.

"No, but thank you," Zack said, dismissing her, and Janette nodded before heading for the door.

"Oh, Janette!" Brian called out, and when she turned he leaned a little closer into Zack and started to make kissy faces. Seeing Zack shove Brian away from him playfully, Janette freaked out and quickly left, slamming the door shut behind her. With a chuckle, Brian then walked to the counter, pouring out a mug of coffee as Zack headed into the living room where his food was waiting for him. Pulling the carton of milk from the fridge, Brian headed in that direction as well.

"So...Zack. You and Kate didn't meet in the park?" he asked.

Looking up, Zack was puzzled a moment. "Park? Oh...no we met in our MBA classes," he answered, and Brian nodded. "You know, when I met her I didn't like her at all. But now..."

Nodding again, Brian took a seat next to Zack on the couch. "I know. Isn't it strange? You guys are so close, you spend so much time together..." Brian said, beginning to pour milk into the coffee. "You even take your dogs for walks together," he joked, and Zack shook his head with a grin. "I mean...do you want more?"

"More?" Zack asked, looking up from the newspaper. "No...no, I'm happy with just a friendship with Kate. Nothing more," he said quickly.

Smiling, Brian raised a brow at his new friend. "Not Kate.... I was talking about the milk. Do you want more?" he asked with a laugh.

"Oh! Uh, no that's fine," Zack said, and Brian set the mug down in front of him on the coffee table.

"Anyway, thanks for a good time last night, man; I should go. Got things to do," Brian said as he stood up and began to leave.

"Alright. See you, Brian," Zack called before taking a sip of the coffee that had been left for him. But then Brian came walking back in with a little grin on his lips.

"Oh, sorry, I almost forgot to tell you. I didn't know much about Kate, but now I know everything," he said, and then pulled a black book out of his back pocket, putting it down on the table in front of Zack. "Thanks to your diary."

Eyes wide, Zack looked down at the book and then up at Brian. "You read my diary!?" he shouted.

"Not all of it...just up to the par where you said you wear silk boxers," Brian teased and then hurried out of the room again before Zack could do anything.

"Oh, man, that is so not cool! You can't read that shit!" Zack called after him, but just shook his head with a sigh when the apartment door shut.

It was close to noon as Kate and her mother and siblings got up from the pew, preparing to leave the church after the service had finished along with everyone else who had attended. Helping her brother up, Kate was left a little behind as Denise made her way up the aisle and was stopped by Brian, who she was very surprised to see.

"Hey, Denise," Brian said with a smile, hands shoved into his pockets.

"Brian, hello. I didn't expect to see you here," Denise said with a kind smile. "How did you like the service?" she asked.

"It was good. I think I should come with you guys every Sunday," Brian said, slyly looking over Denise's shoulder at Kate, who didn't know he was there.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Gia said from next to Denise, tugging on her arm.

"Alright, we'll head home," Denise answered down to her before looking back up at Brian. "I should get going, but I'll see you later?" Denise asked, and Brian nodded with a smile, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched them leave.

"John, go to the car with mom, I'll be there in a second," Kate said quietly to her brother, who nodded and made his way around Brian as Kate came right up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You again?" she asked as Brian turned to her, and he jumped, pretending to be startled.

"You? What are you doing here? Wherever I go, you follow me," Brian said with an exaggerated sigh, watching as Kate pursed her lips at him. "I beg you, please leave me alone."

Irritated with how Brian was acting, yet again, Kate went to leave but then hesitated a moment. "You know what?"

"Oh God, you haven't left yet?" Brian groaned, putting his fingers up in a diagonal cross as a way of warding her off. "Please just go." Feeling even more irritated, Kate huffed and took a few steps to leave, only to feel Brian grab her wrist and pull her back to him.

"Kate, I'm kidding, come on," Brian said with a grin, holding her hand in both of his between them.

"Well, stop, because I'm sick of your little games."

"I want to say something to you about last night," Brian then said, lowering his voice as people around them were still leaving.

"Well I don't want to listen to you."

"Mm, you shouldn't say 'no' in God's house," Brian said, looking around before looking back at Kate.

"I-"

"Shut up," Brian said bluntly, and Kate was so taken aback that she didn't know what to say. "Now...last night, for the first time since I met you, I felt that you were just like all the other girls. But for some reason, you want to hide that away from everyone around you," he said, being very sincere in what he was saying, but Kate just rolled her eyes, turning to leave but finding her hand still in Brian's, his grip not letting her go anywhere. "One more thing..." Kate sighed, but Brian continued, trying to get her to look at him. "Wherever he is, your father is looking down on you," Brian nearly whispered, remembering how troubled Kate had been when they were walking home from the club the night before. "He sees your anger, your sorrow... He's watching everything. And maybe he's crying with you too."

Hearing the words coming from Brian's lips, Kate's gaze softened, her previous annoyance leaving no traces as she began to feel her heart ache from the loss of her father.

"Now, you can't wipe his tears from here...but you can stop them by smiling and laughing," Brian said, giving Kate a sincere smile instead of a smirk. "You know, with your dimple..." he then said with a chuckle, poking her cheek. "Oops, wrong side. This side," he laughed, poking her other cheek, and Kate couldn't resist the tiniest of smiles that came to her lips. "I knew you could smile. And Kate?" he asked.

Looking at him curiously, Kate wondered what else he could possibly say after the little speech he had just given. "What?"

"Please let go of my hand. I mean, what will everyone think?" he said, letting go of her hand with a little smirk and walking off, looking at her over his shoulder before he was out of sight.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Since he had arrived, Brian Haner's magic was spreading in all directions, whether people liked it or not. Everyone was being swept off their feet. He brought the two families, his and mine, closer together with his charm. He spent time helping mom cook (with his own mother's help, of course), and John and Gia adored him. He was like an older brother to them.

Brian could do anything, it seemed, and everything was good when he was around. Gia had a new addition to her perfect family -- she loved Brian. And as for me...well... I was laughing. I had learned to smile. Being around him, it was hard not to. It was almost scary, how much he began to grow on me.

With Brian, so much happiness had finally come into our lives...

...What if sorrow was just around the corner?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The sun was bright as Brian and Michelle sat together outside a café in the city. Brian didn't like the troubled look that graced her features, but she wasn't saying anything, so he therefore couldn't try to help what she was fighting internally with herself over.

Taking a sip of his drink, Brian sighed. "Hey...what's wrong? We came here to talk, like you wanted, and you're not talking," he said, but Michelle barely looked up. "Did someone die?" he joked, finally getting her to look at him.

"Shut up, Brian," she said with an irritated sigh. "Listen...I need more time."

"You can't get more time. The restaurant is about to close, so you have to order now," Brian said, grinning, but Michelle didn't find it very funny.

"Brian, I'm not talking about the restaurant! You know-"

"Michi, I'm joking, I'm joking," he said, reaching out to place his hand over hers to get her to calm down.

"This is no time to joke. This is a serious problem, Brian."

"Okay, okay. Serious," Brian said, leaning back in his chair and looking Michelle square in the face.

Sighing, Michelle took a moment before she decided to speak. "I told you before you came to New York-"

"What, are you saying I shouldn't have come?" Brian cut in, feeling that was the direction she was heading in.

"No! When did I say that?" Michelle asked, eyebrows furrowing.

"Isn't that what you're going to say? That I should just-"

Sighing deeply and putting her hands up, Michelle shook her head. "You know what? I give up."

"You told me to come here, Michelle," Brian said pointedly, and he watched as she shook her head in irritation. "What?"

"You don't understand, Brian," Michelle answered, nearly pleading with him. "I need time...both yours, and mine."

Nodding his head, Brian looked down at the table for a moment. "Alright. I understand, Michelle. I came to New York just for you...because of you. Whatever you say, I'll do. And as for time," he said, leaning forward to take her hand in his again, "all my time is yours."