Here With Me

March 22nd, Friday
In Hudson's Life

It was nearing seven, Gem and Kennedy wanted us to all meet at McGees at eight. I was in the bathroom shaving, carefully gliding the razor against my jawline. I glanced in the mirror at my leather jacket that was draped over a chair; I was worried Kennedy wouldn't be able to get it from the apartment. I had asked him to get Gemma to somehow distract Avery so he'd be able to take it from the closet.

Knowing that I was going to see Avery tonight, I wanted to wear the jacket that she liked best. In the other room I could hear my cell phone go off and Jules talking to me from the same room. "Hey, your phone's going off."

"Answer it for me would you?" I called back, rinsing the soap from the razor's blades. I could hear Jules speaking in a low voice, soon he appeared in the doorway with an odd look on his face.

"Huds, uh, I think you should take this." He held up the phone. I squinted my eyes at him and took a washcloth, wiping the remains of soap from my face before taking my phone. "Who is it?" I whispered at Jules, but he still remained quiet. So I just ignored him and took the call. "Hello?"

"Holbrook, it's me." The familiar voice spoke. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Dad?"

* * *

"Here you go Avery, your credit card and the xbox with its games, fully wrapped." My assistant Matthew smiled as he came into my office, placing the gift and my card on my desk.

"Thank you Matt, what games did you get?" I asked, taking my card and placing it back in my wallet. The day was coming to a close, and meeting up with everyone at McGees was closer than ever.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops II, The Walking Dead, Forza Motorsport 4, and uh," He cleared his throat, "by your request, Just Dance 4."

I smiled and lightly laughed. "Thanks. Hudson's birthday is coming up. Do you think he'll like this?"

"Well, he is a guy." He chuckled, "He'll love it. I wish my girlfriend was as cool as you."

I just laughed. "Well, that'll be all. Again, thank you."

"Alright, have a good weekend Avery." He smiled, leaving my office. I sighed and pulled the gift toward me, lightly tracing my fingertips over the blue wrapping paper. Hudson and I still weren't talking, but I still wanted to buy him a birthday gift. We are, after all, still married.

When it was six, I packed up my things for the day and was about to leave when Jann came into the office. "Hey, can we talk for a bit? It won't take long, just wanna ask you something."

"Oh, yeah for sure." I replied, leaning against my desk and gesturing for him to sit down, but he declined.

"Avery...are you okay?" He sighed, giving me the same concerned look Gemma gave me.

I made a face and laughed, "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Well, for the past three weeks you've been acting...different. The first week you ask to move out of the office that you and Christian were sharing, the second week you didn't come into work, and this week you've been...quieter than usual. What's up?" He crossed his arms over his chest. I could tell he was just as uncomfortable asking me as I was being asked.

I swallowed and shrugged my shoulders, "Hudson and I..." Oh how do I put this without revealing too much?

"Our relationship just hit a rough patch. We haven't talked in a while." There.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Oh, uh, are you two alright?" He reminded me of my dad, awkward when it comes to asking about my personal life.

"Um, I don't really know. I'm gonna see him tonight, so I guess I'll just see how that goes." I gnawed at my lip.

"Oh...well I'm sorry about that." He nodded, looking away.

"Was that all you wanted to talk to me about?" I asked, remembering that I needed to get ready for tonight.

"One more thing. Lately you've seemed, kind of depressed, so I wasn't sure if I should give you this assignment, but I thought I'd ask anyways."

I waited for him to continue.

"Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day is coming in two weeks for an interview. This is his first major interview since leaving rehab and I thought that he'd be most comfortable talking with you, you know, since you have that magic touch with musicians and celebrities. Do you think you'd be up for doing it?"

My jaw had literally hit the floor, "Yes. Yes, yeah I'd be honoured. Wow, Billie Joe, this is...wow. Yes, I accept." I grinned.

He smiled, "Good. He'll be here April 3rd, so if you could work on the questions now and we'll go over them next week and come up with a final draft. His publicist requested that a list of questions be sent to Billie prior to the interview, so he can make the final approval."

"Of course." I grinned.

"Perfect. Well, at ease soldier, you're done for the day." He chuckled, turning and leaving.

Well, if this is the only highlight of my day, I guess I'll be content.

* * *

Getting off the phone with my dad, I couldn't help but feel...at ease. My father and I had talked for about an hour and it was exactly what I needed. There was no shouting, no cursing, nothing. Nothing but an apology and us being able to understand each other. He told me something that completely changed everything, everything that I had been feeling these past two weeks.

After slipping on my jacket and tucking my phone into the back pocket of my jeans, I strode past Jules and Jack. Jules called after me, "Hey, where you going? I thought we were all going in my car to the bar?"

"I've got some business to take care of, I'll meet you there later." I called back, taking the elevator down to ground level.

The cab pulled up in front of The Dakota and I asked the driver to wait for me. Just as I had climbed the stoop up to the front doors, I checked the list of names on the side next to a row of buttons that sent a buzzer for each apartment. Once I found the name I was looking for and his apartment number, a delivery man was exiting the building so I held the door for him. He grinned as he thanked me and I thanked him back as I strolled into the building.

When I arrived at the seventh floor, I casually walked up to the door that had a gold 7e on it. After knocking on the door in a rhythmic knocking of three, the door opened up.

"Hello Christian." I spoke.

"Hudson? What are you doing here? How'd you get in the building?" He made a face, leaning out his doorway to look around.

"We need to talk." I smirked.