Mr. Blackbourne's Mistake

Chapter 26 - Fairy Date

North

North crossed his arms over his chest as he looked over the rest of his team sitting around the living room of the rental house. He couldn't help his frown as he stared them down. Sang might have agreed to let the guys come around to help with improvements on the property, but he still going to set some limits.

His gaze stopped on Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne. "For now, the two of you shouldn't come help with any of the projects around mine and Sang's house. Or be the ones who stay with her if I have to leave for the Academy."

Dr. Green slowly looked at Mr. Blackbourne before looking back at North, pointing between himself and Mr. Blackbourne. "The two of us? And just the two of us?"

North nodded.

Dr. Green's mouth opened and closed as he looked around the room at the others before saying, "Why?" North couldn't quite read his tone. It sounded almost cautious, but like he was holding something back.

"Because Sang blames the two of you the most for what happened," he explained. Which North felt was fair. "She might be warming up to the others a little." Especially considering she'd kissed Gabriel. "But I think she needs more time and space where you two are concerned." And North didn't want Sang to grow comfortable being around the others again, only to decide she couldn't handle any of them because Dr. Green or Mr. Blackbourne did or said something that set her off.

Dr. Green's face dropped into a devastated expression, his normally lively eyes turning dark. It was a heartbreaking expression to see on the doctor . . . but less so than if North hadn't been the one who'd held Sang at night as she cried because of a decision Dr. Green had supported.

Mr. Blackbourne, as usual, didn't show much emotion. His only sign that he might be feeling something was him smoothing his tie as he said, "It's important that we respect Miss Soren—" He broke off awkwardly, his hand freezing halfway down his tie. North dropped his gaze, imagining this moment was as weird for everyone else in the room as it was for him. He wasn't used to seeing Mr. Blackbourne out of sorts.

Mr. Blackbourne cleared his throat and tried again. "It's important that we respect what Mrs. Taylor wants."

Luke smirked at the Mrs. Taylor comment, and North rolled his eyes as Gabriel smacked the back of Luke's head. "Don't look so happy about that. It has nothing to do with you."

Luke sat up straight, adopting a prim look. "Of course it does. Mrs. Taylor is my sister-in-law, after all." Confusion made his face scrunch in. "Wait, does that mean her and me being together now would be incest?"

North let out an annoyed growl. "Of course it wouldn't, you moron. Even if we were biological brothers, it still wouldn't."

Luke shrugged. "I was just checking."

"But . . ." Dr. Green spoke up, desperation edging his voice. "When can Owen and I see Sang?"

North shrugged, feeling only a little bad as he answered, "When Sang Baby says she's ready." It took some effort not to say 'when my wife says' but he didn't want to throw that fact into all of their faces. Not that he didn't think they didn't all deserve it, but he didn't want to discourage anyone. Because he really did want them to all be together again like they were before.

~.~

Sang

"We got some lunch for you too, Sang," Nathan said, carefully eyeing her from where he put down bags of takeout sandwiches on the table. She was sitting at her desk in the living room working on edits for her latest book. All of the guys except for Dr. Green and Mr. Blackbourne were now rotating figures around the house, working on the dock while they made plans for the garage and a gazebo. She had no idea when anyone started talking about a gazebo, but she couldn't deny she loved the idea of one. It might even be fun to take her laptop out there and write while looking out over the lake.