Sideways

Chapter 51 Get Together

Present

"How long after Afghanistan and Peru do you two get you heads out of your asses," Athena asks.

"Not soon enough." Wes and Cole say at the same time.

"I just want to be upfront about something here." Wes says, "This is where there are going to be some big discrepancies in what we told you, versus what we are about to tell you."

"What do you mean?" Buck asks.

"Like, we told you that Cole found me on a mission, and that is not exactly true."

"Um... okay?" Buck shrugs like it's not a big deal, and to him, it probably isn't. But to Wes, he doesn't want his friends to think he is lying to them, or holding back things they need to know about, not anymore.

"What Wes means is that we may have altered certain facts about certain events, and even now, there are some things that we can't go into. You know, because of the whole national security thing." Cole adds.

"Like?" Eddie asks.

"Well, I know Cole told you that he chased after me, and that did happen," Wes says.

"It did. When he left, there was not a lot of information I could find about where he went. He was on a black ops team that was classified above top secret. There were whispers of missions, and I tried to follow after him. I was always too late." Cole details.

"And that's why you went to your dad?" Buck questions.

"Well, actually, my dad came to me." Cole says, "He knew I was looking for Wes, and he came to me when he had a lead. He helped me get to where I needed to be, but I missed Wes by a few hours."

"You couldn't get a lead from the good guys, so you got one from the bad guys?" Athena asks.

"Exactly, and look, things between my father and me are strained. But the one thing he has always been supportive of is Wes and me. When I told him I was in love with Wes, he laughed at me. I was so caught off guard. He's this old-school mob guy, and he was just cool with it. Told me it was about fucking time." Cole says.

"Your father sounds interesting." Athena scoffs.

"Nick is a piece of work; I will give him that." Wes laughs.

"Do you get along with his dad?" Bobby asks.

"I do," Wes says.

"He does. My father fucking loves Wes. One of my father's underbosses made a homophobic comment to Wes and got his nose broken as a result."

"My hand slipped." Wes shrugs, prompting laughter from the others.

"When he tried to retaliate, my father intervened. He made it clear that such behavior would not be tolerated within his organization. That same underboss didn't learn, and as of today, no one knows what happened to him."

"Sleeping with the fishes," Buck jokes, only to get swatted on the arm by Cole.

"We can talk about Nick another time. I want to finish this, so we can go back and get ready for tonight," Wes adds.

"Sorry," Cole smiles at him, "But like I was saying, I did chase him all around the world. But I didn't find him in the middle of a mission; he found me in the middle of one. What I told you guys was the story we came up with, because what happened in New York still isn't public."

"Whatever happened in New York was like a year or so after we last spoke, right?" Buck asks, and Wes nods. "Yeah, but things got stupid between us for a while. When I last saw Buck, it was after the tsunami. He was upset about something that happened between him and Bobby. Things weren't going well for me in New York. Cole and I weren't talking, and I got a lead on Genesis. My head was fucked up. I was not in a good place, and I needed to talk to someone I trusted, so I flew out to LA to talk to Buck."