October 30, 2000 Tokyo, Japan

“Tina?”a familiar voice called out and she briefly wondered who had entered the room before turning back to the book she hadn’t had a chance to read on the plane.

“Tina?” was called out again and she started to wonder if they were calling her. It had just been so long since she’d heard anyone actually say her name. With Parker her name was Mommy, Nick was a habitual user of (not-always) endearing nicknames like Baby, her parents had always called her Honey, but she couldn’t remember the last time anyone had called her just plain old Tina.

Her head popped up, Brian’s smiling face coming into view. With a big grin she jumped from her seat and let him pull me into a warm hug.

“I didn’t know you were coming!” he told me with a goofy grin, squeezing her shoulder quickly.

“Really?” she asked, legitimately shocked, “Nick didn’t mention it?”

“Um,” he covered nervously, “It must have slipped his mind to tell us.”

“Don’t worry about it Brian,” she assured the older man, “He forgot about it all together. Good thing for him I got here after the groupies left.”

When he should have been laughing and reassuring me that it wasn’t an issue, instead he was silent, looking uncomfortable which she knew was because he couldn’t lie.

“Leighanne will be happy to have the company,” Brian said instead, his blue eyes twinkling at the mention of his new wife.

“And how has the first month of wedded bliss been?” she asked curiously.

“Almost two,” he corrected her, still grinning, “And it’s been amazing. I’m really happy.”

“That’s awesome,” Tina told him honestly, still a little envious of his relationship with Leighanne. They had been together for less than a year when she came into Nick’s world and while she had her bout of jealousy when Parker was born, Tina had hers at their wedding. It had been the most romantic thing she’d ever witnessed and it just made her depressed because she couldn’t keep herself from thinking how it would never be her. She wanted the big poofy dress, the fairy tale wedding, and the perfect husband but she didn’t think it would be in the cards.

“Anyway,” he chuckled, “I came to find Nicky and see if he was interested in dinner.”

Putting her bookmark between the pages she was reading she set her book down on the table and thought for a moment, “Probably still sleeping,” she answered, “Parker hasn’t been feeling well so Nick took him for a bath to calm him down and the next thing I knew they were fast asleep.”

“It must be nice to have some time to yourself, huh?” Brian teased and she nodded, “Well we’re actually going out for sushi to this restaurant we found the other day. I don’t imagine that would be your scene tonight anyway...”

“Sushi?” Nick’s curious, yet still sleepy voice broke into the room as he padded in wearing just his boxers and a t-shirt, “I could go for sushi.”

Brian looked between Nick and Tina and back again, “What about Parker?”

“What about him?” Nick asked with a shrug, moving to sit down on the couch, “He eats you know, he’s human, he’s just miniature.”

Tina rolled her eyes and looked over at him lounging lazily on the sofa, “He’s not feeling well Nick. We were cooped up in a plane all day. I’m tired, he’s tired, and I don’t imagine he would be the most adventurous when it comes to food since he’s been sick to his stomach.”

Clearly this idea didn’t impress him and he gave her a dirty look before turning back to Brian, “I’m in.”

“But...” Brian gave Tina a confused look and she openly scoffed.

“Don’t worry about it Brian we’ve managed to do everything else on our own today dinner shouldn’t be that difficult.”

“I’m doing you a favour,” Nick informed her, much to her amazement, “You can order some room service or something – they have American food. Then he will be fed, and close to bed and you won’t have to worry about it.”

“I bet you can get Japanese food from room service too,” she pointed out, “because I would have thought you would have wanted to spend as much time with Parker as you could before we leave.”

Brian interrupted with a clear of his throat, “How about this?” he prompted, trying to play peacekeeper, “We’ll eat here at the hotel tonight then we’ll go out another night. We have a few days off in a row it’s not like we won’t have another chance. That way we’ll be able to grab something to eat; we won’t be far from the room so if you feel like taking off you can.”

“Whatever,” Nick replied but her heated gaze made him change his tune, “I mean... sure, that sounds great.”

“Great. Meet you down there in an hour,” Brian said and quickly left (probably feeling horribly uncomfortable), leaving the two alone in an awkward silence.

Tina was about to speak when suddenly Nick snapped, grabbing her wrist and squeezing, holding a bit too tight for comfort, “Never do that to me again,” he warned, cheeks flushing red with what she could only assume was embarrassment.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, trying to pull her arm back but he just tightened his grip.

“Don’t talk to me like that in front of my friends. You don’t get to tell me what I can and cannot do,” he childishly growled.

She laughed, still trying to pull her hand free, “Oh, but you can tell me what I can and can’t do? Yeah that sounds really fair! Brian is my friend too!”

This time it was Nick who laughed, “No, he’s not. He knows you because of me and for no other reason. Until the time comes that I’m not paying your rent, or putting food in your mouth, or giving you spending money I get to tell you what to do. That’s just how it works.”

She finally managed to free her arm, a red mark left over from his hand. Holding back tears she thought about his words, “You don’t own me. I am not a commodity, or a servant, I’m your...”

“You’re my what?” he prompted with a snarky tone.

“I don’t even know anymore!” she admitted, “What the hell am I? Why do you resent me so much? I know this is cliché but it really does take two to tango. I didn’t set out to ruin your life and I can’t be held solely responsible for the decline in your social calendar.”

“If it had been my decision things would have gone very differently,” he admitted and her eyes went wide with shock.

She could see him making a comment like that two years ago but would have thought anything like that would have gone out the window as soon as Parker was born, “Do you realize you’re talking about your son? You would rather he had never existed? How can you say that?”

“I love my son,” he clarified, “but I probably could have loved him better five years from now.”

“That’s not an option Nick,” now it was her turn to be pissed off and she stood up off the couch to stand in front of him, “This is what you have and you need to learn to deal with it. You have Parker and you have me, and we’re your family and you can’t get rid of us. So regardless of what you wish your life could have been this is what it is.”

After picking her book up off the table, she then grabbed the throw blanket she had been using from the floor, “Tell Brian I’m sorry but Parker isn’t feeling up to dinner. You have a good time,” and with that she walked off into the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind her.

She had been having the same argument for the past two years with Nick. He felt this sense of obligation, that it wasn’t fair that he was inconvenienced by having a kid and a girlfriend but she didn’t get to have those thoughts. Every time they popped up she had to push them to the side and take care of Parker. He got off easy, but before she left Asia she had every intention to break him of that.