Department of Foreseeable Outcomes (Riley)

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh pressed himself against the wall, allowing a rather wide old man to toddle past, followed by a beanpole of a woman in a wheelchair and attached to an oxygen tank. He loved his parents, but visiting was depressing. So many of the inhabitants were failing either mentally or physically, and his parents were no exception; his mother could barely see and it was a good day if his father recognized him: He thought back to Sean's promise that they would live out the end of their days at the same retirement community and shuddered; he sincerely hoped he never got to the point where he couldn't take care of himself. Dying before that happened seemed a preferable option to living any amount of time with the constant reminder of mortality.

His mother didn't seem to mind, though; she had easily made friends with some of the other residents, mostly other women who had very sickly husbands or were widowed. And she still managed to get out, even if she probably shouldn't be allowed to drive anymore. And he had been visiting more frequently since returning to his own home, to make up for the weeks he'd been unable to get out.

This particular visit (taken on his lunch break) had been largely taken up by discussion of his siblings and their families, which was a nice change of pace from her worrying over his mugging. He hadn't told her the exact truth about that, and even if he had he wasn't keen on talking about it. His brother and sister and nieces and nephews were a welcome change.

Once he'd managed to extricate himself from the conversation (with a promise to return soon) he found himself in the hallway, attempting to blend into the wall while the elderly streamed past. What were so many of them doing out at this time, anyway?

Oh, right. Lunch. Which his stomach vocally reminded him he hadn't had.

"Don't worry," He reassured it in a whisper, stepping back into the middle of the hall, "we'll get something on the way back to the office."

And then he jumped back against the wall as a very tall someone almost ran him over.

"Riley!" He yelped in surprise. He hadn't seen the landscaper since his New Year's Eve party, which had gone considerably better than the last party they'd attended together. Maybe it was the pies. Or maybe it was the fact that Riley had planned on having guests. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

[Riley Adams]

"Riley," came an excited whisper from his left from Rina who looked like an excited little girl. Riley's eyebrows raised and a hint of a smile appeared on his lips. "We might even finish before the proposal date." She clapped her hands excitedly to which Riley laughed and nodded. "Yeah. This might be my last lunch break here."

"Might be the last time you get to use the excuse of work to bump into Josh." Rina smirked to which Riley glared at her but he could feel his cheeks flush. "We're friends, Rina. I've...I've got Stephen now." A smile slowly spread across his lips as Stephen entered his thoughts before he banished them to glare convincingly at Rina who was already laughing. "Silly old man. You know I'm joking." The small dark haired woman giggled before diving into the truck to find a needed equipment.

"You want me to save a sandwich for you?" Riley asked as he took out his lunch from his back pack to eat in the cafeteria. He had a 'date' with one of the ladies, Bernice Nolan, who insisted he looked exactly like her late husband. Who was he to deny a sweet old woman a lunch? "No, it's okay. I have my own lunch. Thank you though." Rina's muffled voice came from inside the truck. "Alright. I'll be back in an hour tops."

"Take two, we're actually really almost done." Rina popped back out with a huge grin. Riley smiled back at the woman before making his way into the building in search of the dining hall. Today's lunch was grilled chilli cheese sandwich on ciabatta bread. He had made two since he did have a 'date'.

Riley hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, which always led to disaster; the man was a giant trying to walk through a pretty small hall with people half his size. Which was how he found himself practically shoving Josh Bernstein down to the ground. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, his hand stretched out to grab Josh's arm so he didn't fall over. "Josh, hey! Uh it's okay. I didn't either. Wasn't paying attention." He chuckled lightly.

"Are you going back to the office already?" He asked the other man.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh winced as Riley grabbed him and nearly yanked his arm out of the socket; he hadn't realized the landscaper was quite so strong. Of course, he did earn his living through physical activity, so perhaps it shouldn't have surprised him. And the other option was to fall on his face, which wouldn't have been at all fun, particularly not when his jaw had mended from the assault; he didn't need to see how much more beatings it could stand before starting to hurt again.

"As a matter of fact, I was," He replied, his other hand reaching up to rub at his shoulder before he realized what he was doing; he immediately dropped both hands to his side and hooked them into his belt loop. He didn't want to make Riley feel guilty by admitting that grab had hurt.

"Where are you heading?" He inquired, glancing down the hall as if expecting to see a surprise garden somewhere behind him. "They aren't paying you to plant flowers indoors as well, are they?" Then again, it wasn't as if Riley wasn't allowed in the home; he did visit Charlie, after all, and he was probably allowed to utilize whatever facilities he needed while he was there, as well.

His stomach decided that was a good moment to interrupt, before the taller man could answer any of his questions. "Sorry. I didn't actually manage to eat anything, my mother was too distracted by talking to remember that I was on my lunch break."

That was one trait of the elderly that rather perplexed him; they barely ate at all. Some of his mother's friends ate one meal a day and any other attempts to procure food were waved off with I'm not hungry. Therefore his visits were frequently void of meals.

[Riley Adams]

Riley must've grabbed Josh too hard as he saw the other man wince lightly, rubbing his shoulders. Curse his heightened perception for noticing way too much. He bit his lower lip as he remembered the man was just starting to fully heal and there Riley was trying to hurt him again. Bad Riley. Bad, bad Riley. Well at least the older man was nice enough not to show he was hurt. Why did he have to be so darn nice?

He was about to answer Josh's questions when Josh's stomach started to growl. A smile started to appear on Riley's face as one hand clutched the paper bag he had brought with him with his sandwiches. He could definitely split his share with Josh. It was what he did.

"I'm actually headed for the canteen. I have a date." Riley grinned easily at the thought of the elderly lady who couldn't see too clearly out of her right eye because of her growing cataract. She was a sweet woman who received frequent visits from her grandson who was about fifteen years younger than Riley.

"You're welcome to join us. I've got plenty of sandwiches." He held up his paper bag before gesturing Josh to follow him, not really taking into account that Josh would rather go back to his office than get stuck talking to Riley and Mrs. Nolan. "Haven't seen you around here in awhile," he said as they walked to the dining hall.

A familiar orderly waved up to Riley who gave her a big smile before stopping her to ask for Mrs. Nolan. "She just got her meds and is sleeping it off. Did you have plans with her?" The orderly by the name of Serena asked. "Well yeah but...it's okay. I'm going to be here the whole day. I'm sure I'll catch her when she's awake."

"Today's your last day, isn't it? Everything looks really good, Riley." Serena beamed, squeezing his arm lightly. "Thanks, Serena. Um this is Josh. He's Charlie's son." The past eight months had been spent getting to know practically everyone on staff and some of the tenants of the home and everyone knew Riley's staff by the first name. Riley loved establishing relationships with his clients and he always made sure his co-workers did the same.

Serena looked at Josh and grinned. "She talks about you a lot." The young woman tucked a loose strand behind her ear before turning back to Riley. "I'm going to miss you when you're gone, Mr. Adams." She gave a teasing grin before waving him off to the canteen. "I'm sure I'll visit often. I've got a few friends I'd still love to see every once in awhile." He smiled as he waved to Serena.

"Looks like it's just the two of us. Hope you don't mind?" He gave Josh a sideways grin as they entered the dining hall.

[Joshua Bernstein]

The word sandwich was all Josh needed to convince him to follow Riley. If Janice said anything to him about being late he would just blame her brother and his tempting, tempting food. "That sounds delightful." He agreed, trailing behind the taller man. He shrugged at the other's observation, "Haven't really...been able to get out much." He offered by way of explanation. He was half-afraid the landscaper would ask for more information (even though he hadn't been nosy even when delivering his pie, so how likely was it he would ask now?) but they stopped to chat with one of the community employees, much to his relief.

He sighed internally at Serena's comment. It was no surprise that his mother talked about him a lot, but he sometimes liked to pretend that his mother didn't tell everyone everything he'd done from the time she gave birth up until the present; some of those stories were embarrassing! It was bad enough that she'd shared them all with every friend he'd ever introduced her too; he didn't want complete strangers knowing them, too. Even after fifty decades he found her penchant for sharing uncomfortable.

He didn't give voice to any of these concerns, however. Instead he smiled at the young woman and said, "Really? We're very close."

Once they had left Serena behind Josh turned to Riley, "Today's your last day? I didn't know that." Neither his friend nor his mother (nor Janice, for that matter) had made mention of this to him. "Did you tell my mom? She'd better be one of those friends you said you'd stop by to see or she'll never forgive you." Or more likely she would pester him every visit, asking about his nice young friend, much like she did in regards to Sean. He really needed to drag the telepath over more; his mother adored him.

He returned the grin his way, "Do I mind? Of course I don't, that means more sandwiches for me." Riley had claimed to have plenty, after all, and he was hungry. He found an empty table, plopping himself down into one of the rather comfy chairs provided, "So what kind of sandwiches did you bring?"

[Riley Adams]

Riley nodded at Josh's inquiry about his last day. "Well technically I still have a week in my contract but we've done all that we needed to do. I'm probably going to stop by now and then to make sure things are working properly like the small fountains and such. " He paused to chuckle at Josh's statement about his mother. "Of course. There are a lot more things about you Charlie's promised to tell so I can't pass that information up." He grinned teasingly.

"Besides, I have to make you lunches every time you stop by, remember?" Riley reminded the promise he'd made to his friend on New Year's Eve. He wasn't anything if not a man of his word. Riley's grin widened when Josh assured him that he didn't in fact mind it being just the two of them. As they procured a seat, Riley started taking out the lunch he had packed neatly out of the paper bag. "I've got chili cheese sandwiches and tossed salad with avocado and mango bits." He pushed one wrapper of sandwich in Josh's direction before looking up to him. "You're not allergic to nuts are you? Coz I've got chopped almonds in the salad."

He didn't bring any kind of drinks with him because he usually never drank during his meals but if Josh wanted one, Riley wouldn't mind getting him one. "You want a drink?" Riley asked, already moving in his chair.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh sighed again, audibly this time. "She has no concept of secrecy." He muttered in exasperated affection.

"I was only joking about that..." He clarified, "and besides, I can't expect you to come around every single time I visit. My parents live here, I'm obligated to come as often as possible. You aren't."
'
He shook his head, "Fortunately I have no food allergies." He unwrapped the sandwich, admiring it hungrily. "Why are you a landscaper and not a chef, again? This is far beyond what any normal mortal would bother with for a bagged lunch."

"If you're already heading in that direction," He agreed, mentally running through the list of drinks he recalled being served last time he ate in the dining hall. "then mind grabbing a cranberry juice?"

He glanced down at his watch while Riley fetched drinks; this was definitely turning into a longer lunch break than he'd intended. Ah, well. It was unlikely any of his coworkers would say anything to him, even after he'd disappeared on them last fall.

A glass of juice was plopped down in front of him, grabbing his attention away from contemplation of work and his lengthy absence. "Thank you kindly," He grinned at the younger man. "So aside from the ending of your project, how have you been? And how is Stephen?"

[Riley Adams]

Riley smiled gently at Josh's exasperation. "She's a mother first and foremost. Secrecy isn't a mother's best attribute."

"Oh please," he waved Josh down in dismissal. "Let me indulge myself in some motherly affection. God knows I haven't gotten that in a bit." He regretted saying it out loud even though he was thinking it. Josh didn't have to know about that. "I mean...she's a good friend." Well, it was too late to rectify it so he might as well just change the subject.

Easy task, especially when Josh's question provided Riley with it. He chuckled. "Being a chef is a little too...high maintenance for me and thank you for that, I think." He grinned before disappearing to get the drinks.

Coming back, he immediately started on his sandwich, nodding at Josh's thanks. Riley's smile widened at the question about his recruiter. Wait, his recruiter?

"Um," he took his time in chewing and swallowing before answering. "Stephen's fine. I've been okay." He replied, not knowing what else to say on the subject since Stephen and him were still really new. Stephen's been good to him and Riley appreciated his patience. Riley just hoped that his rather guarded self won't drive Stephen away with all his carefree persona.

Much embarrassed by the question, he decided Josh needed to do more of the talking. "How's Sean? I didn't get to speak much to him during the party. You're still staying with him?" He asked, a slight pang hitting him in the chest. He really did have to get over this crush he had on Josh. And soon.

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh noticed Riley's affectionate smile at the mention of Stephen; so apparently everything was going well in that relationship, despite the taller man's rather not forthcoming answer. "Mmm. Fine and okay." He echoed after a moment spent chewing his sandwich thoughtfully. "Very descriptive."

If he'd had the tiniest inkling that his friend was attracted to him he would have been extremely bemused; he always found the idea that other people were sometimes interested in him perplexing, to say the least, a reaction that undoubtedly was partially to blame for his inability to realize when he was anyone else's object of desire. That just wasn't the sort of thing that registered. In this case, that was fortunate, as he liked Riley. As a friend. If he'd known the other's thoughts then there would have been a brief attempt to awkwardly ignore this fact before guilt at not returning the other's feelings lead to avoidance.

But he didn't know and he also didn't know that Riley was jealous of Sean and so he thought nothing of breaking into a grin at the mention of his best friend. "He's doing well. You should call him up, he actually likes talking to people, you know." He teased before growing more somber at the question about his current state of residency. "No, back to my normal routine. Finally. I'm glad to be able to get out again and I'm sure Sean is glad to have his house back." He still had L.C. around, but still, he was probably thrilled to have one less person to take care of. "Not that he would he complain, nurturing is in his blood."

[Riley Adams]

Riley gave out an embarrassed chuckle, hiding it behind another bite of his sandwich. "Sorry, I don't really know what else to say." He apologised for the inadequate answer. "It's a little too soon to really say anything but everything's pretty good. He's a great guy. You have to meet him some day." Riley said, unaware that Stephen and Josh had previously met.

The way Josh lit up at the mention of his best friend gave Riley another pang of jealousy, not only that Sean was held at such a high esteem by someone Riley still liked a little more than a friend, but also because he wondered if Stephen had that look on him whenever Riley was mentioned. Oh, Riley. You're such a hopeless romantic.

"I'll probably call him up soon, yeah." Riley nodded. Sean was such a nice guy, it was hard not to like him even though he obviously has Josh's deepest affection. Okay, Riley had to stop thinking about Josh that way. It helped that Stephen suddenly popped into his head, though so he felt a little better. Gosh, he felt like a teenager all over again.

With a smile, Riley found a common ground with Sean. They were nurturers by nature. Just ask Janice. "Speaking of, is it okay if I ask you what actually happened?" He bit into his sandwich tentatively as he looked at Josh to see if he showed any signs of distress over the question. "I don't mean to pry but your mum told me you were mugged." Riley bit his lower lip slightly, recounting that Cobalt had told him something else. Or rather Riley had assumed wrongly perhaps. Cobalt had been a little suspicious.

"Is that true? That you got mugged?" He asked, quickly disclaiming that he didn't have to if he didn't want to.

[Joshua Bernstein]

---------
"I have met him." Josh informed Riley, digging into his salad with gusto, "All of once, in fact. Seemed friendly enough and Sean speaks highly of him." That was good enough for him. "It was a shame he missed your party, I'd like to talk to him again."

He then grinned wryly. "Too soon, you say? How long've the two of you been seeing one another? Since December, at least. If you can make it through February you'll have officially lasted longer than ninety percent of all my relationships." That was an exaggeration, but only barely; he tended not to do well with concepts such as long term when relationships were involved.

But then Riley turned to other, less pleasant topics of conversations than Stephen and Sean and just like that his plate became the most interesting object in the dining hall. "Ummmm." He answered helpfully, trailing his fork through the salad repetitively. He should have known people would start asking for specifics eventually.

"I...what do you mean by actually." He asked his food, wondering if somehow a different story had gotten out. He couldn't recall if he'd told Riley anything at all about why he was staying with Sean beyond a need for recovery and he was sure that both Sean and Cobalt had kept their word about not disclosing the full truth; they were both trustworthy friends and he'd asked them to keep the matter to themselves as much as this was possible.

"I mean, my mother told you the truth." Assaulted by terrorists, mugged, they were similar enough. And it wasn't as if Riley was in danger from this group, since he was meta himself. "Fortunately Sean and Cobalt were...passing by, so the muggers ran off. The doctor wasn't too keen on allowing me to be on my own with the broken ribs, that's why Sean asked me to stay with him while I recovered. But everything's been taken care of!" He added hastily. The perpetrators had run away; he hoped for good. "

[Riley Adams]

"Oh! I didn't know that!" Riley smiled at the thought of Josh already having met with Stephen. And if Sean spoke highly of him...

"Um yeah, since early December." Had it really been a month? A few more days and it would be two. It was bizarre but it had been nice. Really nice. The smile on his face was living proof of that.

Riley had the urge to point out his relationship with Sean but he didn't even know the extent of it. Were they just really good friends or was there more to it? It would be quite rude [and possibly terribly awkward] if Riley voiced out his thoughts and get it completely wrong. So he kept quiet about it.

When Josh's expression darkened just slightly, Riley winced. He had definitely hit a sore spot. This wasn't good.

"I see," Riley said, intent of letting it go now. He shouldn't have asked. But why did he feel there was more to the story than what both Cobalt and Josh had told him? Let it go, Riley. Just let it go.

"Right. I'm sorry I asked. I...don't..." Riley paused and grinned sheepishly. "I'm really sorry for asking. Um, let's change the subject, shall we? Are you working on any new cases?"

Oh Riley, why so nosy?

[Joshua Bernstein]

"No, it...it's fine," Josh reassured Riley. "I just don't like talking about it." Even if it had been just a mugging he wouldn't have wanted to discuss it; he would prefer to forget it had happened all together. His mother, nosy as she could be, had accepted his insistence that he didn't wish to relive events and he hadn't even discussed the incident with either Cobalt or Sean. As nice as Riley was, if he didn't want to discuss with his mother or the two people who were there as well as being his closest friends, he wasn't going to start discussing it with someone he only saw either at social gatherings or when he visited his mother.

Fortunately, the landscaper took the hint and changed subjects to work. "I'm afraid not. I've spent most of the month trying to catch up. I'm sure if any interesting cases came up Janice would let you know." They rarely worked on cases together, but that didn't mean they never discussed them together; work was their number one topic of conversation during their smoke breaks. Only recently had topics such as family begun to come up, now that they realized they had Riley in common.

"What about you, what projects are you working on after you're done here?"

[Riley Adams]

"Of course you wouldn't want to. I don't know what I was thinking."

He really didn't know what he was thinking. Just because he knew Josh more than Josh knew him [thanks to Charlie's need to divulge in Josh's past like nobody's business] it didn't mean he had any right at all to think they were story swapping buddies. Awkward much? Riley needed to act like the adult he was and that had to happen fast.

At the mention of his little sister, Riley grinned, chewing on his sandwich happily. The man loved his little sister, it was plain to see. Of course, having been with her as his only family left for years, it was hard not to have that tight bond. It was weird though that she never mentioned Josh. She sure talked about him a lot though most of the time she referred to him as her boss. Or partner.

"That's true," Riley nodded in agreement. Janice liked talking about her work, much like he was passionate about cooking and landscaping, Janice loved talking about the law and people who deserved their rights.

The change of topic was welcomed, despite Riley not in favour of turning the attention on him. "I've actually got a few big projects lined up but it won't be until the middle of the year. In the meantime, I'm doing backyards and front lawns." Riley explained. "You don't happen to have any business for me do you?" The landscaper grinned easily, showing he was teasing of course. But hey, if Josh did have something for him to do, Riley wasn't going to turn him down.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"You don't want to see my yard," Josh informed Riley with a pained grimace. He had gone half a century without a yard, which meant he had zero experience with yard work. He was sure that the landscaper would be horrified at the lack of maintenance he'd managed over the past nine months. "Although to be fair, the snow is covering the weeds right now and it killed the grass, so you can't tell how bad it is." The snow made transportation difficult (this was why he was supposed to be learning how to drive, but lessons had been put off indefinitely after the fiasco that was the summer) but it was certainly a useful excuse for ignoring his lawn.

"So what kind of projects? Are you continuing to work in Burlington or will you be closer to Pilot Ridge this time?" It had to be a pain to travel out this way for work every day; it was far enough away just for visiting his parents regularly. On the other hand, Riley actually had an automobile, which was undoubtedly much more convenient than bicycle for such a long distance.

He was surprised to realize that he'd polished off his sandwich; he'd been so busy talking he'd hardly realized that he'd been scarfing it down as quickly as possible during Riley's brief replies.

"If you're in Pilot Ridge then perhaps you can join me and Cobalt for lunch sometime. And Ben, of course, he joins us occasionally as well."