No Rush

Red wine.
White wine.
Brandy.
Rum.

And that was just the alcohol that Yumiko had put into the food.

Dion say on the bar stool watching the woman he was once married to in her own world. Whenever Yumi was cooking she fell into her own private little world that she only allowed people into when she wanted to. As absentminded as she could be, Yumiko had never burned anything in all the years he had known her for.

"You're really pulling out all the stops for this bloke, aren't you?" Dion asked her, glancing down into the wine he was swiling around the inside of his glass. "You never cooked me anything special for a date."

Spinning around, wooden spoon in hand, Yumi pouted at her ex husband. "We had never dated, Dion. You just up and proposed to your best friend." She walked over to her side of the counter where he sat and took the wine glass from him, lifting it to her own mouth for a sip of the fruity red wine. "Besides, Alex has only been here a few times and I don't want him as absolutely nervous as he was the first time. It was like he was a virgin or something."

Dion took the wine glass back from her as Yumi floated off back to stirring the various things in the pots and pans on the hob. "Was he really that nervous?"

"I've been talking to Vincent and while he holds a lot of contempt for Alex, somewhere inside him he really does want his father to be happy."

"And by talking to, you mean you were being nosy, right, Yumi?"

She giggled, shaking her head. "Anyway, Vincent was around Poppy's age when Alex left. He's not really had to deal with children - epsecially little girls," she responded, completely ignoring Dion's comment.

"He's a dentist, he knows how to handle kids."

"He's the big scary man with the needles and drills. Kids behave for him because they're scared of him." She pointed a finger at Dion "You're scared of him too, Dion. It took you a whole month to schedule that appointment for your tooth ache." She waggled her finger accusingly while smiling brightly at her best friend. "I really like him, Dion. He's odd and has a few quirks, and not everyone can deal with him - but inside he needs someone who likes him for who he is and not what they could make of him."

"Do you see yourself with him in the future?"

"Do you see yourself with Collin in the future?"

"I..." Once more Dion stared into the deep red depths of his wine glass. "I'd like to hope I'm still with him. I've learnt that it doesn't matter what you think or want to happen; its that whatever happens - happens."

"Exactly." Yumi knelt down before the oven and opened the door, examining the contents within for a few moments before standing upright against and transferring what was in one pan directly into another then tossed the now empty saucepan into the sink. "It might have been better if I had learned it from Alex himself, but Vincent told me without asking - about how Alex and Vincent's mother got married."

"Should you be telling me?"

"I tell you nearly everything, Dion," she told him with a smile, receiving one in return. "Alex got her pregnant and then proposed. Having a family was apparently not something he was planning. But at least he tried. I'd think you and him would have some common ground there."

"He's not gay though."

"He still went with someone else."

Dion chewed on his bottom lip as he heard her reply. Yumi had a point. A very valid point. If he up and left Yumi and Poppy would he really be any different from Alex? Would he be able to reconnect with his daughter in ten years if he'd left her? "I never realised just how much we both had in common..."

She smiled at him again. Warm, bright and full of sunshine. Yumi simply could not hate a person. She could find all the bad points a person had, and all the good too - and choose to see a person for everything they were. She never wanted to change anyone, or stop someone from beign who they were. Alex had abandoned his son and wife. He was a bit of a leech, and hung out in bars. He had rough edges and a personality few people could like.

But Yumiko liked him.

This was the young woman that had married her best friend who after a few years finally stopped pretending and came out of the closet he was hiding in. They had a child together. She had every right to hate Dion - but instead she continued to love him like the best friend he'd always been for her. Alex Lyall was not the type of man people saw women like Yumiko Callahan with, yet for her it was as if he was ideally made for her. As Dion watched her dance around her kitchen, he realised just what had drawn him to Yumi in the first place.

She accepted people for who they were - and gave them the friend they needed.

"Yumi?"

"Hmmm?"

"If Alex ever makes you cry, I'm going to kick his ass."