*James*

"Happy Birthday."  Julia whispers and kisses my cheek as I start to wake up. I squint at her giving her a "It's too early" look and smirk.

"It's just another day." I pull her in close. We are still completely naked from our middle of the night excursion. 

"Noooo, it's James Gallo's birthday today." She pokes me, knowing I'm extremely ticklish and I instantly squirm. She kisses all over my face to wake me up more. my hair out of the way. "This is the best birthday morning I've ever had."

"Oh yeah?" She continues kissing my face while on top of me as I look over at the alarm clock.

"As much as I'd love to continue this," I sigh. "I should go home and get ready for church." I peck her lips and roll her back on to the bed, then grab my clothes off the floor and look over at Julia.

 "Come with me?"

"To church? I don't know. I don't think that's my thing." She sits up and the sheet falls down, exposing her perfect breasts while she talks.

"C'mon. It's my birthday. I want to spend the entire day with you, baby." I look her up and down, kneel on the bed and kiss her. "It's James Gallo's birthday, remember?" My mouth travels down her neck. "Come to church with me."

"I don't think what you're doing right now is church appropriate." 

"It's DEFINATELY not church appropriate." I groan and push her back down on the mattress so I can lay on top of her.

"I thought you said you have to get ready, Mr. Gallo?" She teases. She knows what she's doing to me now.

"It's only 8am. Church doesn't start till 11. Plenty of time." I kiss down her chest and ribs. She leans on her elbows and watches me. I stop when I reach her stomach and rest my chin on her abs while looking up at her. "Will you come?"

"To church or right now?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Both, baby." I stroke her thighs and don't do anything until I get an answer out of her.

"Yeah. To both."

I smile and make my way down to her core.

"Oh, God..." She moans and I stop for a quick second to up at her.

"Already in the church spirit..." I smirk and continue.

*****

*Trisha*

"I thought I'd find you down here." I walk into the gym in Nate's apartment building. Only a few people are here today, and they don't bother us. They're the regulars that are here often. 

I glance at him workout out on the bench press in the middle of lifting, but he says nothing to me. He's pissed today. Lovely. 

"Moody today?" I walk by to get a towel, and he only grunts a little, giving me the silent treatment. I give him a dirty look and head to treadmill to start my run. I should have just asked James to come for a run with me if I knew today was gonna be Moody Nate Day.

After a half hour I end my run and head over to the free weights, where Nate is and grab a pair of 10 pounders. I stand in front of the mirror and talk to Nate while doing my lunges.

"You reek of whiskey, you know that?"

"Your point?" He grumbles, giving me a dirty look through the mirror.

"My point is... You either drank or it's fucking coming out of your pores." I sigh. "I'm gonna say both." I put the weights back and grab my water bottle. I stare at Hollan trying to figure the man out. "What's you're issue today?"

"Nothing's my issue, Trisha." He grunts. I follow him to the mat and when he starts his crunches I stand right in front of him, so he has no choice but to look at me.

"Did I do something wrong or are you just being an ass towards me for no reason?"

"How'd you find that therapist, Trisha?" 

"Online... why?"

"Why? Because she was fucking awful that's why."

"I dunno, she got good reviews, and you said Julia needs to get in right away." I shrug. I actually didn't do any research, but he doesn't need to know that. He wanted me to get Julia in asap so that's exactly what I did. 

"No Trisha. She got two stars and a bunch of complaints for reviews. Did you even look??" Nate stops and sits up, leaning back on his hands.

Shit. He caught on.

"Listen, Julia isn't my priority, ok? She's sweet and all but I don't work for her. I work as YOUR Personal Assistant, Nate. Not hers. She could have looked up a doctor just as easy as I can."

"No. You're right. You fucking work for me, and I pay you well, correct? You KNEW this was important to me. Do you know how bad that appointment was? Do you even care how much that messed her up?"

Is he really scolding me like I'm some child?? I can feel my cheeks flush in embarrassment. "It was one appointment." I say softer. I know I fucked up.

"Yeah. One appointment that fucked her up after. This counselor was relentless Trish. It was a terrible experience. Now not only does she relive losing her kid, she gets to relive her traumatic childhood. Christ, Trisha. Use your head!" He yells at me and walks away but I follow him. 

"How was I supposed to know she had a traumatic childhood. I'm not some mind reader, ya know. I only know what you tell me. All I know she's some pill popping, bipolar, walking disaster that you can't get over."

Nate spins around. "Have some fucking compassion for other people. Not everyone is as fucking perfect as Trisha Banks. I don't know what you have against Julia, but she's been nothing but nice to you. Yet you put her down any chance you get. You make her feel like she's nothing sometimes."

"Oh please." 

"Oh please nothing. Then you go and tell her not to go to the hospital to see me one last time? You were so quick to book a flight to get her out of your hair, weren't you? You couldn't wait for her to leave. You're so incompetent you can't even find a decent doctor."

Did he just fucking say I'm INCOMPETENT???? 

"Incompetent? INCOMPETENT? Are you serious right now?"

"Serious as a heart attack." He leaves the gym and once again, I follow him. He's not getting off easy. 

"I am anything BUT incompetent and you know it. I do everything for you."

I walk in the elevator with him.  He is such an asshole sometimes.

*****

*James*

I watch Julia get ready for church. 

"You look nice." I say, looking at her through the mirror.  I'm standing behind her with my arms wrapped around her and chin resting on top of her head. She's wearing this pretty light pink sundress.

"Thanks." 

"You ready to meet the rest of the Gallo girls?"

"Yeah, nervous though. I've never been to church before."

"Don't worry. You don't have to go around the room and introduce yourself." I laugh, remembering the first time she went to his group therapy and Donna put her on the spot.

"Ugh, can we not talk about that? That was awful."

"Yeah yeah. C'mon."

*****

I can tell Julia is nervous. I guess was probably nervous the first time I entered a church building as well, but that was years ago, and I was desperate for change. Maybe she's desperate for change too.  I say hi to pretty much everyone I know and introduce Julia before we find our seats. We sit in the same section every week. It's good for mom. If you switch things up, she gets more confused. Everyone here knows the Galo Family and the hand we've been dealt but it's still heartbreaking to watch ma have a meltdown in front of people all because of where we choose to sit. A lot of the women here know mom from way back when... as in... right after she ditches asswipe Joe and went into the women's shelter. Sometimes I forget just how strong my mother was when I look at how fragile she is now. She's been through so much in her life nd is only in her fifties.  I feel like she's slipping away from us fast and that scares the fuck out of me.

I make sure Kendall is sitting on the other side of Julia in the pew. Julia seems to mesh well with Ken and Ken loves her so I figured that would be good for the both of them. I sit next to Katie as a buffer between me and mom, just in case she looks at me and freaks out.

We go through the motions of church, the worship, sermon and then worship again. At one point I glance down at Julia and fall more in love with her when I see tears in her eyes from a song that must have pulled at her heart a little. I've never been so in love with someone in my entire life.

I thank God every day for sending Julia to me. She doesn't know it, but she is slowly saving me. 

When service is over, I lean down to talk to Julia. "Did you like it?"

"Believe it or not, I did. I had no idea this is what it would be like." She admits.

"Well not every church is like this. But I'm glad you came and liked it."  I smile in relief. This will be good for her. Church. Some sort of routine. Stability. It's what she needs in her life right now. What she DOESN'T need is Nate fucking Hollan.

"Meet you guys back at the house?" Katie asks, holding ma's hand while we file out of the pew.

"Yep. We'll be there." I give mom a hug from behind, so she doesn't see me.

"Happy birthday, Jamie." 

I freeze. Mom remembered. She remembered today is my birthday. This is huge. My heart and eyes fill up instantly, almost in disbelief.

"She remembered!" Kendall looks up at me and smiles. She knows how much this means to me. Of all of us, I hate to say it, but I have the snort end of the stick. The inability to look at my mother without reminding her of the awful human she married and how he abused us all, including her, breaks me every single fucking day of my life and there's nothing I can do about it. So, when something positive comes out of being her son and not Jackass Joe, it's a big deal.

"Love you mom, see you at the house." I kiss the top of her head, and we walk past her so she can't see my face. I don't want to ruin the good moment. I want to hold on to this forever.

We get into my car, and I can't help but beam and look at Julia. This birthday is the best birthday I've ever had!

"She actually remembered." I grin.

*****

* Trisha*

"You gonna follow me into the shower too?" Nate walks away from me, but I follow. Damn right I am. Incompetent. I can NOT believe he just said that to me!! 

"If I have to." I think Nate is fucking enjoying this right now. He strips right in front of me, making a show our of it.

"I can't believe you said that. Do you know how hard it is to make sure your schedule is perfect? And deal with Richard for you? And set up your interviews?"  Fine ... you want to play this game? I strip down as well and jump into the shower, purposely hogging all the water.

"Seriously?" Nate pushes me aside and stops paying attention to me while I ream into him about how COMPETENT I am. I notice he checks me out from behind for a second. He's not fucking serious right now, is he? Men. I'm so pissed.

"Yeah. So not happening. I'm too incompetent, remember?"

"Don't flatter yourself, princess. I never said I wanted to do anything with you, regardless of what a normal fucking human body does. But you wouldn't know. You're a spineless, self absorbed, -"

"Fuck off." I interrupt him before he gets a slap across the face from continuing.

"Maybe I will. With you right in the shower watching." He smirks.

"Yeah, you'd like that wouldn't you." I retort. He has balls. He looks me right in the eye and starts pumping himself. What an asshole!

"Are you for REAL right now?" 

"You're unbelievable."  I turn around embarrassed. When I turn back around, he's still going and looking right at me, more seriously now, like he's actually feeling it.

"You wanna play that game? Fine."  Without thinking I look right at him and tease him by lowering my hand and doing the same to myself. Let's see who wins this battle now! His little prank is about to backfire on him. I can tell he wants me and can't take his eyes off me. I'm winning and I'm loving it. I play the game and close my eyes, trying to be as sexual as I possibly can while being so pissed off at him. I know I'm not gonna actually finish but I can put on an amazing show while faking it.

Then I stop faking it and really feel my orgasm building up. Shit.  I throw out my free hand to lean on the glass wall right as I start getting close. With my eyes still closed I feel Nate step in and kiss my neck while pumping himself faster. I open my eyes and look right at him when I hit my high. I'm still winning. He moves in close so he can feel my skin against him, and I push his hand away to take over. He gasps at my touch and comes within seconds on my thigh. 

I won.

"Don't you ever fucking call me incompetent again."  I glare at him while finishing him off in my hand.

"Yes Ma'am." 

*****

*James*

Mom heads straight to her favorite room of the house, the sunroom, right when we get home.

"Ok, lets get started." Jennie heads to the kitchen and all her sisters follow. 

"Get started with what?"

"They insist on making me a birthday dinner every year. They're nuts." I roll my eyes.

"You're their only brother. It's cute." Julia is loving it though. She ruffles up my hair up and heads into the kitchen. She jumps right in and helps with dinner while they all talk and drink wine. My sisters really like Julia. I'm so relieved. Once again. This is the best birthday ever. Until Ken starts bringing up Hollan's name. She's a fan. All my sisters are. So, the gossip and media attention with Julia and Nate intrigues them all.

"Ok, so you know I have to ask. Is it true? The whole Nate Hollan Julia Moretti gossip?" Kendall asks but apparently all the sisters want to know. All eyes are on Julia. She looks to me for help but I just smirk at her. 

"This one's all yours, babe." I laugh.

"Thanks JAMES."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Julia dismisses the girls. 

"Aww come on. Just tell me one thing. Is he good in bed?" Kendall and her no filter. Jesus.

"Still in the room. I'm still in the room." I glare at Ken.

"Oh shush. These are the things every girl needs to know." 

"Again, I don't know what you're talking about." Julia heads to the sink to wash her hands.

"I knew it! He's probably amazing. Ugh. I'm so envious of you right now."

"Yet, you choose this poor fella over "America's Heart Throb"? The one and only multimillionaire Nate Hollan?" Kendall continues while rolling her meatballs. The rest of the girls laugh a little to tease me.

"Well... If you want to talk about good in bed, your brother over there-" Julia starts and I laugh a little.

She gets cut off by a bunch of "Alright! Alright," and "Oh my God stop," and even a few " Eeew, can we not?"

"Well played, Jules. Well played." I laugh.

"What? They wanted to know about my sex life. I was just gonna tell them how earlier you and I were-"

"Oh my God, stop! Ok ok. We get the hint. No more Nate Hollan talk." Kendall doesn't want to hear any details. They all laugh, and we move on to another topic.

"Girls. Quiet down. You're gonna make your father mad!"

The room goes silent, and we all look at ma. She looks nervous and is trying to warn the girls to save them from getting in trouble.

"No, Ma. Joe's not here. He's never coming back, ok? You don't have to worry." Katie pats mom on the knee.

"He's right there!" She points to me, and I look away. "Really girls. Lower your voices."

Shit. This is really happening now??

"Ma, that's James. You know, you're SON. Remember? Today's his birthday." Gwen stops what she's doing and sits next to me.

"Oh, Lindsay. Sweetheart, leave the dishes. I can do them later. Really."  She's got to be kidding me.

I freeze for a second but Julia goes along with it. Thank God. Sometimes it's just easier to go along with it.

"I don't mind at all. You visit with James. I'll do the dishes." She flashes a smile my way and I nod, letting her know she made the right call.

"You need to marry that one, Jamie."  Ma looks at me while I keep my eyes away from her sight.

Once mom is asleep the rest of the day gets better. 

"Hey, thanks for going along with that. Sorry. She gets confused sometimes." I come up behind Julia and kiss her on top of the head.

"How are you, though? That must be hard... with not being able to look at your mom when you talk and stuff. You ok?"

"It doesn't feel great. That's for sure."

 "I'm sorry you have to deal with all that."  She kisses me and I deepen it, thinking it's funny when my sisters think it's gross to see their brother making out with a woman in front of them.

"All right, birthday boy. Knock it off." Jennie slaps the back of my head as she walks by. "Ok, so none of us can wait till after cake. We want to give you your gifts now."

"But mom's sleeping." Gwen ignores me and pulls me into the living room.

"Like she's gonna remember, c'mon. We'll redo it later for her." Kendall's no filter comes through once again.

Once we all sit down Katie hands me a card.

 "This is from all of us, Julia included."

I open it but give everyone a confused look. "What is this?" 

"You always wanted that stainless steel dishwasher at Lowe's, right??" Jennie smiles. 

"I can't take this."

"Sure you can, Jamie. We all pitched in a hundred dollar. It's what we would have each spent on you anyways." Ashley explains.

"Are you serious? I've always wanted that dishwasher." I stand up and  hug my sisters.  This was something I've wanted for a very long time.  I can't believe they did this for me.

"You really didn't have to pitch in, Jules."I sit down and look at her, shaking my head.

"I wanted to." 

*****

*Trisha*

"And how would you like me to fix this?"  I ask while starting to pack Nate's clothes for Texas.

"YOU don't. I'll find her a doctor on my own. And no, not that shirt, the other one." He's so friggen high maintenance.

"I think you'll be a little busy in Austin, pal. You're not gonna have time."

"I'll find time. There's no way she's going back there on Tuesday."

"Think you'll see Macy? San Antonio's not far from Austin."  I change the subject. It would be perfect to get the two of them together again.

"Probably not, why??" He walks in and sits on the bed.

"I mean, why wouldn't you? Even for coffee to catch up? It's not like you're dating anyone."

"Are you trying to torture me? She broke it off and for good reason"

"Hey, people change." I shrug. "I could reach out to her for you and let her know you're in town. If you want..."

"I dunno. Maybe. Let me think about it first."

I smile knowing I at least planted the seed. "Up to you, Playboy. Just let me know."

I zip up his suitcase and put my shoes on. "Ok, I have my OWN errands and packing to do. Be ready by 7am tomorrow for the driver. Paul can't come this week because he has another client already so Max will be your bodyguard."

"Think we'll have time to check out the new Q2 stadium for a game?" Nate asks. I have no idea what the hell he is talking about though.

"The what now?"

"They built a football stadium in Austin a few years ago. It's supposed to be nice. I wouldn't mind checking it out or going to a game."

Ooooh soccer. He wants to go to a soccer game. Of course.

"I'll look into it for you, ok?" I smirk and head out. I know he's gonna find the empty whiskey bottle sooner or later. He fucking his an unopened bottle in his top drawer.. Idiot. I saw it while packing him up and dumped it out while he was in the bathroom. Does he think I'm stupid? I'll hear about it later, I'm sure. But Nate can't drink. He needs to pull himself together.

The minute I get in my car I get Nate's text and laugh a little.

[I. Hate. You]

[Love you too Nate]

*****