"Tony, you have the hotel number to the Astoria in Bonn, right?" Angie asked her assistant as she was running through last minute details on a list she had in front of her.

Tony Alvarez looked at Angie Tyler; the blush of pregnancy now replaced with the resilience and fortitude of motherhood. She was not alone now, not needing his help with moving things or helping her around the loft. What she needed from him now was to be an organizer, a phone message retriever and ultimately, out of her life. He looked over at the man sitting at his workbench with headphones on, his eyes looking blankly in front of him. This was the supposed breadwinner, come home. Tony wasn’t impressed with the great Rollie Tyler.

After waiting so long to meet him, it was a letdown when he finally shook his hand. For all that remained of Rollie Tyler, FX wizard, was a former shell of the man, as far as he was concerned. Tony could see all the stumbling blocks that lay ahead for Angie and her child. He could see her working so hard, so long and having to care for both the child and Tyler. She deserved so much better. She deserved a loving, caring, seeing man who could keep up the FX magic that would make them famous one day. She needed him, he had decided.

"Tony, don’t forget to pack my recorder, the mini-lec. Keeps my head clear," Rollie suddenly said, out of the blue as Tony frowned, not letting Angie see his expression as he looked toward Rollie.

"Sure, I can see how it keeps you oriented," Tony replied as he got up and grabbed the small recorder, placing it in a carry-on bag by the front door. The wail of a hungry, waking baby alerted them all, as Angie was busy on the phone, getting down last minute details with the sitter who would be over in an hour. Aidan was only two weeks old and almost ten pounds now as Angie beamed with pride that her milk was abundant enough to have had Aidan gain so much, so quickly. He had doubled in weight since leaving the hospital.

Rollie was up from the bench, stumbling slightly as he moved toward the crib on the first floor, banging into a chair and cursing slightly as he felt the breeze go by him. He could hear Aidan being lifted as Tony Alvarez had swept his son up and was cooing gently to him.

"I’ll take him, Tony. He was calling his old man, can tell by the tone in his cry!" Rollie said, politely, but underneath it, he was in a rage that this stranger to him was so close to Angie and upsurping him at every chance he could get.

"He’s hungry, I’ll give him to Angie to nurse," Tony said, abruptly and started to walk by him.

"I said, I’ll take him, now- Tony," Rollie repeated, more forceful and Angie, who had been finished her conversation on the phone, watched the confrontation, closing her eyes briefly before coming to the rescue.

"Okay, little man, come to mama! These two couldn’t help you out if they tried," she joked as she took Aidan from Tony’s arms, thus rescuing her son from any ensuing argument. Tony smiled slightly, for it was a win to him. Rollie was angered, not at Angie for he knew what she was doing…rescuing the situation at hand. She had been doing that a lot lately in the past two weeks since being home. He also knew, she was being too enabling, too helpful to him. It was a nightmare to him since losing his sight for a second time. He had not seen his son and he was desperate. He knew, just by the weight of Aidan, that he was changing daily and he was missing it all.

The trip to Bonn, to meet with Dr. Rolf Eckmiller had been changed to two weeks after Michael Sanchez’s funeral. Initially, Angie and he would have been on a plane a week ago but Eckmiller had called them up and asked them to wait another week due to a project problem he was having at the University of Bonn. It felt like another year to Rollie as the prospect of seeing again, consumed him.

Tony looked over to Angie who was sitting down, preparing to nurse Aidan. Seeing her with the baby only reinforced his desires. When he had been hired four months ago, he fell instantly in love with the petite, beautiful woman who had needed his gopher assistance. She was without her husband, working full time and pregnant. What he learned about special effects suddenly took a back seat as he quickly looked forward just to seeing her face everyday. Film school was on backburner for him now, his main study was her. He was admiring the curve of her body, returned to its fit, trim state and the swell of her full breasts only enticed the hell out of him as he watched her nurse Aidan.

"Be seeing you, Tony," Rollie said abruptly as he came to sit next to Angie, feeling his way over to the couch as she smiled at him.

Angie smiled, looking up at Tony; "You’re coming at seven tomorrow morning, right?"

"Ah, sure - should have the rest of that mask work done by the time you return."

"Good, we have a tight schedule once we get back. I will be counting on you, Tony!" Angie replied, in almost a lecture.

But Tony loved the way she said it and he said softly; "Until tomorrow, then. See you later."

He walked out the loft door as Angie sighed slightly and knew what was coming next.

"Until tomorrow, then…." Rollie repeated, mimicking Tony’s voice and shaking his head from side to side, "that is one love sick puppy," he added, his voice with a nasty edge as Angie prayed a silent prayer that the possibility of sight again would bring back the Rollie Tyler she knew and loved.

"Rol, he’s just being nice. He really was there for me, you know- I depended on him and he came through. Without him, I don’t know what would have happened to Tyler F/X!"

Rollie almost pouted as he reached over, his finger touching Aidan’s cheek softly and then probed further as he felt his son’s strong suck on Angie’s breast. He stroked her breast slightly as well, as he felt her reach up and touch his cheek with her hand. He felt her soft kiss on his lips and smiled but then frowned.

"You feeding Aidan in front of Tony?" he asked, his voice raised.

"Well, I guess I have. I really don’t think that it’s a problem, Rol. Tony said his mother breast fed all his younger brothers and sisters. He’s very used to seeing it. Besides, it’s ridiculous what you’re thinking!" she added, adjusting Aidan to her other breast as he greedily began again, his fists clenched together tightly.

"What am I thinking? I am thinking this guy is getting off on seeing you feed my son, Ange. Hey, they got a whole society of these weirdo’s that get their kicks out of watching women do this…" he added, warning her.

Angie rolled her eyes, as she thought about how she felt at this time, the most undesirable and completely sexless creature on earth; "Rollie, get over it. He is a nice guy. If you want, I will not feed Aidan in front of him, okay?"

"Yeah, that’s what I want," Rollie replied, folding his arms across his chest and adding in his thoughts: that bloody pervert can drop off the planet as well!

"I think I have pumped enough milk and have enough supplement for our week in Bonn. Our refrigerator looks like a dairy," Angie said, changing the subject slightly.

"Good, hope Lucinda really isn’t lying about this and can take care of Aidan, Ange!" Rollie remarked, thinking about how scatter-brained the actress could be.

"She’ll be here in a hour, so behave. You have been so mean to everyone. Just relax. Let’s have a good time with Luce overnight. Tomorrow, we’re off to Bonn and I won’t have my baby for over a week! Think about that, for a while!"

Rollie knew that this trip was coming at a most inopportune time for Angie. He knew she was totally absorbed in Aidan and his care. He too, was awed by the couple of weeks home with their son. Even though he couldn’t see Aidan, touching him, rocking him and sleeping with him in the recliner were experiences he would sorely miss over the next week.

"Ange, you could stay…I mean, I can get a guide and find Eckmiller myself. I know this is killing you," Rollie said, letting his head rest against the back of the couch.

"Rollie, you need me there, I want to be there! I am going to check this guy out with a fine toothed comb, you hear me. No more Brabons or conspiracy people! I want to be there when you have your surgery. I want to be there when you wake up- jeez Rollie- I love you, you silly man!"

Angie was rambling on and Rollie was smiling. His world, sightless or with sight had the light of Angie in it and he put a hand gently through her hair, stroking it as he felt her relax and bend into the curve of his shoulder.

The family Tyler would have the last peaceful hour they would spend for some time then, as the afternoon slipped by.

The rapid, urgent rapping on the door, alerted them both that Lucinda Scott was anxiously awaiting entrance. Angie handed Aidan to Rollie and went for the door, holding her incision site momentarily as she fought the cramp that started as she got up from the couch.

"Your Auntie Luce is here, Aidan. Don’t spit up on her too much, I have a feeling she’d just hose you off in the sink, if that happened!" Rollie told Aidan, patting him softly on the back as he burped him and Angie chuckled, hearing his comment before she opened the door.

"Oh my God! Don’t you look…." Lucinda began as she stepped through the loft door and looked at Angie, suddenly making a face. Luce was good for showing her true feelings to her friends in her impressionable face.

"Awful…I know!" Angie replied, finishing her sentence as the two friends hugged. They hadn’t seen each other since Costa Rica and Luce held onto Angie tightly, then pushed her away slightly, playing with her long hair.

"Umm, this is new!" she commented as Angie laughed and led her inside, holding her hand. Before Angie could warn Lucinda, Luce had pounced over to the couch, leaving her in the dust.

"Rollie!"

Rollie jumped slightly but smiled as Lucinda made a beeline for the couch and squealed in excitement as she nestled herself next to him and put her face close to Aidan’s sleepy face over Rollie’s shoulder.

"Helloooo Aidan!" she said, in her usual, boisterous voice only to have Aidan startle and spit up over Rollie’s back as Angie rolled her eyes, waiting for Rollie’s thunder.

It didn’t come. Instead, Rollie laughed, a full, welcomed, warming laugh that melted Angie’s heart and Luce just looked at him strangely before reaching over and touching his cheek softly.

"How ya been, Tyler? I missed your ugly mug!" she said, softer and leaned over and kissed him. He didn’t jump but smiled as she pinched his cheek then. She looked up at Angie who was watching them. Angie had a soft glow in her eyes now and Luce hoped that the Bonn trip would be good for both of them, possibly even healing some badly damaged psyche as well.

Angie sat on Rollie’s other side and softly took his hand as he leaned back, only getting the couch soaked as well as Aidan relaxed again and fell back asleep, getting used to Luce’s voice.

"My two favorite women beside me, what more could a man ask for?" Rollie said, sighing.

"How about some lunch, I am starving!" Lucinda voiced, as she touched Aidan’s back and smiled at the marvel of creation that had been made by her two best friends.

"You know, I was pretty angry when you didn’t tell me you were pregnant, had a baby, and well, you know- all of this," Luce began, waving her hands in the air and looking at Rollie’s sightless eyes as she then directed her gaze at Angie.

Angie cleared her throat slightly as she felt Rollie’s body suddenly tense up. He reached out again for Angie’s hand as he felt her tenseness as well.

"I know, Luce- I was wrong not to tell you but there was so much going on with Rollie’s disappearance and as I told you on the phone, everything that happened with it and I was just not thinking…I am so sorry that I left you out of the loop here. It was wrong," Angie replied, apologizing again to her.

"Well, I was riding pretty high after ‘Tomb Raiders’, starting another movie and of course, getting some interviews…but still!" Luce remarked, folding her arms across her chest, pouting but quickly changed her expression, "Oh, you know I wouldn’t stay mad long!"

Angie reached across and hugged Luce as they both squeezed Rollie in the center who commented: "a human sandwich, I love it!"

"How is Mira holding up, now that Michael…?" Luce asked, her eyes betraying her sorrow that he had died, for even though he had used her, abused her, and ultimately, they had some bad experiences; she had loved that man.

"Pretty well, actually. She is one tough lady," Rollie answered, as Angie looked straight into Luce’s eyes and shook her head. Lucinda’s eyebrows raised, knowing that Rollie’s perception was based on what Mira wanted him to hear, not at how she appeared to Angie.

"Well, that’s good. As for me, I think Aidan and I can manage here for a week, don’t you Aidan?" Luce asked, stroking his cheek as he made a sucking motion with his mouth and she giggled.

"Wow, he is something! You must be awful sore!" Lucinda commented, wincing as Angie laughed.

"I have gotten used to it, really! And, the refrigerator is full of expressed milk as well as the freezer…now you do know about warming it and testing it and …"

"Angie! I have had loads of experience here. Before you leave, you will see for yourself, really!" Luce told her, grinning as Rollie laughed again, this time nervously as he felt for Luce’s knee and tightly held it.

"You are making me feel really secure here, Luce," he told her as she patted his arm and then his hand quickly;

"You’ve got nothing to worry about, Mr. Tyler. Piece of cake!"

"Um, bloody trifle cake at that…" he added, then handed Aidan to her as she surprisingly, and very deftly, cuddled his sleeping little body and cooed at him gently.

"What say, we all get something to eat?" Rollie remarked as he reached for Angie’s hand.

She smiled, and stood up as Luce caught her grimace, watching her stiffly move toward the kitchen. Rollie couldn’t realize how tired and in pain she looked, thought Lucinda as she watched her friend leave the room.

"She’s in pain, isn’t she?" Rollie asked Luce, leaning over in a whispered voice.

"Uh, she is moving sorta slow, Rol," Lucinda replied, smiling as she now realized that even though he couldn’t see, his other senses were on the ball.

"How does she really look, I mean- is she okay?" Rollie asked further, for with Lucinda, he knew he would get the truth.

"Yeah, she looks tired, Rol. I think this will be good for her, getting away for a week with you and resting up. Listen, don’t worry about me and Aidan, really. I love him so much, he is beautiful!"

"What color are his eyes, Luce? Ange tells me they are blue, like slate…are they still?"

Lucinda looked down, Aidan’s eyes were now shut, the rapid eye motions under his lids, so cute as she admired his long, silky lashes.

"Can’t see them Rol, he’s sleeping you know," she added.

"Right, what a dufus, sometimes I just forget, you know?"

"Hey, no problem but I will tell you, he’s quite a charmer. He’s got quite a lot of hair, you know- that surprises me and what a cute curl," she said, her voice petering off into baby talk.

"He’s a Tyler!" Rollie added and Luce looked up to his sightless, brown eyes and smiled, looking back down at his son. A sudden, mischievous grin came to her face then as she lifted the diaper slightly.

Rollie could hear her undoing the disposable diaper, the sound so common to him now.

"Is he wet?"

"Nope, just checking to see if he really was a Tyler…"

"Go on!"

"From what I can recall, because my memory is starting to fail me on that scene in my trailer…"

"You know, I told Angie about that finally after she asked me."

"And?"

"She laughed and at an inopportune time, if you know what I mean?"

"Ah, she asked when you two were…"

"Yeah, and needless to say, it spoiled the moment."

Lucinda laughed, her full, gregarious sounds resounding in the loft as Aidan kept sleeping peacefully and Angie smiled from the kitchen, her fears gone. It was so wonderful having Lucinda back in their lives! It would make the trip so much easier for her and she suspected, for Rollie now.

In bed that night, Lucinda sleeping downstairs in the guest room that they had built when they expanded the loft- Angie and Rollie lay awake. Aidan was sleeping in the next room, his afternoon and evening filled with Lucinda’s bonding and adventurous voice telling news and stories.

"You okay?" Rollie asked, lying on his back, feeling Angie moving on her side and then her back again.

"Yeah, just can’t seem to sleep. I have so many thoughts racing through my head. I am worried about the trip, sorta. I mean, we don’t really know this guy and then, what’s going to happen and, I don’t know- that kind of stuff."

Rollie rolled over on his side toward her, how he wished that he could see her in the moonlight shining from the skylight above them. He could only rely on his memories of her. He reached over and touched her shoulder, his hand tracing the outline of it, and slowly moved it toward her face.

"Don’t worry. Whatever happens, Ange- I have a feeling that this will pass. I have to hope for that. I want to see you so badly, and Aidan! I want to really be with you, bloody hell!" he added, rolling back on his back. His body was reacting, being so close to her, naked beside her warmth and her softness.

Angie could see he was in turmoil and she came closer to him, her hand resting on his chest and stroking it slightly;

"I wish I could- it’s only been two weeks and with my incision…" she whispered softly, her voice revealing her pain and regret.

"Don’t worry, love, sorry- I’m being selfish. I can deal with it, really," he told her, as he rolled over back toward her and wrapped his arms around her, smelling her scent and running his hands down her back. His lips found hers as he gently kissed her, then more passionately as the warmth and taste of her was more than he could stand. Her breasts were pressed against his chest, the feel of them driving him crazy and he broke away from her, as he knew she was not ready or in any condition to make love.

"Okay, hey- I’m going to get up for just a few minutes and try to make myself sleepy, sorry Ange…" he told her, sitting up, and then grabbed his robe that he was keeping close by now so that he could find it easily.

Angie groaned slightly, and for all the world, she wanted to be with him, and for him. She turned over on her other side, her exhaustion overcoming her and she fell asleep while Rollie stumbled into his VR chamber and tried to get his mind on something else. Even though he couldn’t see the program, he could still feel and hear the Outback. He wondered if Mangela had heard his cry and his sorrow. No one had heard from him since before Angie had the baby. He had tried calling all his friends and contacts to check on his whereabouts but no one had seen him.

Rollie had also tried to contact Dingo. He wanted to tell his father that he was a grandfather as well but as usual, no one would have known where he might have roamed. With trepidation in his heart, Rollie tried to get lulled by the sounds and feel of his homeland. Tonight, they just didn’t help.

Would Bonn be a turning point for him? He didn’t know. The dreaming wasn’t revealing, in fact- it was evasive. He longed for its return as he stepped out of the chamber and went back to bed. He turned on his side away from Angie, and tried to sleep again. What dreams he had, were not really dreams, for the hellish bright light was always there in the beginning and then the feel of the close walls and the voices surrounded him, engulfing him in a suffocating nightmare.