She snorted derisively at the oblique reference to an idiot she would rather not ever even hear of again. "You never tried to get the script altered to match your own vision of the story you wanted to tell," she pointed out darkly. Words had been spoken in certain ears regarding a certain someone's blatant disregard for source material. "Sure, it's great that Michael's happy with it, but are you happy with it?"

"Is Elena happy with it?" he countered, signaling for the waiter with a wave of his hand. He really didn't think it mattered so much what he thought, so long as Michael and Elena were happy with a movie that was based on their lives, as least in part.

Pausing to give her order with a smile as she sipped her coffee, Mataya waited until they were alone again before speaking. "El's impressed," she told her friend gently. "Embarrassed as all hell by the fact that her love life is gonna be up on the silver screen, but impressed by the way it's being handled. She's incredibly grateful to you for including Michael, you know. And really impressed with Yasmin. The character interpretation is different from hers, but it's more nuanced. For someone who can't even get drunk, Yas did a good job bringing Roxanne's problems into stark relief."

"Mmm," Jon murmured thoughtfully. "Maybe I shouldn't have emphasized the fact so much that it was Michael and Elena's story and just told the cast we wanted to be true to the script," he said, second-guessing himself for the umpteen-millionth time since he came on board. It was only a matter of time before word got out that the book and film were based on the author and his wife's lives, at least in part, and he wasn't sure how well that was going to go over with Elena, but she probably wouldn't have to worry about notoriety too much, at least here in Rhy'Din.

"She can handle it," Mataya assured him. "Besides, we can protect them if we need to, from the press and anyone else who might try to cause them trouble, especially now. She's much better, but she's still throwing up at the slightest sign of stress. It's apparently what?s quite normal for her with her condition, and she'll go through it again if she gets pregnant again."

"Why?" Jon asked, as he stirred cream and sugar into his coffee. "I mean, what?s wrong with her?" He'd heard Elena had been having some sort of problems with the pregnancy, but just because he had a couple of kids didn't make him an expert on such things.

"Oh, she's got some condition that meant she could barely keep anything down when she first got pregnant," 'Taya explained, belatedly remembering that she'd never actually explained to Jon why he'd had to deliver her to the hospital during the auditions. "Even now, with the worst of it over, she's hyper-sensitive to smells and stress, and she can toss her cookies at the slightest thing. And it's all completely normal, apparently."

"It doesn't sound normal. It sounds terrible. Like having a hangover for nine months. What causes it?" he asked further, mostly out of curiosity. Though he was sympathetic to Elena's plight, he was glad Vicki didn't share her affliction.

"They don't really know." Mataya shrugged, taking another sip of her coffee. "It might be genetic, it might be random, it might even have something to do with her childhood. It's just not common enough for anyone to have worked out what the causes are. It sounds like Tess had it, though, with both her pregnancies, so maybe it is genetic. I guess I got lucky."

"So long as she and the baby are healthy, I guess. When's she due again?" he asked, not a very good judge of due dates based solely on the size of a woman's baby bump. "It's not going to interfere with the premiere, is it?"

"Well, Michael takes care of her," the smiling big sister said warmly. She was very fond of all her brothers-in-law, and her sister-in-law, too. "She's due in May, they'll be at the premiere. Even if I have to crowbar her into a maternity gown myself, they will be present for the great triumph that is Rhy'Din Nights on screen."

"We'll have to make sure there's enough security that they won't get mobbed," Jon remarked, knowing a little too well what that was like. Jon's phobia of crowds was no secret from Mataya or Vicki either, for that matter, but he thought most of the attention would likely be on Eregor and Yasmin. "Michael is a little eccentric, but I like them. They've been through a lot together."

"Oh, there will be," she promised. Ever since the ghoul incident, security at all premiere events at the Shanachie had been slightly over-zealous. She smiled at his comment on her sister and Michael. "I know what you mean," she admitted. "I wanted to disapprove, when they first got together, but ....he gave Elena purpose again. She'd just been drifting; doing what she had to do so that her testimony would be acceptable. But as soon as she had Michael there, she started really living again. I can't speak for him, but I think she needs him like she needs air. I don't think she'd survive losing him."

"Hopefully, she won't have to worry about that for a long time," he said, taking another sip of his coffee. They were relatively young, after all, and there was no reason to believe they wouldn't enjoy a long life together. "So, tell me ....How are you doing?" he asked, changing the subject. "How are Oscar and Max and Juno?"

"Me?" Mataya laughed merrily. "Oh, I'm my usual self. Working too hard, if you listen to Max and Tony and Mama and ....well, everyone, really." She grinned, not at all repentant for her workaholic tendencies. "Max and I, we're taking Juno and Oscar away for a week before rehearsals start up at the theater again. We thought we'd do Disneyland Paris, and Juno's already volunteered to have Oscar in her room with her, so maybe we'll get some couple bonding time in, too. How about you? How's Vicki and your pair of troublemakers?"

Jon chuckled, knowing Mataya at least as well as those closest to her, if not better in some ways. He understood her workaholic tendencies because he had them, too, though having a family had cured him of that somewhat. "Ohh, that sounds like fun!" Jon replied with a grin, though he had no intention of him and his family tagging along. A vacation sounded like just the thing though, especially now that filming was over, and most of the rest of the process was left in the editor's hands. "Maybe we should pop over to Truro and visit Grampa."

"Oh, I bet they'd enjoy that," 'Taya chuckled, her kilowatt smile dazzling the waiter as he brought over their lunches. For once, she'd thrown the diet out of the window, as evidenced by the enormous beefsteak sandwich presented to her. "And you've got the week, after all. It's not like you have to do anything until next Monday."

"Grampa will, anyway," Jon said with a smirk, thanking the waiter before diving into his ham and Swiss. "Vicki doesn't get to see her family often enough," he added, feeling just a teesny bit guilty that he was surrounded by family and Vicki's was so far away, but in reality, they were just the other side of the portal.

Mataya raised her brow at him above a cheeky smile. "And you and I both know Victoria Granger well enough to know that if she felt that way, she'd make damn sure you knew it," she pointed out to him. Few people of her acquaintance were so unashamedly honest about just about everything as Jon's wife. "I know the guilty face, wipe it off."

"Yeah, I know, and she's part of the family now. She and Humphrey get along great, and she's gotten close to Piper and Elle. I just feel bad she doesn't get to see her father that much," Jon said, making no apologies for his guilt. Jon wouldn't be Jon without at least a little of it, but it was only because he cared so much.

'Taya chuckled around a hefty mouthful, pausing out of necessity to chew and swallow before she answered. "She goes home more with you than she ever did before you got together," she reminded him. "And her dad knows how difficult it is to pack up small children - he still calls her tiger, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but sometimes I feel like it was cheating," he admitted, although if given the choice, he doubted he'd change anything. After all, it was in good part because of his journey to the past that they were together at all. "My only regret is not having been able to save her mother, but then, I suppose if I had, she wouldn't be the same person she is now."

"Honey, we only get one chance at life," Mataya pointed out. "If we want to be happy, sometimes we have to weight the dice. That doesn't mean our happiness is any less deserved, or any less real. Vicki loves you; she adores you. And you have a beautiful family with her. Don't second-guess it so much."

"I'm not. I'm grateful for everything I've got, believe me, but you weren't there, 'Tay. It was heart-breaking." He paused again, that guilty frown on his face again, though he knew it wasn't really his fault - at least, not entirely. Vicki could have easily blamed him for it, but she hadn't. He wasn't so sure her father would feel the same way, if he ever found out. "She drowned. They were at the docks, waiting for someone or something, and ....she slipped on the ice and fell in. I jumped in and tried to save her, but ..." His voice trailed off, as the rest of the story hardly needed telling.

"Some things have to happen to open other doors," she told him gently. "At least you got to meet her, and you could tell Vicki about her. That's not a small thing. Believe me in that, at least. I'm sure Vicki doesn't blame you for anything that happened."

And so could her father, but that was only from his point of view. "If Dom hadn't given me that potion, I'm not sure how things would have turned out." He didn't really want to second guess that past, but there was a good chance Vicki might have never come to Rhy'Din and she and Jon might have never met.

"So don't worry about it so much," Mataya said with a faint smile. "The past is done. What you have now stems directly from that past, and it isn't such a terrible thing in the face of your wife and children, is it' Without that loss, you might not have gained everything you have now."

"I can't think like that, 'Tay. It's too selfish. I'd give just about anything to give Vicki her mother back, but what?s done is done, and I won't take a chance on fiddling with the past again because I could make it worse. Some things are just meant to be, I guess. Who's to say it wouldn't have happened anyway?" he ventured solemnly.

"Exactly. So quit it." She chuckled, toasting him with her coffee cup. "You are a successful actor, director, husband, and father. Anything else you want to try in your old age" Civil engineering, maybe, or a doctorate in medicine?"

"You forgot producer and acting coach," he pointed out, chuckling at her suggestion, though it was a matter of opinion how successful he was at those. "How about Champion Skier?" he suggested. He had always loved skiing - at least, before he'd broken a leg a year ago in a freak accident at the theater. "What do you think our next project should be?" he asked, though they hadn't quite finished yet with the current one.

"I have no idea," she laughed, glad they'd moved away from a volatile, personal subject. "We still haven't done anything about the charity we were going to set up, you know. Liv dropped a couple of heavy hints in my direction the last time we spoke, though."

"Liv is supposed to be on maternity leave," Jon pointed out with a chuckle. The woman had four kids to take care of now, including an infant, and somehow still managed to find time to keep up with what was going on at the Shanachie, even if she wasn't back to work yet.

"You know as well as I do that she's never going to be a stay at home mom," Mataya grinned. "Cut back on her hours, maybe, but never stop working altogether. Anyway, she was telling me about that isolation unit Fliss got sent to when she was still under the orphanage. It sounds horrible."

"Yeah, it does, but Fliss didn't have control of her ....abilities then, and I guess they were worried she'd start a fire." There was that frown again, as there had been a few too many fires across the city recently, though Fliss could be blamed for none of them. They'd sure been keeping Johnny busy, though. "What are you proposing?" he asked, knowing Mataya well enough to know she hadn't brought that subject up for nothing.

"I think that's the point Liv was trying to make," Mataya said thoughtfully. "The unit itself ....it's functional, but that's all. They keep the children isolated from each other, and if they're not adopted, they're just set up with a job and an apartment when they're old enough and turfed out to look after themselves. There's gotta be a better way. Whether with more funding for the Seven Towers, or building a new facility, but there's got to be a way to staff and school this place so that, even if you are born with abilities you can't immediately control, you're not shut away from the world until you're considered an adult."

"Okay ..." he started, eyeing her carefully as he heard her out. "So, what do you have in mind?" he asked, knowing it would take a little more than just tossing money at the place.

"I think we should visit the place and see for ourselves," Mataya suggested hopefully. "And talk to the staff there, and the management, about what they think they need to be able to tutor and prepare these kids for life. Most children with special abilities don't get adopted, Jon. The least we can do is try and help them be ready to look after themselves."

"Okay, I'm game. Is this something we want to do on our own or what? Are you thinking about creating a charitable foundation' Do you want to accept donations from other corporations and individuals or keep it private?" Money wasn't really a problem anymore now that the theater had sponsors, but he wasn't sure if she wanted to funnel some of that money into a foundation or not.

"We both have fairly sizable personal fortunes," she pointed out thoughtfully. "Outside our business wealth, which is separate, in any case. I think, if we can, I'd prefer to keep it private and quiet for now, at least until we have some progress to show for it, and that could take a few years."

"If Humphrey finds out, he's gonna want to contribute," Jon pointed out, though it should be easy enough to keep his involvement quiet. "We could add him on as a silent partner."

"True," she nodded in agreement. "But you know as well as I do that anything we try could turn out to be sinking money into a black hole. That's why I don't want to involve anyone else at the outset. If it's just us, then it's only our money, and we're not ignorant of what the risks are."

"Okay, sounds reasonable. So, first step is setting up a visit. How do you want to do that?" he asked further. With Liv on leave, Sol was his acting P.A. and would probably continue on after Liv's leave was over to alleviate some of the burden. The question was did they want to get Sol involved in this or not'

"First thing we do is visit the place and find out what they think they need," Mataya nodded firmly. "If it's feasible, if it's something we can help with, we talk to the money guys. That's about as far ahead as I think we can safely predict at this point."

"Yes, but ....Do you want to call first and make an appointment or just show up?" he asked, leaning more toward making appointment, though just showing up out of the blue might give them a more accurate view of the place.

"Oh." She laughed as she realized what he was getting at. "Making an appointment might be a better idea," she chuckled. "Maybe we could get a guided tour from the woman who helped Johnny and Liv with Fliss, whatever her name is. You could ask Liv for the name, and then Sod or whatever his name is could make the appointment officially."

She smiled, squeezing his hand in return. "Hard to believe sometimes, seeing how our first marriage ended," she admitted. "We've both grown up a lot, and having Juno around taught me more about Max. He seems much happier not being in the spotlight, almost as though chasing fame was what made him hard. He's adorable with Oscar, and ....He's my quiet place." She didn't know how else to describe it, but perhaps her smile said what couldn't be put into words. "We might never get to the altar again, but we're in a good place. I'm happy."

"That's all that matters," Jon replied, glad she had found some peace and happiness at long last - they both had. While Max was a friend and had once been a fellow colleague, it was the woman in front of him he'd always felt close to, even well before he'd lost his memory. "Shall we get out of here before they kick us out?" he asked, though that was unlikely, considering the size of their pocketbooks.

She chuckled, rising to pull her coat on. "I have dogs I need to walk before they drive Max completely insane and start chewing furniture again," she admitted cheerfully. "And you have a wife you should go home and screw sideways while the kids are napping."

Jon rose to his feet to help her with her coat, before donning his own. "I have a dog I need to walk, too, actually," he remarked, though it was likely Sol might have gotten to it first. The man always seemed to be three steps ahead of his boss somehow, and Jon sometimes wondered if he wasn't cheating.

"No, I think my idea for you was the better one," she grinned, reaching to tuck her arm through his. "I'll walk you to your car. It's on my way, anyway."

"Like Vicki would object to that," he said with a chuckle. Considering their sex life, it was nothing short of a miracle she wasn't pregnant again, but then it was unlikely to happen so long as she was using birth control of some kind. He linked his arm with Mataya's. "I'll go you one further and escort you to yours."

"Oh my, what a gentleman," she teased, flicking a wave to the cafe owner as they slipped out into the street once again. "So ....here's the rest of your day. Home, sex, play with your children, sex, dinner, sex, talk to your wife, more sex, and sleep. Think you can handle that?"

He rolled his eyes skyward, laughing as she planned his itinerary for the rest of the day. "What about you? Screwing Max's brains out not on your to-do list?" he teased.

"A lady never shares her secrets," she laughed, but there was that twinkle again. Max was in for a fun afternoon, it seemed. "Not that you couldn't guess my secrets if you tried really hard. I'm really quite transparent, you know."

"Mmhmm," he replied, blue eyes dancing with amusement. "Which is why you never fail to surprise me." Once business was out of the way, their little visits were often filled with laughter, teasing, and even a little flirting, though neither took it seriously. Both of them were far too dedicated to their own spouses to consider anything more than friendship.

She cackled cheerfully. "Because you never pay attention!"

It said a lot for their friendship that they could be this open and even affectionate with each other, and neither one ever even considered being more than friends to one another. If anyone had mentioned it to them, Jon and Mataya would have laughed them out of the room. Their friendship had endured through their dark times, his amnesia, and their combined business efforts. It would take a lot more than a careless word now to convince anyone that there was anything but friendship between them, and that was just how they liked it.

((Jon and Mataya never manage to have what you might call a normal conversation, do they' Huge thanks to Jon's player!))