Author's Note: Greetings, everyone! This is the first time I have written a story like this. One thing that I wanted to do was to try and keep everything as real as reality. Therefore, Tommy has a hair color that the average person has, and not purple. Do be kind for me, since this is my first time writing.

Always Somewhere

Chapter I

Thomas 'Tommy' Pickles, at 24, closed his cell phone with perhaps the brightest smile he had displayed, since arriving in Los Angeles. After graduating with a degree in film from the University of California, the man with the auburn hair and green eyes decided to set those eyes on Hollywood. But the movie industry is a deadly business. Tommy had directed a few films, but they were films with very low budgets and with scripts that already had the nails in the coffin before the first camera started rolling. Still, Tommy did his best. His films, while not 'blockbusters', did produce a profit. Tommy was not a millionaire, but he was able to rent a modest apartment in LA. Yet, the phone call he just received, made Tommy feel that things were going to pick up for him. Tommy's agent told him that he had been able to secure a deal where Tommy would be the director of an upcoming film about the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas and Alexandria. "That's a script I can work with," thought Tommy.

Within a few minutes after Tommy closed his cell phone, it rang once again. "I wonder who this could be?"

The name on the caller ID was his 26 year-old blonde hair-blue eyed cousin, Angelica Pickles.

"Hello?" answered Tommy.

The relationship between Tommy and Angelica changed as the two became older. When they were younger, the two had a lukewarm relationship. Angelica was the 'spoiled brat', who was often disrespectful to her younger cousins and their friends. But as they grew older, they matured; and Angelica was always grateful, especially when everyone came to her during one of the low points of her life. About three years ago, Angelica found herself to be pregnant. At first, she was happy. Angelica thought that she would settle into a happy life as a wife and mother. Instead, Angelica caught the father of her baby with another woman. The incident quickly ended their relationship. Angelica decided she wanted nothing to do with Seth, the father of her baby. Likewise, when the child was born nearly two years ago—a boy whom she named Ian Louis Pickles—Angelica received no child support and no contact from Seth. But Angelica did not pursue him. She did not need him. During her pregnancy and birth of her firstborn child, Angelica received plenty of support from her cousins, Tommy and Dil; and from those she had known since childhood: Phil, Lil, Chuckie, Susie, and Kimi. Angelica also received additional help from her aunt and uncle, Stu and Didi Pickles. All of them encouraged Angelica to continue to work on her MBA, which she did. By giving encouragement, and offering to babysit for Ian, not only was Angelica able to earn her degree, but she was also able to receive a job as an executive in her mother's company, Pilot, a company which markets anything that might be profitable. Ironically, the people whom Angelica received very little help from were her parents, Charlotte and Drew Pickles. They resented the fact that Angelica became pregnant outside of marriage.

"Hi, Tommy," responded Angelica. "How are you?"

"Quite good actually, and you?"

"Pretty good—the reason why I'm calling you has to do with the invitation that you should have received about a month ago."

"I take it that you mean the one about Ian's second birthday?"

"Yes, I haven't heard back from you, so I wondered if you were coming?"

"Of course! I wouldn't miss my little cousin's second birthday. In fact, I just bought him a gift."

"Really? That's great! He hasn't seen you since May."

"Yeah, it's been five months. So who's going to be there?"

"Your mom and dad, my mom and dad…"

"Has your relationship with Uncle Drew and Aunt Charlotte improved any?"

"Not really, but they're Ian's grandparents, and I want them to be involved with his life—just like we had our Grandpa Lou and Grandma Lulu."

"Grandpa Lou," thought Tommy. "I sure do miss him. He passed away about four years ago. Grandma Lulu joined him two years after that." Of Tommy's grandparents, only his maternal grandmother was left.

"I asked about having your grandmother, Minka, come, but I'm not sure if she'll be able to," continued Angelica. "If not, I'll take Ian sometime to see her."

Tommy nodded. "Who else is coming?

"A few of Ian's friends from daycare, and, of course, the rest of the gang."

"The rest of the gang," thought Tommy. "Been a while since I've seen them."

"Well, I know Dil came out to visit you in LA."

Tommy smiled. Thinking of his young red hair-blue eyed brother Dylan, or 'Dil' as he was always called, always made Tommy smile. When they were kids, Dil always had an interest in aliens, but that interest changed, when Dil became a teenager. At the age of 14, Dil got his first real job as a dishwasher at a 'Ma and Pop' restaurant. The cook at this restaurant was a major fan of heavy metal music, and he shared his love of that music with Dil. Dil embraced the heavy metal culture for all it was worth. Now at 22, Dil—besides being a college student—was the lead singer of a power metal band he started with some friends he met in clubs called Dark Stairway.

"Yeah, it was a little odd, when Dil came out to visit me."

"Well, it is Dil," Angelica said with a smile.

Tommy chuckled. "That's true. What was odd about our encounter is that Dil wanted to visit Dio's grave—Ronnie James Dio's grave, the famous metal musician."

"I know who he is. Dil's worn some of Dio's band shirts around me."

"Well, we went to the grave, but the way Dil was treating it, it felt as though we were on some type of pilgrimage—like we were visiting a saint's shrine. And then Dil took out his iPhone, and started playing some of Dio's music at the grave site."

Angelica chuckled. "You know he's about to graduate from college soon?"

"True, although I'm not sure what his next move will be."

Dil originally enrolled in college for a degree in Biology and a minor in Music, but when he took some courses in Philosophy and Religious Studies, he fell in love with those fields, and he wanted to change his major to Religious Studies and his minor to Philosophy. Dil's parents were stunned, but his father told him, if that is what he wanted to do, then he needed to be the best at it.

"I think he'll be going to graduate school soon. He's got a strong GPA, so I know that he'll get accepted. That's what Chuckie's been telling him to do."

"How is Chuckie? Is he enjoying the married life?"

Charles 'Chuckie' Finster, Jr., at 25, had come a long way since his teenage years. Gone were his braces and glasses—now he mostly wore contacts. Chuckie found interest in History in college. He graduated with a Bachelor's in History, and remained in college to receive his Master's in History. After graduating with his master's, Chuckie took a job teaching History at the local community college, and it was there that he met his future wife. Ashley was her name; she was a petite 22 year-old with auburn hair and brown eyes. Ashley was a student in Chuckie's History class, and she fell in love with him over the semester. After the semester ended, Ashley emailed Chuckie, and expressed a desire to meet him. The two did, and one thing led to another, where Chuckie eventually asked Ashley to marry him. Of course, Chuckie's personal friends, which include members of the 'gang,' often teased him about the 'methods Ashley must have used to earn an "A" in his class.'

"Pretty good—he really hated it, when you weren't able to come to his wedding."

"Yeah, I really hated that I wasn't able to make it. I was in the process of making a film, but I did, of course, send a video greeting."

"Yeah, and he did like that."

"What kind of person is his wife? What kind of person is Ashley?"

"She's nice. She's a pretty strong Catholic with conservative leanings. She often clashes with Dil over those leanings."

Tommy chuckled. "Yes, Dil is known for his liberalism."

Angelica laughed. "I was at Chuckie's and Angelica's apartment, and Dil was there. When Ashley mentioned something about the 'evils of liberals,' Dil responded that he heard that there was a new military unit created to find the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that she should enlist."

Tommy laughed. "What was her response?"

"She didn't say much, but Chuckie giggled."

"How about Phil and Lil?"

"They're doing well. Phil has his restaurant, and Lil's working for a shrink."

Phillip 'Phil' and Lillian 'Lil' DeVille, the twins, were both 24 years of age with brown hair and eyes. Phil had maintained his love of cooking from middle school—obtaining a Culinary Arts degree and becoming a chef. After going from bank to bank, Phil was eventually able to secure a loan, and open his own restaurant. Lil continued to maintain her love for sports in college. Eventually, Lil obtained a degree in Sports Psychology.

"What kind of work is Lil doing for the shrink?"

"She basically works under him as a psychologist, but Lil told me that when athletes come in, they always go to her."

"What's the name of Phil's restaurant?"

"'Falling Off the Edge of the World Food by Phil DeVille.'"

Tommy laughed. "Interesting name."

"Dil came up with it."

Tommy smirked. "Makes sense."

"Still, you should stop by, while you're in town. It's really good. I took Ian to lunch there one time, but I think Phil spent of his time playing with Ian, and making him giggle."

"What about Susie?"

Susie Carmichael, at 26, was a very pretty lightly skinned black girl. Susie had always been close to Angelica—considering how close they are in age—but the two drew closer, after Angelica gave birth to Ian. Susie would often babysit Ian, just for the sole purpose of getting Angelica out of her apartment.

"Susie's great," replied Angelica. "She's been performing at some various clubs in town. But she often clashes with Dil."

Susie's music was a combination of Pop, Rhythm and Blues, and Soul—and it was more appealing to the 'mainstream crowd,' unlike Dil's.

Tommy chuckled. "Considering how hardcore Dil is into metal, I could see that."

Angelica smirked. "You know, Tommy, there's one person that I'm amazed you haven't asked me about."

"And who's that?"

"Kimi. I can remember how you looked at her in high school, and I've seen some of those familiar looks after high school. I know that you had a crush on her. That crush hasn't faded, since you've been out in LA, has it?"

Kimberly 'Kimi' Watanabe Finster, age 24, was a cute Japanese-American girl with dark hair and eyes. She was also Chuckie's step-sister. Tommy was quite fond of her, and he smiled, as he remembered flirting with her in high school, and during those times that he came home. Yet, Tommy never took the actual step of asking her out.

Nevertheless, Tommy smiled. "I'm going to be honest with you, Angelica. You seem to know your cousin well."

Angelica chuckled. "I'm actually amazed that you never bothered to ask her out."

"Some of that had to do with Chuckie. You know how protective he is of her. I can still remember how upset he was, when Kimi carved her initials and my initials into a wall, when we were kids."

"Yeah, well, Chuckie's married now, and he needs to let Kimi live her own life."

"Is she still working as a journalist?"

"Yes, she is…Could you hold on for a second?"

"Sure."

Angelica's conversation with her cousin was halted, when her blonde haired-blue eyed toddler entered the room. "Ian? Ian Louis Pickles, will you come here please? I want you to talk to your cousin, Tommy."

Tommy was able to hear his cousin over the phone. He smiled, when he heard the name 'Ian Louis.' His second cousin had the middle name of he and Angelica's late paternal grandfather.

The almost two-year-old Ian toddled to his mother, and Angelica placed him on her lap. Tommy heard Angelica mutter the word 'great,' before she heard him say, "Ian, say 'hi' to your cousin."

"Hi!" said the soon to be two-year-old.

"Hi, little man, your mom tells me that you've got a birthday coming up?"

"Yeah!"

Tommy smiled. "Do you know how old you're going to be?"

"Uh…"

Tommy maintained his smile. "I'll give you a hint. It's either one or two."

Tommy heard Angelica whisper the word 'two,' which was quickly repeated by Ian Pickles.

"That's correct, little man, and I'm going to be there to celebrate your birthday."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really, Ian, I'm going to visit you and your mom, and I've ever got a gift for you."

Ian gave a 'whoop' of delight.

And Tommy chuckled.

"Ian," began Angelica, "I need to take the phone back from you. Say 'bye' to Tommy."

"Bye, Tommy."

Tommy chuckled. "Bye, Ian."

Once Angelica took the phone from Ian, her son left her lap.

"That you again, Angelica?" asked Tommy.

"Yeah, it's me."

"I heard you say the word 'great', but you didn't say it in a very positive way. Is something wrong?"

"No, not really, I just realized that when Ian climbed on my lap that I needed to change his diaper."

"Ah, okay."

"I'll talk to you later, Tommy. Either on the phone, or when you arrive in town."

"Okay, see you, Angelica."

"See you, Tommy."