Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction which will include t/t and m/m relationships, and probably some sex too. If it is illegal in your area to read this, or if you are not old enough to read this (you know who you are), stop here. Otherwise, please enjoy.
The Devil's Gambit, Chapter 14
"Déjà vu"
NOTE: Check out my new website, jaygordonstories.com -- you'll find chapters up through 20 posted there for registered users.
"Martha," Tom said, breathless, as he collapsed into a seat. "That boy needs our help, but I ... I just don't know if I can do it." His mind was spinning.
"Tom, of course you can!" the woman scolded. "You let Peter keep Jamie's clothes, and you can't tell me it is easy to come in and see that boy dressed like Jamie!"
"You noticed," he snorted.
"My son had a very distinctive style all his own," Martha replied.
"The first time I came home and saw him in an outfit Jamie used to wear, he had his back to me, and I very nearly walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around him," Tom admitted. "THAT would have been embarrassing!"
Martha smiled and took his hand. "Let's go downstairs, Tom," she said.
He nodded and stood to follow her. "Do you think it means anything, Martha?" he asked before they went.
She thought for a moment. "Besides that he is a very special boy who'll grow up to be quite a beautiful man? I don't think so," she said with a smile.
"He's gay, you know," Tom mused, "like Jamie...."
"I suspected he might be," Martha replied. "In which case he's very lucky to have you boys!"
The two of them went downstairs, where they were met by expectant gazes, but they just smiled and rejoined their loved ones. Walt cocked an eye at Tom but let it pass. Martha would have to explain things to Walt later, Tom thought to himself.
Still, over dinner, Martha had to gently elbow Tom a couple of times as he got lost in thought, and even Billy was looking at him strangely. "Is everything okay, Tom?" Aiden whispered as the men cleared the table to the kitchen and grabbed dessert and new plates.
"I'll tell you tonight, Aiden," Tom promised, putting down his pile and wrapping his arms around the man tightly.
"My boys were all very happy to hear you'd be joining us," Walt said when they returned. "And you boys too, of course," he added, smiling at Peter and David. "Billy, you're welcome to join Peter if you aren't going home!"
"Thanks Dr. Moore," the boy replied. "But my parents are expecting me. I would have asked Peter to come with me and meet my parents, but I figured he'd want to stay with David this year...."
Peter squeezed his hand under the table, and Martha asked, "So you've told your parents about you boys?"
Billy sort of blushed and said, honestly, "It's complicated.... I would have told them Peter was my friend from college with no place to go."
"How's it complicated?" Walt asked.
"My dad is a minister," Billy said, and they nodded. "I mean, not the creepy weird kind; he's Presbyterian. But still, it's hard to tell how he'd feel. I guess it's different when it's your kid, some for better, some for worse."
"He's your father," Martha said. "I bet he'll come around."
"How would he deal with a parishioner who came to him and asked for advice?" Tom asked, knowing not all parents deal with it.
"He'd offer to counsel them, I'm sure. He wouldn't turn them away."
"Would he help them find a program to 'turn them straight'?" Aiden asked.
"NO WAY!" the boy said confidently. "Dad always said...." Something dawned on Billy then, and he put his hand on his forehead. "Dad always said it wasn't a lifestyle choice, it's just how a person was born."
David, Sebastien, and Peter looked confused, while the adults nodded knowingly. "WHAT?" Sebastien asked.
"Why was your dad 'always' saying that?" Tom asked, prodding. "Did you ask?"
"No, he'd bring it up," Billy said. "He was trying to make me feel like I could talk to him," the young man said, his lip almost trembling. "I can't believe I didn't realize that!"
"Billy, if you talk to your parents and things don't go the way you want, you know you can always come back here," Tom offered gently.
"Thanks Tom," Billy said. "Maybe you can come with me some over winter break, Peter?"
"That sounds good," Peter said with a smile, and David and Sebastien responded by making exaggerated smooching sounds.
After dinner, Billy and Peter excused themselves to go to a movie and David took Sebastien up to his room for video games, leaving Walt and Aiden alone with Tom and Martha. "Okay, what's the deal?" Walt asked, and Aiden nodded his agreement to the question.
Tom nodded and went upstairs for the photograph book. When he returned he handed it to Aiden, who said, "Why do you have a picture of," but the question trailed off as he saw Walt's face. Aiden turned the pages and the boy got older and blossomed into the Jamie whose picture he had seen. "No wonder you looked like you had seen a ghost, Martha!"
Walt smiled, pressing his lips together firmly, holding back a wave of emotion. "I guess I can see it, too."
"It's uncanny," Aiden replied, turning the pages back and forth.
"I suppose so," Walt said. "You can see it in Peter too, particularly when he's sad. I swear when I saw him sitting in the hall the other day with that pathetic look on his face, I had to look twice. It reminded me of a time..." Walt smiled at Tom, and said, "I don't know if I ever told you, I may not have told Martha, but after that party where Jamie really took up with you, he came by my office one afternoon. I asked him what he needed but he was very cagey, and so I asked him, 'You aren't looking for me, are you? You were hanging out waiting for Professor Corman?' He nodded and hung his head like a little boy. I told him I thought you were too old for him and that he ought to look for someone closer to his own age," Walt added with a smile.
"You definitely never told me about this," Tom said, smiling back.
"Well, he stormed out of my office -- after yelling 'I think I love him,' I might add -- and down to your office and sat down, leaning back against your door to wait for you! I looked down the hall at him and thought the look on his face would break my heart. So I walked down and he looked up at me expectantly, and I said, 'Tom doesn't teach today, sweetheart,' and began to laugh a little. He got so mad and stood up to storm off again, when I grabbed his arm and said, 'Jamie, just be careful," and he smiled sheepishly back before returning home."
"I can't believe you never told me that," Martha huffed playfully, but Tom smiled, and that smile widened and widened until he burst into laughter.
"What?" Walt asked.
"I don't think that smile was sheepish at all, Walt. I think it was wolfish...."
"What do you mean?" Walt asked.
"Jamie didn't go home that day," Tom said, trying to control the smile on his face at Walt's surprised look. "I was still getting settled in and I got a knock at my door. It was Jamie and I let him in. I'd barely closed the door when he locked onto me with this massive bear hug, and he began this little tirade, something like, 'I know there are a few years difference between us and all, and I know you work for my dad, but he said it was okay, and I want to go out with you!' Then he breathed and I laughed. Then he looked up at me with one of the few instances I can recall of uncertainty in his eyes and asked, 'You are gay, right?' And well, you all know where that took us."
"THAT is my Jamie," Martha smiled.
They chatted a while longer before Martha and Walt excused themselves, Martha hugging both men, Walt hugging Tom and shaking hands with Aiden. When they were alone, Aiden and Tom began to clean the kitchen. "So, how are you feeling?" Aiden asked. "About Sebastien, I mean?"
"I can't help but feel even more protective of him than I already did. His psychological similarity to me, and his physical resemblance.... It's really weird -- if we had been able to have a child, it's that kind of thing," Tom admitted. "I hope that doesn't make you uncomfortable," Tom added.
Aiden laughed and hugged him from behind. "It doesn't. I know this must all be strange, even for you!"
Tom smiled and said, "Meet me in the bedroom in ten?"
"Sure," Aiden smiled. Tom made his way to David's room and knocked on the door.
"YO?" David called and he opened the door with a smile
"Want to play a round?" Sebastien asked, happy as a clam.
"Maybe tomorrow, sport," Tom said with a smile. "David, can I talk to you for a second?"
David paused the game and followed him out into the hall. "I didn't want to put you on the spot," Tom said. "Sebastian can sleep in one of the empty bedrooms if you'd prefer?"
David shook his head. "It's fine, Tom. He won't make it weird."
Tom smiled and nodded, before following David inside and saying, "Don't stay up all night, boys!"
"Night, Tom," both said as they turned their attention back to the game. Tom shook his head and laughed as he made his way back to his room, where his man was waiting for him.
A little after three in the morning, Tom felt a hand on his shoulder and groggily scooted over to make room. Then he felt another urgent shake and remembered Sebastien was spending the night in David's room. He rolled over and was surprised it was the boy. "What's wrong, Sebastien?" he asked.
"Something's wrong with David," the boy said, his voice full of fear and concern.
Tom didn't even think of his state of undress as he hopped out of bed in just his boxers and hurried to David's room. "Stay outside for a minute," Tom urged Sebastien, who had followed him back to David's room. Tom sat down on the bed next to David, who was thrashing and tossing beneath the covers. Tom smiled thankfully and whispered, "It's just a nightmare," to Sebastian. Tom leaned in and grabbed the boy's wide shoulders and held him down. "David! DAVID! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"
David struggled a little harder even after his eyes opened, until he realized it was Tom holding him down, and then he fell limp. David sat up and grabbed the man. "Bad dream about my brother," David whispered once he calmed down a little. Sebastien stood in the door looking helpless and somewhat frightened until Tom waved him over and patted the bed next to him. The boy sat down and put his head on Tom's shoulder and wrapped one arm around the man, his other around David.
Smiling, but not surprised as he noticed that Sebastian was wearing his pajamas but that David was sleeping in his boxers as usual, Tom whispered, "David's okay, Sebastien. Given what he's been through, it's not surprising that he has nightmares."
"What happened?" the boy asked, and Tom smiled wearily.
"One day, David can explain it to you, okay? But right now, you boys should try to get some sleep!" Sebastien nodded and crawled under the covers, cuddling up to David and hugging him tight like a much little brother. Still, David seemed thankful and Tom left with a shake of the head, as he heard David laugh at whatever the boy had said. Tom would have blushed to know that the boy was confirming his earlier diagnosis of Tom's hotness.
Tom woke up with Aiden in the morning and they showered together, in too much of a hurry for anything more than some overly playful washing, since Aiden had to hurry off to his weekend class, which would thankfully end the week after Thanksgiving and wouldn't resume for a month. Tom made him a quick breakfast before mixing up pancake batter for the boys when they woke. Then he went upstairs to work in his office until he heard the boys stir.
He went downstairs when he heard a toilet flush, and found Sebastien rubbing his eyes. "Want some OJ?" Tom asked. "When everyone else wakes up, I'll make pancakes."
"Thanks," Sebastien said, following him to the kitchen. Tom handed him a glass and said, "You can watch television if you want, or read something upstairs, or pretty much anything else you can find to do in the house! Make yourself at home!"
Sebastien went into the living room and sat down in front of the television and began flipping through channels as Tom went back upstairs. About forty-five minutes later, he looked up and was surprised to see the boy standing in the doorway, looking at him, confused.
"What's wrong, buddy?" Tom asked and the boy walked over and sat the little album on his desk.
"What is this?" Sebastien asked.
Tom sighed heavily and picked up the book. 'Shit!' he thought, kicking himself for leaving the book sitting out. This was not a conversation he'd expected to have. Tom got up and walked over to the little love seat by the window and patted the seat next to him. "I told you I had lost some people?" The boy nodded. "One of those people was a young man named Jamie," he said, turning to the end of the book, and showing him a picture of grown-up Jamie. "He was, I thought, the love of my life, but we were attacked and he died. And it turned out he was only one of the loves of my life," Tom smiled, trying to explain.
"When he died," Tom said, "I collapsed into myself. I cut myself off from the world except in my teaching. Martha and Walt had always been so good to me, but I just pulled away. Martha sent me this and I never could bear to look at it. But last night when she saw you, she brought me up here and showed me this. I never knew him when he was close to your age, so I never really noticed how much you look like him!"
Sebastien nodded thoughtfully and smiled. "I always thought of myself as pretty plain, but Jamie turned out pretty hot," the boy grinned. "Maybe I'll be able to find a guy after all."
"Sebastien," Tom said, turning the boy by his shoulders so they were facing each other, "you are NOT plain. I don't mean this to be anything but a compliment, but you are a very pretty boy, and you'll grow up to be a gorgeous man! Don't sell yourself short, young man!"
"Thanks, Tom," the boy smiled shyly at receiving the compliment, and Tom gave him a hug. "NOW why don't you go give David a wakeup call, and I'll put on breakfast!"
Sebastien's smile was impish as he ran off, and Tom smiled to himself in the kitchen when he heard David call, "SEBASTIEN!" a few minutes later. Then he heard Sebastien giggling madly.
"Morning," he laughed, as David came into the kitchen, still in his boxers, hair going every which way, Sebastien hot on his heels. "Juice?" Tom asked.
The boy just nodded and sat down at the table. Tom put a juice in front of him and said, "Sleep okay after your bad dream?"
The boy nodded again and drank his juice down in nearly one swig. "More, please?" he said with a grin and Tom shook his head and rolled his eyes, returning with the jug and setting it on the table. A few minutes later, Peter emerged, followed by Billy, both of whom seemed to have been roused by David's yell. Sebastien's face went blank as he watched Peter stretch, still shirtless. Then he did pause to appreciate Billy, who was built like a high school baseball player.
"I'm glad you are all comfortable around here," Tom laughed, "but we do have company! And Billy, you are company!"
"I don't mind," Sebastien said eagerly.
"Exactly," Tom said, winking at the guys as they sat down. As they sat together and ate breakfast, Tom did notice something important happening. No matter how much Sebastien admired Peter's slender form and beauty, his brotherly devotion to David was stronger, and growing stronger all the time. The boy was more mature than he seemed, Tom mused as he watched Sebastien turn to David with admiration whenever he spoke.
"What do you want to do today, guys?" Tom asked Sebastien and David.
"Want to go for a hike up at the park?" David asked, and Sebastien quickly nodded his enthusiastic assent.
Tom looked at Peter and Billy and asked, "Want to join us?"
Billy started to nod but Peter shook his head and said, "I thought we might hang out here by ourselves today?" Billy smiled and quickly agreed.
"Right," Tom said with a laugh. "Alright, get dressed for a walk in the woods and I'll get our lunch ready," Tom said.
"We'll do the dishes," Peter offered, and Tom thanked him as he hurried off to get dressed. When he returned, Peter and Billy were just finishing loading the dish washer. Tom packed sandwiches, some apples, as well as some chopped veggies and cheese into a backpack with some water bottles. Then as he was waiting for the boys, he sent Aiden a text letting him know where they'd be.
Aiden was sitting in class when his cell phone buzzed. He checked and saw he had a message from Jim so he slipped into the hall and listened to the message. "There was another one discovered this morning, and the Chief asked me to call you and tell you to get your ass down here. It's the Jewish cemetery on Fourth Ave." Aiden slipped back in and grabbed his stuff, flashing a sign to the professor. Since the class was mostly cops of some variety or other, they had a system for letting the professor know you were leaving on a case, to keep from having to stop class every time someone got called in. The man waved and kept lecturing as Aiden escaped.
It was then he noticed the text from Tom: 'Taking the boys hiking up at the State Park. Be home around the same time as you. XOXO.' Aiden shook his head with a smile as he felt his heart skip a beat.
He drove down Fourth Avenue and saw the cemetery in the distance, nestled into a green area of town and walled in for security. It's gate was surrounded by tape and policemen. Aiden pulled up and flashed his badge to gain access to the scene, and Pryce himself was there to meet him.
"Chief, I didn't expect you to," Aiden began, but the man cut him off.
"Officer O'Connell, given your connection to Tom, I wanted you to come down and see this, but I wanted to be here when you did. I just want you to know we take this very seriously and we're treating this like a threat against one of our own...."
"Chief," Aiden began hesitantly, but the man just took him by the arm and led him inside. The little cemetery reeked like a slaughter house, and looked like the demented nightmare of a serial killer. Animal heads mounted on posts and organized in the most horrible patterns, entrails hung like macabre tinsel, decorated the sacred space. And on one face of the wall, the name Corman was written in blood, circled, and crossed, as in the crosshairs of a scope.
"O'Connell," Pryce said as he felt the man tense up. "We'll put a car on him...."
"I wish that was enough," Aiden said. Then with urgency, "I've got to find him and warn him!"
"Just call him," the man said.
"He's taken David and another boy hiking in the park," Aiden said.
"I'll send a patrol car out to wait by the car. You'll never find them in the park," Pryce said sensibly.
"You can do that, sir, but I'm going out to the park anyway. I've got to do something." Then he added, "Can we leave the scene as it is until Tom can get out here and see this?"
"I want this cleaned up tomorrow, but if you can get him out here this evening, or first thing in the morning," the man said as he followed Aiden out. He accompanied him beyond the cordon and up to his car. "Aiden, don't lose your head," Pryce whispered.
Suddenly, a voice called from behind Aiden, "Officer O'Connel?" and he turned to face the man. He saw the man's eyes, black as night, but before he could say anything, the man raised his arm and fired three shots before Pryce could draw and fire his service revolver. As Aiden hit the ground, the last thing to go through his mind was the realization that he wasn't wearing his bullet-proof vest. The rest of the officers still seemed stunned, so it was Chief Pryce who was on his radio -- "I NEED AN AMBULANCE! OFFICER DOWN! REPEAT OFFICER DOWN!"
Suddenly, upon hearing their chief's words, the nearest officers sprang into action. They checked the assailant to make sure he was dead -- the neat cluster of bullet holes in his chest assured he was -- and one officer knelt over Aiden. As he was about to put his hands on the man's wound, his partner called out, "He could be sick man. He's gay!" The young man didn't even look up at Pryce, whose face was red with rage, before he pressed his bare hands into Aiden's wounds to staunch the flow of blood. One wound was near the heart, but the second was lower, but not near the organs of his gut, and wouldn't do much damage.
"Officer Hendrix," Pryce called the man over once he saw Aiden was being seen to. Holding out his hand, he said, "Your badge and your gun!"
"You can't," the man began, but was cut off by the sound of a rage-filled yell of a big man approaching with his billy club drawn.
"Hendrix, you fink bastard," Jim Reynolds yelled as a couple of officers subdued him.
"Get him in a car and follow the damn ambulance to the hospital," Pryce yelled. "WHERE'S THE FUCKING AMBULANCE?" he yelled into his radio.
"ETA 2 minutes, sir," a calm voice answered.
"TELL THEM TO DRIVE FASTER!" Then he said, "You guys be ready to clear the traffic between here and the hospital. I don't want those bastards to even be tempted to slow down at an intersection." Then he turned back to Hendrix and said, "I CAN AND I AM! You are suspended pending an administrative hearing!" When the man puffed out his chest and started to speak, Pryce said, "I don't want to get disciplined for what I'm about to do, Hendrix, but I'll do it if you don't shut your mouth!"
The man removed his holster and handed it to the nearest officer with his badge and stormed off. The last thing Pryce managed before the ambulance arrived was to tell a patrol car to go and wait for Tom and the boys at the park.
Tom and the boys ate their lunches, laughing and talking. "The camping trip is going to be so cool," Sebastien said.
"I'm glad your dad decided to go," Tom said, and the boy's eyes lit up.
"HE DID?"
"Shit," Tom said. "I thought he told you! He must have been keeping it a secret!"
"That's so great!" the boy bubbled. "I'll pretend like I'm surprised," he said with a smile.
Jim Reynolds rode in the back seat of the patrol car that was escorting the ambulance. When they arrived, he followed the gurney as far as the medics would allow, before collapsing in a chair to wait. A few minutes later, cops started to arrive and mill around. When the doctor emerged, he asked, "I need someone to sign some waivers!"
Jim stood and signed the form; Aiden hadn't thought to update his power of attorney yet, and so his partner was still the man to approve such things. "Any news?"
"He's critical," the doctor said. "He took three .357 caliber bullets. We've only removed the one from his arm, which was simple and straightforward. One is lodged near his heart, if it didn't damage the organ. The other is in his lower chest or gut somewhere.... We'll get some news out to you guys as we can," the man added.
"Please take care of him, doc. He means a lot to us," Jim said, his eyes misting over.
"I was a marine, officer," the man revealed. "I'm going to do what I can to save your man in there...."
Jim collapsed into a nearby seat and Lincoln Pryce settled in next to him. "He's a strong one," Jim said, as much consoling himself as explaining to his boss, "he'll be fine...."
"I know he will," the man said. "You should make some phone calls. Or I can if you'd rather...."
"Tom?"
"He's with the boys in the woods," Pryce said. "I've got a patrol car waiting for him."
"I'll call the house just in case someone is home," Jim said as he pulled out his cell phone and went to a more private place to make calls.
His first call was to Tom's house. "Hello?" a soft young man's voice answered.
"It's Aiden's partner, Jim. Who's this?"
"Peter," the young man answered.
"Peter, are Tom and your brother home yet?" Jim asked.
"No, it's just me and Billy. I wasn't expecting them until 5," Peter said, sounding nervous.
"Peter, I need you to come on down to University Hospital. That's where the officers waiting on your brother and Tom will bring them...."
"What happened?" Peter asked, his eyes misting up.
"Aiden's been shot, son," the man said, his voice breaking a little.
"No, he's in school today," the boy insisted.
"He got called down to a crime scene, and someone in the crowd shot him three times," Jim insisted. "Someone there who can drive you?"
"Billy'll bring me," Peter said. "We're leaving now...."
Jim hung up the phone and called his wife and let her know what was going on, and she too left immediately for the hospital. Then the hard calls. Jim reached for his book and looked up the emergency contacts he kept for just such as case.
"Hello?" a woman answered.
"Mrs. O'Connell?"
"Yes?"
"Jim Reynolds, ma'am," the man said, and he heard the woman gasp and drop something.
"Is he alive?" the woman asked in a whisper.
"Yes, ma'am," he said. "Right now...." After a moment, he explained to her that Aiden was critical. "Is your husband home?"
"Yes," she said. "He's here with me now."
"How soon can you be here?" Jim asked.
"If we drive, we can leave in twenty minute," the man said, "but it would take hours. I'll check flights from Memphis to Richmond and see if that would be faster. Then we can get a car and drive."
"If you fly, we can send a patrol car to pick you up," Jim said. "Blue lights all the way...."
"Thanks, Jim," the man said, getting off the phone to call a cab to the airport. He'd bully their way onto the next flight when they got there.
Then, he thought of Tom, and pulled out a card Walt had given him. "Hello," the man answered at his home office.
"Walt, Jim Reynolds, Aiden's partner."
"What can I do for you, Jim?"
"I have a terrible favor to ask," he said. "Tom's taken David out hiking, and something's happened, Walt...."
"Dear Lord in heaven, no," the man said, gasping.
"It's pretty bad, and when Tom walks out of the woods, an officer is waiting to bring him and the boys here. It sure as hell would be nice if someone was here for him...."
Walt sighed to choke back the emotion and said, "Let me just try and break this to my wife and we'll be there!" Walt hung up the phone and searched the house for Martha, finding her knitting on the back porch.
When she saw his face, she asked, "What's wrong, dear?"
"It's ... uhm," he said, blinking back the moisture and swallowing the whimper. "Aiden's been shot."
"WHAT! How's Tom?" she asked, standing.
"He doesn't know yet. They've got officers waiting to bring him to the hospital when he and David come out of the hiking trails."
Jim's wife and Peter arrived about the same time, and the woman hugged the boy tightly as he began to cry softly. Those tears increased when he saw Martha and Walt. Together, they watched the clock, nearly holding their breaths waiting for word that Tom was on his way. Chief Pryce had arranged for a car to meet Aiden's parents at 6, when their flight was due, but there was no anticipating when an impromptu outing with the boys would end.
"Did anybody call Tom's friend Alasdair?" Peter asked after a while. No one knew his number, but that gave Peter a mission, so he went to find a place he could use his phone to find the man.
"Everybody will be waiting for us," Sebastien said as they walked down the last trail toward the parking lot at 5:30.
"Maybe Aiden will pick up dinner when he realizes we still aren't home," David suggested with a laugh.
"Why don't you call him and suggest that when we get to the car," Tom said. But all words, all laughter, dried up when they burst into the clearing in the last hazy light of dusk and saw the policeman parked by their car, leaning on the front of his vehicle waiting intently.
"Officer?" Tom asked, tentatively.
"Dr. Corman," the man said, standing up straight and trying not to look him in the eyes. "If you men would get in the car, we'll be on our way."
The boys started to get in the back seat when Tom asked, "To where?"
"University Hospital, sir," the man said softly.
Tom stopped, everything stopped for him, and his mind went numb as his chest seized so sharply he thought he might be having a heart attack. He only vaguely aware of David's and Sebastien's hands guiding him into the back seat, one boy on each side of him, holding his hands tightly. The officer turned on his lights and sirens and sped through town, barely slowing.
Thanks to Jim B. for corrections.
Sorry for the long break, but life has its moments. More to come soon. If you enjoyed this story, you might consider my other on-going stories at Nifty, Fantasy/SciFi, Things that Go Bump and A Light in the Darkness.
Or, better, send me a note and join my website, jaygordonstories.com! Registration is free.
jaygordon_1981@hotmail.com