Hey guys. This is my first attempt at writing. Make sure to join my yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Stockard-719/. Members get early previews and I have added pictures of what I envision major characters to look like. Tell me what you think and if you would like to read more: umrebelone@gmail.com
The next several months were difficult for Banks as he and Ty were separated until Ty's enlistment was finished in mid-June. All of the members of the extended family worked to keep his spirits up. He and Ty didn't get to talk but about once a week because Ty was taking part in training his replacement and was often working most of the week.
Baseball season for Patty and Nic went well with the team winning their division and conference crowns. They even sweep their regional and superregional. No matter how busy the extended family was, they often if not always made it to the home games. More and more of the players starting hanging out at the house, which quickly became grand central station.
"Hey Banks, what's up?" asked Gabe after dinner one night while he, Banks and Jamie were cleaning up.
"I know that I'm going to get to see Ty in less than a week, but it still seems too long. I offered to come help him pack, but he doesn't want me to go through the trouble. It's been almost three months since I've seen him. I should be better about this."
"Hey guys, I just remembered that I needed to make a phone call. Be back in a bit," said Jamie as he headed out of the kitchen.
"Banks, I honestly don't know how I could go three months without Jamie, especially when we first got together. Don't be afraid to tell us how you are feeling. We are all your family and so it Ty."
"I know. It's been rough on Ty as well. The lieutenant in charge if the unit is a big homophobe. He's constantly talking about how sick "fags" are and how he would never serve with a bunch of fairies. Ty has admitted that he has almost blurted out that he is gay a couple of times just to see the reaction on the Lt's face."
That caused both of them to laugh as they carried on with their work. Just as they finished, Jamie came back into the room.
"Okay guys, get your shit packed."
Both of them looked at Jamie with a questioning glance.
"The jet will be here in about an hour. I've got two suites booked off base for the next few days. Dad's going to arrange for a moving company to bring Ty's stuff back here while we go watch Patty and Nic kick straight boy butt in the College World Series. I'm not taking no for an answer."
The thought of Banks getting to see his boyfriend in a few hours instead of days, brought tears to his eyes. Gabe and Jamie pulled him into a three-man hug that lasted for a few minutes while Banks pulled himself together.
When the guys arrived at Ty's apartment, there were no lights on and his car wasn't in the parking lot. Banks remembered that Ty had mentioned some late night training. After waiting about 30 minutes, Ty's car pulled into the parking lot. As he got out of the car, Banks called his cell phone.
Ty almost dropped his gear as he answered his phone, "Hey babe. What are you doing up so late?"
"Well, I couldn't sleep because I was missing you. I thought I would take a chance and see if you were still up."
"I'm so glad you called. We've got a new kid in the unit and Lt Dick has been riding him hard. I'm pretty sure the kid is straight, but he's small. I almost punched the lt. at one point. I can't wait to see you next week."
"Me either. Nice shirt by the way."
"Wait. What?"
In his confusion, Ty started scanning his surroundings and quickly caught site of Banks, Jamie and Gabe getting out of a car across the street. Ty dropped everything including his phone and ran and grabbed Banks into a kiss that lasted for quite a awhile. Once the kiss ended, Ty started to acknowledge the presence of Jamie and Gabe.
`What's going on?"
"Well, Banks was being such a Debbie downer about being away from you, we decided to come help you finish packing. Go grab your stuff, we've got two suites downtown."
"I need to take my car. I've got to be back on base at 10."
"Well, I'm sure we can get you there in time. We will come back here and do some packing while you are on base. One of us will drive your car to pick you up."
The two couples parted ways when they made it to the hotel. When Banks and Ty arrived for a late breakfast, they looked like they didn't get much sleep the night before and from the way Banks was walking, Jamie and Gabe had a good idea why.
"He guys, the master sergeant for our unit is having a cookout tonight. He's always told us to bring friends. I'm sure the guys would be happy to see Banks again."
Jamie spoke up, "Are you sure you want Gabe and I there?"
"Yeah. Maybe we can introduce you as friends of Banks from school."
The party that night was great. Lots of good food and fun. The guys from unit quickly inducted Jamie and Gabe into their group and made them feel at home. They were grateful for them pressuring Banks to start school.
Lt. Richards or Lt. Dick as he was known by the guys in the unit got drunk early in the evening and started mouthing off about fags and such.
"Lt, with all due respect, this is my home and I don't like you talking that way. You can either shut the hell up or leave," came the quick response from the master sergeant.
The Lt shut up and started to pout like a kid whose toy had just been taken away from him.
Later in the evening, Gabe was getting something to drink when the master sergeant came up behind him.
"Having a good time son?"
"Yes, sir. Thanks for letting Jamie and I stay around."
"Sorry about the Lt. He can be a real dick sometimes. It's only gotten worse since his wife is pregnant and he isn't getting laid."
Gabe couldn't help but laugh.
"Son, my wife is from the same state as you. When we were there for Christmas this past year and saw a picture of you and Jamie. I know you two are a little more than friends from school. I've got the feeling that Jet and Banks are a little more than friends as well."
"Well, sir. How do you feel about that?
"Well, my opinion is a little different than most military people. Banks was the best medic I've ever known. There are guys here tonight that would be dead if it wasn't for Banks. The same can be said for Jet. They deserve to be happy."
"If you don't mind me saying so sir, that's a very enlightened view."
"It wasn't easy to come by. About five years ago, I received a phone call in the middle of the night from some guy telling me my little brother had committed suicide. He was ten years younger than me and we had never been real close. I left for the Air Force a couple of days after I turned 18. He and my parents had a big fight the day he turned 18. I saw him twice between then and his suicide. My parents didn't even go to the funeral. After the funeral, the guy that called me pulled me aside and told me that my brother had killed himself because he is gay and couldn't go on without his family."
"I'm sorry to hear that sir." "I've worked to move past it. I think of Jet and Banks like younger brothers. You make sure I don't get a call about one of them."
"Gladly, sir."
The rest of the evening went well and Jet was looking forward to his final day. Actually, it was only a half day as he would officially be discharged at noon. Some of the guys decided to throw an impromptu party and Banks, Jamie and Gabe were invited.
Banks showed Jamie and Gabe around the base while Ty was dealing with paper work. They all meet back at the pavilion on base at noon for hamburgers and hot dogs. Again the party went will until the Lt. decided to start running his trap.
After about an hour and a half the party started to wind down and everyone started to say goodbye.
Just as the group was starting to break up, the Lt opened his mouth.
"Ok ladies, back to work before you become a bunch of fruits."
That was the breaking point for Ty and Gabe, Jamie and Banks knew it, but wasn't prepared for what Ty did next.
"Hey Lt. Dick, go fuck yourself" yelled Ty as he placed his hand behind Banks' neck and pulled him into a French kiss that lasted a good minute.
Their public display of affection was meet from cat calls from the rest of the guys in the unit, a big smile across the face of the master sergeant and all of the color draining from the face of the lt. Once the kiss broke up, the guys from the unit hugged and congratulated Banks and Ty again while the Lt slinked way. The boys were overcome with emotion from the acceptance from the guys in the unit.
One of the biggest and butchest guys in the unit finally said, "I wondered how long you two were going to screw around before screwing."
That brought about another round of laughter and blushes to the Ty's and Bank's faces. Shortly thereafter, the guys headed out and back to start loading up. When they arrived the moving company was waiting on them.
"What's going on? I was going to get a moving truck later."
"There's been a change in plans. These nice gentlemen will be moving your stuff home and you are going with us to see Patty and Nic play in the college world series," chimed in Jamie.
"Babe, you better listen to him. He doesn't take no for an answer," added Banks. "The Wicker Construction jet is waiting to take us to Omaha just as soon as we get your stuff loaded. Patty and Nic don't know we are coming."
The guys worked with the movers and had everything out and cleaned up and checked out around 7 that night. They ran by the hotel to get their things and get cleaned up. They stopped for food and got on the plan around 9. They were all dead tired when they dropped into bed at midnight.
Patty and Nic's first game was at 10 the next morning. They thought about calling them, but decided against it.
The game was close until Patty hit a fastball over the center field wall that resulted in a grand slam in the top of the 9th. Nic was on base at the same and snuck a kiss in when Patty crossed home plate.
Nic had presented himself as a pretty good relief pitcher after recovering from his injuries in the fall. The coach decided to change up the game plan a little and told Nic to warm up to pitch the bottom of the ninth. He had a feeling that Nic wasn't going to squander the lead that his boyfriend had just secured. Nobody was prepared for what came next...
"Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!"
Nic's 9 consecutive strikes against the top of the order of one of the best hitting teams in the country caused the crowd to go wild.
Patrick was the first of his teammates to reach him and grabbed him in a big bear hug.
The boys waited outside the locker room door for the team.
As Patrick and Nic past, Jamie spoke up, "That was pretty good, but y'all are going to have to lay off the late night sex if y'all plan to win this thing."
Patty and Nic spun around glaring at Jamie, Gabe, Banks and Ty as the rest of the team started laughing.
"What the hell are y'all doing here?" asked Patty.
"Well, Ty wanted to see another baseball game. Unfortunately, we choose to see you two."
That caused Jamie to get a "love shot" to both of his arms from Nic and Patrick before they started hugging their friends.
"O'Daniel and Romeori, put your stuff on the bus and be back for curfew at 10. I think you two have earned sometime with your family."
It didn't take long before all six of the guys were headed to grab something to eat and catching up on the events of the last few days. Banks and Ty received high-fives from Patty and Nic when they told them about kissing in front of Lt. Dick.
During dinner, Gabe's phone rang.
"Why the hell weren't we invited?" asked a very upset Sara Beth.
"I'm sorry, it just kinda happened. We didn't mean to leave you out."
"Well Sean, Kayla, Max and myself are flying in as soon as Sean and Kayla are finished with orientation."
"Great, should we get three rooms?"
"I'm pretty sure two will work."
"Cool. See y'all tomorrow," said Gabe as he closed his phone.
"Who was that?" asked Jamie.
"A very pissed off Sara Beth. She, Max, Sean and Kayla are flying in after the youngons are finished with orientation."
"Really?" asked Patty and Nic at the same time.
"Yeah, you guys better win now with the entire clan here."
And win they did. They won all of their games by an average of four runs.
Patty was the shortstop for the all-tournament team and Nic got selected as a pitcher after giving up 4 balls and no hits in 6 innings of work.
When the all conference team was announced, it was announced that Patty and Nic had been selected as co-MVP's of the all conference team. Patty was so happy, he gave Nic a kiss before he thought about what he was doing.
"Oh, shit. What did I just do?"
"You told me you love me and you don't care who knows. I don't either."
Their second kiss was meet with a round of applause from their team and stares from the other team. They didn't care.