Flaming in the Dorms

A/N: Hello guys. We're going into the home stretch on this one. Don't see it lasting more than 8 more chapters, if that. Either way, done with the darker stuff after this for quite a while and on with the fun. Dae, James, and Liberty are up to no good and Grape Ape better run and hide. lol Guess I'll shut up now. In a rush. Death in the family so gotta go do what I gotta do. Hope you guys enjoy this and thanx go to everybody who reviewed last time. I appreciate it and it keeps me going. *hugs reviewers*

Big Kudos to Lisa for helping with this one. Thanx for the suggestions and sorry about the mess I sent.

PS: Started a new story on AFF called 'Jason and You Makes Two' so check it out if you have time.

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Chapter 33 Smoke Signals

Damien let out a sigh of relief as he eased into the back seat of Granny’s limo and gave her a half smile. The old bat returned it and then passed one to Liberty nearby before pulling out her cell to call Mary the Dragon Lady. The past few weeks had flown by. At first Damien had been on edge expecting Gregg to pop up around every corner. James and Damien had tried to stick together between classes, during lunch, and whenever they went out after school. Scott’d damn near put them both on lock-down and seemed to follow them around everywhere they went. If he couldn’t, he’d have one of his buddies do it. Luckily, the sexy jock had finally slacked off over the last couple of days. Still, he hadn’t been real thrilled with letting Damien leave campus without him. He hadn’t had a choice, though, with a major exam hovering over his head and weight training in the evenings.

Since Mama and Granny wouldn’t even consider rescheduling the appointment, Damien decided to just go and get it over with. He was glad that he had, too. He didn’t know if it was the huge dinner they’d eaten on Valentine’s Day a week and a half ago, the hot and heavy fucking they’d done after that at a nice motel a few towns over, or the peace and quiet they’d had since then, but Damien had been in a much better mood lately and had even gained close to five pounds, a huge amount for such a short time.

Nurse Tommy had cut back his weigh-in sessions to once every two weeks once he was satisfied that Damien wasn’t gonna start losing weight again so Damien honestly had had no idea and had nearly fallen over in shock when he’d heard the news. Apparently muscle really did weigh more than fat because his clothes hadn’t fit any differently. Liberty had bounced a little, and Granny had just nodded her head in silent approval, a smug look on her round face and a proud twinkle in her violet eyes. It’d taken him close to six months to put that much weight on the last time, so Damien knew it must have had something to do with his gorgeous man hanging around to make sure he ate, slept, and got his ‘exercise’ regularly. Even Scott had noticed that Damien was starting to get a little muscle definition now and Damien’s sexy jock loved it.

The blood tests had all come back much better than they had before, too. Damien wasn’t quite 100% yet, but he was damn close and it was a good feeling. Dr. Perez had told them that whatever they’d been doing was working and to keep it up and Granny had promised to make sure that they did. It was like things were finally falling into place for him. Sure, school was the same old crap but he hadn’t gotten into any fights and people had left him alone for the most part once they’d accepted the fact that he didn’t play around on his man. His sessions with Dr. Lieberman had been going pretty well too. Mostly they just talked about everyday stuff and played cards like they had before. Of course, Dr. Lieberman would try to draw a little something out here and there and Damien would let him as long as it wasn’t something too uncomfortable.

Damien had managed to get a little further with his art too. The oil painting he’d done of the old oak hadn’t turned out half bad and Mr. Banks had even asked Damien if he wanted to enter it in some kind of art competition. Damien had turned him down because it was nowhere near his best and he didn’t like the idea of putting something he considered second rate up on display for other people to look at and judge. Scott hadn’t seen the oil painting at all as far as Damien knew. Damien had always made sure to work on it while Scott was at training and then tuck it away somewhere so it wouldn’t get messed up before Scott got home.

Luckily it was a fairly small canvas, about the size of a small book, so it hadn’t been hard to hide. He’d just locked it up in his desk drawer while he wasn’t working with it. It was probably silly on Damien’s part, but he wanted the first thing he showed to Scott to be something he was proud of and would blow Scott away. The watercolor painting he was now working on had turned out to be a little trickier. This one was a big spring landscape that Damien had no choice but to leave propped against the wall in their room. He’d made Scott promise not to peek at it but all the big guy would have to do is lift the sheet Damien kept draped over it.

In all honestly, Damien was really happy with this one. Watercolors had always been his favorite medium and, when they’d been told to pick a picture out of a magazine or something from their personal photo collections for the piece, Damien had excitedly sent home for pictures he’d kept from before the attack. Mama had shipped them to him, along with several of the small watercolor pieces and a few sketchbooks he’d done before he’d given up his art. That’d shocked Damien because, out of the stuff she sent, the pictures had been the only thing that he hadn’t thrown away. All of the other stuff he had.

When he’d asked Mama about it, she’d given him that indulgent laugh that always made him feel like he was still three years old and said, “Now, Dae-Lee, you oughta know by now that your mama ain’t gonna stand back and let her baby throw somethin’ like that away. I still have your doodles from when you was two and thought everything you made needed to be stuck to the ‘frigerator with magnets. Besides, I was hopin’ you’d be need’em someday. Guess I’s right after all.”

A snort escaped Damien as he recalled that last comment and Liberty reached over with her foot to poke Damien in the leg. “Stop looking so pleased with yourself, Damien. I can see your head swelling from here.”

“As if,” Damien shot back in a put-out voice. “You’re just jealous cause I’m hotter than you are. Admit it.” When Liberty rolled her eyes and refused, Damien flipped her the bird. “Fine. Be that way. When the nurse asked if I wanted you to stay in the room for the exam, I shoulda told her to run you out. You were probably just hoping to get a free peek at my hot bod anyway.”

With a snort of disagreement, Liberty glanced over at Granny with a ‘can you believe this shit?’ expression before looking back at Damien. “You should be thanking me for sticking around and giving you moral support. I’ve never seen anybody whine so much over a little needle in my life. You’d have thought they were trying to shove a two-by-four into your vein the way you were carrying on. For a minute there I really thought you were going to cry or something.”

“That’s bullshit!” Damien crowed, pointing a threatening finger in Liberty’s direction while he tried to hide the blush of embarrassment spreading across his cheeks. “You tell Scott that and I’ll . . .”

“Now, now, children,” Granny cut in with authority, finally snapping the phone shut and pinning her attention on Damien and Liberty with an irritated expression. “That will be more than enough from the two of you.” Damien raised an eyebrow at that while Liberty snickered at his expense. He glared back over at her and was about to put her in her place when Granny asked, “Tell me how things have been at school this week, dear. My two boys haven’t been home to see their dear, sweet grandmother in two, long weeks.”

“Sweet’s one word for it,” Damien replied, fighting hard not to roll his eyes again. “Manipulative, sneaky, and conniving are a few other words that come to mind right now. Besides, you talk to Scott almost every day and I talked to you at least four times last week. It’s not like we’ve been avoiding you or something. We were just busy with everything going on and you know Scott has a big exam coming up in his history class.”

“Yes, I did as a matter of fact,” Granny observed with an approving nod of her head and a pleased smile on her round face as she patted a stray strand of her white hair into place. She was clearly happy with the current state of her and Scott’s relationship. Damien was too but at times he was a little jealous. His grandmother on his dad’s side had died when he was a small child and his mom’s mom was so far away that he hardly ever got the chance to visit her. Maybe once a year if he was lucky. Still, Granny seemed to have adopted him into the fold so it was all good.

“Did he tell you that the guys at weight lifting practice are still giving him a hard time?” Damien asked. “Not to his face, but they keep dumping on him behind his back.”

“Yes, so I’ve heard,” was Granny’s less than amused reply. The hard look in her violet eyes said that she’d heard more than enough to piss her off. “I’ve advised him to continue for the duration if he can since he made an obligation to help, but to remove himself from the situation if he feels that it is becoming more than he could handle.”

“If I were him, I’d just tell them off and get it over with,” Damien grumbled.

“If you were him, you’d have been thrown out of school already because you’d be constantly fighting with everybody in the gym who ticked you off,” Liberty chimed in, irritation clearly coloring her voice.

“I’ve been doing better with that, thank you very much. Dr. Lieberman said I just needed to work off some stress.”

“I’m sure,” Liberty replied with a knowing smirk, “but I have a feeling that his idea of working off stress and yours are totally different.”

“He was talking about my art, stupid,” Damien growled as he immediately shot a look at Granny to gauge her reaction to the comment. “He’s also showing me some things that are supposed to help me relax and stuff.” He wasn’t sure if the old bat knew exactly what was going on between him and Scott sexually but he knew that the Dragon Lady had caught them in a compromising position in the pool. Still, that didn’t necessarily mean that Granny-Spies-A-Lot had figured out that her ‘dearest grandson’ and his boyfriend were going at it like wild rabbits in heat. After all, Scott’s room was off by itself in one wing of the mansion and Granny’s was on the other. Except for the daily cleaning that had to be done, the servants that kept the place up didn’t come into Scott’s wing unless they were called. Then again, she always let them stay in Scott’s room together so she was either blind or didn’t give a shit one way or the other.

A husky chuckle escaped Granny’s lips as she eyed them both. Then she shook her head, like she didn’t know what to make of them, and leaned back into the seat with a sigh. “The two of you are like siblings. At times I’m reminded of myself and Calvin, my younger brother, when we were closer to your age. He was always so full of energy and fire. Sadly, he passed away several years ago.”

Damien didn’t know quite what to say to that so he just frowned and mumbled, “I’m sorry,” before looking back over at Liberty for some clue as to how he should react. She just gave Granny a compassionate look and reached over to pat her on the hand in a consoling gesture.

“No need for all of this,” Granny murmured in a husky voice as she turned her hand over to clasp Liberty’s and give it a reassuring squeeze before releasing it. “Calvin lived a full and happy life with few regrets. It’s the most that any of us can wish for.” For a few seconds silence settled between them as they looked out the windows at the scenery passing by, everyone at a loss for what else to say.

Liberty was the first to rebound. Just as they passed a huge billboard for California Raisins with ‘Heard it through the Grapevine’ printed across the top in large letters, Liberty turned to Damien with mischief in her wide, brown eyes and asked, “How’re things going with the Grape Ape situation? Figured out a way to get back at him yet?”

Granny immediately raised a white eyebrow at that and turned questioning eyes in Damien’s direction. “Exactly who is this ‘Grape Ape’ person and why have I yet to hear about him? Has he been harassing you or have you gone out in search of trouble where there should be none?” she admonished with a deep frown, suspicion clearly written in the lines around her eyes.

Damien snorted and glared over at Liberty, but she just shrugged and gave him a shit eating grin. The bitch. “No, he hasn’t been harassing me. It’s this little twink who keeps messing with Scott, trying to get in his pants and cause trouble between us. He gets worse every day and Scott refuses to see him for the devious little tramp he really is.”

“While that sounds very much like something Scott would do, you must know that my grandson would never willingly betray you by courting another,” Granny scolded. “You should have more faith in your affianced and trust in the fact that he chose you above all others.”

“Since when is Scott my ‘affianced’?” Damien shot back, trying his best to hide how happy he was with the old bat’s blunt words, “Last I checked that usually involves a proposal and plans for a wedding, and I already know he’s not gonna cheat on me with that little purple-haired freak. It’s just the principle of the thing.”

Granny eyed Damien in surprise for a moment before asking, “He truly hasn’t asked you? I’d just assumed that after he…” When the old lady paused like she was trying to make up her mind about something, Damien threw a confused look at Liberty. She just shrugged her shoulders and glanced back at Granny. “Never mind,” she finally husked, her confusion over what she hadn’t said easy to read in her eyes. “As to this other person, you should simply turn the other cheek and trust in your beloved.”

“That’s easier said than done,” Liberty observed with an amused grin at Damien, “especially when you’re talking about someone like Damien. If you knew half the things this Grape Ape guy has pulled right in front of Damien, you’d be impressed that he hasn’t strangled him already. Well…I think he actually tried once but Scott wouldn’t let him.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence there, Liberty. Remind me to pull the knife out of my back later.” With one last glare for the brunette’s benefit, Damien turned back to Granny with a sigh. Then he went into great detail describing everything that had happened with Steven up until he’d left for Granny’s house the night before. Granny listened with interest, carefully hiding her reactions behind a composed mask. Only a time or two did she raise an eyebrow at something Damien told her and once Damien was finished she folded her hands primly in her lap and mulled over what he’d said.

After a few moments, she shook her head and gave Damien her full attention once again. “Sometimes I fear that Scott’s naivety will be the death of me. I’m sure that you’ve heard the old saying ‘you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. Is there any way for you to get closer to him? Perhaps call a false truce and try to befriend him? It would not only make you appear the larger person in Scott’s eyes, but would also give you the ability to watch this intruder more closely and more easily judge what he might be planning so that you can intercede before he’s able to achieve his objectives.”

Damien shrugged carelessly and did his best to hide the cringe he felt at the thought of hanging out with Steve and playing friendly. There was no way in hell that would work. For one thing, Steve seemed to hate Damien just as much as Damien hated Steve. For another, Damien would kill the little slut within an hour’s time because, every time the guy eyed Scott, it made Damien want to grab him by his red and purple hair and redecorate his chibi face against a brick wall.

“That’d never work,” Damien finally admitted. “He’d never buy it and I’d rather cut off my own hand than play nice with that piece of shit.”

“Then perhaps someone you know well, for example, a friend who supports your relationship with Scott who this Steve person wouldn’t suspect,” Granny suggested mildly and Damien couldn’t help but give her a hard look as he thought to himself that some people never changed. Not that he really cared. In this case, Granny’s darker side might come in handy and he seriously doubted she’d rat him out to Scott if he let her in on his scheming to get even with the little whore. Still, he didn’t know anybody who could buddy up to Steve like the old bat had suggested.

Liberty seemed deep in thought as she stared out the window at the passing cars. Then it was like a light bulb switching on above her head as she looked back over at Damien. “What about James?” she gushed with excitement. “Didn’t he lay a big kiss on Grape Ape that time? What if he started acting like he wanted to date the guy to distract him from chasing after Scott?”

Damien cringed again, and this time he couldn’t hide it. Liberty didn’t know a lot of the things that’d gone on with James not so long ago and her words really hit a sore spot. “No way in hell I’d ask him to fake dating some guy,” Damien grumbled as he slumped down in his seat and wracked his brain again. ‘Ryan?’ he thought to himself. ‘No. He wouldn’t give a crap one way or the other. Terry and Tray seemed to like the little bastard so they were out. Besides, none of them are into guys.’ The problem was, Damien’s list of friends wasn’t that extensive, but there was no way Damien could ask James to sacrifice himself for the cause by dating Grape Ape, especially after that shit with Gregg. Then an idea hit him and he let out a snort of amusement as he began working out the details in his head. Who said James had to pretend to DATE Grape Ape to make it work? There were lots of other ways for James to get close to the little bastard…

Granny misunderstood the rude noise Damien had made and let out a sigh as she reached over and patted him on the knee. “Don’t worry so, young man. Soon you’ll both be finished with high school and will move on to bigger and better things. Speaking of which, I spoke to Jacqueline last night and she said that you’d yet to decide on a school or career path after graduation. Have you given any thought to where you might like to go?”

“I have no idea,” Damien grumbled, not real happy with the sudden turn the conversation had taken. Liberty passed him a knowing look but decided to keep her thoughts on the subject to herself for once. “I don’t even know what I want to do, much less where I want to do it. I always wanted to do something where I could use my art but I’m not sure if that’s even possible the way I am now. I’m working on it, but…”

“I understand that you’re trying, as does Jacqueline,” Granny explained in a level voice, her eyes smiling gently at Damien as if she completely understood what he was going through, “but you should also keep in mind that not all college students go into their freshmen year with a clear plan in mind. Many simply decide upon a school that they feel fits them best and then choose a course of study that will allow them to explore different areas. It really doesn’t matter what program you sign up for initially. You can take classes from several different fields of study and change your major at a later time, when you have a clearer goal in mind for your future.”

At those words, Damien felt like the weight of the world had suddenly lifted from his shoulders. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? Just because everyone around him seemed to know where they were going with their lives didn’t necessarily mean he had to decide overnight. Just letting things coast for a while to give himself time to figure it out hadn’t even occurred to him. Mama, Pops, the school’s advisor, Dr. Lieberman, Scott, and even James seemed to think it was something he needed to figure out ASAP. They just didn’t understand that Damien was under too much pressure and everything was still too up in the air to make a decision like that.

Granny was right. It was something he could decide later. All he had to focus on for now was where he wanted to attend school after graduation. Then, after he’d had time to figure out what he wanted to do with his life and whether or not that could include his art, Damien could make a better decision. Everyone up till now had been pushing him to choose now, to know what he wanted immediately. Granny was the only one who seemed to understand that it didn’t have to happen that way and he had to blink back the tears of gratitude that burned at the back of his eyes as he smiled over at her.

“Thanks, Granny. You’ve really helped me out. I’ll start looking around at colleges and see what I can dig up.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Granny assured him with another pat on the knee. “My only mission in life is to take care of my two young men. If you’d like I can have one of my people do some research and send some information to you. Just make a list of what you prefer in a school - atmosphere, location, class sizes, price ranges, your GPA and other pertinent information – and I’ll have them look into it. Normally I’d say that it would be a valuable learning experience to discover these things on your own but since time is running out to apply I think this would help you immensely in making your decision.”

“You’re awesome, Granny,” Damien chirped as he sat back again with a smile on his face. “I’ll do that. I was thinking about applying to some of the schools where Scott was accepted, but that’s not even a possibility with my grades. Maybe I should try out a small community college for a year and see if I can bring up my GPA before I apply to something better. I haven’t taken the SAT or the ACT exams either so…”

“One step at a time, dear boy,” Granny cut in with a chuckle, although it was clear by the way her eyes had widened in disbelief that she was blown over by how far behind Damien was. “You should focus on the testing while I have someone look into schools that might suit your needs. Scott already has some of the study guides and sample tests in his room so you can get started immediately.”

“I know I’ve asked you before, but are you sure you don’t wanna marry me?”

“Oh my God, Damien,” Liberty crowed in disbelief. “You didn’t!”

“Yes, he did,” Granny admitted with a wry grin.

“But this time it’s different,” Damien argued with a teasing wink at Granny. “I know you better now than I did before, so I know exactly what I’m getting into this time.”

“Alas, I fear that I must turn you down yet again,” Granny replied with a delighted laugh. “As much as I adore the idea of your becoming part of our small family, I’m afraid that I’ll have to leave that in the hands of my wonderful grandson. Besides, I’m far too old and frail for such things.”

Damien rolled his eyes at that as he sat there with a big smile on his face. Suddenly what lay ahead didn’t seem nearly as overwhelming. He’d take it one step at a time, like Granny had said. He couldn’t wait to tell Dr. Lieberman about their conversation to see what he thought about their plans. It was something at least. Even a little progress beat the hell out of nothing at all. For the first time in a long time, it wasn’t nearly so scary or depressing when Damien looked ahead to the future. As long as that future included Scott, Damien knew he could handle whatever came his way. And if he couldn’t? Well, at least he knew he’d have Granny at his back and her ‘people’ to help him figure it out. But, for now? Testing and getting even with pushy, purpley-redheads were his top priorities. All he needed to do now was talk James into playing along.

*~*~*~*

Scott dropped his pencil on the desk in frustration. He just couldn’t focus on his homework. He kept checking the clock and waiting for Damien to show up. He’d missed his beautiful lover the night before and hadn’t slept well alone. Of course, that hadn’t helped with his big test today, despite the extra time he’d had to study after Damien had left for Grandmother Winthrop’s yesterday. Now it was almost five-thirty and Damien still hadn’t come back home.

Grandmother Winthrop had called at around three and said that they’d returned to Winthrop Manor after a shopping trip and lunch at one of the clubs she preferred. Apparently they’d picked up Liberty at some point during the day and the two had insisted on having a ‘Cruisin’ the World’ competition after they’d gotten back. She’d called again at four-thirty to let Scott know that Damien was on his way home and Scott hoped that Damien would get back in time to eat dinner together before he had to leave for weight training at seven.

A knock sounded at the door and Scott happily pushed his book aside to go see who it was. When he opened it, he found Steve standing there smiling up at him with a shy expression on his face. “I hope I’m not intruding,” he chirped with a bright smile.

“Of course not, Steve. Can I help you with something?” Scott asked, still not sure how Steve knew what room he was in much less why he had shown up there without warning.

“I just wanted to ask you a few questions about something,” Steve replied, uncertainty suddenly coloring his voice. “Is it a bad time?”

“It’s not that,” Scott admitted honestly. “It’s just that I’m waiting for Damien to come home and…”

“Damien’s not here?” Steve gushed, his shock clearly written in his confused expression. “Is he alright? I mean, I heard from Trey that he’d taken off from his classes today. Since he hardly ever misses them and I’d heard that he was sick last semester, I just assumed he’d come down with something and was in bed. I even heard rumors that he had AIDS but I didn’t believe that.”

“He doesn’t have AIDS,” Scott grumbled harshly, not the least bit happy to hear yet another rumor associated with is boyfriend. It was really annoying and it seemed like it was something new every month.

“Of course not!” Steve assured him, laying a comforting hand on Scott’s arm. “I told them that, too. At first I half-believed what people were saying about him, but now that I know Damien a little better I feel like I have no choice but to correct people when they say things like that about him. It just isn’t fair to him.”

Scott stood there for a moment and absorbed his friend’s words while he studied Steve carefully for any hint that the guy was just filling him full of shit. Damien had warned him about Steve so many times that he couldn’t help but feel a little wary. While it was true that he wasn’t willing to go so far as to end a perfectly good friendship over his boyfriend’s suspicions and jealously, Scott wasn’t willing to take any chances where Steve was concerned either. That’s why, when Steve looked over his shoulder with obvious hope that Scott would ask him inside, Scott pretended to ignore the unspoken hint and stepped out into the hallway.

Damien would be so pissed if he found out that Steve had been inside their room and Scott wasn’t a complete idiot, no matter what the beautiful blonde seemed to think. “Let’s head down to the lounge and then you can ask me anything you want,” Scott suggested, waving a hand down the hallway in invitation.

For a split second, Scott thought he saw disappointment was over Steve’s face and once again Damien’s warnings about the redhead rattled through his mind. Distractedly, he turned to grab his cell phone and shut and locked the door behind him. Then he led Steve toward the stairwell that would take them to the student lounge. Things went pretty smoothly after that and Steve had several questions lined up related to their ancient history class. Scott calmly answered them all to the best of his knowledge and Steve threw in his own interpretations of events here and there. Overall it was a fairly relaxed and comfortable study session.

Within thirty minutes, Scott was on his way back to his room. Once he reached the door he paused to check his cell to make sure he hadn’t missed a call from Damien while he fumbled in his uniform pants for the door key. Much to his disappointment, Scott found no missed calls. Just as he slipped it into the lock and turned it to open the door, Scott’s cell went off in his hand so he pushed through the door and flipped his phone back open, happy that Damien had finally thought to let him know what was going on. He got that Dae and Liberty tended to get sidetracked when they were together but this was getting ridiculous.

“Hey, babe. Missed you,” Scott said with a smile as he locked the door behind him and made his way over to his bed to sit down.

“I missed you, too, sweetheart, but can we keep this between us? If Jacqueline found out she’d be ready to tie us both up by our balls before sunset,” a rather smooth, masculine voice replied from the other end.

Scott turned blood red when he realized his mistake and barely bit back a curse as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair and replied, “I apologize, Mr. Carter. I thought…”

“So, it’s Mr. Carter now, is it?” Damien’s father observed with a snicker. “Such a cold boy, and after all we’ve meant to each other.”

Scott couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that before explaining, “I thought it was Damien calling, Sir. He hasn’t made it home yet.”

“I figured as much,” Dean replied, the teasing tone disappearing from his voice. “To tell the truth, Francis called us right after they got back home to let us know how the appointment went. Did you get the good news yet?”

“No,” Scott admitted, a little irritated that he was the last one to know. After all, he’d been the one watching Damien struggle daily with everything. Sure, Dae had talked to Jacqueline and Dean on the phone quite a bit, and Grandmother Winthrop too, but Scott had been the one taking care of him and now he was the one being left out of the loop. He wanted to tell them all to go to hell, but instead he said, “Grandmother Winthrop felt that it would be better to hear the news straight from Damien. Everything came out like it should then?”

“You bet it did!” was Dean’s enthusiastic response. “Jacqueline is ready to burst. Dae-Lee’s weight’s up and his blood work is almost normal. He still has a slight vitamin deficiency that the doctor said would take care of itself over the next few weeks. As long as he keeps up what he’s doing, he’ll have a clean bill of health. As a matter of fact, Dr. Perez released Damien from all restrictions after this afternoon and, unless he starts losing weight again, he doesn’t have to return for a follow-up this time if he doesn’t want to.”

Despite his less than generous thoughts, Scott felt like his heart might jump out of his chest at the news. He’d been on pins and needles since last November, worrying that his Dae’s health might go downhill without warning. Then, after Christmas break, Damien had lost even more weight and Scott had kept a very close eye on his lover since then. It was a huge relief and he was glad for Damien’s sake that it was almost over. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time, Sir,” Scott admitted once he could speak past the lump in his throat.

“It’s all thanks to you, future son-in-law. We really owe you big for this and, if it takes the rest of our lives, Jacqueline and I will find some way to pay you back.” The sincerity and happiness in Dean’s voice made Scott feel a little guilty for just a moment but he quickly shook it off as he stood up from the bed to pace the floor.

“You don’t owe me anything,” Scott murmured quietly. “Damien’s mine now and what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t take care of him when he needed me? Besides, I know he’d do the same for me. That’s just what people do when they love one another.”

The other end of the line went silent for a moment and he thought he heard a sniffle. Scott paused in his pacing for a second to listen more closely but all he heard was Dean clearing his throat loudly before declaring, “My boy’s been through a lot, but I have to say that he’s one lucky man. He couldn’t have found a better boyfriend if he’d searched the world over. Thanks again, Scott, and thank you for all the help you and Francis have given us, too. If it weren’t for that, I don’t know how Jacqueline and I would’ve found the money to keep Damien in school for his last semester.”

Scott’s eyes widened in confusion at that but, before he could figure out if he’d heard Dean correctly, Damien’s mom screeched something at Dean in the background and it sounded like she hit him with something. He wasn’t sure, but he thought she called Dean a stupid jackass and then she was on the other end literally gushing, “Now, you listen here, city boy. Dean wasn’t supposed to run his yap to you about that. I done told him and told him not to. We promised your Granny we’d keep that between us older folk and let you youngins do what you need to do. Damien can’t get wind of this neither. My poor baby’d have a stroke if he found out and… You just gotta keep this to yourself, boy. You understand?”

Nothing the woman said had cleared up anything for Scott. For the matter, he was more confused than he had been BEFORE Mama’s little tirade. “What in the world’s going on anyway?” Scott demanded. “I have a right to know, too, especially if you expect me to hide things from Damien. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“Play hell you don’t,” Mama shot back with a huff. “You’ll keep this secret or you’ll be prayin’ for God to have mercy on your soul before I’m done with ya.”

“I guess whether I tell him or not is my decision to make,” Scott growled, growing angrier by the second at the woman’s highhandedness. He thought a lot of Damien’s mom and had a lot of respect for her too, but he’d be damned if she was going to push him around like this. After all, they were down in Indiana living their life and Scott was the one watching over Damien. If they wanted to tell him what to do where Damien is concerned then they could damn well come to New York and help take care of him.

As soon as Scott’s hard words were out, Mama let out a harsh curse on the other end of the line. “Dammit, boy! Why’d you have to go and sprout a backbone now?”

“I proved to you the day we met that I have a backbone,” Scott replied with a huff. “Now, are you going to tell me what’s going on or am I going to have to find out from Grandmother Winthrop or Dean. One way or another I’ll get to the bottom of this.”

The other end went quite for a moment, like someone had put their hand over the speaker, and Scott could vaguely make out the sound of Mama’s voice as she chewed Dean out on the other line. Then she came back with a snort of disgust and a, “Fine, but I still think you’ll be doin’ more harm than good if you tell Dae-Lee any of this.”

“Tell me then,” Scott barked impatiently. He knew this had to be something big and Mama’s evasiveness was annoying. Dae could show up at any second and he wanted to get all the details before that happened.

“Well, it’s like this; you already know about them heathens who trashed our place back in December, but what you don’t know is that me and Dean’s been havin’ some big problems since then. The whole towns up in the back about what’s goin’ on between that dirty priest and them juvenile delinquents what hurt my baby. Ever since the end of January we been havin’ stuff happen. First somebody smashed out all the windows in Dean’s office. Then they went and graffitied the entire buildin’. The insurance we had on Dean’s business didn’t have much choice but ta pay up, but somehow they got wind of our problems here in town, and after the window thing they cancelled us. We couldn’t find anybody ta pick us back up again, either. We had ta pay for the vandalism outta our pockets and then business startin’ slackin’ off. By the end of January we’d lost every contract Dean’d been workin’ on.”

“Holy shit,” Scott grumbled under his breath. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the things those two had been through in the almost two months since he’d seen them. It was ridiculous and Scott wanted nothing more than to go down there and strangle each and every one of them with his bare hands. Mama was right; this would hurt Damien so bad if he found out about it. Then again, it wasn’t the sort of thing that could be hidden forever. “How’re things going now?” Scott asked, afraid to find out but sure that there had to be more.

“Not great,” Mama replied with a sniffle. “Last week, somebody messed with the heavy equipment Dean uses on construction sites and stole all his tools and stuff that he kept down at the main garage. So, now we basically ain’t got a leg ta stand on. Luckily we at least had a separate policy to cover the heavy equipment but, even with the insurance, them machines’ll cost a fortune to get back into runnin’ order. Even then it won’t do us no good if we can’t find work for’em. Dean had ta lay everybody off and it’s a total disaster, city boy. It’s all cause of them charges we pushed Damien to bring against the bastards who hurt him. It’d break my baby’s heart if he found out. Way things are a lookin’ we stand to lose the house too in a few more months. On just my income we probably won’t make it through summer.”

This time Mama’s voice broke and Scott thought he might go insane with the need to reach through the phone and hug the tiny woman. “Just call my Grandmother Winthrop,” Scott offered in a reassuring voice. “She’ll do anything she can to help you guys out. It might be best to leave that place all together before something else happens.”

“We already called Francis,” Mama explained, while Dean crooned something to her in the background with a soothing voice. “She paid up what school fees we hadn’t already so that Damien wouldn’t get thrown outta St. Mary’s. She offered ta do more but we’re determined to stick it out for now. We still have to stay so we can keep an eye out for Dae-Lee’s sake until they find somethin’ to lock them bastards again or ‘til the trial’s over. The DNA tests came back yesterday, by the way, an two of ‘em were inconclusive cause the evidence had been contaminated. One came back positive, but it was for the youngin’ who died a while back. There’s still a few more bein’ processed and I can only pray to God they’ll find somethin’ when they run those.”

“They will,” Scott assured her gently, although he wasn’t sure at all. After hearing everything that’d happened to Dae and his family, Scott wasn’t too sure of anything. There was one thing he could do, though. “Listen, Mama,” he said softly as he once again sat down on his and Damien’s bed. “I won’t say anything about this for now. You’re right. This would tear him apart and he was too close to having a breakthrough with Dr. Lieberman right now to risk it. For now, just keep an eye out there and I’ll watch out for Damien from my end. That’s really all we can do. Once this is all over, we’ll figure the rest out, okay?”

Mama got really quite on the other end for a few seconds and Scott was beginning to think they may have lost their connection when Dean came back on the phone with a sigh. “Jacqueline’s a bit upset right now, Scott, but I heard you loud and clear. We’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing and when the time is right we’ll get the hell out of here. I’d rather start over somewhere else than to look at these people a second longer than I have to.”

“I hope what I said didn’t upset her,” Scott replied in a worried tone.

“No, that’s not it at all, Scotty Boy. She’s been through a lot lately, and I think knowing you’re willing to go so far to help us out might’ve touched her more than you think. She’ll be fine soon enough. Listen, I’m going to hang up now and go check on her. Just give us a call if you need anything and we’ll talk to you boys again soon, okay?”

“Of course, Sir,” Scott murmured as he tried to get his wild thoughts to settle down in his mind. “Be careful and take care of each other. I’ll talk to you later.”

They said their goodbyes and then Scott hung up and fell back on the bed with a sigh. Hiding something like this was going to be really hard, but it was a necessary evil. Suddenly Scott understood how Damien must’ve felt when he kept so many secrets from Scott. It had nothing to do with trust. It was about protection. Some things were just better left unsaid and other things had their time and place. Now wasn’t either of those and Scott was determined to protect Damien from the new knowledge he now held until Damien was ready to cope with it. He just hoped that that time would come sooner rather than later.

*~*~*~*

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