Fire in the Firehouse 19

Fading into part 19

...Little did they know what was coming their way next. Car doors were opening and people they would soon have personal business with would be at their door. Neither willing to be imposed upon after finding some alone time after so long. 
There was commotion, bustling, and a sense of purpose to these people. One more so than the other acted as the leader calling the shots and directing the others to get things for the job they were there to do. A soft voice spoke, "We must act now before its too late. We can't let them know we're here. It'll ruin the element of surprise, and its imperative we have the element of surprise on our side, they won't be expecting us and have no time to react. Too bad if they've not prepared. The time has come and they need to get serious, or else. We've given them enough time and they can't seem to do what they need, so now we'll deal with them on our terms." Mitch stirred, hearing something, his heart began to race as it made more sense. He began shaking. He had to wake his lover up if they were to make it through.

Having been out for a few hours, Cory was ready to head home. He hoped he'd given his brother and his brother's lover adequate time alone. He longed to have again what they had for one another. His mind scurried to images of Bret again. He mumbled, "I miss you so badly Bret."

As he sat, finishing his coffee, reading the paper he was startled to hear a voice. "Morning. Nice day to sit out and have a cup of coffee. Sorry, couldn't help but overhear you say you miss someone badly." Cory was caught off guard. He gazed up, blocking the sun's glare from his eyes. The person continued. "Its quite all right. This area is synonymous for being gay friendly..." The words stayed there. There was something oddly familiar with this. It seemed familiar, but he couldn't be certain.

Mitch was readily aware of the sounds he was hearing outside their place, more specifically outside their bedroom window. He couldn't fathom why. There was one voice he recognized instantly over all others. He'd gotten up, gone to the window to confirm his suspicions. Sure enough. He sprinted back to his lover. "Colby, wake up. And here, throw this on." He threw his lover some blue running shorts and a white A-shirt, more commonly known as a wife beater. Colby was trying to make sense of it all. He was wanting to get back to his nap. The rest felt so good. It'd been so long since he had a good nap let alone be allowed to rest. He even groaned a bit in protest.

Colby tried balking, but he saw the look on his lover's face. "What gives?" He waited for a response. "I was finally resting and now I have to get up? Crap..." Still no response. He could tell it seemed imperative he listened to his lover, but not like it were life threatening.

Finally Mitch looked at him, "Hurry Colby. My family's here. Leave it to my Mom to do this." He wasn't pissed, but he wished he'd gotten more advanced notice. The tone in his voice sounded more rushed. But his Mom was like this. She liked going for shock value. Keeping people on their toes. More specifically, her own family. It was a trait she prided herself on, but annoyed others with.

There was a steady beat on the front door. One that was backed up by jubilation. Colby peered out the window, trying to get a look at these people he'd never met before. As his eyes came to rest on his lover's Mom he was instantly taken aback. She was the epitome of a Mom. Radiant, beautiful, happy, and overall didn't seemed to be consumed with destroying her loved one's happiness. She was what embodied the idea of a perfect Mom in his eyes.

Mitch was insistent, "Hurry up babe. I don't wanna have to answer 20 questions. And trust me, the longer my Mom has idle time, the more conclusions and assumptions she tends to make." He finished up his sentence and headed out their bedroom door to the front door, a slick, steady pace, trying to avoid the gauntlet of impending questions.

Colby quickly threw on the clothes. He grabbed a brush and ran in through his wheat colored hair admiring it's length and radiance. He grabbed a piece of spearmint gum to have fresher breath and headed down the hall. He even stole a quick glance of himself in the hall mirror and thought to himself they're gunna see through me like I were Casper the Friendly Ghost. Then the thought occurred to him, which of Mitch's family is Wiccan. Great. Even more to sweat. They'll see through me in nothing flat and know we just got through doing it. Well, here comes Casper. He giggled at his self description.

Mitch had opened the door. There was his family. His Mom had begun sizing him up. "Oh, Mitchell. Did we catch you at a bad time? You look like hell baby." There wasn't a nasty tone to her voice. It was just her way of pointing things out matter-of-factly. She couldn't help but take notice of the fact her son had on no shirt and a faded pair of denim shorts. And his hair seemed like he'd been napping, which had been the case. He'd hoped he might have gotten more of a warm greeting. But his hopes were dashed.

Colby made his way down the hall at the most ideal of times. He spoke to the unfamiliar guests. "Hello everyone. You must be Mitch's family." He smiled, really unsure of what to say. There, naturally was the empty air of awkward silence. 

Mitch's Mom spoke first. "Well, hello there young man. You must be Colby. What a handsome man you are. And well equipped it would seem." Colby's face went crimson, as did his lover's. Colby, in his haste had forgotten to put on underwear and there stood his prominent bulge. Many guys only achieved that girth when partially erect. Colby was blessed to show like that naturally.

Colby tried to cover up. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry Ma'am. I was just heading into the shower and Mitch called me out. I'm quite embarrassed at my appearance." He tried to escape the uneasiness, but wasn't exactly sure where this was going.

Mitch's Mom moved in for her next move. "Nonsense sweet heart. Nothing more appealing to a woman, or a gay man in this case than a nice piece of..." Her words were cut off by her husband.

"Victoria! My God woman. Where is this all going? You're embarrassing the poor man. Honestly darling, I don't know where this boldness comes from." He moved to cover his wife's remarks as he turned to greet Colby properly. "Hello, son. I'm Mitchell, Sr. And this here is my brother Joey." Colby relaxed more. Thank God men had this vibe about them when they saw one of their own put in such a spot to change the conversation and sway it into an area less uncomfortable. A timeless bond men seemed to hold true to.

Joey moved over to shake his nephew's lover's hand. "Nice grip you got there bro. Seems we all share a love for hitting the iron." Joey was handsome, giving, and kind, but to those he was unfamiliar with, he was shy. Words came hard for him at first to those he wasn't sure of. He felt a bit ridiculous of his choice of first words, but nothing came to him fast enough. He was the type that always thought of the right thing to say after the fact.

Colby secretly wished his twin had been there. If there was one thing he'd learned about his brother in the short time having been around him, when in situations like this, he always seemed at ease and knew what to say in these predicaments. He had a way about him in tough predicaments. There was something he couldn't help noticing. The man he'd just met didn't seem very much older than his own lover. Intriguing.

Victoria blurted out, "Well, I can see I owe a little explanation of why we're here so early." Without waiting to get a response out of anyone, the busy bodied woman went right into her spiel. "You see Mitchell, when we spoke I realized unless we got here sooner rather than later this ceremony of yours was never going to get off the ground. Oh, and Reverend Parker will be joining us later this week. I've arranged for him to perform the ceremony. He was quite reluctant at first, but when I told him of the generous contribution I'd be sending to the church he agreed in a heart beat." She just rambled on incessantly, all thoughts focused on herself and her reasons. She meant no harm, but often times came off too strong.

Mitch knew he must now face his Mom head on and put and end to her madness. It was definitely something he wasn't comfortable doing. "Mom, I, well, I mean we have both opted to have a handfasting ceremony." Victoria swallowed hard. She hated accepting old Wiccan rituals. She ground her teeth for a second and proceeded to bite her inner cheek, trying to process this revelation. She had to maintain her assertive control. That was it, she was pretty much a control freak. Nowhere vindictively like Marie, but just the same held firm to her beliefs.

"Well, darling. You'd need to find a high priest or priestess to perform the ceremony and where are you going to get one on such short notice?" She thought for sure she'd had her son cornered. But her son was one step ahead like he'd been all his life.

"Mom, its simple. Look where we live. The Bay Area. There're more unique individuals in this area than most anywhere in the world. I plan to get into the looking process tomorrow. I should be able to use a search engine online and find plenty of leads in no time." Mitch knew she'd find fault in this and inadvertently sent a message to his lover, which his uncle caught as well having the power of Empathy himself. She's gunna bitch about this, I know it. I love her, but damn, she needs to stop smothering me like this. He wasn't sure why he sent this image to Colby, but it was his way of venting.

Joey spoke up. "So lil nephew, what's new?" Little did he know how much weight his words could carry. His nephew took a deep breath and sighed. He wasn't willing to step into this land mine. Colby was receiving the signals, body language signals, and beat his lover to the punch.

"Well, things here have been, let's say disheveled. Ever since we met and even as recently as a few weeks ago. Even down to my step Mother getting eaten alive by a Great White shark." Those words brought an over powering silence to the room.

Back outside the coffee shop Cory was trying to make sense of this person. The glare was making that next to impossible. He finally caved. "I'm sorry, my memory's a bit fuzzy lately having been through so much personal stuff. And, well, this glare is killing my eyes. Who are you? And I do apologize for my not recognizing you."

The person grabbed a chair and sat down, giving the young man a better, more clear view. Cory was still trying to search within his mind who this could possibly be, a bit perturbed this person was seemingly inviting himself to sit there. He wanted to say they looked familiar, but with all he'd been through since Bret and then after having met his long-lost brother, his mind wasn't as clear and sharp as he'd have liked it to be.

The mysterious person seemed accepting of this. "My son, don't trouble yourself trying to place the face," he said with a chuckle. "I'm aware of many things you've gone through of late. I've got a great interest in things you do so I've made sure to pay close attention to your actions." Naturally this did little calm the young man's nerves. In fact it was quite disturbing, in some regards was pissing him off.

The one thing Cory was certain of now, it was an older man's voice-a man in his early 50's. Then as the glare was covered by the canopy flapping in the wind he caught a glimpse. It started coming back to him. He recognized the face and began trying to make sense and bring it all together in his mind.

The man spoke, knowing he needed to refresh the younger man's mind. "I guess I need to reintroduce myself son. Mr. Jonas Applewhite, attorney at law. I handled your parent's finances, wills and their estate." Cory ran them name through his head and instantly his past came rushing back to his mind. He was numb. He'd not thought of this man in years. He had assumed all dealings with him were in the past now. Cory was fearful he'd come to collect money for some reason.

Jonas continued. "Son, look. Its no secret your parents left you financially secure. Thing is, when the will was read the biggest part wasn't told. You see, your parents long knew the conditions you came to them when they adopted you. They'd hired a private detective and had learned so much. In fact, those very inquiries came back to haunt them. Marie learned of this and it was common thought amongst your parent's colleagues Marie was instrumental in their premature demise. She wanted nothing to do with you and knew that your existence would ruin her plan of action. My associates and I spent our own money to keep up on you. We felt a deep sadness for what happened to you. And we began coming up with our own scenarios. And when we learned of Marie's death and the story you, your dad, and brother told the newspaper, it all made sense. Marie was out to destroy you all. We'd have gone to the police prior, but assumptions don't lead to arrests." Cory sat mesmerized, absorbing all this information. He couldn't believe his ears. He believed Mr. Applewhite, but his anger for Marie reached a new level. He knew it wise to bury these emotions and save his brother from them. He was also faced with new memories of his parents and trying to envision how they held back secrets to protect him. He couldn't fault them. They did what they did to keep him safe and give him a life as good, if not better than you would've ad if Marie had been instrumental in his upbringing.

He finally spoke up. "Well, I can't say that your story isn't easy to accept because it is. Knowing that evil woman, even for the short time I did, I can tell you I've never met a more vile wench than she. She would still be tracking us to kill us if that shark hadn't intervened." He paused a moment to reflect on what the shark had done, how karma turned things around for them. "To this point I'd felt sorry for Marie. Rationalized in my mind she was just ill. Now, after what you've told me I can't help but feel karma kicked her ass and she got what she had coming all along. Thing is, her death tore my brother apart. There was no love there, but all the things he's been through this year, most incidents linked back to Marie, he just snapped. Last night he almost committed suicide. He's fine now. Well, his lover and I are keeping a very watchful eye on him. If things progress any worse, we're admitting him. But he's been through hell because of that dead bitch. I can't say I'm happy she's dead, but I'm no less happy that she is."

Mr. Applewhite listened on. He was feeling worse for Cory than before. He knew a lot by what he'd read and tabs he'd been keeping, but the admittance of these facts were no less easy to swallow. It made what he was about to tell young Cory all that much more exciting. Exciting to a degree. The reason he was there was good news, but at what price? "Son, I think I'm about to give you some news that'll really begin helping ease so much pain for you and your brother. You see, your parents left you well protected for the future. And I know you're not one to spend money lavishly, but see, there's another piece to the puzzle you don't know." Cory sat listening, allowing the words to sink in deeper.

Meanwhile, several hundred miles away a young and familiar man was sitting down at his computer. He signed on and had saw he had an email awaiting him. 

Drake, 
How are you? Things have been crazy here. I'm not sure if it made the news or not, but Marie is dead. She was killed a few days ago by a Great White shark. The four of us guys were on a fishing trip and Marie showed up out of nowhere, it was crazy and yet vintage Marie for the person she truly became in the last few months. Hell, she even had a grenade with her. It was crazy. In a way she sealed her own fate doing what she did. Problem is, makes it no less difficult to work through. I want to open up, but I can't. Its nothing against my brother and Mitch. I have nothing to say really. Its all emotions I can't express. I dunno. I'm rambling.

I know Marie was an evil and deceitful and manipulative woman-Lord knows she was no lady. But she's all I had as a Mom. And I mean up until I was a certain age, I knew no better. This is crazy. She tried to destroy me, Dad, Mitch, hell even you two, and even fixed it where we never knew about Cory. But this is ludicrous. Why am I feeling such a loss? 

Drake sat, stunned. He'd not heard of Marie's death. He'd been way too busy. He and Cole had separated for a few weeks until they learned things between them were right and they couldn't bare not being together. So, needless to say he was out of the loop. He called for his lover, "Cole, ya gotta c'mere. You'll never believe this."

The young man rushed in and read the letter for himself, his mouth dropped as he read, reread and read again the part about Marie having been eaten by a shark. He couldn't believe it. The only thing he could muster to say, "Karma, like Marie is, well, was a bitch. Can't say I feel sorry for the dizzy cunt." Drake roared into laughter at the phrase 'dizzy cunt.'

They shared a look and knew that Colby seemed to be in a bad way. Drake looked at his lover, speaking to him with his eyes. Then he confirmed the shared thoughts. "I think my brother needs me." There was an empty sound to his voice. It was cold and almost devoid of feeling, but if one could imagine, his words were still filled with his best friend's interest at heart and filled with love, too. Cole knew they needed to go west to help Colby. Cole accepted he'd now be part of these men's lives and he liked that. He came to the conclusion this is how respectable gay men lived their lives. Being there for one another. It all made sense. Things mattered more to him after separating from his lover and his health scare. The little things in life mattered as much as the big ones.

Back outside the coffee shop, the day was slowly on its way to approaching mid afternoon and being the fall, daylight hours were a precious commodity. The sunlight was beginning to become strained as the fog began forming in the distance. Cory wasn't prepared for the weather's impending change, his clothing was a bit thin for what changes were beginning to take place. He was starting to hope Mr. Applewhite would get to his point already. The older man was babbling on and on, Cory having long ago tuned him out, nodding here and there and feigning interest. Finally it seemed he got the point. "Well, son, I'm rambling here and there's a point to all this. Its just that seeing you brings me back to the days of your parents. I miss them dearly. Anyhow, before I beginning rambling again let me put it all out there for you. You're well aware your parents did work for The Discovery Channel and PBS. The thing you don't know, they also did some excavation work years prior and they also published their works under pen names. They made a small fortune early on. Needless to say, both parents always planned ahead for a family. When your Mom learned of the fact she could never bare children, it crushed her until your Dad mentioned adoption. She feared he wanted to try for a son of his own. I'm babbling again. Anyhow, years before acquiring you, they began investing almost every dollar they earned that they didn't need to live on. On top of that, both of them inherited a sizable amount of money from their parents upon their deaths. So, naturally this was on par with his plans and it just added to their nest egg. Your Dad had a knack for the stock market. He made a bundle on it."

Cory was silently hoping there was a motive to this madness. He was starting to get a bit chilly, wanting to head home. His sweaty clothes had dried some, but the breeze was tearing through him. His wet clothes left him open to getting cooler faster. Jonas took notice of this and motioned for the outdoor waiter to refill his guest's coffee, nice and hot. The older man stopped rehashing the past and put forth an envelope. Cory stared at it for a few. All this money talk had naturally given him a faint idea of what all this could pertain to. He gently, yet effortlessly opened the envelope. In it contained a letter. 

Dear Cory,

If you're reading this, you must be close to, if not 25 or over by now. And, sad to say we, your parents have passed on.

Cory stopped, long enough to wipe his eyes. It was hard seeing something typed up by or for his Dad. It brought him back to where he'd been when they died. But he quickly reminded himself that he'd moved beyond all that. He continued on.

Herein you'll learn many things. There are things we never told you, obviously the reason for and the nature of this letter. Son, I never deceived you. This all happened this way for your own protection. We knew Marie would stop at nothing. And who knows? Maybe it was she whom led us to our fate. We hid our invested money for your protection. We figured at the age of 25 at least, or close to, or pending Marie's (early) demise you'd be ready to take responsibility for what we have for you. 

Son, your Mom and I loved you so very much. You brought great joy and never any sadness into our lives. Bringing you into our lives was the biggest blessing since the day we married. And, its with great pride that I bless you like you did Mom and I. 

The letter stopped there, only to say: Do what's right in your heart with this. As he reached in, a sad and empty feeling befell him. His heart ached. He fully anticipated what was coming, but couldn't fathom to what degree.

He instinctively reached in, pulled out a smaller slip of paper. This one was mint green, with some texture to it. Cory knew instantly what it was. His heart sank. His parents had given him so much in his life. He was a bit scared to see what it was written for.