The David and James Story

The David and James Story


Pairing: David/James

Rating: NC 17

Author: You think anyone’s actually gonna admit to writing this shit?

Disclaimer: No infringement of coght ght is intended. You know who the characters belong to.

This is AU. The people involved would never behave like this in real life…

Chapter 58

Saturday - afternoon

****************** Dav David woke up to find someone licking his foot - correction, not a ‘someone’. He’d recognise that tongue anywhere. It was Ginger’s.
Hey,Hey, Boy!" he said, as he sat up to take a look.

Ginger chirped a greeting.

James was nowhere in sight. David reached across to the other side of the bed. It was cold. He glanced at the clock.

Shit! It was four thirty five already. He’d slept for over two hours.

*******************

"Davy! Lizzie!" James heard Patti calling from the hall.

"Hah, hah! You go directly to jail, Uncle James," Davy said, as James took the community chest card Davy held out to him.

"Who wants a glass of milk?" Patti called.

"Think you’ve got us beat anyhow…" James said. "Let’s call it. You win, Davy!"

"Go me!" Davy shrieked." His expression said it all. He’d beaten his sister. He was champion.

Lizzie sniffed as tears threatened to spill.

"Never mind, Poppet," James addgivigiving Lizzie a hug. "I won’t cry if you won’t… We’ll beat him next time. You’ll see."

She smiled.

"Promise you’ll help me?" she asked.

James nodded.

"I like you, Uncle James," she added, planting a big, wet kiss on his cheek.

"That’s Grandma calling to you," James pointed out. "Why don’t you two go on ahead. I’ll just put this lot away."

"Can I help, Uncle James?" Lizzie asked, hesitating to follow her brother.

Davy was already half way through the door.

"Of course you can, Poppet. Why don’t you gather up all the money and sort it into piles? Put all one ones with the same numbers together… ten dollar bills here, five here… see…"

She nodded and started picking up the bills.

"Oh, there you are, Darling," James heard Patti say behind him as she entered the room. "Oh, James. I see they’ve been keeping you busy. I hope they didn’t wake you…"

"No, did that all by myself…"

"How do you feel, Sweetie?" she asked.

"I’m fine now, Patti, thanks."

"Is David…" she began.

"Asleep… yeah," James replied, anticipating her question. "He didn’t get any sleep last night. We were up all night talking… my fault…"

"Now, no more of that… blaming yourselr evr everything… I thought we’d agreed…"

"Yeah, sorry…"

"Would you like a cup of coffee or something?" she asked. "I made a batch of cookies for the children. If you’re quick, you might manage to get the last one…"

"Ooo, cookies!" Lizzie squealed. "Chocolate chip?"

"Why don’t you go and find out, Darling," Patti said, "and walk… don’t run down the stairs…"

"No, Grandma," Lizzie said as she hurried after her brother.

"There’s pecan nut too," Patti added after Lizzie had gone.

James smiled up at her as he finished putting everything back into the Monopoly box.

"How did you know I like pecans?" he asked.

"Someone we both know might have mentioned it," she said with a grin.

He stood up and put the box back in its slot on the bookshelves.

"They’re great kids," he said, apropos of nothing. "Lizzie reminds me of my own niece and… I can’t help wondering how much Davy might be like his uncle was at that age. They have a lot of the same traits…"

"You noticed that, huh? I was telling Bo the same only last night…"

"Patti," he said, turning to face her. "There’s something I should have told you yesterday and I’ve been feeling kinda guilty about it t tet telling you, I mean It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell you… It’s just, the opportunity never presented itself… but I feel I should…"

"If it’s that you have son, I’m afraid Beth spilled the beans at lunch… after you’d gone."

"Oh, shit! Patti, I’m sorry you had to find out like that… I hadn’t meant to tell Beth. It just kinda slipped out…"

Patti laughed.

"Yeah, Beth has a way of making people reveal things. I always said she should have been a lawyer… But, it’s okay, Sweetie…"

"It is?" he said, surprised. "I thought you’d be… I dunno… shocked… disappointed… or something… At the very least I thought you’d think me a terrible father for not visiting with my son over the holiday…"

Patti frowned.

"I wish I could but I don’t have access rights," he continued. "My ex really stitched me up… I couldn’t afford a decent lawyer… I know now I shouldn’t have agreed to all her demands but at the time I just wanted to get it over with… I was so stupid…"

"Oh, Sweetie," Patti said, as she pulled him into a hug. "I’m not disappointed in you… and, just from seeing how good you are with Davy and Lizzie, I know you would have made a wonderful father…"

"Not gonna get the chance now," he said.

"I’m sorry," Patti whispered.

She continued to pat his arm affectionately.

"It hadn’t really hit me until now," James said, "but I’m never gonna play Monopoly with him, never take him to the game, never teach him to ride a bike. I won’t get to watch my own son growing up…"

"Maybe it’s not too late, Sweetie. Perhaps if you went back to court… Surely they can’t deny a father the chance to know his own son… not unless he has a history of violence or he’s a drug addict… and, even then, I’d imagine there would be provisions for the application to be reviewed if the circumstances ever changed… "

"She has a good lawyer…"

"We’ll get you a better one," Patti said.

"Oh, no. I couldn’t let you… You’ve done so much for me already but I couldn’t…"

"enseense, she said. You’re family now… Isn’t he, Darling?"

James turned around to find David standing in the doorway.

***************

"James?" David could see something was up. "What is it?"

Patti discreetly moved away to allow him to slip an arm around his lover.

"I must go and check the children don’t eat all the cookies," she said. "I’ll save a couple for you."

David smiled his thanks as she left them alone together.

"Baby, what’s wrong?" he asked, wrapping both arms around James and bending to kiss him on the forehead.

"Just feeling a bit sorry for myself," James said. "I got to thinking how my son is going to grow up without me being there for him…"

"Baby, I’m sorry."

"Your Mom was suggesting I go back to court and try and challenge the custody ruling… She even offered to help with the legal fees. God, I feel like I must have seemed so ungrateful to her…"

"Mom’s a pretty sharp cookie. She probably understands more of what you’re going through than you do…"

"Yeah, she is that…"

"Psych major," David explained.

"I wondered," James said.

David took his hand.

"Let’s go back to our room. We can’t talk here."

"Much as I’d like to be a part of his life," James continued, as they walked along the landing to the far end of the house, "I don’t want him to grow up in an atmosphere where people are fighting over him… By all accounts, Matt’s a good man. I dare say he’ll provide everything… Perhaps I should just butt out…"

"He may be a good man but the boy has the right to know his own father… It has to be easier to get the custody order changed now than trying to do it in five or ten years time. You don’t even have to see him regularly… If you think it’s best to stay clear for a while then you can do that but it’ll be your choice not theirs…"

"Yeah, I guess you’re right…"

"If you won’t let Mom and Dad help, then let me help…"

"But…"

"No buts. We’re partners," David said. "Remember what we said last night? You were going to let me share your life - share everything, good and bad…"

"I thought we were talking about bringing each other breakfast in bed, taking turns putting out the trash and splitting the grocery bill not you paying thousands of dollars worth of legal fees… I couldn’t…"

"Yes, you could, Baby, and I wasn’t just talking about the domestic side of living together… I meant we should share everything… good and bad… all the emotional stuoo. oo. You do know that, don’t you?"

James nodded.

"You have to let me help you, James. Think of it as being for us, not just for you. If you’re unhappy then I’m unhappy and I so want to make you happy. If you’re suffering then I’m suffering and I want us both to feel good about life…"

David felt James arms move to encircle his neck as he met his gaze.

"I’ve never felt better than I do when I’m with you, Davy… I love you so much…"

"Then, you’ll let me help?"

"You’re not gonna take no for an answer, are you?"

David shook his head.

"Then, yes."

James was smiling at him. He grabbed him and kissed him hard.

"Wow!" James exclaimed, when David finally released him. "If I’d known you were gonna kiss me like that I wouldn’t have put up any resistance in the first place…"

"While you in the mood not to resist," David began, "there’s something else I want to ask you…"

He locked the bedroom door behind him and Jad James toward the bed.

****************