For What Its Worth

“David Hodges, you have a visitor in the lobby” a voice over the loudspeaker announced. David groaned. There was only one person that would visit him at work. ‘Please let Nick be out of the building’ he prayed. He thought about ignoring the page and making a dive out the back door. However, he knew he would just be prolonging the inevitable. He slowly started walking; looking in every room he passed for Nick. As he turned the corner to the lobby the earlier feeling of dread came back full force. He took one more glance around for Nick then headed over to the waiting area.

“Hello” he said.

“Hello son. Said the older man. You didn’t return my calls.”

“I’m really busy, Dad. What can I do for you?”

“How are you?”

“I don’t have time for this. Tell me what you want.”

“I think it is time you stopped living like this and come home where you belong.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my lifestyle and this is where I belong. We’ve been through all this before. Why can’t you just leave me alone?” David asked though gritted teeth.

“David, don’t talk to me like that.”

“I’ll talk to you any damn way I want. David realized he was getting too loud but he didn’t really care. Don’t contact me anymore. I have nothing to say to you.”

David was about to walk away when he seen Nick approaching. ‘Please, just keep walking, Nicky.’ David silently begged.

Nick had walked into the lobby and seen David talking to a tall, slender man. He’d never seen the man before but from the look on David’s face he could guess who it was. He decide he wasn’t going to let him face his father alone.

“Hey Dave.” Nick said.

“Hey Nick.”

“Now David, aren’t you going to introduce us?” the elder Hodges asked.

David inwardly sighed. “Nick, this is my father, Franklin Hodges. Dad this is my colleague, Nick Stokes.”

As they shook hands, David’s words sunk in. Colleague? What the hell. Nick felt like someone had punched him. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Hodges. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.” He managed to utter before turning and walking toward the print lab.

David saw the hurt and confusion in his lover’s eyes. Damn. How was he going to fix this?

“David, why don’t we go out to dinner and talk things over?”

“What? Did you not hear what I said? I don’t want anything to do with you. Just stay away.” David yelled. He turned and went in search of Nick, leaving his father standing in the lobby fuming.
*********

Archie, Bobby and Warrick were sitting in the break room talking. All eyes turned to Nick as he walked through the door.

“Whoa man, who shot your dog?” Warrick asked.

Nick glared at him. “Don’t mess with me, Rick. I’m not in the mood.”

“Sorry man. Hey, who was that man Hodges was talking to in the lobby?”

“His father.” Nick sighed.

“His what? Archie exclaimed. You mean Franklin Hodges is David’s dad? I wondered what he was doing here.”

“You know him?” Nick asked.

“Not personally, no. Nick man, don’t you know who he is?”

“Apparently there’s a lot I don’t know.” Nick stated dryly.

“Have you ever heard of FTH Ventures?”

“Who hasn’t?” They are into everything from airlines to computers. What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Dude, FTH stands for Franklin Thomas Hodges.” Archie answered.

“What? You’re kidding?” Bobby said.

“No, I saw an interview a couple of weeks ago with him. The man in the lobby was definitely him. Strange, I always heard that there weren’t any heirs to his fortune.”

“Arch, you sure seem to know a lot about this man.” Bobby stated.

“Are you serious? The man’s an inspiration. He started the business with almost nothing and turned it into an empire.”

“You better not let David hear you saying that. He might kill you.” Nick said as he walked out of the room.
**********

“Hey Jacqui, you seen Nick? David asked trying not to sound too eager.

“Yeah, he dropped off this pipe and left in a hurry. He seemed upset. He’s not mad about what you said during lunch, is he?”

“No.” David plopped down on the stool across from her. “Shit Jacq, it is happening again and I don’t know how to stop it.”

“David, tell me was wrong. You’re not making much sense.” Jacqui frowned.

He considered telling her everything. It would be such a relief to get it all out. He knew he couldn’t though. If Nick found out he told her first, well, he didn’t even want to think what he’d do.
*************

David spent the rest of the shift looking for Nick. Sure, he did his work but he kept an eye out for the man. It didn’t take long for David to realize Nick was avoiding him. He didn’t know how the csi was managing it since the place had glass walls. He had even tried calling his cell but all he got was his voice mail. He had just finished processing the last of the fibers from Sara’s homicide case, when she walked into the lab.

“Have you seen Nick?” she asked.

What? He’d been looking for Nick all night. He figured everybody knew that by now. “No, not for a few hours.”

“Hmm. I can’t seem to find him anywhere” she continuned.

“Join the club.” He muttered.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. Have you tried paging him?”

“Guess I’ll try that.”

“What are you going to try, Sara? Going out on a date with me?” Greg asked as he walked into the room.

“In your dreams. I am looking for Nick. He seems to have disappeared.”

“He was finished with his case so Gris let him leave early.”

David was in the middle of running something though the computer but froze when he heard that. “What?” he said before he could stop himself.

“He left, didn’t you know?” Greg was suddenly uncomfortable. The look on David’s face was hard to read. He idly wondered if the tech had ever heard the expression, “Don’t kill the messenger.”

David stood there glaring at Greg and Sara. Nick always stopped by when his shift ended. Two thoughts keep running though David’s mind. One was that Nick wasn’t just hurt, he was mad. Great. He could deal with that, he hoped. The other was that his father had gotten to Nick. In which case, Nick was probably at home packing. Lord, he never thought he’d want Nick to be angry with him but it was the better of the two options.

“Earth to Hodges. Sara frowned pulling David out of his thoughts. Can I have my results now?”

“Here. He shoved the results at her. Now both of you get out of my lab.” He ordered.

When they left he called home but Nick wasn’t picking up. Damn. Another hour till the shift was over. It was going to be the longest hour of his life.

Nick heard the car pull in the driveway. He had been telling himself to stay calm, let David explain. Then David walked though the door and all that flew out the window.

“Hey Nicky.”

Nick exploded. “Hey Nicky?” Don’t you hey Nicky me, David. How could you?

“Nick..”

“A colleague? How could you introduce me to your father like that? Is that all I am to you?

“Nicky, you don’t understand.”

“No? Damn it, David, I understand you might not want to introduce me as your lover, boyfriend, partner, whatever but why couldn’t you say friend? I know he knows you’re gay, you said as much yesterday.” Nick stopped yelling and just glared at him.

David didn’t know what to say. He had never seen Nick this hurt and angry before. There were tears running down his face and it took everything David had to not reach out and wipe them away. God, he had never meant to cause him this much pain.

“Nick, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry? Sorry for what? Sorry I finally figured it out?”

“Figured what out?”

All the anger seemed to drain from Nick as he almost whispered “You’re ashamed of me.”

“What? David would have laughed at the absurdity of that statement if Nick didn’t look so devastated. Nick, I love you. You’re intelligent, good looking, sexy, funny, honest and the most caring person I’ve ever known. Why would I be ashamed of you?”

“I’m a man.” Nick stated.

“Nicky, David said inching a little closer to him; I made peace with my sexuality a long time again. I’m not ashamed that you are a man. And I’m not ashamed of us.”

“Then tell me why Dave.”

Dave. Ok that was a good sign. Nick never called him Dave when he was mad at him. “Nicky, I just thought it would be better if my father didn’t know about you.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell me you can from a wealthy family?”

Shit. Were did that come from? “Yes, my father is wealthy but I’m not and I never will be. In case you haven’t got it by now, I despise my father. I don’t like to think about him much less talk about him.”

“Why do you hate him so much, Dave?”

“He always ruins everything. David said bitterly. Can’t you just trust me on that?”

“Trust you? Nick asked. I do trust you, David. You’re the one that doesn’t trust me.”

David started to argue that of course, he trusted him. But he knew it wasn’t entirely true. He couldn’t lie to him. The silence stretched out until Nick hit the coffee table with his fist.

“You don’t trust me.” Nick said bewildered.

“Nick, I don’t trust anybody completely. But I trust you more then I’ve ever trusted anybody else.”

Nick sit down on the couch and put his head in his hands. How had everything gone so wrong so fast? Yesterday he was certain David loved him, trusted him, believed in him. Now, he wasn’t certain of anything.

David walked over and sit down beside him. “Nicky, I’ve never been able to totally trust anyone. In my heart, I know I can trust you but in my head, I think I’ll end up getting hurt.” He pulled Nick’s hand away from his face and held it tight.

“David, whoever hurt you before it wasn’t me. I promise I..”

“Don’t. Don’t make promises Nick, not till you know everything.”

“Does that mean you’ll tell me what you’re hiding?”

“Yes, everything. I am afraid that once you know I might lose you but I know that if I don’t tell you, I will lose you for sure. We can’t live with this between us.”

“We’ll get through this.” Nick whispered and pulled David into his arms.

“I love you Nicky.” David murmured as he put his arms around his waist and laid his head on his shoulder.

“Love you too, babe.”

They sit there too exhausted to move. Both said a silent pray that this wasn’t the beginning of the end for them.

Nick woke to the sound of the neighbor’s dog barking. He lifted his head off the back of the couch and looked at the clock on the dvd player. “Shit!” he exclaimed and jumped up. Unfortunately, he forgot David was still leaning on him till he heard a loud thump.

“Oops, sorry about that, babe” he said as he looked at his lover, now lying on the floor.

“Nick, the shouting was enough to wake me, throwing me on the floor wasn’t necessary.” David glared through sleepy eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, thank you. Now what the hell were you yelling about? You interrupted a very pleasant dream. Come here and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Dave, we don’t have time for that. Look at the clock. People are going to start arriving soon.”

“Huh? What people?”

“The party, remember? We fell asleep and now we only have a half an hour to get ready.”

“You mean you didn’t cancel the party?” David was amazed.

“Now, why would I do that?”

“Duh, I dunno. Maybe cause you were pissed off at me.”

“Well, it was the last thing on my mind at the time.” Nick frowned. “Now, get the hell up and help me.”

They worked in silence until David looked at Nick and said, “Um, Nicky, I really didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“I know, Dave.”

“Are we ok now?”

“You’re going to tell me everything after the party, right?”

David sighed. “Yes, anything you want to know.”

“Then we are ok.” Nick smiled.

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

If David would admit it, he was having a good time. He never would, of course. Nick would never let him live it down. Good lord, he might even want to do it again sometime.

Walking up behind him, Jacqui said “You seem to be in a better mood. You and your honey kiss and make up?”

David jumped. “Geez, Jacqui. Don’t sneak up on a person like that.”

She looked over at Nick, who was talking to Warrick, Catherine and Bobby. “He’s really been good for you. You’ve been happier these last six months then I’ve ever seen you.”

David rolled his eyes. “This from the woman who spent two hours listing all the reasons I shouldn’t go out with him?”

“I just didn’t want you getting hurt. Let’s face it; Nick doesn’t have a great relationship history. He hardly ever dated someone more then once. But now I understand.” She stated as if David should know what she meant.

“What? That you were wrong about him.”

“No, silly. Well, yeah I was wrong. Hey, wipe that smirk off your face. I always admit when I’m wrong.”

David laughed, loudly. Everyone in the room turned to look, he rarely laughed, so they wanted to see what he thought was so funny. All they saw was Jacqui turning red.

“Want to share the joke, babe?” Nick asked.

David couldn’t resist. “She said she always admits when she’s wrong.”

Everyone started laughing. “In what universe?” Archie joked.

“I was trying to have a serious conversation here.” She glared.

“Yeah about what?” Sara asked. “How wrong you were about him and Nick?”

“She was telling me how Nick doesn’t have a good relationship history but that she understood now. Whatever that means.” David answered.

Nick was almost afraid to ask “Understand what, Jacqui?”

She was going to kill David. Try to say something nice to the man. What had she been thinking. “I understand now that you just hadn’t found your soul mate yet.”

The room erupted into “awws” and “isn’t that sweet.” Now it was Nick and David’s turn to blush. Jacqui looked at them. ‘My work here is done’ she thought satisfied. They’ll think twice about embarrassing me again.

Soon everybody was back to dancing and talking. “Hey soul mate." Nick grinned as he wrapped his arms around David. “Having fun?”

“What do you think?” David groaned.

Nick pulled him closer and whispered “I think Jacqui’s right.”

David leaned his head back against Nick, trying to memorize every detail of this moment. He wanted to stay like this forever.

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

“Are you ready?” Nick asked.

“For what?” David asked back.

“Our speech”

“I thought you were joking about that.”

“Come on, you don’t have to say anything. Just stand there and try to look happy.”

He rolled his eyes. “Sure, anything you say Nick.”

“Could I have everybody’s attention, please?” Nick shouted above all the noise. Once they were quiet, he asked Greg to turn off the music so he could be heard.

“David and I just want to say that we really ..”

ding dong

David was going to have to thank whoever was at the door for interrupting.

“How did you do that?” Nick glared at him as he walked to the door.

“Lucky, I guess.” David, figuring Nick had ordered more pizza, pulled his wallet out and started to walk over to the door too. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who it was.

“Um, hello Mr. Hodges.” Nick mumbled.

The room went quiet as everybody saw David’s face turn white. The poor man looked like he was going to throw up.

“Hello Mr. Stokes.” Mr. Hodges said.

“Come in, please.” Nick said.

‘Nicky, don’t be polite to him.’ David inwardly screamed.

Mr. Hodges gaze swept the room till his eyes landed on David. “Hello son.”

David just glared. The gall of the man, standing there smiling when he was about to destroy everything.

“Get out.” David finally managed to say. “I told you to leave me alone.”

“Yes, well, I’m actually here to talk to Mr. Stokes.”

He wouldn’t. Not in front of all these people. But the huge smile on his father’s face told him he would.

“Nick doesn’t have anything to say to you. Now leave.” David shouted.

“Now, now David shouldn’t Mr. Stokes decide that?”

Nick wanted to know what the hell this was all about but he wanted to hear it from David. “I think you should leave Mr. Hodges.” he said as he walked to the door and opened it.

“Alright, but first let me leave you with this, Mr. Stokes.” The older man smiled. He handed Nick something and David groaned.

Although Nick could tell it was some kind of paper, he didn’t look at it. Instead he turned and looked at David. Never had he seen so many different emotions cross over someone’s face so fast. There was disbelief, rage, hate, shame, fear, hurt, sadness and finally defeat. Nick turned back and looked at the man who was causing his lover so much pain. God, Nick wanted to wipe that smug grin off his face. Instead he shoved the paper back into Mr. Hodges hands.

“Leave.” Nick ordered.

“But you didn’t even look at it.”

“I don’t need to; David will tell me about it later.”

“That worked so well for you before, didn’t it son?” he laughed mockingly.

That was it. Nobody treated David like that. Nick pushed the man through the doorway and was about to slam the door when he noticed the paper had fallen to the floor. He had no intention of looking at it, he really didn’t. But as he bent to pick it up he couldn’t keep from seeing what it was. What the hell?

David felt numb. He couldn’t look at Nick so he studied the floor instead. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see movement. He couldn’t see their faces; he couldn’t bring himself to look. But by the mumblings he could hear, he guessed that Jacqui was being held back by two or three people. David knew it was wrong but he wished that they would let her go. Franklin Hodges didn’t stand a chance against her. She would kill him and all David’s problems would be over. Except, of course, Jacqui would be in jail. Damn. They better hold onto her tight.

David’s attention was drawn back to the doorway as Nick pushed his father out of it. David saw the piece of paper hit the floor. His mind was screaming at him to run and get it before either of the men noticed. But it was too late. Nick had picked it up and was standing there in shook.

Nick couldn’t believe his eyes. He was holding a check for a million dollars. Sure, he handled large amount of money all the time at work but this was different. The check was made out to him.

“It’s all yours, Mr. Stokes.” The old man smiled. “All you have to do is stay away from my son.”

Nick just stared at the man. Was he kidding? Then words that David had said came flooding back.

He is controlling, Nick. He never cared about what I needed or wanted. I learned not to get attached to anyone cause Dad always drove them away. The only thing he wanted from me is to carry on the family name. You can imagine how disappointed he is. I despise my father. He always ruins everything.

How many times had the bastard done this to him? No wonder David has a hard time trusting. Nick turned to David. His eyes were still locked on the floor.

David could feel Nick looking at him. He didn’t want to look but he decided if Nick was going to take the money, he was going to have to do it to his face.

“Dave?” Nick said.

“It’s ok, Nicky.” David mumbled as he slowly looked up. “I understand.”

“You do? Good, cause I sure as hell don’t.” Nick turned back to Mr. Hodges, held the check up and tore it into. “You selfish bastard. How the hell could you do this to your own son? Don’t you even care that he is happy?” He shouted.

“I see. You want more. Just name your price.”

“My price? I realize this must be a foreign concept to you but David means everything to me. I wouldn’t leave him for all the money in the world.”

Mr. Hodges shook his head. “If you’re thinking that you can just hold out till he inherits my money, you’re going to be disappointed. David won’t get a penny as long as he insists on living this deviant lifestyle.”

“I told you, I don’t want your money. Now I think you should leave.” Nick demanded.

David couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Not only was Nick turning down the money, he was appalled at the whole thing. As he moved to stand beside Nick, the other man took his hand and squeezed it. This, of course, enraged the old man.

“Look, you little faggot, you’ll be sorry if you don’t leave him. I’m sure you can find someone better than him.”

Nick grabbed the old man and shoved him against the wall. “There is no one better than David, you son of a bitch. If you don’t leave our house right now, you’re going to get the beating you so richly deserve.”

Nick let go and the old man started out the door. However, David knew his father won’t give up so easy.

“I will destroy you.” Mr. Hodges glared at Nick.

Something inside David snapped. His father could threaten him all he wanted but there was no way he was going to threaten Nick.

“That’s enough!” David yelled. “Don’t you dare do anything to him. I swear I will make you pay if you try.”

“What can you possibly do to me?” Mr. Hodges sneered.

The tone in his father’s voice was one that always intimidated David, always made him feel stupid. But this time was different. This time he had Nick and that gave him the strength to stand up to the old man. He had to protect Nick from his father’s wrath.

“Nick, you still got that reporter friend down at the paper?” he asked without taking his eyes off the old man.

“Um, yeah.” Nick replied, wondering what that had to do with anything.

David stepped closer to his father and looked him in the eyes. “I bet she would love to have a story that would draw national, maybe even international attention. You’ve worked so hard all this years, hiding the fact you even have a son, I’m sure the press would have a field day. I can see the headlines now, Franklin Hodges, founder of FTH Ventures has gay son.”

“You wouldn’t.” Mr. Hodges said horrified.

“Oh but I would. After all I’ve learned from the best. I wouldn’t stop there either. You have always maintained that FTH never takes a stand on political issues. I wonder what would happen if it came out that you have anonymously contributed to many political causes, mostly anti-gay and lesbian laws. And how about the fact that you have given money to the gay community. Lord, I bet your friends would love that one.” David smirked

“I most certainly have never given money to the gay community.”

“Really? What do you call this?” David held up the pieces of the torn check.

“That is incentive to stay away from you.”

“You don’t know what they used that money for, do you? Let’s see, there was Paul. He was already active in the gay rights movement. After your little contribution, he was able to quit his job and devote himself full time to the cause. Then there’s Bill. He opened a nightclub with your money. I hear it is the hottest gay nightclub in Los Angles. I could go on but you get the idea.”

The old man looked disgusted. He would be totally humiliated if David made good on his threat. “What do you want?” he asked suspiciously.

“I want you to leave and never contact me again. If I so much as hear that you have been talking to Nick, our colleagues, friends or family members, if anything like what happened in L.A. happens here, I’ll go to the press with everything. Also call off your spies. And don’t try to tell me you don’t have somebody watching me. How else would you always know when to show up? You are never again going to bully me or anyone I care about, understand?”

The room was eerily quite as David and his father just stood glaring at each other. Finally, the old man shook his head and sighed.

“You know you will never inherit FTH or any of my money?” he asked.

“I don’t want your money or your business. All I ever wanted from you was love and acceptance. I realized a long time ago, I’d never get that. Now the only thing I want from you is just to leave.

When the old man didn’t make a move to leave, David sighed. “We can do this one of three ways. One, you can leave on your own accord. Two, I can have Nick throw you out or three, I can have you arrested for trespassing and harassment. It is totally up to you.”

Franklin Hodges knew that he had lost. He took one last look at David and said “Someday you will regret turning me away.” With that he turned and walked out the door. David walked over and slammed it.

The room was quite again as David turned around to face everyone. Filled with angry and embarrassment, he managed to mumble “I’m sorry you had to witness all of that.”

“Dave, you have nothing to be sorry about.” Nick replied as he wrapped his arms around the man.

“That’s right.” Jacqui agreed. “It’s not your fault the man’s a selfish bastard.”

A chorus of agreements filled the room. David was stunned yet again. Never before had he had anyone really care about him. Now there was a room full of people voicing their support and dare he say friendship. Not to mention, the man that was holding him, whispering “I love you.” in his ear. Neither of them wanted to move but they knew they couldn’t leave their guests just standing there. David pulled away and muttered something about needing a drink.

He stood there sipping his beer when he felt Nick staring at him. “What?”

“Nothing.”

David rolled his eyes. “Nick what is it?”

“We can talk about it later.”

“No, tell me now.”

Nick wasn’t certain he should ask but he had to know. “Did you really think I’d take the money and leave you?”

David wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to argue again. Finally he answered. “As I’m sure you’ve gathered, this isn’t the first time my father has done this. Every one of those men took the money and ran. I couldn’t bring myself to hope that you would be any different. It would only have hurt more.”

“Dave, I love you. If you had asked me I would have told you I’d never take the money.”

David laughed. “Dad was right about that. I did that once and it backfired on me.” He took a deep breath and continued. “About six years ago, I was involved with this guy named Tom. We had been together a few months. I was always looking over my shoulder for Dad to come swooping down so one night I decided to tell Tom everything. Of course, it didn’t hurt that I was drunk at the time. He seemed understanding. Told me how awful my father was. That was on a Saturday night. By Thursday afternoon, he was dumping me. I found out later that he contacted my father and offered to leave me for a price.

“And you were afraid I’d do the same?” Nick was shocked.

“Believe me, Nicky, a part, a big part of me knew you wouldn’t but there was that little part of me that was scared you were just like all the others. Forgive me for thinking that.”

“How many times has he done this?”

“Counting you and Tom, eight.” David shrugged. “Although you should be flattered, you’re the first one to be offered a million.”

Nick shook his head. “Dave, you’ve been burned so many times, I’m amazed you trusted me at all.”

“Yeah, me too.” David agreed.

“Be honest, why don’t you?” Nick grinned. “At least it’s over now.”

“I hope so.” David muttered.

“Don’t you think your threat to go to the press will stop him?”

“Probably. My father would be humiliated to have the world know his son is gay. Image and money are everything to him. I don’t think he’d risk it.”

“But?”

David frowned. “It is possibly he could try something like he did in L.A.”

Everybody in the room knew David didn’t talk about L.A. and they all found themselves wondering what that bastard had done to their friend there.

“What exactly happened?” Nick finally asked.

Before David could answer, Catherine glanced around and said “Maybe we should go.”

To everyone’s amazement, even his own, David shook his head. He gestured for everyone to sit down. He tried to gather his thoughts as he paced back and forth.

“Uh, Dave, could you stop pacing?” Nick asked. “Why don’t you sit down too?”

“Can’t.” He continued pacing for a few more minutes. They were all starting to think he wasn’t going to tell them anything. Finally he stopped, took a deep breath and started talking.

“First, I want to apologize for the way this evening has turned out. Nick and I wanted to have this party to thank you for not only accepting but for supporting us. It was supposed to be fun instead of the David Hodges soap opera it turned into and unfortunely, it isn’t over yet. I want you all to know what to expect in case my father tries to ruin either of our careers.”

Even though Nick knew what David was saying was serious, he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. David glared at him. “What’s so amusing, Stokes?”

“Sorry babe, it’s just that, well, you’re giving a speech.” Nick chuckled.

“Oh shut up.” Most of the tension that had filled the room since his father walked in disappeared as everyone laughed as David rolled his eyes and smacked Nick on the head.

“Now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted…”

“You’re calling me rude? That’s rich.”

“Am I going to have to send you to your room?”

“Only if you come with me.” Nick stated and wagged his eyebrows.

David felt his face turning red. “Nick, do you want to know about L.A. or not?”

“Yeah, sorry babe. I’ll be quite now. Go on.”

“My father has always wanted two things from me.” David continued. “One is to be interested in running the business and the other is to not be gay. Up until a few years ago, he concentrated on the men in my life. However, after what happened with Tom, I swore off relationships. I guess he took that as a sign that he had won that battle so he moved onto the next. He figured if I got fired that I’d come running to him for a job.” He stopped, sat down and took Nick’s hand into his.

Nick saw how difficult it was for his lover to talk about all this. “Dave, you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want too.”

David just smiled at him and went on. “Dad paid two of my co workers to get me fired. It started simple. Whispers around the lab ,things like he’s gay, he flirts with all the men, he slept with the boss, he got this job cause his family has money, thinks he’s better than us and those were the nice rumors. People stopped talking to me unless it was about trace. I’d walk into a room and even people I considered my friends would get up and leave. I couldn’t figure out what was happening. After about two weeks of this, the computers and machines in trace started breaking down. The problems were always rather simple, a wire was pulled out, a part was missing, a piece was busted. Trace was getting way behind. It was obvious that someone was doing it on purpose. Guess who they pointed the finger at. They said I was lazy and didn’t want to work. I was beginning to realize that someone was trying to get me fired. I was stubborn though. They weren’t getting rid of me that easily. Next, evidence started to get misplaced. Of course, it was always found before it affected the case. Again, I was the one blamed for it.” He paused and grabbed the beer bottle from Nick’s hand and took a drink.

“Didn’t anybody try to proof who was doing all this? Warrick asked.

“The only person that would still talk to me was our receptionist, Lynn Meadows. Lynn was pretty quite and people tended to forget she was around. She hated the way I was being treated and took it upon herself to find out what was going on. One day, she was eating lunch when the lead CSI and fingerprint tech walked into the room and started talking about how they were going to spend the next payment from Hodges. Lynn was confused so she found me and told me what they said. I felt like an idiot, not having figuring out that my father was behind everything. I thought about quitting and going somewhere else but I knew he’d just do it again. So I started being extra careful. I got a shelf with a lock and locked up the evidence when I wasn’t analyzing it. If anybody took anything out, I made them sign for it. If anything broke down, I’d try to fix it myself. I figured Dad would eventually get tired of paying and things would go back to normal. However, one day Lynn came into the lab almost in tears.” David paused again as he remembered that day.

“What’s wrong, Lynn?”

“David, I overheard them. They said that something big is going to go down Friday and the boss would have to fire you.”

“I didn’t doubt they could do it. My job was hanging by a thread as it was.”

“And getting fired would mean you wouldn’t be able to get a job at another crime lab.” Nick said.

“Exactly. I knew the only chose I had was to resign. But the supervisor wouldn’t take my resignation. Instead he asked me if I wanted to transfer to another lab. He had heard that the Vegas lab needed a new trace technician. So that’s how I ended up here.

“You’ve been here almost four years, why didn’t your father try something sooner?” Nick asked.

“He probably figured if it didn’t work the first time, why try again. He’d just be wasting his money.” David took another drink from Nick’s beer.

“Well, look on the bright side.” Greg smiled.

Nobody could believe he said that. If the looks he was getting from Nick and Jacqui could kill he’d be dead on the floor. David just stared.

“Greg, what the hell could be the bright side of any of this?” Nick yelled.

Greg, being Greg, was seemingly undisturbed by the looks or Nick’s yelling. “Well, if all that hadn’t happen, David might never have came to Vegas and he would have never met Nicky.” he stated.

David shook his head at the young man. “Yeah Sanders, all that heartbreak and misery was worth finding Nick.” He said sarcastically. He actually agreed with Greg but he wasn’t going to say so. How sappy would that be? Ugh. However, nobody missed David’s slight smile or how his hand had came to rest on Nick’s thigh while Greg was talking.

“Well, all I have to say” Jacqui started “is if anyone at the lab tries anything, they will answer to me.”

“Me too.” Warrick said.

Nick and David exchanged glances and then started laughing. Jacqui and Warrick both glared at them.

“Man, going up against either of you is bad enough. I’d actually pity the person that had both of you after them.” Nick said.

David stood up. “Ok this end the dramatic portion of our party. Someone turn the music back on and please people eat and drink as much as you want. Nicky bought out the whole damn store and I’d hate for it all to go to waste.”

**********

Nick insisted David dance with him. David didn’t mind dancing; he just didn’t like doing it in front of their friends. But he had to admit it felt so right standing there swaying to the music with Nick’s arms around him tight. God, how did he get so lucky?

The party started winding down. As they stood at the door watching the last of their guests leave, David realized he felt different. Then it hit him. What he was feeling was freedom, freedom from his father, freedom from the secrets, freedom from the worry of betrayal. He also felt trust, a deep unwavering trust of the man standing beside him.

“What are you thinking?” Nick whispered.

David smiled. “Just thinking about how much I love you.” Ok that was sappy. But he decided he didn’t care.

“I love you too, babe”. Nick looked around and sighed. “I guess we better start cleaning this mess up.”

David took his lover’s hand and started pulling him away from the door. “We’re going to bed.”

“Dave, you can’t sleep if there’s a spoon in the sink. How do you expect to sleep with this mess still here?”

“Who said anything about sleep?”

Nick shook his head. “I see, after you’ve had your way with me, we’ll have to get up and clean this mess.”

“I promise Nicky, I won’t say a word about cleaning till tomorrow morning.”

There was something different about the way David was looking at him, something more confident, something more loving, something more trusting. David stopped as they came to the bedroom as if he could sense what Nick was thinking.

“Nicky, what you did tonight. The way you stood by me. It it…” He stuttered unable to find the words for what he was feeling.

“I know. It’s ok. You don’t have to say anything.”

“I should have never doubted you.”

“Don’t you dare feel bad. After all you’ve been through, I’m honored that you let me into your heart at all.”

“Remember what I said earlier about trust?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I trust you here” David said pointing to his heart “and I trust you here, pointing to his head. I’ll never doubt you again.”

Nick felt a tear running down his face as he repeated what he had told David’s father earlier. “You mean everything to me.”

David reached up and wiped the tear off Nick’s face. “I need you so much, Nicky.” He whispered.

“You’ve got me, babe.” Nick smiled and gently pushed him towards the bed. “I promise I’ll never leave you.”