The Price of Secrets

by Terry Poole

  “I understand, I really do, but if he gets wind of our investigation, even the slightest hint that we are onto him…” Steven left the rest unsaid.

  “Damn it.”

  “Yeah, exactly.”

  Breathing hard, Kelly took a few minutes to collect himself before rising and returning to Nathan. He dropped heavily onto the open chair on Nathan’s other side and leaned forward, elbows on his knees, head hanging down.

  “How much of that did you hear?”

  “Most of it. I’m so sorry, love.”

  “He was my friend. I trusted him.”

  “I know, baby.” Kelly felt Nathan stroking his back as he stared at the floor beneath his boots.

  “Papa? Why is Daddy sad?” Maria tentatively asked.

  “Someone Daddy thought was a friend did something bad and hurt Daddy.”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Kelly saw Maria hop off the chair and come around to Kelly. She threw her small arms around his neck, pressing her lips to his cheek in a soft kiss. “It’s okay, Daddy. We won’t let anyone hurt you no more. Luis, Jesus, Papa and me will take care of you. You have us now.”

  Kelly felt like his heart was going to burst from his chest, unable to hold the overflowing emotion. This sweet child who had been through so much misery, still had such boundless love and compassion in her to give. Kelly glanced over to Nathan whose eyes were shiny as he watched the two of them.

  “Yes, you do,” Nathan agreed, his hand still making slow circles upon Kelly’s back. “And we will take very good care of you.”

  Jesus stared at him, nodding his head while he lay against Nathan’s chest. Kelly felt a tentative touch to his knee and turned his head. Luis knelt at his feet, giving him an encouraging smile.

  “You are one lucky man, MacNiel,” Moose said from across the plane.

  Kelly held Maria tight to his chest. Running his gaze over them all, he completely agreed.

  Chapter Ten

  Just before they landed, Nathan hobbled clumsily over to Cookie’s stretcher. Ridiculous and painful didn’t even begin to cover it. Placing pressure on his feet with each step was agonizing and the gauze wrapping made it extremely awkward. Sighing in relief, he slid down to the floor beside the stretcher. Cookie appeared to be sleeping peacefully. Better remember to call him Steven again, he thought to himself.

  Luis glanced up at him from the magazine one of the men had given him to pass the time. Nathan noted how Luis’s hand rested casually on Steven’s arm, his thumb idly stroking the fabric as he read. He wasn’t sure Luis was even aware of doing it.

  “How’s it going, Luis?”

  “Good, Papa,” he said the last word tentatively to Nathan, speaking quietly, trying not to wake the sleeping man.

  Nathan gave him a broad smile and Luis’s shoulders relaxed.

  “Steven doing all right?”

  “Yes, Papa. I checked his breathing, BP and pulse a few minutes ago. All good.”

  “Excellent.”

  “The IV bag is running low, however.”

  Nathan reached up and examined the bag. “That’s fine. I think we can take the IV out now without any problems.”

  “Finally,” Steven murmured quietly below them.

  Luis jumped back with a startled squawk, landing awkwardly on his ass.

  Steven chuckled then clutched his side with a wince. “Ugh, don’t make me laugh.”

  Nathan tried hard not to snicker as a red-faced Luis scrambled hurriedly back to his knees. “That would serve you right for scaring me,” he scolded Steven.

  “Come on, Luis. Let’s have a look-see at Steven’s owie before I pull the IV needle out.”

  “Owie? Is that your professional medical opinion, doctor?” Steven asked with a mock serious look at the two of them.

  “Yes. Yes, it is, so suck it up. Once you get a medical license, you can call it whatever you want.” Nathan sniffed at him, Luis snickering beside him.

  Lifting the bandage, Nathan examined the injury and deemed it healing nicely. He pressed on the skin above the needle in Steven’s arm and smoothly removed it. Luis placed a piece of square gauze into his hand and a strip of surgical tape for him to seal it over the site.

  Nathan sat back on his heels. “Steven, do you have anyone at home to keep an eye on you?” Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Luis leaning slightly forward, looking anxious as he waited for Steven’s answer. Aha.

  Steven huffed. “No.”

  For Luis’s sake, Nathan added, “No wife, girlfriend…boyfriend?”

  “No. No and no. I have no one, all right?” Steven snapped at Nathan’s harping but Luis smiled, settling back with a satisfied expression.

  Nathan gave Steven his best ‘don’t mess with me, I’m your physician’ scowl. “As your doctor, I’m informing you of your options. Listen carefully.” He held up one finger. “One, when we land you can either spend a few days at the hospital being pestered by well-meaning nurses or two; you can come home with Kelly and me to my parent’s place where Luis and I can monitor your progress. There will be no arguments, Special Agent Bakerson, because right now, I outrank you.” Nathan held up a hand at Steven’s protest. “Nope. I know you big tough guys are all the same, too much machismo for your own good.”

  “Hey!” Echoed around him and he snorted.

  “Spare me the testosterone measuring contest.”

  “Papa? What’s test-oz-trone?” Maria asked from behind him.

  Oops.

  “It’s something big strong men sometimes have too much of,” Luis answered for him.

  “Oh.” She nodded like that explained everything and returned to her seat, picking her coloring book back up.

  Nathan exchanged indulgent glances with Luis before turning back to Steven.

  “Well? What will it be Steven? Hospital food or a nice soft bed at my place?”

  “You win.” He huffed. “Your place.”

  “Good. Brendan?” Nathan called over to his brother. “Would you mind calling Mom and telling her to get a guest room ready for us? Steven will be staying for a few days.”

  “Good plan. On it.”

  “Thanks. See, Steven? That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

  Nathan patted Steven’s arm as he rose slowly to his oversized gauze feet and dragging a hand on the side of the plane to steady him, moved carefully down the aisle to Kelly’s side once more. Kelly clasped his hand, giving it a small squeeze as he guided Nathan down beside him.

  “Nicely done, love.”

  Giving Kelly a quick kiss, Nathan said softly into his ear, “I’ve had a lot of practice with big tough guys with lots of test-oz-trone.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, and once we get home and settled, I’ll just have to practice some more.” Nathan lightly bit the skin behind Kelly’s ear producing a very satisfying groan from Kelly.

  “Doc…” Moose whined. “Cut it out.”

  The overhead speaker clicked on with a slight hiss of static before the pilot’s voice came on telling them to strap in and prepare for landing.

  “Finally.” He sighed in relief.

  After the plane came to a halt and the door was unlatched, Nathan kept the kids by his side as the team unloaded the plane and hauled the gear into the hangar. Luis and Kelly helped him from the plane and over to a group of vehicles.

  Although they left Steven on the stretcher, once they had him near the vehicles, he was carefully lifted and with the help of Luis, Manny and Frodo settled as comfortably as possible into the back of Brendan’s car.

  Nathan propped himself up against Kelly’s SUV as Kelly secured the kids into the two car seats which had miraculously appeared in the vehicle. He tilted his head in thanks at Brendan over the roof of the SUV. Brendan held out a finger indicating that he should wait and ran into the hangar. Moments later, he was back with a file folder and laid its contents onto the hood of the car.

  “Okay, sign here.” He pointed to a spot highlighted by a post-it-note then flipped a
page to two more. “Here and here.”

  As Nathan signed, Kelly approached, and leaned over him to see what he was doing. When he was done, Nathan held the pen Brendan had given him up toward his shoulder for Kelly to take. This was it, Kelly’s last chance to change his mind. Once these papers were signed, they were the legal parents of Maria and Jesus and there was no going back.

  Kelly plucked the pen from his fingers, and scrawled his name beside Nathan’s in the places Brendan indicated. He pecked Nathan’s lips and softly said, “Breathe, baby.”

  Nathan sucked in a huge lungful of air, not realizing that he had indeed been holding his breath. Smiling sheepishly, he bent his head in embarrassment.

  “Done and done,” Brendan said, slapping the folder closed. “Congratulations. These will be filed tomorrow.”

  Kelly pulled him into his arms and held him, cheek to cheek. “Hi, Papa.”

  “Hi, Daddy.” Nathan sighed, sagging into Kelly’s embrace.

  “Come on, Papa. Let’s get you into the car.”

  Wrapping an arm around Nathan’s waist, Kelly helped him into the front passenger seat and closed the door. Nathan rolled the window down, watching as Kelly and his friends, after much hugging and backslapping, agreed to get together in a couple of weeks for drinks.

  “I’ll have the money in your accounts tomorrow,” Kelly called after them.

  As one they froze and turned to him, giving him an incredulous look.

  “What the hell man?” Frodo snapped at him.

  Kelly stared at them with a confused expression. Moose stalked up to him and cuffed him upside the head.

  “Hey,” Kelly complained as he rubbed the back of his head. “What was that for?”

  “We’re all brothers and sisters, a family. And family does for each other without pay. Never alone and don’t you forget it.”

  Nathan shivered as his own father’s words were repeated by each member of the team. Never alone. It was true. Nathan had seen the love they shared for one another. None of them were ever truly alone with the love of their strange extended family; they would always be there for each other.

  Kelly hugged them each one more time and Nathan could tell that he was overcome with emotion. G stayed by Brendan’s side, holding his hand as Kelly walked up to them and spoke with her for a minute. Nathan was too far away to hear what was said but Brendan was smiling and G ducked her head. Was she blushing? Brendan bent, picked up her bags and put them into his car’s trunk then held the passenger door for her. She kissed his cheek then stroked her fingers lovingly along his jaw before settling into the car.

  Kelly approached the driver’s door and Nathan stretched over the console between them.

  “So, Brendan and G, huh?”

  “Yup. Looks like.”

  “Good.” Nathan shifted back into his seat. “I like her.”

  Kelly sat, closed the door and clicked his seatbelt into place. “I think they’ll be good for each other,” he said before reaching over to clasp Nathan’s hand. “Like us. You ground me.”

  Nathan bent his upper body over the console once more and gave Kelly a kiss. “And you lighten my life. You make me happy and I love you so much.”

  “I love you too.” Kelly returned the kiss with interest only pulling apart when a car horn beside them made them jump.

  “Ass,” Kelly muttered at Brendan’s grinning face through the window.

  Nathan couldn’t help snickering. He heard a cough behind him and glanced over his shoulder. Luis was staring nonchalantly out the window, the corner of his lips lifted in a smirk. Both kids were flipping through picture books, which had also mysteriously appeared in the SUV for them.

  More toys were nestled in the back pockets of the front seats, Nathan appreciated his brother’s foresight even more as they kept the kids happy during the drive to his parent’s place.

  They drew up the driveway to the house just as the sun disappeared behind the house and the porch lights automatically clicked on. Nathan immediately spotted both his mom and dad out on the porch waiting for them. They sat side by side on the glider, holding mugs in their hands, staring at them as they arrived. His dad clasped his mom’s hand, the mugs were quickly set down and together, they rose to their feet, smiling happily as everyone piled out of the vehicles.

  Nathan carried Jesus in one arm, his other slung around Luis’s shoulders to keep him steady while he shuffled up to the house. Kelly carried Maria, who had staked her permanent claim upon him.

  His mom’s eyes widened at the strange sight of his feet but keep silent. Her gaze flashed to his before settling on Jesus and she smiled warmly at him. Nathan knew explanations would be required later.

  Introductions were made with his dad hugging everyone including a surprised and pleased Giselle. His mom took charge of the kids, winning their little hearts as she gushed over them, hustling them before her into the house and straight to the kitchen. Knowing his mom, there would be homemade cookies cooling on the counter.

  The others followed his mom and Kelly into the house until Nathan realized that Luis was hanging back, hesitant to approach Nathan’s dad. That wouldn’t do. He reached out and dragged a resisting Luis forward.

  “Dad, this is Luis,” he said, wrapping an arm around Luis’s shoulders. “He’s Jesus and Maria’s older brother. He did everything he could to keep me safe.”

  His father grabbed Luis’s hand and vigorously shook it before pulling the younger man into his arms for a hug. Yup, that was his dad, hugs for everyone.

  “Thank you. It’s a great pleasure to meet you.”

  “There’s more. Once all the paperwork is sorted and his credits transferred, he’s going back to medical school at Anchor with me, where he belongs.”

  His dad nodded sagely at Luis then clapped him on the shoulder, smiling in approval.

  “You couldn’t have picked a finer example. It’ll be nice to have two doctors in the family,” he said to Luis who couldn’t help staring up at him in surprise.

  “Told you.” Nathan nudged him in the shoulder with his own as he shuffled awkwardly past them into the house. Luis had been so afraid that Nathan’s dad would view him as a leech, a gold digger. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Nathan knew his big-hearted parents would accept Luis as easily as his two younger siblings, their new grandkids. It was a done deal, as Kelly would say.

  Brendan and G had Steven sitting between them as Nathan entered the kitchen. Although Steven was now walking slowly on his own, it was apparent from the slight gray cast to his skin that he needed to lie down and soon.

  “Brendan, would you give me a hand with Steven? I need to get him into a bed so I can check his sutures.”

  “Of course.”

  Steven flashed Nathan a grateful look as Brendan slipped his arm around Steven’s waist and helped him to one of the guest rooms on the main floor. Nathan was also going to take a moment to get the ridiculous wrappings off his feet. As he moved down the hall, he heard his dad give G a warm welcome behind him and grinned. His mom would have G wrapped around her little finger in no time. The big bad warrior didn’t stand a chance.

  He and Brendan stripped Steven down to his boxers despite his protests. “Relax. It’s not like you have something we haven’t seen a dozen times. Just rest. You don’t have to do anything now other than heal.”

  Nathan placed a bottle of pain meds and a glass of water on the nightstand beside the bed. “Take these if you need them. One will dull the pain, take two if you need them, but they will likely make you sleep.”

  Steven popped one of the pills into his mouth and downed it with a mouthful of water. “I don’t think I’ll need two to sleep right now.”

  “I’ll check on you in a little while,” Nathan told Steven as he watched Steven gratefully close his eyes, before he left the room and he shut the door behind him.

  He turned to Brendan who waited in the hallway. “I’ll be there in a minute. I want to take care of my stupid bandages first.”<
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  “Do you need help?”

  “Thanks, but I’ll be fine.”

  Nodding, Brendan headed to the kitchen as Nathan went into the bathroom and rooted in the cabinet for the first aid box. Balancing awkwardly on the toilet with his foot up on the side of the tub, he slowly peeled the ribbon of gauze from his left foot.

  A tap on the door was all the warning Nathan got as it was pushed open and Kelly entered. “Brendan told me what you were up to.”

  He closed the door and held up a hand as he knelt in front of Nathan. “Yes, I know you don’t need any help.” Kelly grasped Nathan’s foot and took up where Nathan left off unwinding the gauze and dropping each long strip into the garbage basket.

  Kelly shook his head. “What the hell were they thinking? Were they practicing mummy wrapping for Halloween or something?”

  “Right?” Nathan waved his hand at his foot as the skin was slowly revealed.

  Turning his foot this way and that in Kelly’s hands, he snorted. “It’s not that bad.”

  “Um, yeah, it is.” Kelly opened the first aid box and took out antiseptic and more gauze. “Don’t worry, love. I’ll take good care of you.”

  Nathan’s heart melted at the concern in Kelly’s voice. He leaned forward and palmed Kelly’s cheek before placing a soft kiss on Kelly’s lips. “I know you will. Thank you.”

  Kelly gave him the lopsided grin that brought his dimples out in sharp relief. The one guaranteed to turn Nathan’s insides to mush. It never failed to amaze Nathan that this incredible man had actually chosen him, wanted him…forever.

  “Oh, baby. Don’t look at me like that or we’ll never get back to the others.”

  “Like what?” Nathan drawled, dropping his voice into his lowest register.

  Kelly shivered and Nathan silently cheered that he could produce that reaction in Kelly with just his voice. Rising up onto his knees, Kelly spread Nathan’s thighs and scooted closer. Gripping Nathan’s ass, Kelly hauled him to the edge of the seat and firmly ground their groins together. Wrapping his arms around Kelly’s neck, Nathan reveled in the power, the strength of the man he loved. Kelly could easily manhandle him, move him around and position him as if he were as light as a feather.