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TheZot

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  1. TheZot

    Busted chapter 31

    By TheZot,

    [A bit longer, this one. Only two more to go and we're done with this bit. Woo!]
     
    Joe came downstairs, bare chested and shirt in hand, to see Steve guiding a barely conscious Chris out of the living room.
     
    "C'mon, Chris," Steve was saying. "One foot in front of the other. You can do it."
     
    Chris looked up and saw Joe. His face broke into a huge grin. "'M dreeeeming," he said. He turned to Steve. "y'din' tell me I was dreeeming." There was drunken accusation in his voice.
     
    "Yeah, it's a dream, buddy," Steve said. His voice was a little forced. "Dream yourself upstairs, okay?"
     
    Chris took two stumbling steps forward. Then his eyes went wide and he fell forward, right into Joe. He barely caught Chris and lurched back a step. He caught his heel on the bottom stair ended up laying on the stairs with Chris on top of him.
     
    "What the f**K do you think you're doing?" Joe spat. He was somewhere between furious and puzzled. Chris was dead drunk, but he was apparently a happy drunk. He was also very heavy.
     
    Chris gave him that very serious look that only drunks and small children can give. "I'm dreaming," he said. He said it slowly and carefully, so as not to slur the words.
     
    He was convinced of it, too. The world was very wobbly, and Joe was there, naked. Well, mostly naked, but Chris was willing to forgive him the shorts. That meant he was dreaming. He didn't remember Joe being nearly so cranky in the other dreams. On the other hand, in those dreams that mouth was either kissing him or sucking him. Chris couldn't quite reach his pants, so that left only one option open.
     
    Joe was surprised for a second when Chris started kissing him. Then there were a few seconds where he kissed back. He was pretty sure the fact that he wrapped his arms around Chris was only out of reflex. It was when he couldn't come up with an excuse for the crotch-grinding that he pushed Chris away.
     
    "Get off me," he spat. He was furious. Mad at Chris for getting drunk when his son might need him. Mad at Chris for kissing him. Mad at himself for kissing right back.
     
    "Can't," Chris said cheerfully. He tried to move, with no success. Mostly because Joe hadn't actually let go yet. "'M stuck!"
     
    Joe let go, feeling like he'd just been burned.
     
    "Get him up, please," he snapped at Steve. He was enjoying this altogether too much for Joe's comfort.
     
    "You sure?" Steve asked. "I was thinking of giving Mary a call and
  2. TheZot

    Busted chapter 30

    By TheZot,

    [There's a reason Joe left home at 18, changed his name, and never looked back. A reason he doesn't drink, too, they're just different reasons. This one's the reason he's so mad at Chris...]
     
    Joe was fuming as he carried Toby upstairs. He'd actually worried about Chris earlier. He snorted. Sick. He knew exactly what sort of sick Chris was.
     
    Toby moved in his sleep and held on a little tighter to Joe. Joe's fury vanished for a moment as he gave Toby a little squeeze and a kiss on the top of his head. That surprised him. He hadn't intended to do that. It was instinctive. It felt right.
     
    That brought the fury back. He'd grown up with this sort of crap. Parents who were drunk all the time. His parents, his brothers, his sister, most of their friends
  4. TheZot

    Busted chapter 29

    By TheZot,

    [it's weird, stopping at what's really just a scene breakpoint, but only occasionally. Still, it keeps me moving, which is good]
     
    Joe was snoring softly when Steve nudged him awake. At some point, after a half dozen games of Candyland, he and Toby had managed to fall asleep. Joe was still sitting on the floor. Toby was curled up in his lap with Joe's arms wrapped around him.
     
    "Hey, wake up," Steve said softy. "It's time to go to bed."
     
    Joe looked up, entirely confused.
     
    "Uh
  5. TheZot

    Busted chapter 28

    By TheZot,

    [Apparently Toby really likes Joe. Didn't expect this particular twist. Gotta love characters that surprise. Poor Alex though, he's getting the short end of things with Joe]
     
    Joe and Toby kicked the soccer ball around for an hour before they were interrupted by a clap of thunder from off in the distance. The promised storms were coming, and they were bringing lightning in their wake.
     
    "Guess it's time to head inside, Toby," Joe said.
     
    "'Kay, Uncle Joe."
     
    Joe was glad for the excuse. He kept in shape, hitting the gym three days a week, but after an hour chasing around wild kicks and diving after the ball he was winded. Little kids were nuclear powered, he decided. Toby was ready to go another hour. At least.
     
    Toby took Joe's hand and the two of them walked back to the house. Steve's kids had already gotten out of the pool, and everyone was gathering up things to take inside. The grill had been shut down, and the cooler moved.
     
    "Need a hand?" Joe asked.
     
    Steve smiled. "Looks like yours is already full. We're good, thanks."
     
    Mary was giving Joe an odd look, and it made him a little uncomfortable. He couldn't read her well. She seemed okay, and from what Steve had said she certainly didn't have a problem with hum being gay, but he wasn't sure if she actually approved of him personally. He wasn't sure why he cared, either, but he did.
     
    "Looks like your side-kick projection didn't work too well," Steve said to Mike as he lowered the umbrella. "Had to do all the work ourselves. Maybe your projector needs a new bulb."
     
    "That's psychic projection, and it works just fine," Mike said. "The only dim bulb around here is you."
     
    Steve looked around. "I don't see any projections, Oh Enlightened One."
     
    Mike tried to look haughty, but the chagrin spoiled it. "Not one of my talents," he said.
     
    "Ah. You can't project to steal beer. Gotcha."
     
    "Uncle Joe." Toby tugged on his hand. "I wanna play Candyland."
     
    Steve looked surprised. "Now I am impressed," he said. "That's Toby's favorite game."
     
    "C'mon, please
  7. TheZot

    Busted chapter 26

    By TheZot,

    [i'm not sure if this bit's too revealing. I'm tempted to cut it, actually]
     
    Saturday morning Chris woke up to the sounds of his third alarm. He'd had to dig his spare alarm clock out of the closet the past week. Chris had been having a hell of a time waking up ever since the divorce was final. Two or three days a week for the past month, he'd wake up feeling like he hadn't slept.
     
    When his dreams had just been dreams it was bad enough, but now they were full-blown hallucinations. Or fantasies. He wasn't sure which. Either way he was changing his sheets nearly daily. He'd even tried beating off before bed Friday, but it hadn't helped. Neither had the images of Joe doing things to him that'd sprung to mind unbidden. Well, they'd helped him get off. Twice.
     
    Last night was the worst of the lot. He could almost taste Joe, almost smell him. He could definitely remember the feeling of slipping inside and
  8. TheZot

    Busted chapter 25

    By TheZot,

    [i hadn't planned on writing this chapter either. And now I realize I need some chapters in the B storyline in the past. Argh!]
     
    Joe always had the hardest time finding a parking spot at Alex's apartment complex. He didn't go there all that often
  9. TheZot

    Busted chapter 23

    By TheZot,

    [i bet you thought I'd forgotten about poor Alex! I think I need some connecting material with Chris and Steve, though]
     
    Friday afternoon Joe was still digging through the pile of evaluations on his desk. It was slow going, slower than normal. He'd been playing the events of the past week over in his mind. Everything was just so strange.
     
    A week ago he was happy and things were simple. Maybe they weren't picture perfect, but he had a quiet life he liked and a boyfriend he loved, and that was enough. He didn't have to deal with his past, or Alex's.
     
    Now his past had resurfaced, as had Alex's. His was ugly. Alex's
  10. TheZot

    Busted chapter 24

    By TheZot,

    [i hadn't planned on writing this chapter. I was going to just skip to the next one. Well, okay, the one after that, since there's [i]another[/i] little chapter coming I can't skip. Best laid plans
  11. TheZot
    [As I'm getting into this I'm realizing I need more work on the B storyline, which'd be the whole death thing. There should be a chapter before this one where Stephanie's family is found, and some of the boring really needs to get removed from this. So we're going back in time a little. Whee! This 'wednesday' is the day before Joe is in on the interview with Stephanie]
     
    Wednesday morning Chris Gagnon was sitting at his desk digging through the medical examiner's preliminary report on the O'Malley murders. It wasn't complete, since they were still waiting for the toxicology reports, but it was something to go on. The only witness they had was a terrified eight year old girl who wasn't in any shape to talk to them. By mutual consent Steve and Chris had decided not to push, but they couldn't hold off much longer.
     
    He shook his head. Despite what TV showed, murders like this were rare. There were all sorts of ways that people killed each other, but some sort of ritual? That wasn't normal. Unfortunately it was bad, since these things weren't normally one-offs.
     
    Chris was digging through the back files, looking for anything that might match. There wasn't much, locally. Normally a good thing, it meant there weren't all that many people getting killed in his town. For this, though, he'd almost welcome another case like it. Anything to give him more information.
     
    He had this nagging feeling that it was related to the murders four months ago. A young couple was killed at the Wildbrook apartment complex. It had looked like a revenge killing of some sort
  12. TheZot

    Busted chapter 22

    By TheZot,

    [in which Joe gets yelled at. I keep waiting for someone who's really a cop to tell me exactly how wrong this all is -- I've been winging it on common sense and chutzpah so far. I really, really hope the stats I'm pulling out of the air are wildly overstated for dramatic reasons too]
     
    Joe walked back to the rec room to see if there was anything else that Steve needed. Joe wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do. He felt numb and sick. His empty stomach hurt. His throat hurt.
     
    Steve was sitting at a table in the corner of the room, papers spread out. He had a battered laptop open and running.
     
    "You okay?" Steve asked. Joe looked like he'd been run over by a truck. Which, all things considered, he sort of had.
     
    Joe looked at him like he was insane. "No."
     
    Steve shrugged. The interview had kicked the shit out of him. He had a headache coming on, and like it or not Joe was going to have to figure out how to deal with it himself. Steve was having enough trouble of his own. Joe was a nice enough guy and all, and maybe he was dating Chris' crazy alter-ego, but he wasn't family. Not yet.
     
    "So what do you do with her next?" he asked.
     
    Steve shrugged. "Probably nothing."
     
    "Nothing? What do you mean nothing?" Joe was confused.
     
    "She's probably told us all she's going to," Steve said. He shuffled through the papers on the table and poked at his computer a little.
     
    "That's it then? You just drop her?" Joe sounded incredulous. He'd seen Steve with his kids, and Chris' kid. He couldn't believe Steve would just leave Stephanie.
     
    "No, of course not. Social services will take care of her."
     
    "That's not good enough! How can you sit there and, and
  13. TheZot

    Busted chapter 21

    By TheZot,

    [i'll warn that things get a bit unpleasant in this one. I can't judge how bad, relative to the norm for the genre since I don't usually read this sort of stuff]
     
    Chris was speechless as Joe went into the room. Joe and Billy O'Malley being related wasn't anything that'd even occurred to him. The last names were different. Joe was slender while Billy was built like a fat biker. Joe was sophisticated and clever and attractive
  14. TheZot

    Busted chapter 20

    By TheZot,

    [Ah, poor Joe. I've figured out the second plot. Bwahahahahahaha! *cough*]
     
    Joe parked on the street behind Steve's car, his little silver coup looking very out of place on the dingy corner. It wasn't one of the better parts of town, all old multi-story brick buildings that had been built back when this was the center of everything, before cars and the suburbs had killed it.
     
    The sign next to the door just said "Johnson House", and gave no indication what was inside. Joe opened it. Waiting for him was Chris Gagnon. He was dressed for work, in dress pants, a jacket that'd seen better years, and a white-ish dress shirt. He was carrying a manila folder. A shiver went down Joe's back and his hackles raised.
     
    "Detective Gagnon," he said. He was feeling formal. They certainly weren't friends. With the instant arguments and the kiss the past weekend he wasn't sure what they were, but it definitely wasn't friends.
     
    "Mister Hennesy," Chris said, matching Joe's formality. "Stephanie's upstairs." The formality helped. Chris had an urge to just grab Joe and shove his tongue down his throat. He fought that feeling down viciously. He wasn't going to do that. It had gotten him into far too much trouble in the past, and Alex had gotten him in even more that way. He wasn't Alex. He'd spent a lot of effort not being Alex, though he'd never admit it.
     
    Joe started up the stairs. Chris followed. He had his hands jammed in his pockets. It was the only way he could think to keep them from reaching up under the suit jacket and stroking Joe's ass. Stupid hands. Stupid jacket. Stupid pockets.
     
    Joe was oblivious to this. There was only one way to go, so that's the way he went.
     
    "Who's Stephanie?" Joe asked. He'd turned on the stairs to face Chris.
     
    The good thing about that was it took his back side out of Chris' view. The bad thing was it put his crotch there instead. Very bad, as there wasn't any coverage from the jacket. His reaction pissed him off. It didn't help that he still had a small headache from the morning's hangover.
     
    "Girl you found," Chris snapped. He regretted the tone, but he didn't feel like apologizing right then.
     
    "You figured out her name?"
     
    "We're detectives. Sometimes we detect things," Chris said.
     
    "Who'dve thought?" Joe winced inwardly as he said that. It sounded insulting. Hell, it was insulting.
     
    Chris chose to ignore it, though it stung. "Her parents were separated. We haven't located any relatives on her mother's side. We're still looking for the father."
     
    "He dead too?" Joe asked as they got to the top of the stairs.
     
    Chris snorted. "No, just an asshole. Six months behind on his child support."
     
    Joe looked around. The stairs went up another two floors, but Chris wasn't pushing to go up another flight. This was mostly because he was fighting to not notice how the light material of Joe's dress pants fit his legs. It was such a good thing Joe was wearing that suit jacket. Between the hangover and the dreams and Toby's spells he was feeling like crap. Chris wasn't sure how much self-control he had.
     
    "Great," Joe said. Chris' struggles went unnoticed. "Where now?"
     
    "Rec room at the end of the hall,"
     
    "So who is he? Or can't you tell me that?"
     
    "It's not a secret, not for something like this." Chris dug around in the pocket of his jacket and pulled out his notebook. His head was throbbing something fierce, and he wasn't thinking all that well. He flipped through a few pages, buying time.
     
    "He's Billy O'Malley," Chris said after he found the right page. "A.K.A William J. O'Malley. Sometimes 'Studs' O'Malley. Has a string of priors, mostly DUI or drunk and disorderly."
     
    Joe whirled and stared at Chris. "William James O'Malley? Thirty four? Five nine, red hair, worthless piece of shit?"
     
    Chris recoiled a little from the venom in Joe's voice. "Maybe. He's bald in the pictures we have." He opened the folder and took out a picture. It was a family photo, a few years old. A woman, maybe thirty, looking a little worn, was holding a small child. Two girls were standing next to her, one on either side. The older of the two was Stephanie, the younger must've been her sister the resemblance was so strong. And to their left was Billy. Bald, wearing a t-shirt and black leather vest. He was bulky, like he worked out a lot and drank even more. Tattoos were clear on both arms, bits of his face were pierced, and even in the picture you could see he was freckled all over. His head was shaved bare.
     
    "Bastard. Utter, f**king bastard," Joe spat. "583-5555."
     
    Chris' eyes narrowed. He was suddenly very angry. Joe obviously knew this guy. That meant he had to be an ex-boyfriend. He didn't know what was worse; that Joe'd date someone obviously married, that he'd date someone who was such a cretin, or that he'd had hurt Joe so badly.
     
    "So you know him," Chris said. Carefully. Coldly. "That his number?"
     
    "No," Joe said, opening the door and stepping into the rec room. "It's our mother's."
  15. TheZot

    Busted chapter 19

    By TheZot,

    [short, but it seems important. Not sure why. This, for the record, is the spot where I had to stop and make a note of all the characters that had shown up so far and what they did...]
     
    Thursday morning Joe was digging through quarterly employee reviews. His office door was closed and his desk was piled with papers and empty coffee cups. Dave Brubeck was playing softly on the stereo in the corner. The electronic twiddle of his phone caught him by surprise. He'd told his assistant he wasn't supposed to be disturbed. She knew how much he hated handling the paperwork.
     
    "Hi Joan," he said absently. "What's up?"
     
    "You've got a call from Detective Russell," Joan said.
     
    "Oh, great. Can you ask him if I'm under arrest again?"
     
    "I don't think they can arrest you over the phone," Joan said.
     
    "Maybe. Wouldn't put it past him."
     
    "He's on three," she said.
     
    "Hey Steve," Joe said as he took the call. "This isn't a great time."
     
    "Sorry, Joe," Steve said. "I wouldn't normally call you, but it's that Jane Doe you found last week."
     
    "She okay?" Joe asked.
     
    "You're kidding, right? She's a mess. We need to talk to her, though. She liked you. D'you think you can come by and maybe keep her calm enough to get us some answers?"
     
    "Do you think it's a good idea to put her through that after what happened?" Joe wasn't actually sure what happened, but nobody ended up with that much blood on them because of something good.
     
    "It's a crap idea, Joe", Steve said. His voice sounded tired. "But some nutcase sliced up her mom, brother, and sister. He's still out there somewhere, and odds are he'll do this again."
     
    Joe understood, but he wasn't comfortable being involved in questioning her. It was probably going to be traumatic, and he didn't want to be responsible for that. "Don't you have psychologists for this?"
     
    "And social workers, and Chris who's usually good with kids, but she goes into a shrieking fit when we try. I know it isn't fun, but we don't have anything else to go on yet. Please?"
     
    Joe sighed. He knew Steve was right. "Fine," he agreed. "I'll come help, but no promises."
     
    "Not asking for one," Steve said. He sounded a lot happier. "We'll take anything at this point."
     
    "Where should I meet you?"
     
    "Group home. 415 Maple, a few streets down from the restaurant we had lunch at last week."
     
    Joe shuddered at the memory. "If I could survive that, this ought to be a piece of cake."
     
    "That's the spirit," Steve said.
     
    Joe hung up the phone. He grabbed his suit jacket and took one last swig of his cold coffee.
     
    "I've gotta go," he told Joan as he let his office. "Probably won't be back."
     
    "Guess they can arrest you over the phone," she asked with a smirk.
     
    "Don't start," he said. "Just
  16. TheZot

    Busted chapter 18

    By TheZot,

    [Right, this is where we find that my exposure to firing ranges is almost entirely through cop shows and Mythbusters]
     
    Tuesday evening Joe dashed out of work late. It was 6:30 and he had to meet Steve at the range for seven. There wasn't time for him to get home and change, so he was stuck dressed for work. He was pretty sure a suit wasn't appropriate dress to go learn how to shoot things, but he didn't have a whole lot of choice.
     
    The firing range was in a nondescript brick building by an industrial park on the other side of town. Joe managed to get there, but only with five minutes to spare. He saw Steve's car already parked around the side and pulled in next to it. Steve was in the car finishing off a burger.
     
    "Hey," he said as Joe got out of the car. "You made it."
     
    "Who could pass up a chance to put holes in things?"
     
    "Right," Steve said. "I'll remember to stand behind you."
     
    They walked into the building, Steve carrying a metal case.
     
    The guy working the front desk looked up as they walked up.
     
    "Detective Russell. How's it going tonight?"
     
    "Pretty good, Phil," Steve said. "Got a pair of lanes free tonight?"
     
    He punched a few keys on his computer and looked at the screen. "It's quiet tonight. You can have seven and eight."
    "Great. Can we throw Joe here on my membership?"
     
    "Sure," Phil said. "Can I see your license please? And will you need anything?"
     
    Joe fished out his license and handed it to Phil. "I don't know. Do I need anything?"
     
    "Give him a set of earmuffs for today." He waved the case at Phil. "I've got everything else this time."
     
    "This time?" Joe asked. "You make it sound like I'll be back."
     
    Steve smiled. "Oh, yeah, buddy, trust me. You'll be back."
     
    Phil smirked as he handed over the ear protection. "I'll buzz you back," he said. The buzzer sounded and they went through a side door and down a hall.
     
    The range was simple enough. It was a long cinderblock room with dividers marking off eight lanes. Track ran along the ceiling, and at the end were paper silhouettes with a bullseye in the center. Behind them was a table with a pile of replacement sheets, and at every lane there was a small table.
     
    "I assume you understand the basic idea here, right?" Steve asked. It sounded like a stupid question, but he'd been tagged to give a gun safety course for the local boy scout troop one year and had learned not to make assumptions.
     
    "Yeah. Point, shoot. How hard can it be?"
     
    Steve shook his head and smiled to himself. This was going to be fun. He took a few minutes to run through the range safety rules.
     
    "Okay, got it. Bullet comes out the end with the hole, leave it unloaded if I'm not going to use it, don't point at anything I don't want to kill, don't trust the safety, guns I haven't checked are always loaded, TV lies."
     
    "Not exactly how I'd put it," Steve said. Joe was being flip, and he found it a little irritating. Joe wasn't taking this nearly seriously enough, and he was tempted to call the whole thing off. If Joe was going to be dating Chris he had better learn to use a gun, so Steve put the annoyance aside. Barely.
     
    "So when do I get to shoot something?" Joe was both nervous and excited. A little part of him felt guilty at the excitement
  17. TheZot

    Busted chapter 17

    By TheZot,

    [Writing things like this on the train is a really surreal experience. I think I won't do that again -- it's tough enough to get past the puritan mores and write it in the first place. Luckily for me I was wearing a heavy jacket... (And yes, Joe gets laid, so be warned. Or encouraged. Whatever)]
     
    Joe should have gone out to the club. He knew he ought to. He could dance. He could laugh. He could see Alex.
     
    And that was why he didn't.
     
    Guilt had gnawed at him ever since he'd left Steve Russell's house. Not because he'd kissed Chris Gagnon. That was a surprise to both of them, and he'd done it to prove a point. But because Chris had kissed back. And Joe had liked it. Maybe better than when Alex did.
     
    He hadn't stopped for any good reason. Not self-control, not fidelity, not anything. The only reason he hadn't thrown Chris down and f**ked him stupid was the shame of knowing exactly how close he'd come to cheating on Alex.
     
    That thought was enough to keep him home. Instead of dancing, he was on the couch. Alone. In sweats. Wrapped in a blanket. With hot cocoa. It didn't help that he was near-insanely horny. At least the guilt was keeping that under control.
     
    Joe snorted as he contemplated the cup he was holding. It was July, and he was curled up with a comforter. He'd even turned the air conditioning up some just so it would be chilly. It was pathetic, but that didn't get him off the couch. Instead he held his cup a little tighter, and sipped from it until it was empty.
     
    He probably should have gone out, or at least gotten up. Instead he set the cup on the end table, pulled the blanket up, and went to sleep. It was 9:30. He hadn't been to bed that early in years. Maybe he was just getting old. He'd make it up to Alex later.
     
    Joe was woken up by a soft caress on his cheek. He was having the most amazing dream. The details were vague, but there was something in it about whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and pineapples. And sex. Lots and lots of sex. He was even more aroused than when he'd fallen asleep.
     
    "Hey," said someone softly.
     
    Joe looked up, barely able to see. The face in front of his eyes blurred in and out a little, as he tried to engage his brain. Strong nose. Good cheekbones. Tan. Black eyes. Longish hair.
     
    "Alex?"
     
    He smiled. "Who else would it be?"
     
    "Alex," Joe said, waking up.
     
    "Right here," Alex said. He was grinning.
     
    "Alex," Joe growled. He was fully awake. Fully aroused.
     
    "You already said that," Alex said.
     
    Joe grabbed Alex and kissed him hard, with a rumbling at the back of his throat. He felt Alex start to respond, bringing his arms up. That wasn't what Joe wanted.
     
    He grabbed onto Alex and launched himself off the couch. He landed flat out on top of Alex, in the middle of the living room carpet. Alex laughed softly. Joe didn't.
     
    Joe leaned down, putting his nose in the crook of Alex's neck. He breathed in deeply, smelling Alex. He smelled clean and light, and faintly of cologne. It was enough. He lunged in, kissing wildly at the base of Alex's throat while his hands scrabbled at Alex's chest, trying to undo the buttons of his shirt. Three seconds were enough for frustration to hit. Joe grabbed the shirt and ripped it open. Buttons popped and flew everywhere.
     
    "You're all worked
  18. TheZot

    Busted chapter 16

    By TheZot,

    [you know it's not going to be this easy. Be honest. You know that. This was originally chapter 15, but I needed a flashback, so it isn't]
     
    Toby's scream brought Chris to his feet. The boy was lying on the ground on the other side of the pool, holding his knee and crying. Chris crossed the distance in four strides, almost falling himself as he ran on the hot concrete patio blocks that ringed the pool. He was there in seconds, cradling Toby as he cried.
     
    "Sh, sh, it's okay. Papa's here, Toby." He hugged the crying boy to him, stroking his hair and trying to take the pain away. It didn't work, it never did, but that never stopped Chris from trying.
     
    When Toby's crying faded to sniffles Chris gave him one last hug.
     
    "What happened, Toby?"
     
    "I slipped, papa," Toby mumbled into Chris' shoulder.
     
    Chris sat down carefully, still cradling Toby. With his feet dangling in the water he looked Toby over. One knee was bleeding, the skin abraded away.
     
    "I see. Looks like you landed pretty hard there, sport."
     
    Toby nodded. His eyes were bright, tears leaking down his cheeks. Chris pulled him close and kissed the top of his head.
     
    "We're going to need to get it washed out and make sure there's nothing in it. Can you be a big boy for papa?"
     
    "I c'n," Toby said.
     
    "Good boy. Hold on tight, okay?" Chris' voice was soft and reassuring. He hated this part, hated doing anything that might cause his son pain. But it had to be done. "Squeeze if it hurts. That's all right."
     
    Chris reached to his right and grabbed one of the pool toys that were scattered. It was a plastic cup in the shape of a fish. Not too big, but big enough. He scooped up some of the pool water and poured it over the scrape.
     
    Toby squeezed hard as the chlorinated water washed over the cut. It stung, but he tried to be strong, like his Papa. Even still, he whimpered a little. Chris kissed him again.
     
    "You're doing really well, sport." He took a look at the cleaned out scrape. It wasn't anything big, just a few layers of skin missing and some blood.
     
    "Looks okay," Chris said. "I think you're gonna live."
     
    "Really?"
     
    "Yep," Chris replied. "But
  19. TheZot

    Busted chapter 15

    By TheZot,

    [This is a flashback. It needs a good transition into it, but it doesn't have one right now]
     
    Nine year old Chris Gagnon huddled under his blanket. It was partly because even in Arizona, April nights were cold. It was partly because he was a little afraid of his dad, who was drunker than normal. But it was mostly because it was 9:30 and past his bedtime, and he still had eight pages of the newest Alpha Flight comic to read.
     
    It wasn't the really newest issue, but it was the newest one he could get. Gary Preston's older brother Mike was going to college in Phoenix and had brought all his comic books home when he'd come back for spring break. Chris thought Gary was an asshole. He had his brother's comics, and that was enough to make him popular.
     
    He'd bought three issues. Gary had charged him a buck each, which just reinforced how much of an asshole he was. They weren't even in order
  20. TheZot

    Busted chapter 14

    By TheZot,

    [Mmm, suspense! I think. I've been practicing some new things with all this. Short sentences. Characters thoughts. cliffhangers! All sorts of things. It's been interesting]
     
    Joe's head whipped around. Standing at the corner of the house was the last person he expected to see.
     
    "Alex?" Joe asked. A little thrill went down his spine, right to his crotch. It was a good thing he'd worn the speedos after all. They were snug enough to keep any reactions
  21. TheZot

    Busted, chapter 13

    By TheZot,

    [i'm not sure if this is filler, setup (since it's only ~1200 words), or an introduction of more characters. But at least we learn something important -- Steve drinks domestic beer. (oh, the horror. The horror! )]
     
    Joe pulled into the driveway of Steve's house at five minutes to two. The house was like all the others on the block. It was a neighborhood of older houses, middle class since the time they were built a century or more ago. They were all two-story buildings, old enough to have porches and dormer windows. A little wear around the edges, but solid and comfortable. Some of them, Joe was sure, had seen five or six generations of their residents. There were even people out on the streets, little kids and adults and senior citizens. It was comfortable and solid and anchored. Joe smiled, relaxed despite himself.
     
    It was a beautiful summer day, sunny, bright, and just hot enough to feel like summer without beating you down. He'd come prepared, with two six packs of a good German beer and a beach towel stuffed into his gym bag. He was wearing a snug sleeveless lemon yellow t-shirt, a pair of black nylon swim shorts, and sandals. He wasn't sure why, but he wore his Speedos under the shorts.
     
    There was another car in the driveway, an ancient VW Rabbit. It was green, though you'd be hard-pressed to see much paint. It was covered in more bumper stickers than he'd ever seen. Joe looked at them, amused. There was a good chance the owner was Wiccan, likely left wing, and definitely fond of stickers. Joe doubted it was Steve's.
     
    He walked up to the front door and hesitated. This seemed like a good idea in the morning when he'd gotten up. Steve had been pretty clear the day before. For the tenth time he wondered why the man had asked him over. The invitation had been sincere. After what they been through together the day before, Joe felt like they had a sort of connection. That wasn't the reason, though.
     
    Still, he had been invited, and he was there, so it was too late to back out now. He rang the bell. Moments later came the sound of running feet, then the front door was flung open by a boy who looked startlingly like Steve in miniature.
     
    "Hello?"
     
    Joe smiled. "Hi, I'm Joe. Your dad's expecting me."
     
    He got an appraising look. The boy opened the door.
     
    "Daaaaaaad! Mister Hennesy's here!"
     
    Joe winced. The kid may have been small, but he had a voice that was probably heard at the other end of the neighborhood.
     
    Joe stepped into the house. "Dad's out back," he said.
     
    "Thanks," Joe said. He followed the boy through the living room and kitchen, then out the back door. Behind the house was a wooden deck, and past that an inground pool. A girl and young boy were in the pool, the boy wearing bright green inflatable water wings. There were a few lounge chair scattered around the pool, white tubing with floral cushions on them. There was a woman in a one-piece bathing suit lying on one of them. She was watching the kids, but gave a look in Joe's direction as he stepped on the deck.
     
    The deck had a long wooden picnic table on it, a few chairs, and a gas grill with a blue cooler next to it. Steve was at the grill, and a man and a woman were sitting at the table. The sound of sizzling and the smell of cooking meat hit Joe.
     
    "Oh, please," said the man at the table. "I can't understand why you don't believe. Clearly there are things beyond what can be seen with the mortal eye. You're a detective, surely you've found things you can't explain."
     
    "Usually when I explain 'em, I get to lock 'em up after," Steve replied.
     
    "Oh, hey, Joe," Steve said as he noticed Joe.
     
    "Joe, this is my crazy brother-in-law Mike," Steve said, waving a spatula in the general direction of the man he'd been speaking with. Mike smiled and flipped Steve off. "And that's his lovely, but equally crazy wife Linda. Whatever you do," Steve whispered conspiratorially, "don't mention Roswell. Or Ho Hos."
     
    Joe was taken aback. "Um, okay. Are twinkies fit for conversation?"
     
    "Absolutely."
     
    "Pay no attention to my excessively skeptical brother-in-law," Mike said. "He wouldn't recognize a real mystery if one jumped out and bit him in the ass."
     
    "Yeah, right, Shaggy," Steve retorted. "Want a Scooby snack with your burger?"
     
    Mike leaned back with a smile and casually flipped Steve off.
     
    "Beer?" Joe asked, waving the bottles.
     
    "In the cooler with the rest of 'em," Steve said.
     
    Joe popped open the cooler and put the bottles of beer into it. There were already a dozen cans of Budweiser in it
  22. TheZot

    Busted, chapter 12

    By TheZot,

    [This should've been chapter six or thereabouts -- right before Steve visits Joe at work. Ah, well, something for the rewrite]
     
    Friday morning Chris Gagnon woke up feeling like he'd been run over by a truck. He was tired and achy and his mouth tasted like something had crawled into it and died. He wasn't too surprised, he'd had beer last night. A lot of beer. He rolled out of bed, holding his throbbing head.
     
    The worst part of it was the dream.
     
    They'd stopped when he was eleven. After the fire, when he'd left Arizona. They came back again when he was in high school. It used to be that drinking made the dreams stop. Alcohol deadened his brain, kept the visions away. Kept Alex away. And they'd stayed away, since college. He'd thought they were gone for good.
     
    They'd started again, four months ago. This time everything had been a little fuzzy, like real dreams. He thought they were real dreams. He'd hoped they'd been real dreams.
     
    Not last night. He couldn't remember too much, but he remembered dancing, and sex, and Joe.
     
    He groaned a little as he thought of Joe. Until the traffic stop, the man in his dreams had been vague and faceless, almost generic. Now there was a face to go with the body. The face that had been there for months. He just hadn't wanted to accept its existence. Faceless was a dream. Faceless wasn't real.
     
    Chris stood. He was shaky, feeling weak as well as hung over. His t-shirt felt grubby and stuck to his body. His boxers were riding up. When he shifted them he felt an uncomfortable tug in his pubes.
     
    He'd had a wet dream. He was thirty two, and he had a wet dream. About Joe Hennesy.
     
    He stripped angrily, tossing his dirty clothes onto the heap by the closet door. He stumbled into the bathroom and turned the shower on. It was hot and pounding, just what he needed to feel better, to wash the night away.
     
    Chris was toweling himself off, feeling a little better after his shower, when he saw Toby standing in the doorway.
     
    Just seeing Toby made Chris's morning better. He'd had four years of hell with Megan, four years of constant abuse and nagging, and even then, no matter how badly he felt, just holding his son made everything good.
     
    She was gone, but Toby was there, his little man. He was a slight boy, his brown hair straight and shaggy, hanging over eyes as dark as his father's. He had his father's beak of a nose, his coloring somewhere between Chris' easy tan and Megan's fair skin.
     
    He was adorable, standing there in his Scooby-Doo pajamas. He held a red gingham rabbit and was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
     
    "Papa? I don't feel so good."
     
    Chris was over in a heartbeat, on one knee in front of Toby. He did look uncommonly pale, and as wobbly as Chris still felt.
     
    He felt Toby's forehead, but the boy wasn't hot.
     
    "What's wrong, sport?"
     
    "Feel weak," Toby mumbled.
     
    "Your tummy hurt? Anything achy?"
     
    Toby shook his head no.
     
    Chris gathered him into a hug. He was worried, very worried. Toby had been feeling like this on and off for the past four months. They'd been to the doctor's, more than Chris wanted to think, but despite all the tests nobody had found anything wrong.
     
    "Do you need to see the doctor, Toby?"
     
    The boy shook his head, more vigorously this time.
     
    "Okay. Why don't you get dressed, then we'll get some breakfast and take you over to Aunt Mary and Uncle Steve's for the day."
     
    "Pop tarts?"
     
    Chris smiled. "Sure, Toby. And a big glass of orange juice, Okay?"
     
    "'kay, papa."
     
    Chris held the smile until Toby had turned into his room. When the boy was out of sight he slumped to the ground, holding his head in his hands. The dreams and the hangover were forgotten. There was something wrong with his son, and he was scared to death that Toby was going to die.
  23. TheZot

    Busted, chapter 11

    By TheZot,

    [insert witty and self-deprecating comment here]
     
    Joe was still getting the blood off his hands when Steve pulled up in front of his apartment. He'd been trying to get it off since they left and it was still there, under his nails and between the ridges of his fingers.
     
    "Gah, this stuff gets everywhere," Joe said as he pitched the wipe, now a light pink, into the trash bag to join the two dozen others he'd used.
     
    "Yeah, it can be pretty bad," Steve said. "Listen, it was a little late to say anything, but next time
  24. TheZot

    Busted, chapter 10

    By TheZot,

    [Hey, Joe's good with kids. Go figure. Can't tell if this is the start or the end of a sub-plot...]
     
    Joe put his best comforting face on, and tried to project as much reassurance as he could. He didn't have much experience with kids, but in his years in HR he'd had to deal with hysterical employees, psychotic episodes, stalking ex-husbands, and once helped deliver a baby. He hoped he could handle this.
     
    "Hey there," he said quietly. The girl shrank back as far as she could, trapped between the building, the trunk of the rhododendron bush, and Joe. He saw her shivering. Her fear was palpable.
     
    "My name's Joe. What's your name?"
     
    The girl just looked at him mutely.
     
    "Are you hurt? I think I have some
  25. TheZot

    Busted, chapter 9

    By TheZot,

    [And the plot thickens. Or at least congeals, but good enough]
     
    Inside the apartment building things were busy. Detective Russell didn't need anyone to tell him where things had happened. The blood smears on the open door of unit 1-B and the forensic team inside it were more than enough.
     
    There was a uniformed officer just inside the door to the apartment. Jensen. Rookie. He was looking green, but doing his best to hold it together.
     
    "What happened?" Russell asked.
     
    "Three fatalities, sir," Officer Jensen said. His voice was a little wavery. Reciting the details seemed to help him compose himself. "Two children, one boy one girl, and an adult female. Neighbor called this in at 11:45 when she saw the blood on the door. Officer got here at 11:57. There was no answer, the manager opened the apartment for us at 12:05. The bodies were discovered in the living room."
     
    Russell nodded. "Any other occupants?"
     
    "We're not sure yet, sir. The manager fainted when they discovered the bodies. That was twenty five minutes ago. MEs think that there might be three children. We're checking with social services. The complex management company is sending someone over to check the records. Manager was the only one in today."
     
    Russell sighed. Civilians. Great. "What about the bodies?"
     
    The speed at which all the blood drained out of the rookie's face told Russell everything he needed to know. He was tempted to give the guy an out and ask the medical examiner, but he knew there wasn't any point. He was a cop, and this stuff happened.
     
    "Not good?"
     
    "The ME said something about
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