Trigger The Years Past - 30. Chapter 30: Second Sacrifice

Miracle stared into Godfrey's eyes and then starts to slip off the hood of the car and Godfrey takes a step back as Miracle walks around the car. Godfrey begins to feel devastated as it looked as if Miracle was going to leave. Miracle opened the driver side door.

"Miracle? Please don't..." Godfrey begged, tears welling up in his eyes.

Miracle leaned in and pulled out his Mickey Mouse and shut the driver side door and walked over to Godfrey. "I haven't found a place to put him yet." He reached up and wiped a tear from Godfrey's face with his thumb. "You're not Rumor anymore."

He looked into Miracle's eyes and his face tensed up and his eyes shut tight and he wanted to cry, his arms wrapped around Miracle as he fell into the hug and he pulled him in close.

Miracle shut his eyes. "It's okay." He whispered and slowly pulled back, enough to look into his eyes and then he took a deep breath and eased forward and kissed him.

Godfrey opened his tear filled eyes and nodded just before Miracle kissed him. He felt himself trembling within Miracle's embrace and he stepped forward and lifted Miracle up onto the hood of the car and leaned forward, laying Miracle back, he felt like he would fall to the ground otherwise.

Miracle laid back on the hood of the car, his arms wrapped around Godfrey's neck as he kissed him deeply and moments later, he broke the kiss and looked up at him.

"I love you." He whispered to Miracle as his eyes opened. "I know, you don't have to say it back."

"I love you too." Miracle said. "I already told him I did."

Godfrey looked down at Miracle with such care, but a moment later, his eyes shifted as quickly as his thoughts had and he moved up and took a step away from the hood of the car. "Oh no..."

Miracle looked confused and sat up. "What is it?"

"I just realized...I was going to let go of my revenge for you..." Godfrey looked at Miracle. "But, I might not have a choice if we want to save your friend."

"Lacey? Well, why wouldn't we have a choice?"

Godfrey walked over and sat beside Miracle. "Because, Martin is the only one with her location, we would have to give him a reason to give it up. So, my theory, and mind you, as convenient for me as this looks, it's not my intention for it to be for me. But the trial is about to be at closing arguments. If Cheston goes to jail, Martin has no lawyer."

Miracle looked down. "Well, that's screwed up, who would argue for him?"

"My point, Cheston goes to jail, you would have to convince him to convince Martin that at this point in trial, getting a new attorney would just be a huge mistake, he would have to research all the evidence, go over the entire trial, review all the files, catch up on the whole thing, and even then, he probably would not even be able to give an effective closing argument as Cheston would. Plus, with a kidnapping charge now ontop of his murder conspiracy..."

Miracle slowly nodded. "Okay, lots of complicated, point?"

"Cheston needs to convince Martin to plea deal for Lacey's location. Even better if he also gives up the hired kidnappers and testifies against them. He could get immunity for the entire kidnapping charge, maybe a reduced sentence on the murder conspiracy, if they were really nice. I'm sure they would just be really concerned about saving a life, they would probably take anything Martin offered."

"But in the process...Cheston gets screwed." Miracle frowned.

"He could plea deal and forfeit a trial, at best." Godfrey looked at Miracle. "I'm not saying any of this for my revenge, as convenient as it seems."

Miracle shook his head. "You don't have to defend yourself, you make a pretty good point, in order to save Lacey, we would have to screw Martin, and...getting his lawyer taken would be...one good way to do that." Miracle looked up, seeing the stars start to take over the sky as the sun was almost gone. "I just hate it."

"I won't do...anything, unless it is by choice. I'll make one last contact as Rumor, ask for the final decision, you run these points by Cheston, it'll be his call, if he chooses not to, I won't do a thing, if he chooses to do it, I need to know if you're okay with me going forward with it."

Miracle slowly nodded. "I guess...if Cheston chooses to do it, then it's fair." Miracle looked at Godfrey. "And I'll keep you and...Rumor secret. You aren't Rumor to me."

Godfrey looked at Miracle apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing." Miracle looked down at his stuffed toy that was won for him. "You aren't the only one that will get a selfish deal out of this. If Cheston does this, he knows that recording damns him, he will definitely plea deal. Once he is convicted, not only do I inherit everything, the whole empire...but..." He looked over at Godfrey. "I'll be free to...be with you. Once everything is mine, the marriage can be over..." He looked down at his hand.

"Miracle, he would want that for you, to make sure you're taken care of, for you to be happy."

Miracle started crying. "No, he wanted me home for dinner so that we could work through my problem."

Godfrey felt heartbroken by this realized fact that should have been realized from the beginning, by all of them. He wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close to his chest. "I...hate that I have to do it...the way I'm going to have to do it."

Miracle shook his head and cried in Godfrey's arms. "No, he doesn't need to know that you are Rumor." He took a deep breath. "Godfrey, just remember what I said, when we're together, don't let me hurt you, don't let me do to you...what I did to him."

He rubbed the back of Miracle's head. "Okay, you should go, no need to put this off any longer. I'll watch through the webcam, I'll make sure you guys...have a decent meal, let you work him into the realization, let it all go smooth...before I fuck it up."

Miracle sat up and looked at him. "After this, you won't have to be that cold and evil computer man...anymore." Miracle leaned forward and kissed him. "I promise." He then walked around to get into his car, putting his Mickey Mouse in the passenger seat.

Godfrey slightly smiled and nodded and then headed off to his own car to leave.

Miracle sat there, poking at his steak with his fork, the table was decorated with two tall lit candles, a wonderfully prepared dinner by the hired staff and two glasses of champagne, the bottle off to the side in a bucket of ice.

"Is everything okay? You seem distracted." Cheston looked up at Miracle.

"I was just thinking of something on the way home, actually something completely away from you and the special friend. I know we were going to talk about my issue tonight, but my thoughts just might make that pointless."

Cheston appeared confused. "Okay, you're doing that thing where you stall and circle around and drag out what you want to say."

Miracle looked up at Cheston. "I was thinking about what we have all lacked to think about and should have been thinking about more than anything." He looked down at his steak. "Lacey...and the options Rumor gave us."

"Lacey." Cheston frowned and shook his head. "Damn, I'm sorry, Miracle. I should have been figuring out what to do." He looked at his glass, wanting to take a drink. "Rumor has been quiet though, he has some patience."

"Well, with Martin's closing arguments coming up, something tells me that he could call at anytime." Miracle looked at Cheston. "I wanted this to be a nice dinner...but I just have to be straight with you."

"What?" Cheston looked away from his drink and his gaze fell on Miracle.

"Martin is the only one that knows her location, he isn't going to give it up without a reason. You and I both know he is likely going to get convicted, so the freedom reason is probably not going to be the one."

Cheston slowly nodded. "So...you considered the options?"

"Well, first of all, don't think I am trying to throw you under the bus here, I couldn't, I don't have the evidence and...the decision isn't being left up to me, according to Rumor. Thing is...if you go to jail for Lacey's kidnapping, Martin won't have a lawyer for closing arguments. He could get a new one, but that person would have to catch up on everything and it would probably be a sorry mess, a closing argument no where near as good as you could deliver."

"So...I go to jail, Martin gets a new lawyer that's totally lost on the case at closing arguments. So what?" Cheston shook his head.

"You convince Martin of all that I just said, tell him a new lawyer would be horrible, that he would have a much better chance giving up Lacey's location and testifying against the actual kidnappers, in exchange for immunity for the crime, maybe he can even ask for a reduced sentence on the murder conspiracy, I'm sure they would make him a good deal to save a persons life." Miracle explained.

"And me?" Cheston asked.

"You plea...and hope for the best?" Miracle sighed. "I know it sucks, but I can't think of any other possible way to save Lacey."

"Unless Rumor lets me turn in the evidence for immunity in the kidnapping." Cheston replied.

"You can't get immunity, Martin has to believe he won't have a lawyer to finish closing arguments and that a new lawyer would ruin it, that sets Martin in motion for the entire plan." Miracle dropped his fork and let it clang against the plate and closed his eyes and ran his hand through his hair.

Cheston sighed. "I don't mean to sound upset, I know you aren't trying to throw me under the bus." He closed his eyes. "At least, I try to tell myself that, I just think, Martin and I both get convicted, you get the whole empire and..."

Miracle looked up. "And what? I'm free to ride off into the sunset with my secret special friend? Go ahead and say it. I know that's how you feel, that's what I do, right? I trade guys like I would of traded Pokemon cards, if I weren't to busy having my mind twisted so that I'd be nice and cooperative for the camera."

"Miracle, I hate when you do that." Cheston almost cried when he looked up. "Every time you get angry, you throw David around...and it hurts me so bad, what that man did to you. Is that what you do? Throw him around so that guys won't get pissed at you? Or do you just want to hurt them?"

He stared at Cheston. "I just say what I feel. And I say it because it kills me that I never got to have a normal life and I never will. And guys? Like you...they all treat me like I'm some slutty con artist out to take what I can get, and then I trade them out, isn't that what I do?! Isn't it, Cheston?!"

"No, that's not what I meant!" Cheston looked at Miracle, his eyes widened.

Miracle fell back in the chair and covered his face. His hands slowly lowered a moment later. "How else can you mean it?"

Cheston stared at Miracle, and honestly, he didn't have an answer to that. How else could he have meant what he had said? His head lowered and he looked down at the table.

"Exactly, there is no other way to mean it." Miracle looked away and slowly shook his head.

"I just don't want to be one more person who loves you...and then abandons you. But if that's what I have to do to save Lacey...then so be it." Cheston spoke softly.

Miracle looked over at Cheston. "And for the record, there is a baby...and a mother, not just someone who acts like a child getting a bunch of money and riding off with their best friend."

"I should of considered." Cheston sighed.

Godfrey watched through the webcam from where the laptop sat on a table by the sliding glass door, having seen everything, tears running down his face. He wondered how he was going to just cut his emotions off and bring Rumor back to life for what he figured might be just one last time.

"Miracle, I want you to be well taken care of, so we stay married until everything goes to you, until it is all secured to you. Then once I know it's all yours, we can legally cut our love." Cheston tried to smile. "And if you think it would be the funniest thing in the world, you can pawn the rings..."

Miracle looked up. "Cheston, that was a joke. The rings would go with my special things, like my locket." Miracle silently cried.

Godfrey wiped his face and then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Just cut off..." He whispered to himself. "Cold...be cold..." He took another deep breath and slowly exhaled in a shaky and nervous breath. His eyes then opened.

Miracle looked up when a clown popped up on the laptop screen. "There he is...closing arguments, I figured..."

Cheston looked confused and turned around, seeing the laptop had lit up to the home screen and there was a clowns head floating in the middle.

"Well, I've given you guys plenty of time to think...to contemplate, maybe even...meditate." The clown grinned.

Cheston looked at Miracle and then he looked down. "A decision has been made."

"Ooo, really? Good, seems like I've given you plenty of time. And you decided?" The high pitched, boyish voice spoke from the computer.

"Turn in the recording of Martin and I." Cheston said, a slow nod followed. "I'm sacrificing myself...for Miracle." He looked up. "And for Lacey."

"Very well, expect a knock on your door, I'm sending some mail...electronically." The clown disappeared as Godfrey cut the connection to Miracle's lap top and he sighed, even putting up a half act felt horrible to him.

"I guess, they will be here." Cheston stood up.

"He's emailing it, who knows when they will come." Miracle stood up and walked around the table.

"I'd kind of like to be prepared, not surprised." Cheston turned towards Miracle. "I wanted to help you. I hope that who ever this new guy is...I hope that he can, because when you do what you do, you hurt yourself too. One heart break after another. Easy to replace the person...but you still have to go through the process of letting go."

Miracle looked down and took off the engagement ring. "Our wedding rings look exactly alike." He grabbed Cheston's hand and put the ring in his hand. "You got that especially for me, so I want you to have it." He closed Cheston's hand around it.

Cheston looked down at his closed fist and then up at Miracle. "I'll always keep it."

He nodded and let go of Cheston's hand and drew in a quick breath. "Do...do you think..."

"What?" He looked at Miracle.

"Um...that maybe...someday..." Miracle looked down and shook his head. "I don't know."

"You're trying to say something." Cheston stepped closer.

"I wanted to know if maybe, someday, would my life be perfect." He looked up at Cheston. "It's a stupid question, the perfect life has to have the perfect beginning and...well that turned crappy, the middle's not so great either. I can't even imagine the end."

"I know you want so badly to remember a nice childhood, but you can't let that define what your life becomes, how you see it, how you feel." Cheston shook his head. "Only when you stop doing that can you even start to see a good life, and it'll never be perfect, but you can choose to be happy with it."

Miracle nodded and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I feel like I'm getting the same message, and it's the right message, but it just never goes through." He then lightly laughed. "And I'm pathetic, here I am going on about me...when your life is headed to hell."

"Saving a life is worth it." Cheston wrapped an arm around Miracle and pulled him close. "And I hope...you can save yourself, at least try. That's all I ask..."

Miracle leaned into his chest and nodded. "I'll try." He said, hearing the sound of cars pulling up outside, though he couldn't tell how many.

Cheston looked up, holding onto Miracle until he heard the knock on the door. "Stay in here." He looked down at Miracle. "I don't want you to remember me...like that."

Miracle nodded and stepped back when Cheston let him go and headed out through the kitchen, heading to the door that would lead to his fate, or maybe just the next chapter of his life, and hopefully not the last.

Godfrey looked at Miracle as they parked at the police station. "I..uh imagine you know why I wanted to come here."

Miracle nodded. "I know...this wasn't about your revenge, it wasn't your intention." His hands fell from the steering wheel.

"I hate that it looks so damn convenient like this, but it's the only way to save Lacey." Godfrey looked down. "So, I figured...maybe I could have my words, but I won't do it unless you okay it."

Miracle closed his eyes and sighed, a nod followed. "Everyone has their right to speak their peace. So.." Miracle looked over at him. "Go say what you need to say."

"Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Miracle nodded.

"Okay." Godfrey opened the door and climbed out, shutting it and then he headed up the steps that lead to the doors of the police station, going inside.

"Hi." Godfrey spoke up as he walked to the woman at the front desk. "A man by the name of Cheston King was brought in, I need to see him."

The woman nodded. "Uh...let me check." She picked up the phone and dialed a few numbers. "Yes, was someone by the name of Cheston King brought in?" She leaned her head over, propping the phone on her shoulder. "I have someone that wants to see him."

The woman hung up the phone. "He is in interrogation, it has to be cleared by Detective Jerdain. So, if you'd have a seat..."

Godfrey nodded. "Right." He walked over to a bench by the door and took a seat.

Cheston sighed and stared at Nora. "I don't even know why I'm in an interrogation room. You got the recording, I just told you what I did, so where is the confession paper?"

Nora stared at Cheston thoughtfully. "We're here because, for one, there is no proof that you don't know where Lacey is, but more importantly, how someone would record you and Martin, in jail, in one of our guarded visitation rooms, even if you did send the guard outside."

"Hell if I should know." Cheston shrugged.

"Or maybe why they would do it and send it in, forget about how much time they waited." Nora's eyes squinted. "Do you have any enemies?"

"I'm an attorney, I guess anyone I fail could get pissed. Could I identify anyone? No."

"I only ask...because the basis of your defense case with Martin was the idea of a phone being remotely hacked." Nora's eyebrows lifted. "I would think that would be of interest to you."

"Yeah, maybe, if I were able to show up in court and do my job, but I'm going to jail now." Cheston shook his head. "I don't know where Lacey is, he does, and you're going to have to work with me to get the information."

Nora looked down and tapped the top of her pen with her thumb. "And what would you say..if I decided to investigate your theory? Of course that would mean going after the star witness himself." She sat back and grinned. "You made a good point in how many self defense murders he'd been involved in. For a normal person, that's a many."

"Seriously?" Cheston looked up. "He'd only actually physically defended himself twice."

"Three times." Nora corrected him. "According to testimony and evidence, he killed Kyler, Philip, and then Wayne. And then you asked him, did he read the text just so he could say he saw it." Nora looked thoughtful. "Sure got Martin out of the way, if Martin did want revenge, I doubt Miracle would ever want to live another two year nightmare."

Cheston's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just wondering, if who ever recorded you, could of helped Miracle fake the texts."

Cheston sighed. "Now why would you want to turn everything upside down? You do that...and Lacey is dead, good as dead. In order to get Martin to give out her location, I need to talk to him, get him to believe that without me to finish his case, he's doomed and he'd be better to plea deal, then you make one of the conditions to be that Lacey is found, alive and safe."

Nora nodded. "I'll humor you...until Lacey is found. For now, you have a visitor." She stood up.

"Oh, and Nora?" Cheston looked up

Nora turned around.

"Did you ever think that...maybe I recorded that conversation? Consider that." Cheston said as Nora walked out.

A few moments later, the door opened again and Cheston looked up, his eyes widened. "Godfrey?"

He grinned at Cheston and let the door fall shut. "Such quick recognition, either you have an excellent memory...or I just haven't changed all that much." He walked over and sat in the chair across the table.

Cheston's eyes followed him. "You're Rumor."

Godfrey's eyebrows lifted and he leaned forward, his head slightly shifted to the side. "Excuse me? Rumor? Oh!" He laughed and sat back. "Well, I would guess there would be a rumor since I left high school, disappeared, a whole grapevine of...theories." His eyes widened briefly.

Cheston slowly nodded. "So this...is for Oliver?"

"I would have loved to see you suffer for what happened to Oliver, then I find out you're in jail, we both know how I know that."

"Really? How?"

Godfrey grinned. "Miracle, of course. How else would I find out? Though, because of him, I had a change of heart about wanting you to suffer. He taught me that hanging onto the past is the worst thing you could do."

"So you're the special friend too? How long did Miracle know?"

"Right before dinner, I told him everything was his decision, and he basically said his decision relied on your decision, to which you made. Miracle and I...grew a bond over time. I had decided to meet him, originally to jab you, but then he made me feel human again."

Cheston nodded. "That's real nice. You know I was a scared kid, just like you were. I should of called an ambulance that night, I regret not doing it, I hated not doing it."

Godfrey looked up. "You know, that husband of yours?" He grinned. "He's really hot, especially in the shower." He shook his head. "Oh man, he brought me so close to the edge, the way he touched me, spoke to me. I was so on edge..."

"He said nothing happened." Cheston frowned.

"Oh, it didn't, unless you count our bodies meshed together, something." He looked up at Cheston. "I was so close to just taking him, the animalistic urge was right there, but I told myself, no. He said right before we climbed in, it was to prove you wrong, a test. And I'll tell you, he passed, I knew he wanted it bad, obviously not as bad as me. He got out...cooled right off."

Cheston nodded. "But, I bet it just inflates your ego now. I mean, he doesn't have to prove anything to me anymore, you got him."

The grin faded from Godfrey's face. "I want Miracle to be nothing short of happy, even if that meant you. Sadly, it's not my fault that you have to go down to save Lacey. Maybe if you hadn't seen fit to punish him...you wouldn't be in this position." He stared off into space. "In fact, you wouldn't be in this position, but like Eric, you destroyed yourself."

Cheston looked down. "I guess I have plenty of time to convince myself that any bit of your, self proclaimed honorable feelings, are true. I hope I can, since you have him now."

He then grinned and looked up at Godfrey. "Or maybe...you'll just be one more guy that fucks him...but in the end, he fucks you."

Godfrey stood up and pushed the chair under the table and his eyebrows lifted. "Miracle brought me back to life, he made me human again, I've never felt anymore happiness and love...since Oliver. So, you can call it all lies if you want. Just so you know, we agree on one thing. Save Lacey..." He turned around and walked out.

Cheston stared at him and then closed his eyes when the door shut and he slowly shook his head.

Miracle looked up when Godfrey came storming out and jumped into the car. His eyes widened. "What happened?"

"Drive!" He said in a forceful tone.

Miracle started the car and wildly spun out of the parking space and pulled out onto the road and speeded down the street. "What the hell?!"

Godfrey sighed. "We had words, he thinks I'm evil, of course. Thing is, I don't trust police stations. I tried to be vague...but you never know what a cops going to grab onto, they can be the worst theorists, taking any little thing and making it huge."

Miracle looked out at the road. "So...this is the paranoid...be scared part?"

"For me, I think it should be. Maybe it is a little paranoia...but that's what has always kept me ahead."

"So...what are we doing?" Miracle asked.

"The jet, I need it to go to Alaska, then I'll have it fly back here, doesn't matter if the pilot talks, it would help if he didn't, but they won't find me."

Miracle slammed on the break at a stop light. "Wait! What?! You want to take the private jet to Alaska?! And then you tell me they won't find you there? Well, where exactly will you be?!"

Godfrey looked at Miracle. "Take a boat...to Russia. Like you always wanted to do, but you have to stay here, just long enough to claim everything. Make a clean break though, take all the money, the private jet, and leave the property crap with your parents."

Miracle shook his head. "No, I don't want to separate."

Godfrey leaned forward and brought his face to his hands. "Lets just go...find a room somewhere."

"Safer to go to Mysti's...leave no trail. We can crash in Rayne's room." Miracle said.

"And she'll hear everything." Godfrey looked up.

"Okay, we can take the private jet to New York and..." Miracle heard the person behind him blow the horn. "Damn it!" He slammed on the accelerator and speeded across the intersection.

"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so over worried, I just never...I pictured it in my head for years, my revenge on Cheston, I didn't think, they put cameras in those rooms, they take every little thing you say and put it all under a microscope. I just..." Godfrey took a deep breath.

"You need a xanax." Miracle swerved and took a left. "Which I could give you if we went home!" He sighed. "Look, I'm going to go by the store...and then we'll go home, for just a little bit, they are going to be way to tied up with Cheston and Martin."

"I can't afford to be doped up." Godfrey looked at him. "I just don't want either of us getting caught for anything. When Nora started to open the door, Cheston told her that he recorded Martin and himself...well, himself. She's questioning everything."

Miracle looked down only for a second. "You made a mistake recording that...in their visitation room. If she doesn't believe Cheston did it himself, if she starts thinking about remote hacking..."

"She could start in on you." Godfrey slapped himself on the forehead with his palms. "How could I be so smart...yet so stupid! I get the situation in motion...but then when I execute the final..." He shook his head.

"Just calm down, we'll just go home for now." Miracle nodded and reached over and took his hand.

Miracle tossed the box of hair dye into the trash and stepped out of the bathroom with a warm white robe tied around him.

Godfrey looked up when he heard the door open, surprised. "Miracle...the blonde is gone."

Miracle grinned. "Yeah...I had thought about doing it for a while, I hope you like it, kind of feels like shedding off old skin. It's hair dye...but the original color."

Godfrey slid off the bed and walked over and slid his fingers through Miracle's short hair and then down his neck. "It's very different...but very you." He smiled.

Miracle smiled. "Thanks." He brought his hands up Godfrey's chest. "Listen, maybe we shouldn't be rash and go running off, that might alert them more than anything would. I'm sure that Cheston will talk any theories right out of their heads. He can do it, we just need to trust that."

"I can trust you." Godfrey ran his hands over Miracle's shoulders and down his arms. "But, when you get everything, then we leave, right? I mean, you do want to go somewhere new? Leave the nightmare and all the memories behind?"

His eyebrows lifted. "Well, as simple as I'd love for that to be..." Miracle walked around Godfrey and sat on the bed. "The baby..."

He walked over to Miracle. "But, your parents can take care of that, they can, in this big beautiful house you will give them."

"I guess." Miracle said.

"They can." Godfrey yanked Miracle's robe open and leaned down, trailing kisses along his neck. "And we can be free, truly free." He whispered.

Miracle's eyes shut and he brought an arm up and his fingers lightly grasped the hair on the back of Godfrey's head, his legs spread and his other arm wrapped around his waist and he pulled him close.

Godfrey grinned and looked up. "You like that." He pushed Miracle back and climbed ontop of him, yanking the string of the robe and pulling it open, kissing his chest before moving up, trailing kisses along Miracle's jawline until their lips met.

Soft little sounds of pleasure echoed from Miracle's mouth as Godfrey climbed ontop of him and his back arched, his hips grinding against him and as he felt those kisses on his chest, he reached down across Godfrey's back and pulled his shirt up and managed to yank it off just as he went up and their lips eventually met in that kiss, his arm stretched out and he dropped the shirt off the side of the bed.

Godfrey grinned and broke the kiss and then he leaned down and licked the front of Miracle's throat, the softness of his skin like silk against his tongue. His hands ran over his chest and down his abdomen and he leaned up on his knees as his hands trailed over Miracle's hips and down his legs and then he backed off the bed and moved away.

Miracle's eyes opened and he moved up onto his elbows. "What's that?"

"A tease." Godfrey grinned. "Though, can I ask you, how do you make it look so easy? My nerves want to quake inside."

Miracle drew in a breath and then he started laughing. "It's about your state of mind, you decided last minute to make it a tease, initially...you were going to go for it. That's the difference, if it's going to be a tease, you have to know it from the start."

Godfrey laughed, his nerves still on edge.

"Come here..." Miracle reached out a hand.

He stopped laughing and walked over to Miracle and took his hand, visibly trembling.

"It's okay." Miracle spoke softly and sat up and then he pulled his hand away and unfastened Godfrey's jeans and pulled them down, along with the black boxer shorts beneath. He looked up at him and ran his hands up his chest. "Do you want to go for it?"

"You know I do." Godfrey said. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"What?" Miracle asked.

"I'm a virgin." Godfrey admitted.

"Why?" Miracle grinned, amused.

He frowned and looked down. "Oliver was terrified of his seizures, always. You're not supposed to remember them, they say, but a couple of jerks at school, one time, they filmed it and they were showing it around at lunch. Then someone took the camera and pushed it, slid it down the length of the table, right in front of Oliver."

Miracle's grin slowly faded.

"He became even more terrified, to see himself, to see what he couldn't remember. Then he became afraid of having one, right in the middle...so we never did..." Godfrey looked up. "Kind of a mood killer, huh?"

"Sit here." He patted the bed beside him and waited until Godfrey sat beside him. "That story..it breaks my heart. It's like...we both had these great loves, now we don't...and we were brought together." Miracle looked down. "Except...mine was screwed up, just like the rest of my life, twisted. What you guys had...you didn't deserve the hurt." Miracle looked up at him, tears falling down his face.

"I don't think it was screwed up. I'll bet...if you weren't put in the situations you were, you would of had an incredible relationship. And while it might seem screwed up to you, what matters is that he made you a survivor, and he died doing it. Given...he didn't have to, but maybe he felt like, at that time, he did what he was supposed to do, protect you, until the end, and he did. He saw you through it all."

Miracle shook his head and then felt Godfrey's arms wrap around him, he wrapped an arm around Godfrey as they laid down and he rested his head on his chest. "I guess, what matters now, is that we're here and...we can be together."

Godfrey nodded. "That is all that matters, and I want to take you somewhere wonderful. You've been hurt so much, I just need a chance to make you better."

Miracle closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calming himself. "You're probably right, I can't expect to be a parent when.."

"Don't say it." Godfrey interrupted him. "You aren't screwed up or twisted or messed up, you're just hurt...and you need to heal, and obviously it's going to take more than a few years for that to happen, but it needs to be in peace."

Miracle nodded and hugged himself as close to Godfrey as he could and eventually sleep captured him.

"I can't believe that got recorded! How did it even happen?!" Martin slammed his fist down on the table. "It was that remote hacking wasn't it?!"

"Martin...calm down." Cheston sat across from the man. "Look, I'm here to do the last thing I can do for you as an Attorney, for one it's to advise you not to hire a new one."

"Why?! That would be stupid!" Martin looked away.

"For many reasons, do you realize a new lawyer would have to catch up on the entire case, the whole, all the evidence, from A to fucking Z, and it's already at closing arguments? He or she would have to make a closing argument practically based on documentation, they wouldn't know what the hell they were doing, the whole vibe of my defense for you would be altered in the most dramatic of ways. It would fail, it would be an epic fail."

Martin laughed and shook his head. "So what? I say I'm guilty?"

"You got a bargaining chip, when I got charged for Lacey's kidnapping, so did you. And technically, aside from the kidnappers, you're the only one that knows where she is, plea deal for immunity in exchange for her location." Cheston suggested.

"What good would that do? I'm still going down for conspiracy murder. I'd rather kick the bucket and die."

Cheston's eyebrows lifted. "You mean that?"

Martin looked at Cheston. "You want me to ask for it?"

"You could, ask for immediate execution upon Lacey's safe return, don't spend another day in here. Ask them about it, see how they react."

Martin rubbed his chin thoughtfully, the temptation seemed to be warming up to him. "Okay, I'll tell them her location, but I get executed as soon as they find her, rather, I'd have it termed assisted suicide, these are on my terms, it's my call, I'm the boss."

Cheston's eyebrows lifted and then he made a slightly mocking serious face with a single nod. "Right, you're the boss."

"Tell Nora...bring her lovely face in here." Martin grinned.

Cheston got up and turned around, rolling his eyes after dealing with the narcissistic, egotistical man. He walked out into the hall and looked at Nora. "He wants..uh...immediate execution..." Cheston cleared his throat. "Well, rather, assisted suicide, as soon as Lacey is found safe, he will give up her location, but he doesn't want to spend any longer behind bars, as soon as shes found, he wants to be dead."

Nora's eyes widened. "I'll...have to make phone calls for that." She looked at a male officer. "Return Mr. King to his cell." She turned around and headed off down the hall to make those phone calls for Martin's rather extreme request to escape imprisonment.

"Can I make one phone call?" Cheston asked as they came by the phone and he looked at the officer. "Please?"

The officer nodded and stepped back. "Make it quick."

Miracle's phone started ringing and his eyes opened to see the sunset through those French doors to the balcony that he loved so much. He smiled and leaned up, kissing Godfrey's chin and then he grabbed his phone. "Hello?"

"Miracle, I did everything. He wants an immediate execution once Lacey is found safe." Cheston cringed. "Or rather, he'd have it called assisted suicide. Sounds a little less brutal..but then he says...'I'm the boss!' and then it makes the whole thing...weird."

Miracle's eyebrows lifted. "Talk about getting rid of a problem." Miracle looked down. "Are they going to do it?"

"Nora is making phone calls, it's not up to her to make deals, especially like that, it's probably going to be the first they ever heard of."

Miracle sighed. "Thanks for doing this, I'm sorry for what it costed you."

"Hey, I was the idiot that did something stupid, I shouldn't of been cruel to you, this is the consequence, right?" Cheston looked down. "I'll call you, let you know what's going on, if I can." He looked at the officer. "I have to go."

"Bye..." Miracle whispered and hung up and laid his phone down on the night stand.

"Bye..." Cheston knew Miracle had already hung up, but he wanted desperately to hang onto that connection, if even for only a second longer. He hung the phone up and continued down the hall to go back to his cell.

Godfrey's arm swung over the bed and his eyes fluttered open and he suddenly looked concerned when he found Miracle wasn't there. He looked around and found Miracle pacing at the foot of the bed with his cell phone in his hands.

"What are you doing?" Godfrey sat up.

"Maybe I should confess to all the bad that I've done." Miracle mumbled, stepping over to the French doors. "I just keep thinking about every person who has gone down for me, paid their prices, yet made sure I never had to pay for mine." His eyes shifted down as he pressed the top of the phone against his upper lip. "Maybe I should."

Godfrey shook his head and stood up, walking over and he snatched the phone away from Miracle and threw it at the bed where it landed on the mattress and he looked at him, that firm yet calm anger, that rage just beneath the surface, Miracle could see it in his eyes as he felt his upper arms being roughly yet carefully grabbed by Godfrey.

"You aren't doing that, you hear me? What good would it do? It would just destroy two more lives, yours...and mine." He shook his head. "Let the guilt go...they did what they wanted, you can't blame yourself for that."

Miracle let out a breath. "I just...I wanted...to get rid of my secrets..."

"You can't, I won't let you, and you will realize that it's for the better." Godfrey shook his head. "Just like Jaemin said, you will understand later, as you came to understand, if you have."

He nodded. "I've started to understand why he did what he did, I guess." Miracle shrugged and closed his eyes. "I feel like I'm on the verge of a panic attack..."

Godfrey's eyes widened and he pulled Miracle away from the French doors and carefully pushed him back to sit on the bed, sitting next to him. "Okay, what usually happens...when this happens?"

"Uh...my medicine, it's in the skinny cabinet, in the kitchen, by the stove, the klonopin, xanax, just grab both." Miracle breathed heavily and nervously.

"Okay." He nodded and ran a hand over Miracle's shoulder. "I'll be right back." He stood up and grabbed his boxers, yanking them on before rushing out of the bedroom to head off for the kitchen.

Miracle had already slipped his briefs back on. He grabbed the sheets and clung to them as he laid back and closed his eyes, trying to calm down.

Godfrey ran back into the bedroom as fast as he could with the bottles and a glass of water and he climbed on the bed. "Here."

Miracle sat up and took the water and grabbed the bottle of klonopin. "Don't worry about the other, I don't want to knock myself out." He said, putting the bottle between his knees and twisting the cap open.

Godfrey nodded and sat the xanax on the night stand and then took the other medication bottle and sat that on the night stand beside the xanax when it was handed to him. "How long does it usually take?"

Miracle tossed the two tablets in his mouth and washed them down with the water and laid back, handing the water off to Godfrey. "I don't know...I usually don't exactly...time it." He looked up at the ceiling.

Godfrey took the water away and sat it aside and then hinted a grin and rolled his eyes as he shook his head. "Dumb me, of course. I doubt you would."

"Well, I've been worse..." Miracle said. "This is just a classic...small...symptomatic one. Dramatic triggered ones are worse."

Godfrey laid down beside him, making sure Miracle had plenty of breathing room and he kept a relative distance. "It's okay." He whispered.