William's Love - 41. Chapter 41

Head Check

I put Noah down in his crib and leaned on the side watching him sleep. I gently swept back an annoying piece of hair sticking out from behind his ear. Man, this little guy is perfect in every way, he has awesome parents who will love him no matter what. His two favorite Uncles would gladly do anything for him. He’s so tiny, I can’t wait for our turn. I’d let Liam have ten of these easy, problem is they grow up into one of us. What a fantastic ride though, watching your own kid grow up, go off and become something they choose to be right in front of your eyes. I hope I turn out to be half the father my Dad and Papi are. I smiled at the thought and heard a noise behind me. Turning around it was Liam leaning against the door frame watching me, my love smile plastered on his face.

“Hey Babe,” Liam said, and tip toed over to me. I don’t know why he tip toed this beautiful boy could sleep through a tornado. The best thing Kat and Ollie ever did is, make sure that Noah could sleep through noise. Katherine figured a house full of boys it seemed the smartest option. Sometimes we forget he’s sleeping and make a lot of noise. “You do know you are the only one who can get Noah to sleep like that other than Kat and Ollie,” Liam said quietly then kissing my cheek.

“But you get him to do this all of the time,” I countered.

Liam shook his head at me, “Nope, I’m an illusion. You ask Kat. I can get him to settle when he’s fussing, but I can not get Noah comfortable enough that he ends up in a deep sleep. Kat always has to get him to sleep after I’ve had him.”

“Really? News to me no-ones ever said anything.” I shrugged.

“That’s because you would be self-conscious about it,” Liam smiled affectionately at me, “You’ll be a great Dad one day Babe, of that I have no doubt. Come on, let the little man sleep,” he took my hand, grabbing the baby monitor in the other and pulled me from the room leading me to the couch in the living room. “Do you hear that?”

I stopped and listened, “I don’t hear anything,” I replied curiously looking around the room.

“Exactly, it’s nice that we have the place to ourselves. First time since we moved in.” Liam remarked grinning.

“Where is everyone?”

Liam sat on the couch and pulled me down with him. I lay on my back with my head in his lap and fidgeted until I found a comfy position. Liam smiled down looking me in the eyes lovingly, “I had Dad get rid of everyone, so I could check where your head is at. And I I want to talk to you about something before they get back,” he spoke and swept my hair back from my forehead continuously sliding it through his fingers. It was a very therapeutic and relaxing, it almost makes me sleepy.

“I’m okay Baby, why do you ask?”

“I want to check what you’re thinking after what Callen told us. Make sure you're dealing with it all. You’ve been doing so much better since I came back from California. I want to make sure you don’t spiral down the rabbit hole again. I love you too much to fail you again, I won’t let it happen.”

“Honey that was on me, not you. I didn’t speak up. How were you suppose to know I wasn’t coping? But I assure you I’m okay, not happy about it all, but I’m dealing. Thank you for loving me unconditionally though.” Liam bent his head down and kissed my lips chastely.

“It’s the only way we love each other… So what're your thoughts on the outcome of the FBI interviews?” Liam’s stopped threading his fingers through my hair, so I tapped his hand to keep doing it, he smiled and continued.

I blew out a breath, “Well, I’m glad Dad is in the clear. The way the interview went with me, it was like they were trying to pin stuff on him. But the Agent apologized at the end and told me it was so they could counter any claims they make against Dad. He showed me the signatures in the file. They aren’t even close to Dad’s, so how they’ll try and prove it was him, I’ll never know.” I huffed, “I’m hoping they can stop Mother’s lawyers from getting all the charges lumped as one. I think the white collar crap should stay separate from the charges to do with us. What about you?”

“I’m a little conflicted. The judge can kick it all to the feds, getting it off of his docket. Then they’ll most likely lump all the charges together, and like Callen told us, the attempted kidnapping charge is the big one. If she is convicted under federal, the penalty will be much harsher. Which I’m all for by the way.” Liam watched for my reaction, but I just chuckled.

“I’m not happy that if they all get lumped together and thrown to the Feds because this will be dragged on forever and she’ll still be free. I know she was given a restraining order to stay away from us as part of her bail. But it’s just a piece of paper, not an actual weight around her ankles.” I said a little bitterly. “The one good thing about all of this, if the charges stay separate, apart from that the whole awful thing being over quicker, is that I’m not needed for the Federal case as a witness. Cal said it could take anywhere from twelve months to three years before it gets to court, due to the ongoing forensic audit and now that the IRS is involved, it will slow everything down. If the charges about us stay as they are, our part will be over pretty quickly. Callen seems to think we’ll be in court by next month. Then if she’s convicted, I’m hoping the sentencing will be long enough to keep her in jail, until the Feds sort their shit out.”

We sat in silence for a minute, “Oh and Callen says they want me to file a victim impact statement with the Feds for their case. What the hell am I supposed to say, “it’s stricken me,” “I could have used that money for clown college and to collect muscle cars?” “I don’t know how I’ll survive with the millions I have in the bank.” “Rock On Dude!” I threw my hand up, waving it about giving the heavy metal head bangers sign. “How on earth do I explain that something I never knew about, that I haven’t missed and don’t need has impacted my life? The only thing I could say is that my Great Grandmother, whom I don’t even remember, wanted me to have it. The whole thing is ridiculous. We really should have taken my Mother to the vet in the first place and had her put down and out of our misery.” I shook my head, thinking about how many people she’s hurt and how many lives she’s interfered with.

Liam threw his head back and laughed, “I love you, you crazy man.” He bent over and kissed me quickly.

“I know,” I waggled my eyebrows at him. Liam snuck his hand down the front of my body and put his hand down the front of my pants. I tried to pull it away.

“How am I supposed to concentrate with your hand down there?” I chortled.

Liam grinned, “I don’t know let's see.” Oh, we’ll see alright, I won’t cave. I’m going to ignore the hand down there, but ah, does that feel good. Concentrate Luke, I mean Liam, no I’m Will. Will concentrate.

“I feel sorry for Uncle Luke, you just know them assholes are going to” ahh yeah, like that, focus Will, “make him travel back and forth between Australia and the US. Not that I won’t be happy to see him. It doesn’t seem fair to him though.” I stated. Yeah! That’s it just a little more… Ahhh nice. I shifted my hips a little and Liam smirked. “What about you how are you dealing with all of this?” Man, it’s hard to concentrate with him… Ah, fuck yeah, breathe and focus.

“Well, being one of the victims and a witness, unfortunately, Callen seems to think I’ll be in and out of the stand. That I’m not happy about, but if it helps put the Devil Woman behind bars I’m more than glad to do it.” Liam emphasized ‘Devil Woman.’ Liam ran his thumb over the head of my cock gathering and sliding precum down my shaft. Oh, God, I swallowed audibly.

“Me too,” I said chuckling, “Okay, the Devil Woman has taken up enough of our time today. What else did you want to talk to me about?”

“Baseball,” that’s all Liam said, the one word. But his face washed over with seriousness. I pulled his hands from pants, sat up swiftly crossed my legs sitting sideways facing him. Man, I’m going to have blue balls the rest of the night.

“You seem serious talk Baby, I’m listening,” I said uncomfortably adjusting myself. Liam looked smugly at me and licked his fingers like he’d just finished eating fried chicken. A moan released itself from the back of my throat, he smiled smugly at me knowing what he had just done to me. He is going to be on the receiving end of some well-deserved punishment when we are finished here.

Liam looked me directly in the eyes, his shoulders slumped and told me, “I don’t want to play baseball through College.”

I felt dread lie within my stomach, “Bullshit, it’s all you’ve ever wanted since you were eight-years-old. I don’t believe you. What’s really going on?” I took his hand and held it between mine.

“I’ll explain if you’ll actually listen to what I’m saying. I’ve already talked to Mom, and she’s okay with it.” I nodded telling him to continue, “There are a few reasons. My arm isn’t healing like we wanted it to…” He held up his hand to stop me from saying anything, so I nodded. “It’s improved enough that I can throw, and it will get stronger, but not enough to actually be able to play past high school.”

“Aw Liam, are you sure?” he nodded his head.

“Babe, it hurts after I throw now, there is no way I could even pitch half a game. I’m not prepared to damage myself further or put up with the pain when I am never going to be able to make a living at it.” Liam’s eyes betrayed him, he wasn’t happy about this at all, “I can see how you’re looking at me Babe, I really am okay with this. When we played yesterday, and we were all mucking about, the game was fun.” I nodded confirmation, “That’s what playing for real used to feel like to me, I don’t love it the way I used to anymore. It’s become work, a chore even. I still want to have something to do with the game, I can coach little-league or something. Maybe play in a rec league, but I don’t have that drive to pursue it as my dream. I’m entirely happy with my decision, there will be no regrets. I want you to be comfortable with it too.”

“You may have to be patient with me. It’s been your dream for so long. In my head, I’ve always seen you as a major league baseball player when we got older. This is what you and I have been working toward this whole time – to get you to the majors. It’s going to take some time to convince me this is what you want. Did you still want to play for the school next season?” I eyed him warily.

“Yeah, as much as I can. I’ll talk to Coach Campbell, he’s going to have to use that idiot, Richard. I’ll talk to Coach, and he might let me work with Ollie, he’s a half way decent pitcher now, a bit of coaching and some practice he might be excellent. Or maybe bring up the JV pitcher to help out.” Liam said looking over to where the dogs were curled up on their bed.

“I’m so sorry Honey, I love you so much, I want you to have everything you want, everything you’ve worked for.” I crawled onto his lap and wrapped myself around him. Liam pulled me to him and kissed the top of my head.

“It really is okay, I swear,” Liam said reflectively. I rested in his arms quietly, trying to come to terms with what he’s just told me. I can’t seem to wrap my head around it. It’s going to be weird not talking, breathing, sleeping baseball for the upcoming season. Dreaming of Liam making it big, our scenarios getting wilder as we got older of what his life would be like as a famous baseball player.

“I’ll come with you when you talk to Coach if you like,” I whispered.

“I’d like the support, thank you, Babe.”

“I’d do just about anything for you, especially if Mother gets off of her charges. I’ll need your help burying a body, so I have no right to complain.” I snickered.

“I’ll even carry the shovels into the woods,” Liam chuckled. I stretched my neck and head upward kissing Liam’s neck. Then let out a sigh. We stayed cuddling in silence for about five minutes, happy to be in each other's company.

The front door flew wide open as the family all piled in, Ollie was first through the door, he came over to the couch, “Strewth, what ‘av you blokes been up to ay! A little “bow, Chika, bow wow.” He sang thrusting and rolling his hips dancing in a circle seductively with his arms in the air. Kat walked by him and gave him a ‘Gibbs.’ He chased her out of the room. I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of them the rest of the night.

“Dude, I can barely understand a word that comes out of Oliver’s mouth this past couple of days,” Liam said to me laughing.

I shrugged my shoulders, “Blame Uncle Luke and Scott.” Both of which were standing over us, from behind the couch grinning like idiot savants. Benny is climbing over the back of the couch and falling on top of Liam and me, while Tracy is trying to stop him. Dad, Papi and Uncle Cam stumbled through to the living room giggling like teenagers after two beers. I looked at Liam, “Great one of us is going to have to drive these idiots home,” I looked around the room, “Who liquored up the old farts?”

Mom stepped out from behind the three giggling school girls, and put her hand half way up, dead panned “That would be me, they were pissing me off,” Liam and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. I don’t recall a time ever when Mom would have said something like that. I wonder what they were doing?

“Where have you all been?”

“Peder’s,” they all pumped their fists in the air as they yelled. A sports bar in town – figures. Scott’s stance wobbled a little.

“Scott are you drunk?” I asked concerned.

His head kind snap rolled, and his eyes squinted at me, “Nope, that ship has, um…” he rolled his wrist clicking fingers over and over, shaking his head side to side.

“Sailed,” Uncle Luke blurted out grinning like he was on a game show.

Scott clicked his fingers one last time, lazily pointed to his Dad and said, “Yep that,”

Callen walked passed them shaking his head, “Look at all these idiots would ya, I’m going to make some coffee’s,” mumbling on the way to the kitchen.

Benny scampered off of our laps and ran after his Uncle, “I help Uncle Cal, I help,”

Uncle Luke leaned back a little to see past Scott to his husband, “Hey Cam, how do you feel,” He kind of sung.

The giggling school girls and Scott sang back, “I feel like a Tooheys,”

Uncle Luke sung again, “How do you feel,”

Then all five of them sang, “I feel like a Tooheys, I feel like a Tooheys, I feel like a Tooheys or two.”

Little Benny came running into the room and screamed, “I feel like a Tooheys,” and ran back to the kitchen.Tracy followed trying to get Benny to calm down because it was past his bed time.

Scott burped really loud, “Yeah!” he said grinning, “Will can I have a sanga, I’m starving.”

“Ahh… sure…” I answered curiously.

“I’m making sanga’s if anyone is interested,” Scott called out walking toward the kitchen.

Liam winked at me, “Welcome to the mad house,”

“You love it, and you know it,” I laughed. Liam laughed raucously.

<>-<>-<>

“NO! Absolutely not.” Liam said with a raised voice. He continued aggressively buttering his toast without looking at me. “It’s not happening.”

“Why not? What can happen?” I replied, insisting he considers my argument.

Liam looked up at me and pointed the butter knife at me from the other side of the table, “No Will, it’s not our fault, it’s not our problem.” He huffed, “We have no idea what this guys frame of mind is, he might try and hurt you. So no you’re not going,”

“So you’re just ordering me around like I’m some type of fetch boy in your employ. Damn it, Liam, I only want to make sure he’s not freakin’ homeless due to that woman. The FBI guy said he’s about to lose, well, he’s already lost all his assets, they’ve all been frozen by the government.”

“I don’t care, Will,” Liam said flatly, taking a bite of his toast.

Enter Katherine, great. She’ll side with my bossy ass husband, “What are you two Banshee’s screeching about,” Kat said reaching for the cereal box in the cupboard then a bowl, “We can hear you plain as day all the way in our bedroom.” She yawned and pulled a spoon from the drawer, then paused waiting for one of us to answer.

Liam straightened himself in his seat, “My husband wants to meet his Mother’s ex-husband, “to make sure he’s not homeless,” and I don’t want him to go. It’s not a good idea, we know nothing about the man.”

“Did you just met your husband, Liam? How did you not expect this?” Kat said sitting at the table with us, reaching for the milk jug. “Why don’t you go with him, that way you’ll know he’s safe.” Kat then turned on me, “Is this really a good idea Will? And if you’re determined to do this why didn’t you ask Liam to go with you?”

“I did ask him, it’s how we ended up in this argument, and it’s not like I’m going alone. Adam and his partner are taking me.” I picked up my empty bowl and put it in the dishwasher, “I’ll be in my shed if anyone wants me.” I love that I have my own place to escape.

As I walked out of the back door, I heard Kat go to bat for me with Liam. She’s always so supportive of everyone. My shed was a bit of a mess, so I started clearing things away. I went through my chisels and put aside the ones I wanted to sharpen. I checked the wheel on my bench grinder to make sure there weren’t any grooves that would affect my chisels. They are a way too expensive to take any chances when it only takes a minute to check the wheel. I put my safety glasses on, and I started with my domed scraper as it is the biggest pain in my ass to sharpen. By the time I’d finished with a couple of spindle’s and bowl gouges, and gotten to my 31mm roughing gouge, Liam was standing at the door of the shed, quietly watching me.

I put my chisel down, turned off the grinder and pushed my safety glasses on top of my head. “Hey,” I greeted Liam flatly.

“Hey,” he replied walking closer to me and leaning against the bench next to the grinder. Liam looked into my eyes, “I’m sorry about before,” I shrugged my shoulders, not saying anything. I started to put the chisels I’d sharpened back into their respective holes. “I’m worried all of the time, that something will happen to you, Babe. I can’t stand the thought of you getting hurt. I still feel guilty about going to California without knowing how much you were hurting. I left you here to deal with everything by yourself. I suspected something was wrong, but I just put it down to what was happening with C.C. I should have done better.”

“I don’t want to keep going over this Liam it wasn’t your fault that was all on me. I’m doing way better now. I’ve stopped taking on other people’s problems, taking on guilt that doesn’t belong to me. I feel a lot freer, and my load is a lot lighter.” I said working around him.

“Isn’t that what you're doing with your Mother’s husband? Taking on his problems.” He asked carefully.

“I haven’t taken on anything, I want to check for myself that he’s going to be alright. That woman has taken a lot from our family and us. But we are all still financial, and we still all have each other for support, and we are all doing okay. What if this guy has nobody? He’s lost his car, his house, and God knows what else. Technically, he is my step-father whether we are aware of each other or not.” I said adamantly.

“But Will…”

“No Liam, how would you feel if it were me, or Lee, or even Pat. You would want to help. I’m just asking to check on him. I don’t want to give him anything or hand him money. But if there is a way we can help him just a little, then I want to do that. I’ll be perfectly safe with Adam and Payne there. They’ve spoken to the guy already, and we’ll be meeting in a public place. It’s not like I’m going to his seedy hotel room.”

Liam was silent, he looked at a spot on the floor, arms folded across his chest, thinking would be my guess. I picked up the rails and spokes I’d turned the other day and moved them to a project bin ready to be put together. I just needed to pick up the wheels and base board for it.

“What are you making?” He flicked his chin toward the project bin I’d put the wood into.

I chortled, “A baby jail for Noah, he’s growing at the speed of light and eventually Kat will need it. I made it for the living room. He’ll be able to play with his toys in there while Kat does what she needs to without worrying he’s depositing something into a power socket.”

“Hmm… We really should start getting the house baby proofed before he starts crawling. I know it’s a while away, but it will be here before we know it.” Liam said pensively.

“We have some time, I’ll start looking into the best way to do it. The most important will be the stairs, we’ll have to get a baby gate for the top and bottom. It’ll have to be robust enough to stand up to the dogs as well. I might make one if I can’t find one I trust.”

“You should make them, at least then it will match the balustrade and not be one of those unsightly gaudy plastic jobs.” Liam smiled, he always takes pride in the material things he owns. “Can I still come with you?” He muttered.

“Huh?”

“When you go to see your Mothers ex-husband, do you want me to come with you?” Liam asked cautiously, his eyes lifted to me as he stood leaning against the bench.

I took a deep breath, “Yes I would, thank you. I always feel more confident when you’re with me.”

Liam nodded his head, “Then I’ll come with you. Let me know when Adam sets up a time.”

“I will, I won’t go without you. I promise.”

“Good,” Liam smiled weakly and nodded his head once. I can tell he’s not happy about the situation, but he’ll do it for me.

“So this is the bat cave huh?” Tracy said as he came through to where we were standing. He looked around. “This is great Will,” he said looking around. “Do you like this extractor, I’ve been looking into one like this, but I can’t quite make the leap. My one works fine, but it’s old and smaller. Now that I’m doing bigger jobs, I should actually upgrade.” Tracy said while he inspected mine.

“Yeah, it’s the best. My old one was a piece of crap compared to this one. I didn’t even realize till this was installed.” I smiled. Liam watched Tracy and me go through the workshop and my chisels. He stood quietly by, content, letting us talk shop.

“Hey Trace, Bud, we have to get going, or we’ll miss our flight.” Callen said to Tracy as he walked into my workshop, “Jesus, you two were cut from the same cloth weren’t ya?” he said looking around. “Wesley is on the phone with Benny, there’s a problem with Promise.”

“What?” He asked.

“Wes thinks Promise is acting up because he misses Benny. Chase suggested if there was anything of Benny’s that he’s worn they can put near the horse. Maybe if he can smell him the horse might calm down.” Callen relayed the question he’d been asked.

“Oh… Uh… Yeah, his PJ’s are under his pillow. He wore those the night before we left. Ask if that will do and have Wes’s brother Joseph get a key from Chase and grab them.”

“Great, I’ll let him know. I don’t mean to be a pain, but we really do need to get a move on. I’ll go talk to Wes.” Callen said before he left the workshop.

“Who’s Wesley? I don’t remember meeting him.” I asked.

“Horses are so weird,” Trace commented shaking his head, “Huh, oh… He’s a friend of Chase's, he’s always around, he has a little brother he’s guardian for, and he’s friends with Cory and Shane. I think Wesley and Chase maybe more than “just friends,” but we can’t seem to get proof of that yet.” Tracy said mischievously. “He and Benny adore each other. The guy is really good with him too. He’s been teaching Benny how to look after his horse properly. He makes Benny do everything for the horse. He’s really firm with him, doesn’t let him get away with anything or let him be lazy. Alex thinks he hung the moon because he’s firm with Benny.” Tracy rolled his eyes.

“Benny follows Wesley around, the man doesn’t mind. He’s patient and answers all of Benny’s questions. Even shows him how to do things if he wants to know. They're adorable to watch.” Trace explained smiling.

“You’re jealous as all hell aren’t you?” I chuckled.

Tracy’s shoulders slumped, “Of course I am,” He laughed, “Benny’s my best friend. Now I have to share.”

“You’re his Poppy, I bet he loves you more than anyone else.” I tried to assure him.

“I hope so,” Tracy said thoughtfully. “Come on; you guys can walk me out, I don’t want to miss our flight.”

We made our way to the rental car, Cal had waiting. We said goodbye to Shane and Cory, and we gave Benny a big hug then packed him away in the car. Liam and I gave Cal the most grateful thank you we could. They were all still waving until the car was out of sight.