Ian's Heart - 26. Chapter 26 - Adam

Last night the beautiful man falling down next to me agreed to marry me. I still can’t believe it.

“Holy crap Babe,” I said breathlessly, “where did that come from?”

Ian looked at me in mock defense, “I have skills. You want more, I have more,” he laughed.

“More, huh!” I said while pulling Ian over the top of me, kissing his…

A loud undulating dee dah dee dah sound squealed from my pager indicating an urgent response was required.

“Dammit,” I cursed out loud.

What the hell, everyone knows we got engaged last night and I wasn’t on roster today. Who the fuck is paging me? As I grabbed the pager off of the nightstand, Ian latched on to my nipple with his teeth then pulled back, my cock twitched and started to come to life again.

“Mmm, Babe,” I moaned as I read the message.

Message: KPO POTTS76345>>POI SC LOCATED RESPND C1 KDT PRICE 859-5557856

“Shit!”I exclaimed sitting up knocking Ian to the side, I threw the blankets off and hopped out of bed.

“Everything okay?” Ian asked me a little dazed.

“Shit!” I ran my hand through my hair; sitting down on the bed, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to push you away. Wade found Stephen Carter.”

“You should go to him, you’ve been worried for weeks.”

“I don’t want to leave, I want to stay here and celebrate with you,” I said a little needily. Ian crawled over wrapping himself around me. He kissed my neck, nibbled on my ear, then kissed along my jaw, while pushing me back on the mattress as he slid onto the floor between my legs taking my cock into his mouth. His tongue swept around the head then dipped into the slit, “Fuck, Babe,” Ian slid further down my shaft, sucking harder and faster, he didn’t stop until he had me screaming his name.

Lifting my head, I could see Ian grinning like the cat that got the canary, “Pretty pleased with yourself there aren’t ya?” I chuckled trying to catch my breath and trying to get my heart rate slow, I let my head fall back onto the mattress.

Ian chortled, “Yup.”

“How am I supposed to ring Wade like this?” I sat up and looked at Ian who was still grinning, kneeling on the carpet between my legs, his hands resting on my shaky thighs.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled, “but we better shower before you go anywhere,” he ran his finger through some remnants of our earlier activity on my chest. Looking down at his playful action I smiled, I grabbed his hand and stood up bringing him with me. I kissed him then led us to the shower while I responded to Wade’s page.

<>-<>-<>

Since this really isn’t a police matter, although, I could be in a lot of trouble using police resources to do what I am doing, I brought Ian along with me for a couple of reasons. One, I didn’t want to leave him at the moment. Two, he could really help with Stephen as he was one of his students. Three, please see the first reason. The only problem is we have treated it as a police matter, it should be, but this kid has had enough go wrong for him without involving an inadequate system red tape and broken promises.

“Just look confident, bored, and keep your hands in your pockets. If the nurse sees you’re nervous, they’ll ask questions, if all else fails pretend to be on the phone,” I winked at Ian, “and you look hot in a suit. Are you ready?”

“Okay,” Ian answered, he fidgeted nervously looking down at his clothes.

We walked up to the nurse's station flashing my badge to the nurse, “Police ma’am, Stephen Carter he was brought in by a patrol earlier,” I lazily leaned on the counter, Ian stepped away putting his phone to his ear. Thank god, we’d had the forethought to put our phones on silent before we came into the ER. It would be just our luck his phone would ring while he is supposed to be using it. The thought had me holding back my amusement.

The nurse checked the computer, “Bed five, the officer is still with him. The doctor will be there shortly. Please go to the door, it will make a buzzing sound but don’t push until you hear the lock click,” the woman didn’t take her eyes away from the computer nor did she take a breath as she pushed the door release button. Geez, impatient much. I pulled Ian toward the door, so we could go through once it clicked.

The second I pushed the door open, and we walked through it, the horrible smell of disinfectants, bleaches, vomit and piss all combined at once. And if that isn’t bad enough, the loud noises of the doctors yelling, the nurses banging different equipment around. Lucky I don’t get motion sickness the sea of moving rainbow of scrub-clad staff pushing every which way, would have forced me past queasy. My hand went to the small of Ian’s back, his eyes met mine grounding me soothing the anxiousness within.

It was not difficult to locate Stephen in the chaos since Wade stood out like a sore thumb in his patrol uniform at the end of the bed. His face etched with concern as he stared at the lifeless lump in front of him. Stephen had the blankets pulled up over him almost past his shoulders, his hand fisted in the blankets with them tucked protectively under his chin.

“Hey,” I nodded stiffly to Wade as we approached then shook his hand.

“Sorry about calling so late, but I know how desperate you have been to find Stephen,” Wade said apologetically.

Before I could even say a word, Ian had walked to the side of the bed staring down at the poor kid, his face a cacophony of color, with bruises and cuts to his face. Stephen had managed to fall asleep, I have no idea how. Ian turned his head to me, the pain evident in his eyes. It was easy to read his thoughts, “How could anyone do this to a kid?” I swear I saw Ian’s whole body shudder. The damage done to Stephen had to be new by the coloring of the bruises along with a fresh deep cut to his forehead. Dammit.

“Where did you find him?” I asked Wade as Ian resignedly slumped into the visitor's chair next to the bed his eyes fixed uncomfortably on the young man.

“Disturbance call, when we got there the young Stephen was the only one in the alleyway. He was having difficulty breathing, the poor guy was in shock by the time we arrived. Stephen has been beaten pretty severely, luckily I don’t think anything is broken, well I hope not anyway,” Wade said worriedly.

“Did he manage to give you any details as to what happened? Who did this? Anything at all?” I asked hurriedly. Wade wearily shook his head as his gaze fell back to the boy in the bed.

“Thanks for sticking with him Wade, this kid has been through enough. Do you need to go back to the house?” I looked around, “Where’s your partner?”

Wade rolled his eyes, “I’m off the clock, it was the end of our shift, my partner wanted to go home. Not his problem, a homeless person beaten up…,” Wade angrily shook his head, “My own fault really. I didn’t want to call it in, I thought you wanted to handle this yourself, so I had him drop me here once the ambulance took Stephen away.”

I reached out gently tapping his upper arm, “Thanks, bud, I appreciate you doing that for me.”

“No problem, we really should call Child Services and get him somewhere safe to stay though,” Wade commented.

Ian stood up, “Please let me, I know someone. They will find him a safe place.”

“Sure Babe, go ahead. You going to call Theo?”

Ian nodded as he passed me, walking back toward the waiting room to make the call, “He knows a Senior Case Worker, he’s a good guy, he won’t let anything happen to Stephen,” I assured Wade, who still looked worried.

“Do you mind if I stick around until he’s released?” Wade asked sombrely as he stared at Stephen.

“Please. This kid needs all the support he can get,” I answered him with an encouraging nod.

Wade and I talked about work while we waited for Ian or the doctor to come back, Ian made it back to us first.

“I’ve spoken to Theo, he and Derek are on their way,” Ian said sleepily, “I told them to bring us coffee.”

“Cheeky shit!” I mused.

Ian took up residency in the visitor’s chair next to Stephen’s bed. Eventually, the doctor came kicking us all out of the small space. Well, except for Ian because he refused to leave Stephen alone and scared. By the time the doctor finished his examination, Theo and Derek had joined us, with real coffee in hand. My heroes. The doctor pulled back the curtain, his face showed surprise that the crowd for Stephen had multiplied.

“Who’s responsible for Stephen Carter,” he asked firmly.

One by one we introduced ourselves shaking hands with the doctor.

“Detective. Adam Price,” I offered.

“Patrol Officer Potts,” Wade said then looked to Theo.

“Senior Case Worker for CPS, you can call me Theo,” he said giving the doctor his card.

“Derek, I run the Shelter and Youth Centre downtown,” also handing him a card.

“Ian Wright, Stephen’s Biology Teacher,” Ian shook his hand, the doctor frowned as he looked at Ian warily due to the unique vocation he had provided among us.

“Okay,” he said stretching out the word, still looking at Ian as if he were out of place. I stepped closer to Ian, scowling at the man who thought he was superior. The doctor looked at his notes while clearing his throat nervously, “Mr. Carter has received quite a beating, I’d like to get some x-rays make sure nothing is broken. We’ll suture up the gash on his forehead and give him some pain relief. All of you being here has saved us a lot of time, so we can get him moved through the red tape fairly quickly. I’ll be back once all the tests are completed, I’d like to have Stephen at least stay until later this morning, and we have the results,” With that, the doctor moved on to another patient; we went back to waiting.

Ian gave me a surly look which had me back step a little, “Sorry, I went a little caveman. I know you can handle yourself, but I didn’t like the way he treated you,” I said sheepishly.

His face softened a little, “S’okay.”

Now that Stephen was awake, he was sitting up in the bed, Ian sat by his side occasionally talking to him trying to instill some kind of comfort. I can’t imagine what Stephen is feeling apart from the pain. I guess Stephen is scared, he has no home, he can’t go to school for some sort of normalcy or stability, probably no money, and he’s surrounded by all of us. Ian is good with teenagers, so patient, kind, a source of comfort and safety. I am constantly in awe of the man, it’s so hard not to have my eyes glued to him most of the time.

“What’s going to happen to me now?” Stephen asked out loud his fingers playing with a loose thread on the blanket.

Theo stepped in, “Well for starters, you aren’t going back on the street, it’s not safe. I’m going to find some emergency accommodation for you,” he said firmly.

“Oh,” Stephen answered quietly, he was visibly shaking.

Derek took over then, “Can I have a private word with Stephen,” his eyes meeting the young man, “if that’s okay with you Stephen?”

Stephen nodded his head once in agreement, his gaze not leaving Derek’s as he seemed to shrink in his bed at the sight of the intimidating man. Derek and Theo were both tall, big, solid men, if I hadn’t met them through Ian as part of the extended family, I would have assumed they were roughneck bikers if I was going on appearance. In actual fact, neither had ever ridden a motorcycle nor had any affiliation with bikers. They are both reasonably gentle in nature but fierce when it came to protecting and helping kids. I really like them a lot.

Derek replaced Ian in the visitor's chair, Ian pulled the curtain around the bed as he joined us. Derek was talking with Stephen for quite a while before an orderly came with a wheelchair to take him away for the tests, and X-ray’s the Doctor had ordered.

“He can stay at the shelter,” he said to Theo curtly, “did you know he was one of the three that hurt Liam and broke his arm,” he turned on Ian.

“Stephen may have been there, but he never laid a finger on Liam. He is just a much a victim as Liam was at the hands of those other two assholes,” I said knowing the full story.

Derek’s body visibly relaxed as he exhaled, “My apologies Ian, I didn’t mean that to sound the way it did. Stephen told me a lot of what has happened to him. I’m angry, not at Stephen and certainly not you Ian.”

“It’s okay, I’m angry myself. I wish I would have seen he was in danger before all of this happened to him,” Ian said sadly, “is there anything we can do to help?”

I nodded wrapping Ian in my arms giving him a quick hug, “Yeah Babe, we are all going to help, we just need to figure out what Stephen needs. He’s not alone, I promise.”

While Stephen was getting tests and x-rays done the rest of us strategized on how to help him. It would be easier with input from him, but it filled the time. Everything takes so long to get done in a hospital, I’m surprised people leave them alive half of the time.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Theo smiled.

I grinned, well, I thought I was grinning. By the smirk on Theo and Derek’s faces, I was sporting a big goofy smile. How could I not, I’m so happy that I get to spend the rest of my life with Ian. Not to mention our two beautiful kids, we have great friends, my folks are close by, I would also wage good money that Ian’s parents would follow to Kentucky in time. It feels like everything is falling into place.

The orderly returned letting Stephen get back into the bed with Ian’s help. Once the boy was comfortable, Ian sat back down next to him. I heard him telling Stephen what was happening next so I continued my conversation with the others.

“Thanks,” I blew out a breath, “I’m still pinching myself that he said yes, I don’t know why, but I am.”

Derek snickered, “Don’t worry that’s how this one felt too,” he indicated to Theo, “don’t let his gruff exterior fool you he’s a big softy.” Theo stared daggers at Derek.

“Watch yourself, Hon, there aren’t any witnesses at home,” Theo teased Derek.

“Promises, promises, my love,” Derek pinched Theo’s side. Ian barked out a quick laugh, which startled us. All eyes were pointed in his direction waiting for an explanation as to the cause.

“Stephen said you guys are grossing him out,” Ian said. We thought we had been chatting quietly and didn’t know anyone could hear us over the racket in the room.

“Don’t worry Stephen, they gross me out all the time,” sounded from my side by an out of breath Payne, “Sorry, I came as soon as I could get someone to stay with Dad.”

“Nice pink sweats, Shorty,” I cocked my eyebrow at her, Payne has never struck me as someone who would wear pink.

“Bite me, HotShot,” she elbowed me hard in the gut hard enough that I lost my breath a little, “it’s peach, and I look hot.”

“Geez, Shorty you’re a freakin’ weapon!” I exclaimed.

Payne winked at me over her shoulder while she went over to Ian giving him a peck on the cheek then sat on the side of the bed. Payne, Ian, and Stephen started on a conversation forgetting the rest of us were even there. The next couple hours felt like eight while we waited for the Doctor to come back. We hung in there; our first concern is to make sure Stephen is going to be okay.

The hospital didn’t release Stephen until seven this morning which is why we are dragging our ass into bed now. Ian and I didn’t have the energy to finish our night like we had planned. Standing next to the bed I undid my pants and let them drop to my ankles.

“What’s wrong?” Ian asked yawning as he was climbing between the sheets.

I sat down on the side of the bed trying to flick my shoes off, “I’m so tired, I don’t have the energy to get undressed,” I answered yawning, it really is contagious, watching Ian do it made me yawn too. My stubborn shoe finally came off my foot, the other toed off easily. I lifted my legs out of my pants while taking my shirt off, then climbed into bed next to Ian. He was too far away, so I grabbed him by the waist pulling him to me. His head flopped onto my chest, he hooked his leg over mine as we drifted off to sleep snuggled together.

<>-<>-<>

Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin' to the chapel and we're gonna get ma-a-arried
Gee, I really love you
And we're gonna get ma-a-arried
Goin' to the chapel of love

“Damn it, Payne,” I groaned leaning over to the nightstand, Looking at the time on my phone as I brought it closer, ten-thirty in the am. Not only had Payne changed my ringtone she’d changed my screen saver from Pat holding Riley to her poking her tongue out at me, “I’m gonna kill that woman.”

“Tell whoever it is to go away – sleeping,” Ian grumbled into my chest.

“Lo’,” My voice gravelly from lack of sleep.

“Sweetheart its Mom, you told me to give you a wake-up call for brunch. We’re heading over to Liam, and Will’s now. You sound really tired do you want us to make excuses for you?”

I yawned, “No Ma, but can you tell them we’ll be late. I want to drop by the shelter and check on Stephen. Please don’t tell them anything about Stephen either, well, there’s a lot to it and it may cause problems.” I stated.

“No problem Sweetheart, we can do that. Take your time,” Mom said kindly into the phone, “Ian’s parents got in fine, the kids have been a dream so no need to worry. I love you, Son, we’ll see you soon.”

Man some days my Mom drives me crazy, but days like today she proves herself to be the awesome person and Mom she is, “Love you too,” I replied then ended the call giving Ian a nudge, “We have to get up Babe. Apparently, there is still a big bad world outside our house.”

“Tell this so-called world we need five more minutes,” Ian chuckled half asleep. I should have just let Ian have his five minutes. Instead, I spent fifteen minutes trying to get him out of bed.

<>-<>-<>

“Hey, come in the office,” Derek said after the security guard let us in the shelter. He led the way, and we followed, “Sit guys.”

“How’s Stephen?” Ian asked before I could even open my mouth as we sat in chairs across the desk from Derek.

Derek shifted in his seat, tilting his head, “He’s as well as…” he gave a half smile.

“Sure,” I nodded.

“I don’t know how to say this, but we might have a problem. There are stringent rules about staying in the shelter, you either have to be at school full-time or have a job,” Derek started.

My stomach dropped, this kid could really use a break, “Okay, well, schools out. Can’t we help find him a job?”

“Yeah, we could. The problem with that is once he has a job, there is still the matter of accommodation. Theo believes because of his age, the fact that he’s gay, and the violent history,” Derek held up his hand before I could object, “he’ll only be able to get into a group home. However, I do have a better idea,” Derek smirked, “If Stephen agrees to get his GED as well as a job I can justify keeping him here longer without resorting to foster placement. Once he’s got enough money saved, we can find him some share accommodation.”

“Let’s do that then…” I remarked.

“Stephen told me last night he wanted to be a vet. Do you think you might have time to help me, see if we can convince someone to give Stephen a chance? A real chance at a better life,” Derek asked me in earnest.

“Yep leave it with me, I’ll do whatever I can to help the kid. He could use a break right about now,” I answered with a grin, “you coming to brunch?”

“Sure am, just waiting for Theo. He’s on his way, I’ll see you guys there,” Derek said then stood, we hugged as it is the standard greeting and farewell of the extended family, then we left to head for Will and Liam’s.