The Shunning - 6. Chapter 6

Arriving home shortly after dawn, Steven had hoped to catch Daryl and his brother in midst of passionate lovemaking. Instead however he found his brother in bed alone, a content smile on his face.

"You seemed to have had a pleasant evening," Steven said as he tossed his brother's purple dress on top of the bed.

"It was entertaining to say the least," Patrick replied, before stretching out his long body in a yawn.

"First of all Daryl was my date. Second, what were you doing at the club... I thought you had to work."

"You might not believe me Steven... but keeping an eye on Daryl is my job."

"You mean the archangel is the man your new client has had you spend so much time spying on?"

"Yes... paying me triple my normal fee too."

"I thought you had a rule against sleeping with the men you are paid to dig up dirt on."

"I thought your profession had a rule about not dating your own patients."

"It was a house call," Steven insisted.

"At a gay nightclub?" Patrick smirked.

"Behavior modification and desensitization therapy," Steven said all too quickly.

"Is that the line you used on Daryl when you talked him into going?"

"In not so few words... yes."

"I see..."

"Oh don't get on your soapbox. I'm sure you were not so honest about your intentions. I would bet half my medical practice that you didn't tell him you are my brother."

"Which is entirely your fault. You're the one who has not told him about me so that when he saw me he automatically assumed I was you."

"How could he have mistaken me for you? You were in a fucking dress. Not to mention the fact that you are one of the most nelly queens I have ever met."

"That still makes me royalty," Patrick insisted, throwing his dress back at his brother. "Anyway...Daryl didn't seem to mind, not even when we played dress-up."

"Oh God... you didn't."

"I did," Patrick said, reaching for the nightstand for his digital camera. "See for yourself."

Taking the camera,Steven looked through the pictures till he found the one showing Daryl wearing a red beehive wig and green dress. "I must say he looked better in it than you ever have."

"It's his eyes... they're a better match."

"So what else did you two do?"

"We gave each other massages, let him play with junior for a little bit, and then we went to bed and snuggled."

"That's all?"

"Well, I did give him a guest pass to gym I go to. He's supposed to meet me there latter this weekend."

"But where is he now? You're not an early bird Patrick so I know you didn't drive him back home."

"He woke me up around five this morning telling me he was taking a cab back."

"I see..." Steven said, placing the camera back on the nightstand only for his eyes to catch the glimpse of a worn out checkbook. Curious, he picked it up, stepping back just in time to avoid his brother's reach.

"Hey... that's not yours!"

"It's not yours either," Steven pointed out as he opened it.

Walking backwards into the bathroom before his brother could untangle himself from his bedsheets, Steven locked himself inside. Going through the pages he discovered that the checkbook was in fact Daryl's and that while he did not seem to be in any financial trouble... the flow of money in and out of the account made little sense. On top of his five thousand dollar a month salary, on the first of every month a twenty thousand dollar deposit was made by a source only labeled as `Father'. Adding to the peculiarity of the situation, almost a soon as the deposit cleared the bank, it was soon withdrawn and handed out in large chunks to several local charities. As a result, while Daryl was clearing 300 grand a year, he was only keeping around 25 thousand a year to support himself.

"You really are punishing yourself." Steven sighed just as the door popped open.

"Finished with that?" Patrick asked, as he calmly started putting away his lock picking kit.

"I take it that Daryl didn't accidentally leave his checkbook here?"

"I have a job to do," Patrick said defensively.

"Does that include seducing Dare? Because, if whatever scum is paying you this time asked you to mind fuck with one of my patients..."

"The one you want to screw?"

"That's different! I honestly want to help Dare."

"So do I Steven... have you never heard the term `double agent'?"

"I don't understand."

"I don't fully understand it all myself. Right now I am depending totally on my instincts, and what my they are telling me is that something fishy is going on."

"I could have told you that," Steven snorted.

"I know... that is why I think we are going to have to break the rules again. I am going to have to use some of my more underhanded methods to dig up whatever past Dare has tried so hard to bury,while you are going to have to break your patient confidentiality with him and tell me what you know."

"I'm not sure I can do that... not so soon after Nathan. What if I screw up again and more people end up hurt or even dead."

"Steven... I don't know how you feel about Daryl, but I'm in love with him and I don't understand why. There is something about him...something that feels so familiar, like what you and I have. Ever since I started investigating him he's been a constant feature of my dreams."

"Mine too," Steven admitted.

"Do you understand why?" Patrick asked with a pleading look.

"Yes... but I can't tell you without breaking confidence."

"I need to know Steven."

"Do you love him...really love him? Promise me this is not like one of your other infatuations."

"Like the two years I insisted I was really a redhead?" Patrick chuckled.

"Exactly."

"I promise you... unlike the 70's I have no intention of letting this disco party come to an end."

"You always have to joke about this sort of stuff," Steven sighed.

"Someone has to lighten the mood."

"Well I love him too Patrick... and I will tell you why. He's a good man in a world filled with not so good people... including me. He's saved so many lives, helped so many people that when I compare my own accomplishments next to his, I see how empty and selfish my life has really been. Yet... even with all the good he has done, it breaks my heart to see him so unhappy. It makes me want to embrace him to take away all his pain, make him see him the way I do, and in doing so redeem myself in some way."

"I feel the same way." Patrick said, standing up to embrace his brother.

"I'm so ashamed," Steven sobbed. "I killed that family."

"We both did." Patrick said, rocking his brother in his arms.

"He had a twin you know. That's what's really eating at him... I think he feels responsible for his death."

"That's why he feels so familiar." Patrick chuckled softly.

"Because he is also a twin?"

"Not just that... it's because he carries some of the same guilt we do."

"Now you know all that I do... other than the fact that he is indeed gay and is not a virgin."

"That's good to know... wouldn't want to waste my time chasing after a straight man. Do you think he and his twin got it on like we do?"

"Now that is one porno tape I would not mind having," Steven laughed, nuzzling against his brother.

"Do you think Daryl would be opposed to a three-way?" Patrick asked as he worked on the silver buttons of Steven red shirt.

"Now you're really getting me horny," Steven laughed, as his shirt fell to the floor. "He doesn't even know that there are two of us."

"Mind if we keep it that way for a while?" Patrick asked, ripping down the buttons of his brother's pants.

"The next thing you are going to suggest is that we set up a schedule."

"That's won't be too hard. You get him at work and every weekday evening but Friday. He's mine at the gym and on weekends."

"But I want him on the weekends," Steven pouted, as his brother struggled to pull down his tight pants.

"Come on, I'm giving you four and a half days out of seven. I think that is more than generous."

"But you want a monopoly on play time... Saturday morning cartoons and all."

Considering that technically he's still your patient and therefore off limits... playtime would just be wasted on you."

"I'll drop him as a patient then."

"No...you can't do that. Right now you got him talking, something he might stop doing if he wasn't seeing you professionally,"Patrick pointed out.

"But that mean you'll get him first."

"Better me than some stranger."

Better me over you," Steven insisted as Patrick finally got his pants down to his ankles.

"How about this... I promise to keep things pretty vanilla if you agree to let me come with you on your next shopping expedition. I'm tired of building up a sweat just trying to undress you."

"Deal." Steven grunted as he felt his cock pulled out of his shorts before feeling it embraced by the familiar warmth and shape of Patrick's mouth.

Later,when both were resting in bed, their limbs entangled, Steven began to cry softly.

"What's wrong?" Patrick asked, concerned, looking up from where his head was resting on his brother's chest.

"Just imagining the hell Dare's gone through in loosing his brother, made me think how I would feel if anything ever happened to you. I then remembered the last time you were working undercover... how you got shot. It did not hit me until now that I could have lost you."

" But didn't," Patrick said comfortingly.

"But I could have. Whatever happens with Dare, I don't want it to come between us."

"Like that could ever happen... remember Bo?"

"Oh god... was I really that nasty to him?"

"You practically threw him out of the house when he tried to talk me into bare-backing."

"I'm the only one who's allowed to do that." Steven grunted as he ruffled Patrick's hair.

"Yes...you're just lucky he was a closet case or he might have pressed charges."

"Yes...but do you remember Vain Trey?"

"Vain Trey?" Patrick laughed. "He wasn't anymore vain than when I play dress-up."

"There's a difference... You needed to spend all that time in front of a mirror to put your makeup on. Trey on the other hand was a bald man who kept a compact in that man-purse of his."

"Will you ever forgive me for making you endure him?"

"I'll consider it." Steven winked. "I think Dare will be different though. First, this is one of the few occasions where we have both fallen for the same man at the same time. Second, and more importantly, I've yet to find any deceit in him. Unlike almost every man I have ever dated he doesn't lie nor does he try to use the truth as a sledge hammer to get what he wants. I can actually relax and let my guard down around him."

"Iagree," Patrick replied, tickling thesides of his brother's body.

"We need to be careful with this one Patrick. A person like him doesn't come into our lives often. I don't want to screw this up."

"Neither do I," Patrick said as his alarm clock went off.

Turning to look at the clock, Steven was surprised to see it was only nine o'clock as his brother usually did not get out of bed till noon. "Starting early today?"

"Got a meeting with the client," Patrick said as he rolled off his twin.

"What are you going to tell him and when are you going to tell me what you know?"

"Nothing about last night or what you've told me. I will tell you what little I know when I get back."