Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2006 12:29:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Farrell Mc Nulty <brendanchenowith@yahoo.com>
Subject: Detectives Log - Chapter 65

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE - SLEEP PRETTY DARLING, DO NOT CRY

WHEN WE LEFT THE DASHIN' DUO, MIKE CAUGHT EDDIE RECEIVING ORAL SEX FROM
AJ AND PUNISHED THEM BOTH, HANDCUFFING THEM TO THE BED WHILE HE WAS
TAKING JAKE TO PRISON WHEN HE DETECTED JAKE WAS THE RINGLEADER IN AJ'S
KIDNAPPING. THE KIDNAPPING PUT MIKE AND EDDIE ON THE CASE AND THEY WERE
LURED INTO A TRAP DURING WHICH THEY WERE SHOT WITH POISON DARTS AND LEFT
TO DIE. EDDIE DID DIE, BUT WAS SENT BACK TO EARTH AS IT WAS THE WRONG
TIME. MIKE AND EDDIE RESCUED AJ. JAKE AND AJ ASKED TO STICK AROUND AND
HIRE THE DUO AS BODYGUARDS FOR THE REST OF THE TIME THEY WERE IN TOWN FOR
AJ'S MIDDLEWEIGHT TITLE BOUT. AJ CONFIDED IN EDDIE ABOUT THE ABUSIVE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIMSELF AND JAKE. AJ LET EDDIE KNOW OF HIS FEELINGS
FOR HIM AND SEDUCED HIM IN MIKE AND EDDIE'S BEDROOM! ALL THIS WAS WHILE
MIKE EXPOSED JAKE IN HIS LIE AND WAS GOING TO HAUL HIM OFF TO PRISON,
ESPECIALLY AFTER JAKE ATTEMPTED TO CAPTURE MIKE AT GUNPOINT AND MURDER
HIM, EDDIE AND AJ. MIKE HEARD MOANING COMING FROM THE BEDROOM, THOUGHT
EDDIE WAS IN PAIN AFTER BEING PUNCHED OUT BY AJ EARLIER IN THE DAY. MIKE
WALKS IN AND FINDS THE TWO TOGETHER, THEN HE HANDCUFFS THEM TO THE BED
WHILE HE BRINGS JAKE TO JUSTICE.

NOW WE SEE THE TWO FORMER SIDEKICKS STILL CHAINED TO MIKE AND EDDIE'S
BED. EDDIE IS CRYING HIS EYES OUT. AJ TRIES TO COMFORT HIM, BUT EDDIE
WON'T HAVE IT. IT WAS AJ GETTING CLOSE THAT STARTED THIS WHOLE MESS IN
THE FIRST PLACE.

EDDIE - This was an unbelievable nightmare. Chained to the bed with a guy
that Mike caught me with. In my whole time with Mike, this was
unthinkable, unconscionable, unreal. Yet, it happened. I wasn't dreaming,
this was real. This was painful. I wasn't worried about Mike murdering me
- that I could take, but to have to live out the rest of my life with our
relationship at an end, with Mike forever hating me. I may as well have
stayed dead in that back room at the gallery, for all the good my actions
were doing me now.

Mike walks in and stares at us. He spoke to the two of us, but in a
subdued monotone. It was unlike anything I ever heard out of him.

"Boys. Please forgive me for my earlier actions. What I witnessed was so
painful I lost control of my emotions. I'm sorry I hurt the two of you."

He unlocks our handcuffs and orders AJ out of the house. He recommends a
motel.

"I don't ever want to see your face again. You get out of here. I hope
all goes well with your title bout in a couple of days. You're young and
you deserve a good career, but I never want to lay eyes on you again."

AJ leaves and Mike closes the door. I rub my wrists and grimace, just
like all the other times I was trapped and then set free. Then, I was
ready to leap back into action, right by the side of my Boss-Man. Only,
now, it was my Boss-Man who locked me in this position. I said nothing.
Only sat, waiting for word.

"Eddie, please look at me."

I looked up at him. His eyes were wide open and bloodshot. His lips were
pursed. His face bore the tracks of wiped-up tears. He tried to avoid his
voice breaking, which is why he spoke in such a tone as he did.

"Eddie, I've come to a decision. For the time being, I will allow you to
continue to aid in my work as a Private Investigator. You are
intelligent, well-spoken, strong, you're a very good fighter, and you
will serve me well as a partner in this agency - until the time comes
when I can raise enough funds to buy out your share of Batz & Robinson
PI. Then, you are to either leave town, or go into another line of work
as I cannot have you in this town working as a Detective. The buy-out
contract will stipulate that very clearly."

Tears came to my eyes.

"Boss-Man, please...this is my life's work, please don't take away..."

"I'm taking nothing away. You gave it all up. Your actions told me you no
longer had the desire to work and live in partnership with me. You will
never call me Boss-Man again. I will never call you kiddo or my Boy
Friday again. Those were pet names for the man I loved, and you are no
longer that man. You are also no longer a boy - you're going to be 24
years old this year. I think you've outgrown chasing after a guy who
pulled you out of a closet when you were 6 years old. You've just now
proven that this was all superficial hero worship. If you ever had the
love in your heart for me as you claim you had, you would never have
allowed AJ Buckner to get as close as he was. This is the last we'll say
about this matter. You will still work here until your share of the
business is sold. Just always be on call whenever a case is brought to
our attention. Now, please leave my bedroom. You will now sleep in the
guest house out back. I don't ever want to see you on my bed again, is
that understood?"

I was taking this whole thing in - not believing it for a moment. I
couldn't - it was too much. All I could do was just nod my head and
mutter "yes" when he asked me if I understood what he said.

"Also, please don't ever speak to me unless you're spoken to, is that
also understood?"

I stared silently.

"I'm speaking to you, Eddie, please respond."

"Yes."

MIKE - Eddie left the room. I sat on the bed and cried some more. He's
right, I was crying earlier. It took me a while to get back after I
tossed Jake in the slammer because I had to get myself together. I drove
out to a spot that me-n-Eddie would sit and stare at the stars at night,
and thought, prayed, and wept. I didn't want to do this. I hated saying
those awful things to him, but I didn't know what else to do. What I
really wanted to do was to just grab him and cry and beg him not to leave
me for AJ. I had to stay in control, though. I had to act as if it was my
idea to end our relationship. I didn't want it to end, but if it had to,
I was gonna be the one to do it.

See, I'd always had this worry in the back of my mind that Eddie's a lot
younger than me. I wondered what he saw in me. Was it just a little hero
worship gone long? Did he really love me? Now that I caught him in bed
with AJ, the question burns even deeper in my mind. I could sweep it
under the back burner before, but not this time.

Days had gone by with no cases to solve. AJ's fight was gonna be tonight
and then he'd be gone. There was an awful silence in our home. I ordered
Eddie to not speak to me unless I spoke to him and I had nothing to say.
That's not true, I had a ton of things to say, but none of them seemed
worth saying.

EDDIE - We lived separate lives for the first time since we moved in
together. I watched TV on my own, I ate my meals on my own. I worked out
on my own. Me-n-Mike had separate bedrooms now, but occasionally we had
to be in the same house together and that was real awkward. I'd sometimes
look at him and my mouth would be movin', trying to form a word or two,
but I stopped myself. The condition for my staying around would be that I
wouldn't speak unless he spoke to me first.

MIKE - I'd avoid eye contact with Eddie when he was in the room, and when
he walked out, I would look in his direction, my mouth wanted to say
something. I even felt myself moving a little bit in his direction. I
wanted to run after him and grab him, hug him, cry on him, have him wipe
the tears off my face, but I couldn't do that. I know it meant my
possibly losing Eddie for the rest of my life, and I know I was being
stupid, but I couldn't break.

I did talk to him once. I called him over to the hall closet. I'd been
standing there for a while, staring at the Batman and Robin costumes.
Eddie showed up at the closet.

"What's up?"

"I need you to help me take a picture of these. I'm putting them up for
sale on E-bay and I need a good picture."

EDDIE - I was a wreck - I wanted to scream out loud 'You're selling
these? Ya can't do that! This is our life! This is who we are!', but I
guess it wasn't who we were anymore. I stayed silent, except to mutter,
"sure thing".

MIKE - Sure thing, he says! Is that it? My God, I was taking away one of
the things that meant the world to him. Then again, I did slap that gag
order on him. Silently, we took the shirts, tights and capes off their
hangers, I took Batman's gloves and cowl off the closet shelf, Eddie did
likewise with Robin's gloves and mask. Utility belts, boots and trunks
followed. Everything was photographed and stuck in a box now.

"We'll just leave it like this for now until I get the winning bid, then
we'll just wrap it up."

"Sure thing", then Eddie was on his way back to the guest house, making
no eye contact, but I stopped him.

"Eddie", then he turned and looked at me, "uh, you don't have to sleep in
the guest house, just take one of the other bedrooms here".

He nodded his head and said, "sure thing. Thanks."

MEANWHILE, AT THE AUDITORIUM, AJ'S TITLE BOUT WAS TAKING PLACE. IT WAS A
TOTAL TKO IN THE SECOND ROUND, AJ EMERGING AS THE REIGNING CHAMP. ALL THE
HOOPLA THAT FOLLOWS ANY CHAMPIONSHIP FOLLOWED - WELL WISHERS, INTERVIEWS
WITH SPORTS CHANNELS AND NEWSPAPERS, ETC. AJ COULD FORGET HIS HEARTACHE
FOR AT LEAST A BRIEF PERIOD OF TIME. THEN IT WAS BACK TO HIS DRESSING
ROOM, WHERE HE SHOWERED AND CHANGED,AND PACKED. HE WAS GOING TO TAKE A
CAB BACK TO THE AIRPORT AND GO BACK TO WHERE HE CAME FROM, TO START UP A
NEW LIFE, HAVING NO IDEA WHAT WAS TO FOLLOW. HE LEAVES THE AUDITORIUM
HEADED FOR THE STREET WHEN HE'S SUDDENLY SHOT IN THE BACK, DROPS HIS
LUGGAGE AND FALLS FACE FIRST. HE LOOKS UP AND SEES JAKE WITH A LOADED GUN
AND SCREAMS, "What the hell!" AND IS SHOT TWICE IN THE CHEST.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE HOUSE

EDDIE - I knew Mike probably didn't wanna talk to me right now, if ever
again, but I had to take a chance on it. I wanted to clear the air and
didn't care how he'd react. This was a couple of hours after we packed up
the Bat costumes. I'd been crying in the other bedroom, I was in so much
pain I couldn't take this anymore. I'd passed my limit, even though I
knew I brought this on myself, I didn't care. No one should have to
suffer this much, no matter the fault. If Mike slugged me or shot me, it
didn't matter. I had to talk to him.

"Hey, uh, Mike, I gotta talk to you."

Mike was sitting on a recliner with a drink, reluctant to look at me,
"okay, so go ahead..talk."

"This isn't easy for me. I never thought I'd ever go through this with
you. It was the very worst mistake I ever made, I've been crying these
last few days, you have no idea."

"No more so than me. What do you think it did to me to see you two
together? It's like there was a different guy there, someone who looks
and sounds like the man who is and always will be the love of my life,
but he wasn't there, it was....I don't know who you are these days."

Mike started to cry, "Aw, God-dammit, Eddie, why the hell did ya do it?"

"I don't know. I guess I felt sorry for AJ for all the crap he was takin'
from Jake..."

"Oh, so it was pity sex?"

"I never intended for that. I just realized he was hurtin' and I wanted
to heal that. I was hopin' he'd break away from that guy. He had no one
to listen to him and I was just reachin' out. He came to the bedroom to
see if I was okay after he flattened me, and felt bad about what he did,
and he looked at me. I got scared, 'cuz I didn't like that look. I didn't
wanna just push him away or anything, didn't wanna hurt him even more, so
I thought I'd give him a quick peck to ease outta there, then he went for
it, then he started goin' down, and the next thing I knew....Aw, what can
I say? I don't love him. I don't wanna spend the rest of my life with
him, I just wanted to comfort him, and it got outta my hands."

"So...now what?"

"What do you mean?"

"What are ya gonna do now? What do you want?"

"To get back with you. To regain your love, your trust. Be your Boy
Friday, your kiddo. I'd give anything for that."

Mike started to get up and leave, "you'd give anything? You don't have
what I need. Good night."

At least I tried. All hope was lost now. All I could do was just stick
around until Mike could buy me out, then, go off into the world, I guess.
Right now, I just needed some sleep, so I went to bed, too, but not
before I prayed, "Dear God, I know what I did was hurtful and wrong, but
if I could only go back, if I could only change everything. Ya gotta tell
me what to do, I've done all I can think of. If you want this for me, and
I hope you do, 'cuz I only want for myself what you would want, please,
give me back my Boss-Man. I need a miracle, God, please."

MIKE - A couple of hours later, I couldn't sleep. Sleepin' alone gives me
insomnia. Anyway, I went downstairs and made myself another drink.
Anything to calm my nerves, God knows I needed my rest. It's been
impossible around here, not lettin' Eddie back in. Then I heard this
crashing sound in the living room. I ran out to see what was up, and the
worst horror I could ever imagine - It was Jake, holding a gun on me,
yelling to get my hands up, which I did, I was startled and scared to
death.

"Jesus Murphy, you broke out!"

"You're damn right I did. AJ's toast, I slaughtered him after the fight,
and now I'm gonna get my 10 mil, but I wanted to come back here and put
you two bastards away, too. "

BAM! I'm hit, but not too bad, just grazed on the side, but it still
stung like a mother. I took off runnin' and took cover while he kept
shootin'.

"Where's that fuckin' kid of yours? I got a couple for him, too."

I leapt into action, "hey, nobody comes in here killin' my boy and gets
away with it." I jump on him and we struggle, both of us losin' the grip
of the gun - it slides across the room, and we both try to run after it,
when I hear Jake hollerin' behind me. It was Eddie! He musta heard the
ruckus, too, and jumped right on top of our assailant, wailing on him
like nothing. He punches this guy so hard, he knocks him out. I shout
"Holy TKO! Good punchin'!"

"Get the cops back here!", he shouts and I holler back, "gotcha!" and
call 9-1-1. I go back to the scene of the capture and say to Eddie, "this
bastard just told me he plugged AJ, so now he's got murder one on his
head. He's gettin' the needle for this."

The cops come in and take him off.

"We'll just clean this stuff up tomorrow. I gotta get some sleep. 'Night,
Eddie."

EDDIE - That was it? That was all Mike had to say was 'goodnight'? We
just put away a murderer and....okay, I guess. It did feel great to bust
a bad guy together again, if only for a few minutes, anyway. I couldn't
sleep much, so I started to straighten up the living room, I just needed
somethin' to do. I picked up a couple of chairs and made the place up
like it was before Jake burst in. I was gonna call someone tomorrow to
fix the front door. But I wasn't gonna worry about anything tonight. What
could I do, right?

DEJECTED, A WEEPING EDDIE GOES BACK TO THE GUEST HOUSE. HE GOES TO THE
BATHROOM, SEES HIS REFLECTION IN THE MEDICINE CABINET MIRROR AND SEES HOW
RED, PUFFY AND WET HIS EYES ARE FROM CRYING ALL EVENING. HE OPENS THE
CABINET, LOOKS AT THE ROW OF YELLOW, PLASTIC PRESCRIPTION BOTTLES AND
REACHES FOR ONE. HE GOES OVER TO HIS BED, LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW OVER AT
MIKE'S BEDROOM WINDOW, HOPING TO CATCH A GOOD-NIGHT GLIMPSE BEFORE GOING
TO SLEEP. HE SEES MIKE'S LIGHT GO OUT AND HE LOWERS HIS WINDOW SHADE. HE
LOOKS AT THE NIGHT STAND, WITH THE DIGITAL CLOCK FLASHING THE VERY LATE
HOUR, SIGHS AND STARTS TAKING OFF HIS CLOTHES, EMPTYING HIS POCKETS OF
THEIR CONTENTS AND PLACES THEM ON THE TABLE. HE THEN RE-READS THE
DIRECTIONS ON THE PILL BOTTLE LABEL, TAKES A SIP OF WATER, THEN LIES DOWN
ON TOP OF THE SHEETS, STRETCHING OUT HIS SINEWY, SMOOTH, MUSCULAR ARMS
AND LEGS, GRIMACES AND LIGHTLY RUBS THE SHOULDER WHICH SUSTAINED THE
DART-WOUND OF A FEW DAYS EARLIER, AND CLOSES HIS EYES.

WHAT?!?!? WHAT THE HOLY HELL IS THIS???? WILL SHADOWY SLEEP SLIP IN AND
OVERTAKE "ROBIN" THE BOY FRIDAY? WILL THE DASHIN' DETECTIVE, THE CLOAKED
CRIMEBUSTER GET TO HIM IN TIME - OR IS THIS THE END OF OUR DEJECTED,
DEPRESSED DYMANIC DREAMBOAT? WILL YOUR FAVORITE DETECTIVE STORY WRITER
HAVE TO FIND HIMSELF A NEW LOYAL, ALL-AMERICAN RED-BLOODED SIDEKICK?

SIT TIGHT, GROOVY GUMSHOE GROUPIES.

THE WORST IS YET TO CUM IN OUR NEXT CHAPTER!!!