Date: Wed, 23 Oct 2002 20:41:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: William Becker <billdrae2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Protecting David 10

The characters in this story are fictional.  If you would
like to email me and I love getting email, my address is:
billdrae2002@yahoo.com


                    Protecting David 10


We were standing on a high hill, with tents behind us, and a
lot of trucks, vans and Humvees scattered around.  Down and
below us there were more hills and behind them still more,
all in varying hues of tan, gray and blue, like a painting
in delicate pastels.  The hot wind was blowing in gusts
stirring up dust devils that swirled briefly between the
vehicles and then disappeared.

General Shetlan handed me a pair of binoculars.  "You'll
want these Mark."  The general then pointed down at a
television screen mounted in camo colored steel.  "The plane
is almost on target.  Not that we'll see much until it
detonates."  The F15E that we knew to be above us couldn't
yet be seen.

"Okay Mark, it's away."  The general laid down the earphones
and raised his binoculars up and was pointing toward a hill
several miles away.

I trained my binoculars on it and after a few seconds saw a
glint of sunlight off of something metallic and then a plume
of dust shoot up followed seconds later by the main
explosion which we felt as much as saw.  The distant hilltop
seemed to be straining to contain something terrible inside
of it with the occasional venting of smoke and gas.  I
thought for a moment what it would be like to be inside that
cave, knowing that no one was, but also knowing that
eventually someone would be.

Do I have second thoughts about what I do for a living?
Yep, all the time, and I know better than most what this
stuff can do but I guess in the end I'm glad we've got these
munitions instead of the bad guys.

This was the third successful test of the bomb we helped
build.  While additional testing would take place, I had the
changes the Air Force wanted in my briefcase.  I was
carrying those changes home as I boarded a helicopter that
would take me to the airport in Las Vegas where I would
transfer to a commercial plane for the trip to Los Angeles.
In the airport I found a quiet corner and called David.

"Hi, Babe."

"Mark, where are you?"  I could cry from the joy of hearing
his voice.

"At the `Vegas airport.  Getting on a plane for L.A. in
about five minutes."

"Oh, shit!  I thought you were gonna tell me that you were
at our airport and that you wanted me to pick you up.  God,
I miss you!"

"Geez, Hun, I miss you too, more than I could ever tell you.
How's Alex?  Behaving himself?"

"Yeah, but he misses you something terrible.  If you call
tonight you can talk to him.  But Mark, when are ya coming
home?"

"Babe, I gotta go to L.A. to the factory you helped us buy
so that I can give `em some changes to a product we make."

"Well, I can guess what the product is, but when will you
get back?"

"This is what, Friday?  Hopefully Saturday morning.  Depends
on the L.A. guys and whether they have problems or not.
Babe, I gotta go, they're calling my plane."

"Come back to me Mark.  Be careful."

"Oh, Hun.. you gotta know, the very first second I can.
Love you."

"Me too you."  I closed my cell phone and stared at it for a
moment as if David were somehow in it.

                    --------------------------------

"I hate fucking airplanes.  I hate fucking airports.  I hate
every fucking thing about traveling."  Chuck waved for the
stewardess.  "For one thing, half these damn trips are
unnecessary, and for another thing I just don't want to be
away from home.  As it is, my kids look at me like I'm just
some guy that wandered in off the street."

"I know what ya mean."  I was nodding my head in agreement.

"You married too?"  Chuck was swirling the remains of his
scotch in his glass.

"More or less."  I smiled and took a sip of my coke.

Chuck looked at me and laughed.  "Yeah right!  I used to be
'more or less' too.  Then Jill got pregnant, and, well, what
can ya do?"  He held up his right hand with his palm up like
he was balancing something.  "Turned out to be the best
thing.  Never been happier, except for this damn traveling.
You oughta try it.  I mean it's none of my business but it
settles ya.  Know what I mean?  Course you're still a young
guy.  What's her name?"

I smiled at him.  "David."

He smiled back at me.  "David?"  Then his eyes widened.
"Oh, oh shit, I mean I had no right to ask.  I shoulda just
kept my mouth shut."

"Chuck, it's okay.  It's not a big deal and you'd be
surprised at how similar our situations are."  Chuck looked
like he was trying to decide whether he should drop out of
the conversation or try to brave it out.  "Same house
payments, same car payments, same taxes, everything."

"Well, not quite everything."  Chuck had a crooked little
smile on his face.

"No, Chuck, that's true, not everything, but I still think
you'd be amazed at how similar our lives are."  The seatbelt
light came on and you could feel the plane beginning its
descent into LAX.  Chuck buckled his seat belt.  I had never
unbuckled mine.

                    --------------------------

"You Mark Chauvet?"  The guy was tall and very thin and was
wearing a suit that just hung on him.

"Yep, that's me."

"I'm Ralph Tabor."  He held out his hand and I shook it.
"Your secretary said to look for a big good looking guy that
looked like he should still be wearing a uniform."

"I give her a hundred bucks a month extra to say stuff like
that,"  I smiled.

Ralph laughed and pointed toward the terminal.  "I got a
car.  He's circling.  God, I hate airports."

I smiled.  "There seems to be a rash of that."

"Huh?"  Ralph looked perplexed.

"Oh, just a guy on the plane.  He said the same thing."

"Well they just keep getting bigger and more complex and
there's never parking and everyone is driving so fast.  It's
hard to concentrate."  We were walking to the baggage
pickup.  "I'd never come out here by myself, never."

Then Ralph stopped and turned to me.  "I'm the plant
manager.  I mean I didn't know if you knew what I did or
not.  God I hope my driver isn't lost.  I'm really more of
an engineer.  The management thing is new.  Well, you
probably know that."

"Yeah Ralph, I did.  How ya handling the management thing?
I mean, it's going okay?"

"Oh yeah, it's been fine.  Well, Frank sent some people who
had a lot of experience and they've really taken the brunt
of the load.  But no, it's been good.  Actually it's going
so smoothly that I probably have more time now than I did
before for actual work."

We talked shop until my luggage arrived and then grabbed it
and hopped into the van that Ralph had circling and headed
for the plant.  The kid driving the van was having trouble
pulling out into the traffic which was unbelievably heavy
and I thought a couple of times that he was gonna get us
killed if he didn't step on it.  Then the black Chevy
Suburban that was parked behind us pulled out, blocked all
the traffic, and we were able to go.

Ralph was actually the General Manager of the exotic metals
division of the company that we had acquired.  The purchase
had been divided into a small factory that made the original
products that the company had sold, another plant that made
the altitude device that had originally caught our
attention, and then the exotic metals group that I was
interested in at the moment.  We had installed some of the
most sophisticated metal working machinery in the world.  We
had the capability of turning out anything that the military
might need in the way of bomb and missile nose cones and in
larger quantities, rounds for large guns all the way up to
120mm.

When we got to the plant I was happy to see that the
security arrangements had been installed.  It made getting
in and out damned inconvenient but it was absolutely
necessary.  The engineers were waiting in the conference
room and we went over the changes the military wanted,
Thankfully everyone was being as cooperative as possible.
After two hours of meetings we broke for lunch.  Then three
more hours of meetings with a dozen phone calls to General
Shetlan and we were finally done.

I had Ralph's secretary call to see if she could get me on a
flight out of LA to Milwaukee but the best that she could
get was standby.  I told her I'd take it, and headed to LAX.
Ralph's driver, well not really his driver, but a guy that
worked in the office, took me to the airport.

The lady at the ticket counter gave me a kind of hopeless
look when I asked her about getting on a flight, but then
when she typed my name into the computer her expression
changed.

"Mr. Chauvet you already have a confirmed booking on this
flight."  She smiled at me.  "Probably someone at your
office took care of it."  She handed me back my ticket with
my baggage claim tickets and boarding pass.  "See," she
said, "someone has already selected your seat so it must
have come from your office."

"I can't imagine who, but you must be right."  I'm never
without my cell phone and my secretary would have called to
tell me if she had booked the flight.  But, on the other
hand it could have been that Ralph's secretary had done it
after I left the plant and before I got to the airport.  In
any event, I was too damn tired to care.

I walked out to the gate and plopped down in the most
deserted area that I could find and called David.  Mrs.
Meurer answered.

"Mr. Chauvet!  David is not here.  He has gone to the
store."  Mrs. Meurer's French accent, while faint is still
there, but it's more the way she speaks that is noticeable.

"Mrs. Meurer, if you would just tell him that I'll be in
tonight, United flight 467, about nine o'clock."

"I will Mr. Chauvet, I will."

"You have the flight Mrs. Meurer?  It's flight 467."

"Yes, yes, I have it."

"I have to go Mrs. Meurer, tell David that I'll see him at
the airport."

When I boarded the flight and was looking for my seat I
noticed that the guy in the seat behind me was reading a
newspaper, he didn't even look up as I was getting into my
seat.  I was pretty sure that I had seen the guy before but
couldn't quite place him.  He was a big guy and had that
look of someone who can handle himself, someone who had been
trained.  It wasn't until we were an hour into the flight
and they were starting to serve dinner that I realized that
this same guy had been in the passenger seat of the black
Chevy Suburban that had stopped traffic for us that morning.

I put him away, in my mind, for a while, and thought of
seeing David.  God!  How I wanted to be holding him right
now.  David has a way of putting my life into perspective.
He anchors me and no matter what's happening when I put my
arms around him it makes it all okay.  As we were climbing
to altitude, I was thinking about the first time that I saw
him, how confused he looked, how clumsy, and then when he
was in my arms how startlingly green his eyes were, and how
much I loved him.  I thought about when he was stabbed and I
had to force the memory from my mind because it tore me
apart.  Finally I drifted off, and the next thing I knew I
felt the plane beginning its descent to Milwaukee.

                    ------------------------------------

And then he was in my arms.  I don't think that either of us
gave any thought to the fact that, being parked in front of
the Arrivals section of the airport, we were in a public
place.  The only thing that mattered was the feel of his
arms around my neck and the warmth of his chest through his
shirt, the smell of him, the taste of him.  He was turned in
the drivers seat and my arms were around him my tongue
buried in his mouth, he's making little sounds and then
finally we break for air.

"God, fuck me here!"

I laughed.  "Whatdya think?  I'm easy?  I have big plans for
you tonight."

David started the car.  "Just what do you have planned?"  He
buckled his seat belt and then pulled slowly out into
traffic.  David drives maddeningly slowly.  Brakes were
squealing behind us.

"You're gonna have to wait till we get home to find out.
But I think you'll like it.  Least I hope so."

David smiled.  "This doesn't involve whips and handcuffs
does it?"

My head was laid back against the seat and I was kinda
scrunched down.  "Nope.  Just this."  I took David's right
hand and pressed it against my crotch.  I was totally hard.

David gave my cock a little squeeze and laughed.  "My
favorite thing."

                    -----------------------------

Alex's blond hair was askew against the pillow and he had
the angelic look in sleep that all little kids have.  I
shook my head in amazement at how important this little guy
had become to me.  Was he as important to me as David?
Well, probably not, but he was running a very close second.
Joe was looking up at me and had one paw extended just far
enough to make light contact with Alex, like it was some way
of monitoring him.  He pushed his snout out toward me and I
scratched behind his ears.  I reached forward and lightly
touched Alex's fingers as they grasped the blanket, maybe
for the same reason Joe did it, maybe we both just wanted to
touch someone we loved.  I bent forward and kissed Alex's
forehead and whispered.  "Sleep tight, Sweetheart."   I got
up and moved quietly out of Alex's room.

                    ------------------------------

David wrapped his arms around me.  "See, he's okay.  We
didn't let anything happen to him."  He smiled warmly at me.
"Bet ya never thought that he'd mean this much to ya."

I squeezed David tighter and looked down at him.  "No, in
the unqualified love department I pretty much thought you'd
be it.  Alex kinda snuck up on me."

"Well he's got dibs on most of your Saturday."  Then
speaking quietly, "But you're mine tonight."

David and I started unbuttoning each others shirts.  He
pulled mine out of my pants and pushed it back and off my
shoulders and then bent his head and began to suck gently on
my left nipple.  He was beginning to lose his tan and when I
looked down at him his black hair seemed even blacker
against his light complexion. "Oh, David!   Geez, Babe, that
feels good."  I ran my right hand through his hair and let
it rest at the back of his neck.  When the sensations he was
causing to my nipple became too intense, I pulled his head
up and turned his face up to me.  I bent and kissed his
eyelids, then lightly brushed his lips, teasing them into
opening, and then entering with my tongue.  While I held the
kiss, I pushed his shirt off him and let it fall to the
floor.  David always smells so clean.  He doesn't use any
kind of aftershave or cologne but there's always the faint
smell of soap and the clean, slightly electric smell of him.

When David and I begin to make love he starts to make little
sounds, little animal sounds that I'm convinced he isn't
aware of, and he was making them now.  I was still kissing
him, undoing his pants and walking him slowly backwards
toward the bed all at the same time.  Holding the back of
his head with my right hand I was undoing my belt and
opening my pants with my left hand.  When we reached the bed
I put my arm around David and lowered him backward onto the
bed.  He lifted his hips and pushed his pants and underwear
down and I pulled them off  Then I kicked my shoes off and
pushed off my pants and underwear.

David and I were both naked, now, and hard.  I was
straddling him, and knee walked up him until my balls were
hanging over his mouth.  I bent my cock down and rubbed it
across his face.  David's eyes were closed and his mouth was
slightly open.  He was beginning to make the David sound.

I lifted myself up a bit and pushed my cock down until the
head was at David's lips.  He opened his mouth without
opening his eyes and started sucking softly on the head of
my dick.  He was making little mmmff sounds.  After a minute
or so, I left the head of my cock in his mouth, but slowly
stretched my legs out along the sides of him.  I was
essentially holding my body above him with my toes on one
end and my hands and arms on the other end, with my cock in
David's mouth in the middle.  In this position I began to
slowly raise and lower my body feeding him a little more
cock with every thrust.  I do a couple hundred pushups every
morning, so I could keep this up forever.

Finally, I buried my cock almost all the way into his mouth,
then brought my knees up and pivoted with my cock still in
his mouth.  Now my cock was in his mouth, my balls were
lying on his forehead, and I was facing his feet.  David
managed to pull my cock out of his mouth and began sucking
on my perineum.  It caught me by surprise and I said.  "Oh,
fuck, David!  Oh, fuck!"

I bent forward and lifted David's legs, pulling them back
until he was almost bent in half, and his butt was in the
air, his knees behind my arms.  I bent my head down and
began licking his perineum in long strokes beginning at his
balls and ending just short of his asshole.  The David sound
was getting very loud.

I stopped licking and took David's balls into my mouth one
at a time sucking on them hard enough to be just short of
causing discomfort.  Then I pulled his legs back even
further and buried my face in his ass.  He didn't have much
warning that this was coming and let out a loud, long moan.
I love eating David's butt and could do it forever, but
eventually I pulled my mouth off of it,  I began teasing it
with my finger, making broad circles around it and slowly
moving in to the center.  Then using a lot of saliva I began
to push two fingers slowly into his butt.  He let out a
loud, "Ohhhh!"  And I could feel him drop his head to the
bed and start rolling it from side to side under my butt.

After pistoning my fingers in and out of his ass for awhile
I let David's legs drop slowly to the bed and I moved around
so that I was between his legs.  I turned him on his right
side, bent his left leg at the knee and pushing it up toward
his chest.  Now that David was on his side we could see each
other and he had his head up and was watching what I was
doing.

When he felt my cock at his asshole he smiled.  "Not all at
once. It's been a week."

"Relax, Babe.  Have I ever hurt you?

David reached up and pulled my head down for a kiss.  "Nope,
never."

I kept my face next to his while my cock was about to enter
him.  "You feel it, Babe."  I was speaking very softly.
"Feel my cock?"

David's voice was almost a gasp.  "I need it Mark!  Please,
Babe, do it now!"

I pushed slowly forward until I felt the head of my cock pop
in and then I stopped for a moment.

"More Mark, I can take more!  Please!"  He was trying to
push back against my cock but in that position he really
couldn't get much traction.

I stroked David's hair and spoke very softly.  "Feel good,
Babe?  You like my cock in your ass?  You like feelin' me
fuck ya?"

"Oh, fuck yes, Mark!  Fuck me hard!"

I was pushing my cock slowly into David's ass, not backing
out at all just slowly pushing forward until I finally
touched bottom and David made a little "Engg" sound.  With
my cock all the way in David, I used his asshole as a pivot
point and began slowly swinging my hips from left to right
which caused my cock to move dramatically inside of him.  He
started making the David sound even louder now and after a
couple of minutes I began to slowly withdraw my cock and
then shove it, fairly roughly, in.  There was a light sheen
of sweat forming on David's body.  He turned his head to
look at me when I first withdrew my cock, then dropped his
head back onto the bed and made the David sound when I
slammed it back into him.

I bent down so that my face was next to David's as I fucked
him and began to lick the side of his neck.  He moaned the
David sound and turned his head so that I'd have better
access to his neck.  I was cradling his head in my arms and
fucking him in long slow strokes while I turned his head
slightly so that I could shove my tongue into his mouth.

I ran my tongue from David's ear to under his chin.  "You
taste good, Babe."

David took my left hand and pulled it to his mouth and began
sucking on my fingers.

I gently pulled my hand back and slowly turned David so that
he was lying on his back with his feet on my chest, my cock
still buried in his ass.   I began pushing his legs up
towards his chest, David closed his eyes and began to moan
as I piston fucked him, pulling all the way out and then
slamming my cock back into him as fast as I could.  When he
finally opened his glassy, hooded eyes I knew that he was
ready.  I grabbed his dick and started jerking him off hard.
He whimpered loudly and then opened his mouth in a loud
long, "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!" when he began to cum.  As he was
settling down I pulled my cock slowly from his ass, knee
walked up his chest, and beat off into his open mouth.

                    ------------------------------


I pulled David on top of me and never stopped kissing him
until he finally dropped his head to my chest and I gently
rubbed his back.

"You feel wonderful.  I like it when you lay on top of me.
I can feel your heartbeat."

"I'm not too heavy?"

"Nope, you feel great."  I held his head to me with one hand
and continued to rub his back with the other, my nose was
buried in his hair.

David laughed and mumbled into my chest.  "I sure do."  Then
after a few minutes, "Oh, shit, Thanksgiving!"

"Hmmmm?"

"Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks."  David dropped his legs
to either side of me so that he was straddling me and lifted
himself up so that he could look at me.  "Then Alex's
birthday.  December 1st, he'll be the big four.  We gotta do
something good."

I brushed David's hair off of his forehead.  "Doesn't he
seem older?"

"All the time he's spent with adults."

"How would you feel about inviting Mike and Ted for
Thanksgiving.  I mean I don't know what their plans are."

David climbed back on top of me.  "That'd be good.  But you
better call `em tomorrow `cause if they don't have plans
they'll be making them."  He laid his head back down on my
chest.  "You may be getting the French version of
Thanksgiving,"  He giggled.  "How `bout pat^ in the shape of
a turkey?"  Then a minute later.  "You getting hard again?"

I laughed.  "Can't help it.  You're wiggling around."

                                                    --------
-------------------------

When I awoke the next morning I was staring into blue eyes
instead of green ones.  I put my hand on Alex's head and
rubbed his blond hair.  "Hi, Bud."  Alex was lying on his
stomach with his chin in his hands staring at me.

"I been waitin' for ya to wake up, Dad.  I didn't get to see
ya last night.  I tried to stay awake, but I fell asleep."

"I went into your room last night to make sure you were
okay, but you were sleeping."

"Why wouldn't I be okay, Dad?"

I laughed.  "Well not really to see if your were okay.  I
knew you'd be okay but, well, it's kinda like that rock you
found.  The one that's on your dresser."  Alex nodded.
"Remember when you found that rock sometimes you just wanted
to look at it even though you knew that it was still gonna
be where ya put it, it made you feel good just to look at
it."

"You mean it makes you feel good to look at me?"

"Yep, it sure does."

Alex smiled.  "It makes me feel good to look at you, too,
Dad."

"How long you been up, Sweetheart?"

"Not long.  Mrs. Meurer's here.  She's makin' breakfast.
You're not gonna go to work or nothin' are ya, Dad?  Today's
Saturday.  You're off today."

I yawned.  "Nope, Alex.  I'm stayin' home."  I ruffled his
hair again.  "I missed ya.  Maybe we can hangout today.
Would ya mind that?"

Alex smiled.  "No, Dad, that'd be great.  I was thinkin'
that maybe I could help you with workin' in the yard.  Like
with the leaves and stuff."

"That'd be good.  It's a lotta' work for one guy."

"Well I could help, Dad, cause I'm a big boy now."

"David helping Mrs. Meurer?"

"Yep.  She said you needed good food because the Army don't
know how to feed people and she didn't want you gettin'
sick.  That right dad?  Would you get sick?"

"Well....not exactly but maybe we better say that it is, so
that we don't hurt anyone's feelings.  Do you understand,
Alex?"

"Yeah, Dad, I think so."

"You take your shower yet?"

"Nope, I just got up."

"Well we better get goin' if they're in there fixin' a big
breakfast."

                    -------------------------------

I bent to set my briefcase next to my desk, and when I stood
up Frank was standing there.

"You did good, Marky.  Ralph thinks you're the greatest
thing to ever fucking happen.  Says you really understand
his problems and Shetlan said basically the same thing only
in military speak.  We're gonna have a lock on those nose
cones."  Frank settled his well tailored bulk in the chair
facing my desk and put an unlit cigar in his mouth.  "So
what's your take?"

I smiled.  "Ya know Frank you're not supposed to smoke."

"I'm not smoking, Marky, I'm compensating."

I sat in the chair next to Frank rather than behind my desk
and put my feet up on the desk.  "Well, to begin with Ralph,
the guy is a brilliant engineer and the other guys totally
follow his lead.  But in a way his real talent is wasted."
I turned in the chair and draped my leg over the arm.
"Frank, this guy shouldn't be bogged down in the mundane
shit of running a company day to day.  The guy has some
fantastic ideas and frankly, I'm not knowledgeable to judge
them, but I would get some guys out there that can.  But
just off the top of my head I'd want the guy running an R&D
department."

"Who would you send?"

"Remember that guy that retired from our engineering
department, Nelson?"

Frank looked at the ceiling.  "I hated losing him."

"You know it's been long enough that he just might be
interested in getting back in part time.  I can't picture
him being happy tending a garden.  Hire him as a consultant.
Send `im out there to talk to Ralph.  They'd get along."

Frank tilted his head left then right.  "Worth a phone
call."

"As far as Shetlan goes," I shrugged, "he's a reality and he
ain't goin' anyplace.   Washington loves him.  He's listened
to.  By the way, he's crazy about you, Frank."

Frank laughed.  "Shetlan and I go back a long, long way."
Frank glanced up at the ceiling.  "Back into the scotch
hazed mists of time."  He shook his head slowly.  "We drank
way too fucking much."  Frank looked at me.  "He may want
you to go with him to England in a few weeks.  Talk to the
Brits."

"Gee, Frank, while I think of it, an odd thing happened."  I
told Frank about the guy in the Suburban and on the plane.

Frank sat forward in his chair.  "The first time you saw him
in the car.  It sounds like he was trying to help you.
Could that be true?"

"Totally.  If he wanted to hurt us he could have just done
nothing.  That kid sure would have gotten us killed."

Frank was staring quietly at the carpet.  "Well, if he was a
real bad guy you would never have seen him and he certainly
would never have done the thing with the Suburban.  It would
only attract attention to him."  Frank slowly looked up from
the carpet and turned his head to me.  "What I'm about to
tell you is something that I have no proof of whatever.
It's only a suspicion and frankly under certain
circumstances I wouldn't say anything at all."

This was starting to make me really nervous.  "Frank, will
you fucking tell me?!?"

Frank got out of the chair and began to pace slowly back and
forth his hands behind his back.  "Remember your accident?
I mean when they first took you to the hospital?"

"Well, a little, but no, not really.  I mean I remember
seeing David and Dr. Kramer, but I was kinda going in and
out."

"Well, what you missed was David's first reaction to your
accident.  You didn't really get to talk to him until
everything was calmed down."

"Frank," I was lost, "what does that have to do with
anything?  I know he was upset, but when I got to talk to
him and he knew that I was okay, he relaxed."

"Marky, I was there.  You didn't see me `cause I left when
things got under control, but I was there early on."  Frank
stopped pacing and stared at me.  "I know you know that you
guys are everything to each other.  That's a given and maybe
you would have reacted the same if it had been David instead
of you.  Hmmmm.  Well, I guess you did, didn't you?"  He had
me there.

Frank started to pace again.  "David said that he was never
going to let that happen again. He said it in a way that
I've never heard him speak."  He flipped his left hand back
and forth.  "I didn't pay much attention to that remark at
the time but in hindsight it may have been important."
Frank held up his cigar for emphasis.  "David is a
remarkably thorough guy.  I know that you never saw his work
for us with this last acquisition, but even now when I think
back over how he did it, I keep finding things that are
remarkable, and that I hadn't see before.  David leaves no
loose ends.  When he said he could do that deal it wasn't
speculation, a guess.  He knew that he could do the deal.
Not maybe.  He knew.  The thing is, you see him as your
boyfriend, your lover, you don't see him the way he is in
business."

Frank laughed.  "Just as an example.  Ya know when his guy
made the offer?"  I shook my head, no.  "Just as WorldCom
was announcing that they were about to crap out.  Picture
it.  A bunch of nervous European insurance guys who are
already dumping American assets, they think that we're
coming in to make an offer, but we haven't yet, and as soon
as WorldCom announces, he makes his offer."  Frank laughed.
"They couldn't say, `Yes,' fast enough.  I wonder how the
little fucker knew about WorldCom.  Attention to details,
Marky, and thorough, very fucking thorough."

Frank again stopped pacing but this time he sat down again
facing me.  "He may have hired that Los Angeles company he
uses for checking people out, he may have hired them to
protect you when you're away.  They do that sort of thing.
Handle all kinds of celebrities.  That would explain the
incident with the Suburban, I mean if the guy was there to
protect you, that's what he'd do.  I can find out easily
enough, but I'm not sure we want to do that."

"Now the question, Marky... is how do we handle this?  If
these guys had security clearances I wouldn't even mention
it.  But I can't have a bunch of civilian yahoo's following
you around.  Nearly everything we do is classified."  Frank
got up and leaned against my desk.  "But of course, there's
another element to this."  Then speaking quietly.  "How do
you feel about this, Marky?"

My elbows were on my knees and I was staring at the floor.
"I don't know, Frank.  I gotta think about it.  I just don't
know."  I looked up at Frank.  "How can I be mad at him for
being afraid for me, for loving me?"  I stood up and shoved
my hands in my pockets.  I want to talk to David before we
do anything.  For one thing, this may have nothing to do
with David or for that matter, anyone.  It could all have
been a coincidence."

"Well, Marky, whatever you do, leave the company out of it.
David's company is on permanent retainer to us and I don't
wanna screw up that relationship."  Frank walked over to me.
"Look, Mark, David loves you, nothing is gonna change that.
You love him, nothing is gonna change that, either.  The
rest of this shit is just," Frank waved his cigar, "fucking
cleanup."  He started walking toward his office.  "Marky, I
could go to the security company in LA and find out what's
going on, but I don't want to do that.  For one thing, it
would go right to David, and he'd feel we were going behind
his back, which, come to think of it, would be ironic.  But
the best way to solve this is for you to solve it."  Frank
turned back to me with a worried look on his face.  "You do
know how to be fucking diplomatic don't ya?"

I smiled at Frank.  "Yeah Frank, a fucking jarhead taught
me!"

Frank turned back toward his office waving his unlit cigar
in disgust.  "Fucking kids.  "Buy `em books and send `em to
school and this is the way they turn out."

                    -------------------------------------

It was a cold day outside, but the late afternoon sun was
streaming into the living room  creating a warm, dreamy
feeling in the room.  Alex was taking a nap, and I was lying
on the sofa thinking about Helmut.  What kind of hell must
it have been knowing that you were going to die, and knowing
that you were going to have to leave your son with
strangers?  The thought of ever having to leave Alex in that
situation was enough to drive me crazy, but then it occurred
to me that Helmut had actually been leaving his son with
David.  Which is probably as close as you could ever come to
handing over your son to your guardian angel.  I was
included because David loved me, and to Helmut that was
enough.  I guessed that it would have been for me too.

"Babe, you want coffee?"  David was sticking his head around
the corner.

"C'mere, Hun."  I held out my hand to him, and he walked
over and took it.  I pulled him gently down onto the sofa,
and he laid with his head on my upper right arm, my left
hand resting on his stomach.

I was lying with my head half resting on David's left
shoulder, facing him.

"I wanna ask you a question, but kiss me first."

David turned his head to me and smiled.  "Is the kiss
related to the question, or just for fun?"

"Fun.....and love..and I guess, need."

"Boy, you sure are raising the bar for this kiss.  You'll
give me performance anxiety."  David brought his lips to
mine and then with his right hand behind my head pulled me
tighter to him.

After the kiss I just laid my face next to his, my lips
still touching his jaw line.  I started to say something,
but it didn't quite come out.  David turned and looked at
me.

"Mark, are you okay?"

I pulled him tighter to me and buried my face in his neck.
"Yeah."  I mumbled into his neck.  "Love you."

David turned his head to look at me.  The intensity of those
green eyes up close is almost startling.  "What?"  He said
softly.

"How did Helmut do it?  How is a man able to a make a
decision like that?"

"Ohhh, that's where you're at.  Well, you would have had to
know him."  David was running his fingers lightly over my
face.  "He was remarkable in a lot of ways.  Alex will be,
too."

David sat up and leaned back against the arm of the sofa and
then pulled my head into his lap.  "Helmut had the best
instincts of anyone I've ever known.  It's one of the things
that made him so great in business.  When he went into a
business as a consultant he was able to just home in on
problems, with people and with systems."

David was continuing to stroke my face, and that, combined
with the warmth of the room,  was making me sleepy.  I
dreaded what was coming, and at that moment I wasn't sure
that I had the strength for it.  I shoved my right arm under
David's lower back and wrapped my left arm around his waist.
My head was still in his lap.

"You know, a weird thing happened on this last trip to LA."
I could feel David's body suddenly stiffen.  Then he was
pushing on my arm trying to get up, but I held onto him and
finally he stopped struggling and his body seemed to slump.

"You know."

"Yes."

"I was so afraid...am so afraid."

"I know....it's okay."

"Why aren't you mad."

"Because you love me."

David sighed.  "I'll tell them to stop following you."

"You have to, David.  Almost everything that I do is
classified."

"I know.  I'll take care of it."

I pulled David down from a sitting position to lying next to
me with his head on my upper arm and my left arm over his
chest.  "Can we take a nap now?"

David started stroking my arm.  "You sleep, Mark."

Now, I know David, and I know that he'll do exactly what he
said that he would.  I also know that, as Frank said, David
is thorough, very thorough, and that he wasn't exactly
letting go of the subject, just changing course a bit.