Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 22:25:06 -0600
From: David J <boricuaholandes@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Senator's Son -- Part 6

The Senator's Son
Chapter 6

=====
The normal disclaimers apply.  You are also reminded that this is a work of
fiction.
=====

	"I love you, David," Pedro said as we lay in the bed, both still
breathing heavily from the experiences of the moments past.  "Thank you for
earlier," he said, referring to what had happened with his uncle Gonzalo.

	"No worries.  You're family, ya know.  Family defends family as
best they can," I stated.

	"I know.  I just wish you hadn't had to meet him," he confessed.

	"Why?"

	"Because he's a dark spot in my history that I don't like to
revisit unless I have to," he said honestly.

	"That makes sense, but a very wise woman once told me that it
wasn't good for one's health to leave things bottled up like that."

	"Channeling Abu?" he asked, jokingly.

	"Back to the topic at hand," I said, steering the conversation back
to the original topic.  "If you ever want to tell me, you know you can."

	"I know Dave.  And I love and appreciate you for that."

	"Cool," I said in a moment.  I got up to get a quick shower before
returning to find Pedro asleep already.  I got a damn washcloth from the
bathroom and ran it over his perfect body, cleaning up from our encounter.
He flinched a couple of times, but gave no indication that he was waking
up.
  I dried him off with a second cloth that I'd brought from the bathroom,
and moved in to hold him as tightly as I could without smothering him.
`This is really nice,' I thought as I, myself, drifted off to the land of
dreams and slumber.

	"Good morning, Dave," Pedro said as he kissed me on my chest.
"Time to get up."

	"If you keep doing that, you're gonna get me up alright," I said
through a sleepy haze.

	"And that would be bad, how?" he said as he began playing with my
nipples.

	I couldn't help but shoot to attention at his actions.  "God,
Pedro.  I'm awake," I said between moans and grunts.

	"Good.  Get up.  Breakfast is ready," he said as pulled himself off
of me.  He walked out of the bedroom.  He turned once to look at me and
smile evilly.

	I got up, put on some shorts and a t-shirt, and walked into the
next room.  "I'm glad I put clothes on," I said as I saw Maribel, Joya, and
Maria sitting in the kitchen.

	"Damn.  What did you go and do that for?" Maribel said as Joya
began to chuckle.

	"MAMA!" Maria exclaimed in disgust.  "I'm sorry David.  My mother
is a pervert."

	"Where do you think she learned it from?" Pedro said from the
kitchen.

	"You are going to die for that, Pedro Morales?" She said.  All
laughed at her embarrassment.  "I'm gonna get all of you."

	I walked into the kitchen to find Pedro slaving away at the stove.
I walked up behind him and put my hands around his waist.  "That was a
horrible way to wake me up," I said jokingly.

	"It got you up though, didn't it?" he countered.

	"Yeah.  You'll be getting it back down later, though," I asserted.

	"Grrr..." he said, making the sound of a tiger.  "You OK that
they're over?"  he asked, concerned about the reaction I would have, since
this was still technically my apartment.

	"Hell no, I don't have a problem.  They're fun," I said.

	"I'm glad," he said.  "They really like you.  You impressed them
last night."

	"Cool.  So something positive did come out of it," I said, smiling.

	"Now go back in there.  Let me finish breakfast," he instructed,
turning to shoo me from the kitchen.

	"Alright baby.  Let me get a cup of coffee," I said, grabbing a mug
from the cupboard and helping myself.  "What are we having?"

	"You'll see," he said, turning to again shoo me from the kitchen.

	I walked back into the living room.  Maria sat in my recliner as
Maribel and Joya sat on the couch.  "Come sit by us," Maribel said, patting
a place on the couch they'd made between the two of them.  Maria looked at
me as if to say `be very afraid.'

	"So we wanted to say thank you for last night.  Gonzalo has gotten
on everyone's nerves for years, but no one has had the guts to stand up to
him," Maribel explained.

	"That is until your hunky self came over," Joya said, squeezing the
muscles in my arms.

	"It's no big deal," I said to them.

	"Yes it is.  It showed us how much you love Pedro," Maribel
explained, becoming more sedate and serious than I'd seen her.  "And that
makes you nuestro sobrino, too."  (Our nephew.)

	"Breakfast, ladies," Pedro said, brining two serving plates to the
table.

	"It smells good," Joya said as she walked to the table.  Maribel
and Maria echoed the sentiments as they grabbed plates and forks from where
Pedro had put them on the table.

	"I'd marry you for the cooking alone if you weren't my first
cousin," Maria said.

	"Now you know why I like him so much," I joked.  Pedro winked,
knowing that he did so much more for me that I was willing to joke about.

	The trio of ladies, Pedro, and I devoured the tasty meal.  Pedro
and the girls chatted as I picked up and took the dishes into the kitchen.
For most of the morning, the ladies visited with us.  "Well we are going to
go," Maria announced after a couple of hours of looking bored as
everything.  Maribel and Joya looked sad by the reaction, but decided to
leave the two of us alone.

	"I love them," Pedro said as he walked back in from seeing them
off.

	"I know.  They are cool people."

	"Yeps," he said, walking into the bedroom from where I'd sat to
watch TV.  "Hey.  What do we have to do today?"

	"Nothing that I know of.  We don't have class."

	"Let's go get something for lunch and then go to the park.  It's a
lovely day," he said as he walked back into the room, pulling a purple
t-shirt over his head.

	"That sounds fun, papi.  I need a shower, though.  Want to join
me?" I said with a wink.

	"Oh, Mr. Jansen!" he said as he kissed me on the forehead.  "You're
such a bad boy."

	"But you know you love it," I said as I reached up to kiss him on
the lips.

	"Oh yeah," he said as our kiss broke.  "Seriously, though.  Go get
a shower, and get dressed.  We'll walk to the store and then go to the
park."

	"Alright, papi," I said as I stood and went to get a shower.

	Grabbing my boxers and t-shirt, I went into the bathroom and turned
on the shower.

	I showered quickly, not wanting to miss a minute of the day with
Pedro.  I toweled off and got dressed.  Pedro was waiting for me as I
walked back into the living room.

	"Looking good, sexy," he said as I came into the room.  "I might
not ought to let you out of the house you're looking so fine."

	"You're so cheesy, Pedro," I responded.

	"But at least I have a big...umm...sense of humor," he winked.

	"What's gotten into you, today?"

	"Nothing yet.  You probably will later, though," he said
snappingly.

	I chucked at his comment, "Get your coat; let's go."

	"Alright," he said.  I was already standing on the stoop as he
walked out of the apartment.  "Which direction are we going in?"

	"Let's go to the Western.  It's closer," I suggested as we began
walking to the grocery store.

	We walked out of the complex and headed up the hill toward the
store.  The eight block walk wasn't that strenuous, just a nice aerobic
workout that I desperately needed.

	"This is such a nice afternoon," he commented, looking at the
perfectly clear sky that was overhead.  He loved to be outside when the
weather was nice, no matter the temperature.  We got to the store a few
blocks later and went inside to get some things for our picnic.  Wine,
bread, some sandwich meats, and two kinds of cheeses topped our shopping
list.  We breezed through the checkout and made out way back toward the
apartment.  Since the wind was causing it to feel colder than it was, we
decided to drive to the park, rather than walk.

	We walked down the street, talking to each other as normal.  I
began to get an eerie feeling about something, and noticed that two men
were walking toward us.  I glanced around, and there were two men following
us.  I nudged Pedro, who'd noticed the same oddities about the situation.

	"Go into the next alley," someone said from behind.  The men in
front of us opened their coats enough for both of us to see the guns they
had strapped to themselves.

	Pedro and I complied with their order.  Once there, they gagged
both of us and bound our hands behind our backs.  We were told to sit on
the ground as another figured appeared before us.

	"Pick him up," the shadow said to the men.  Two of them picked
Pedro up from where he was.  The man balled his fist and began punching
Pedro.  The other men picked me and up held me, keeping me from defending
my lover.

	"You're gonna get it faggot," he said as he punched and punched
Pedro in the gut and in the face.  The beating left him appearing weak.
The two men held him up, and the shadowy creature kneed Pedro in the balls,
causing him to moan in pain through the gag.

	"Y ahora para ti," the person said as he came toward me.  "For
making my nephew gay, you're gonna pay dearly."  I tried to break free from
the grip of the men, but Gonzalo hit me in the stomach before I could.
"Yeah.  You are going to pay dearly."

	He walked around for a moment, as if deciding how he was `going to
deal with me.'  He walked to me without saying anything.  He unbuttoned my
pants and pulled the zipper down.  He motioned for the two men to turn me
around.

	"Now you are going to feel what a real man is made of," he said,
pulling my pants down.  The cold air cause my ass hole to pucker as he
unzipped his pants and put a condom on.  "Now if you relax, and take this
like a good little faggot, I will spare him," he said, forcing me to look
at Pedro.  Pedro looked so frail, being held up by the two men.  "All you
have to do is be a good fag."  He kicked the inside of my ankles, forcing
my legs apart.  For Pedro's sake, I tried to relax a bit.

	"I said relax, Pedro used to," he said as he tried to enter my
asshole.  Pedro lifted his head to see what was going on.  He screamed
through the gag he still wore.  He tried to break free of the men, but they
were stronger than he was.  He began to cry and sink to the ground.
Gonzalo laughed and forced himself into my ass.  The worse pain I'd ever
felt in my life swept over my body.  "When Pedro was a boy, I used to go
into his room after my parents went to sleep and have my way with him."

	I sobbed as he told me of his unconscionable acts with Pedro.  How
could he have done that to a helpless child?  The physical pain became
unbearable.  I blacked out as he moved himself in and out of my body.

	"David!" Pedro said sobbing as I came out of my haze.  "David
Jansen!  Wake up!"

	"Son, we'll take it form here," a woman told him as they tried to
move him out of the way.  "What's his name?" she asked.

	"David," Pedro answered.

	"David.  I'm Joanna.  We're here to help."  With that, she did a
couple of tests as I lay in the alleyway, half naked.  "Can you say
anything to me?"

	"I want Pedro," I said.

	"He's right here.  He's gonna ride to the hospital with us.  OK?"

	"Yeah."

	A moment later, two men brought a gurney into the alley, lifted me
onto it, and then hoisted me into the ambulance.

	"Pedro," I said as he climbed in behind me.

	"Yeah baby," he said, coming to take my arm.

	"I'm so sorry."

	"You have nothing to apologize for, Dave," he said as he took my
hand.  His left eye was swollen, so I knew that he would shortly have a
black eye.

	"Are you OK?" I asked Pedro.

	"Yeah.  I'm fine.  I just got a couple of bruises."

	"I'm so sorry, Pedro," I again said, beginning to sob.

	"Stop apologizing, David."

	We arrived quickly at the hospital.  The paramedics unloaded the
gurney from the truck and hauled me into a trauma area.  A flurry of
doctors and nurses, including my sister in law's mother Teresa (or Dr. T,
as I called her), came to my aide.

	"You're gonna be OK, David," Teresa said as she walked beside the
gurney.  Pedro walked with me, as far as they would let him in.  Teresa
promised that she would get him back as soon as she could.  "Now David.
We're gonna need to do some tests," she said as she walked beside me.
"Some of them are probably gonna be painful.  We've also got the police on
their way in.  I called Jay."

	"Oh shit," I said as I began to squall.  "Oh God!"

	"Don't worry, David," she said in a moment.

	"He's gonna hate me.  Maya and Daddy are gonna hate me," I cried as
they continued to wheel me down the hall.

	"They're not gonna hate you.  You didn't do anything wrong."

	"Oh God!" I felt myself losing my breath as I tried to figure out
in my mind how to tell them what had happened.  I didn't even know how to
think this through myself.  I cried until I went numb.  It seemed to be the
only way to feel good at that moment.  My body ached not only from the
blows I'd been dealt, but from the pain I'd begun to feel around my asshole
from Gonzalo's penetration.

	"David!  Snap out of it," Teresa said as she tried to get me calm
down.  "David!  Talk to me buddy.  You're OK.  You're gonna be OK."

	As I calmed down, I noticed that I'd been put in a room.  "Oh God,
Dr. T!"  I screamed.  She stopped giving the nurses their instructions and
came back over to the bed I'd been placed in from the gurney.

	"What is it?  Are you OK?"

	"This is the room," I said, looking at her.

	"Yeah.  It's the room," she said for a moment before realizing what
I'd meant by the comment.  "Oh God.  The room.  Are you sure?"

	"Yeah," I said as I began to not only live through this nightmare,
but the only other one in my life: Josh's death.

	As the nurses ran the tests, I remember being in Pedro's position.
I remember not being able to come back and see Josh as he lay in this very
room dying, because of the nonsense of us "not being family, technically."
It wasn't until Rose showed her ass that they let me see him.  "I love you,
David," were the last words that Josh uttered before taking his last
breath.

	And now, I lay in this room, I couldn't help but feel his presence
with me.

	"Dr. T," I said in a moment, "it hurts so bad."  I was complaining
like a little child.  He had reduced me to no more than a small child.
Teresa instructed one of the nurses to get me something.  The finished
their necessary tests, and I was permitted to lay there in silence for a
few minutes.

	"God Josh.  I love him so much, but I wish you were here," I called
to no one in particular.  Even though he was gone, I felt a warmth spread
over me.
  A calmness that I'd only experienced with him.  I screamed loudly as if
expelling the demons then cried softly from the pain.

	Teresa came in shaking in a moment, "Oh God!  David, what was
that?"

	"Just the pain," I lied.

	"We'll get you something for that.  I thought I was going to have
restrain Pedro after you belted that one.  I'll bring him back in a
minute," she stated after taking a moment to calm herself.

	"I'm sorry, Dr. T," I said.

	"For what?"

	"For screaming."

	"Oh.  I thought you were about apologize for being in here, for
which I was about to threaten you strongly," she stated, cracking a smile
to try to cheer me up a little bit.  "Here, take this."

	"Yes ma'am," I said, swallowing the pills and then some water.

	"You feeling well enough for me to bring Pedro back?" she asked
before leaving the room.

	"Yes.  Please."

	"OK," she said, giving me a glance before walking out of the room.

	In a moment, I heard Pedro coming, almost jogging, down the hall.
"Baby!"  he said as he came over to me.  He had a look in his face as if he
wanted to kiss me, but stopped.

	"What's wrong?" I asked.

	"I didn't know if I could or should kiss you," he said, pulling a
chair beside me.

	"You can on the cheek," I said, looking in his direction.

	"You OK?" he asked as he sat back down from kissing me on the
forehead.

	"I'm gonna be.  I love you Pedro," I said, offering my hand.  He
took it and held it for a moment.

	"I love you too, baby," he said calmly as he pulled my hand and
kissed it.  For a little while, we sat there in silence.  Neither of us
knew what to say to the other.  I had so much I wanted to tell him, but I
couldn't get it started.

	The police came in a few minutes later, followed by my brother.
The cops asked me questions, quite clinically.  Jay, on the other hand,
asked me questions in such a way that I could answer them calmly, much to
the assistance of the police officers now assigned to write up both Pedro's
and my statements.

	"Thank God they're gone," I said as the police officers left the
room.

	"They're just trying to help, David," my brother said calmly.

	"I know it, Jay.  I just would really like to only be around people
I know," I said.

	"I understand," he said in a moment.

	"Hey, I'm gonna go get some coffee," Pedro announced after sitting
in uncomfortable silence for a minute.  "Anybody want anything?" he said,
turning to my brother.

	"No thanks, man," my brother responded.  Pedro kissed my forehead
and walked out of the room, looking at me before leaving.  I smiled at him,
as best I could.

	"This is the room, isn't it?" Jay said after looking around.

	"Yeah.  It's hard to believe it's been as long as it has," I added.

	"I know it.  It's why I left Birmingham," he said.  "I couldn't
face that shit down here, anymore.  I still have a hard time with it."

	"I can imagine.  I thought I was going to die myself when they
brought me in this room," I said.

	"That's what Teresa said.  Have you told him?"

	"Not yet."

	"He needs to know," Jay said, looking out the window.  He was
trying to hide the fact that he was getting teary about the whole
conversation about Josh.  "I know you love Pedro, but he needs to know what
Josh was to you.  Otherwise, you're not gonna be able to let go of Josh and
truly totally love Pedro."

	"I know, Jay," I said.

	"When Teresa called me, I relived the events of that day over in my
head.  I remember being the first one on the scene and seeing his car.  I
remember when he bought that car.  He was so excited," Jay added, recalling
when Josh had bought his first car.  It was beat up piece of shit, but he
loved it because it was his.

	"I know it.  I remember it smelled so bad, like cat piss.  It was
his baby, though.  Damn the bastard that did that to him.  I wish I could
kill him myself."

	"Calm down, David," Jay said, taking the seat Pedro had occupied
before he left.  "It'll be OK."

	I could no longer hold in the tears.  They flowed as a river that
had just broken a dam.  "It'll all be OK," Jay said, taking me into an
embrace.

	"Hey guys," Pedro said as he walked back into the room.  Three
coffees were loaded into a caddy that he'd gotten from the hospital's
cafeteria.  "I brought you some coffee, Jay.  Teresa said to get you one
too, David.  She said it might help your nerves."

	He handed Jay a cup, which he took without hesitation.  He handed
me a cup before taking his cup out of the caddy and placing it on the table
in the room.  I tried to hold the cup still, but I was shaking still so bad
that Pedro took it from my hand before I burned myself.  He set his on the
table, opting to help me take a sip of mine.

	"Thank you," I told him.

	"Anytime, baby," he said, smiling.  It was so nice to have him
here.

	"I love you," I uttered, extending my hand.

	He gladly accepted, "Y te quiero mas."

	"Y'all are gettin' sappy," Jay said, cracking a smile.  "By the
way, I called Maya."

	"And I've called Abu.  She and Maria are on their way," Pedro
added.

	"And Maya was speaking incomprehensibly," Jay added.  "She and
Daddy are probably almost here themselves."

	They cracked jokes for a few minutes, but then it hit.  "Where is
my baby?"
  I could hear the words miles away if necessary as loud as she was.

	Teresa said just as loud, "Calm down.  He's OK.  He's right in
there."

	I heard my mother step quickly down the hard floored corridor
toward the room.  "David.  Are you OK?" she said, coming over to the bed
and hugging me as best she could, given my position.

	"I'm fine, Maya.  Hi Daddy."

	"Hi, David," he said, standing in the door, a stressed look on his
face.

	"OK guys," Teresa said, as she came in, "we've got to run a few
tests.  I'm gonna ask that y'all to go to the waiting room for a few
minutes."

	The group grumbled, but complied with the doctor's request.  "Now
that they're gone, I need to talk to you for a few minutes."

	"OK?" I said confused.

	"I have some good news, some bad news, and some advice" she said,
pulling up a chair as I lay in the bed.

	"You're physically fine.  Thankfully he didn't do any major damage.
You're gonna be in pain for a few days, but other than that, you're good,"
she explained.  "I'm gonna give you something for that, though."

	"And the bad news?" I asked.

	"It's gonna take a long time for you to get over this, emotionally.
You're gonna need to see a counselor and you're gonna need to get some
stuff off your chest.  And my advice to you is this: tell Pedro what
happened to Josh.
  He needs to know where you're coming from.  You need to tell him.
Keeping all this inside will kill you, David," she explained.

	I felt myself unable to hold back the tears I had only a little
while before I'd gotten control over.  "I know, Dr. T.  I just don't know
where to start with a lot of stuff."

	"Start here.  Tell him about this room.  Tell him its secrets.
Tell him what made you scream earlier, since it wasn't just the pain," she
said.

	"Yes ma'am."

	"Now I love you as if you were my family," she said, standing to
kiss me on the forehead, "I'm gonna send just him back."

	"OK," I responded.  She shut the door.

	"This is just great," I said to myself.  "How do I do this?"  The
warmth I'd felt earlier again enveloped me.  I closed my eyes for the last
few minutes of peace.

	"Dr. T said for me to come back in here for a little while," Pedro
said as he quietly opened the door and stepped in.

	I began to sob almost uncontrollably.  Pedro rushed to the side of
my bed.  "Are you OK, baby?"

	"Yeah.  I've got to tell you a few things.  Before I start, I need
you to promise that you won't think I'm crazy.  I need you to promise that
what you learn will not effect what you think about me," I started, with my
eyes closed so that I wouldn't have to see his facial expressions.

	"You know I would never think you're crazy, baby," he promised.

	"I need to tell you why I screamed earlier," I said quite dryly.

	"OK."

	"This is the room," I started, wiping tears from my eyes.  "This is
the room where Josh died."

	"Oh goodness," he said, taking my hand.

	"This is the room where I heard him say his last words, which were
to tell me that he loved me.  When I realized that, I started to get doubly
upset after what happened earlier.  It was where I saw Antony threaten to
kill a man he didn't know," I went on.

	I turned my head to look at him.  I realized that I needed to see
his reaction.  The tears kept me from seeing him clearly, but well enough
to see his reactions to my words.  "You don't have to tell me if you don't
want to," he said.

	"Yes.  I do.  I've got a million other things going on in my head.
This is something that I've needed to clear out for a while.  It's
something that you've needed to know for a while about why I click," I
stated as sterilely as I knew how.

	"OK," he said, gripping my hands slightly tighter, but not too
tightly.

	"It was the night of the sixth anniversary of our first date," I
started.  "He was coming home from work and from shopping.  He was stopped
at the red light at Fifteenth Street and University.  When his light turned
green, he was going through normally.  Then this fucker comes over the hill
and hits his car.  A guy named Roger Carhill called 911.  Jay was the
closest officer, so he responded to the call.  When he saw the car, he knew
right away it was Josh's and called me."  I stopped the storytelling for a
moment and focused on Pedro.  He was sitting, still holding my hand, and
crying.  I could have stopped at this point, but he begged with his eyes to
know what else happened.  "I sometimes think he was more upset than I was.
He loved Josh as much as he loved me.  They would play basketball together
when they got a chance."

	I got off track for a moment, but quickly found my place.  "When I
got down there, I saw Josh being taken from the car.  He looked so bad.  He
looked lifeless at that point.  I called his mom and rode with him to the
hospital.
  I looked at him as he lay there.  I couldn't believe that I was in that
situation.  I couldn't believe that I was going with him to the hospital
because someone had just hit him.  Jay didn't tell me right then that the
guy was drunk.  I would have found him and strangled him."

	I stopped the story for a moment, feeling the angry of that moment
and my anger toward Gonzalo building up inside me.  "When Jay was surveying
the scene of the crime, he found a small box.  It was a ring that Josh had
bought for me and had engraved.  He was on his way home that evening from
picking it up.  About two months after he died, I was going through his
drawers and found a letter.  It was what he'd planned to say to me that
night."  I felt myself beginning to choke up again.

	"He was going to propose to me," I stated finally.  "He was going
to take the plunge with me, starting that night.  That letter caused me to
virtually go into hiding for a few days.  I just sat at the apartment
crying.  Jamie and Kyle are the reasons why I came out a week after finding
it.  They joked, saying they'd started smelling something come from my
apartment."  I tried joking, but found nothing could change my racing mind
from thinking of either of the days.

	Pedro said nothing for a little while, opting to hold my hand and
squeeze every few minutes.

	"OK," Teresa said in her bubbly voice, "there's nothing more we can
do for you here, tonight.  I've given your mom a prescription for you, and
she and your dad have gone to have it filled.  Also, my beautiful
granddaughter is waiting to see you."  I smiled, thanking God that I had
one more chance to see the girl who'd come to occupy a very special place
in my heart.  Teresa finished with some instructions for Pedro about how to
deal with me over the following days.

	"Man.  I get to help you shower," he said, winking at me and trying
to lighten the mood.  Teresa laughed and called for the nurses to help me
get discharged.

	I was wheeled into the waiting area after my discharge to an
awaiting crowd.  Not only my family, but some of my fathers `supporters'
had assembled in the lobby.  I said hi to the family, but the sight of all
the people I didn't know overwhelmed me a bit.  It was my mother who came
to the rescue, though, by moving them all out of my way.  The media had
already begun assembling outside the hospital.  I ignored the lights and
flashes of cameras as Pedro rolled me to my parent's car.  A hospital
employee took the chair back into the emergency room, and the family got
into the car.

	"So guys," my dad said, "I think it would be wise if y'all came to
Oneonta tonight."

	"We don't have any clothes, Daddy," I said, half protesting.

	"We're gonna stop at y'all's place and pick up several days' worth
of stuff," he said.  He'd never been one of those people who insisted on
people doing what he wanted, so his insistence surprised me a little.  It
made me see, though, what the people who'd voted for him saw, though.

	"Are you sure, it's OK?" Pedro said.

	"Yes.  It's fine.  Y'all need a safe place, and what place is
better than the home of a US Senator?" he asked.

	"And besides, if that man finds y'all again, there's no telling
what he might do to you," Maya pointed out.

	Pedro agreed to go up there, but called Abu first to let them know
where he'd be for the evening.  We got to the apartment, and Pedro and Maya
went inside to gather some things.  I felt myself drowsing, and fell asleep
before they got back to the car.  I slept for the entire trip to Oneonta.

	When we got to the house, I barely woke, despite the brightness of
the lights that illuminated my parents' house.  I pulled my consciousness
together for a few minutes, though and stood from the car.  It was the
first walking I'd done since the run-in with Gonzalo, and I wasn't doing
that well with hit.  Pedro tried at first to let me use him as a crutch,
but that wasn't working too well either.  Pedro scooped me into his big
masculine arms.  He carried me into the house and up the stairs to my
bedroom.  Maya raced in front of him and pulled down the covers.  He placed
me in the bed, and I fell quickly back to sleep.

	"I love you, David," were the last words I heard before drifting
off into my netherworld.

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