Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2003 17:50:38 -0700 (PDT)
From: rimpigfl <rimpigfl@yahoo.com>
Subject: SUBIC SURRENDER 28

DISCLAIMER: I don't fucking care how old you are. If you like the idea of
two hunky young Marine's getting it on with each other then read on!

By the way, no Marine's were injured or killed in the writing of this story
but that's not true of what's going on in the Middle East or other foreign
places. I would ask your prayers, good thoughts or whatever for all the
Marines serving our country (that's us guys!) around the world.

This is dedicated to every one who has ever served in the USMC - Semper Fi!

SUBIC SURRENDER - Part 28
MICHAEL'S STORY - Part 13
by RimPig   2003

I picked up the phone and said 'hello'. Mark Coventry's voice answered from
the other end.

"Hello, Michael. How are things going?" he asked.

"Fine." I said. Looking at a clock I figured out what time it was in
LA. "It's only 7:00 a.m. there.  Why are you calling so early? Is something
wrong?"

"No! No, quite the contrary. Everything is better than I expected it to be!
I just talked to Barry.  He says he can have his report written
today. We're going to need you all back here tomorrow for the court date!"
Mark said.

"Tomorrow! You're kidding! You said it would be at least three weeks!" I
exclaimed.

"I know but that's before I ran into the chief judge of the Juvenile Court
last night at a dinner party. He asked me if I had any interesting
adoptions lately and I told him about yours. He told me he didn't see any
reason to wait if the report from Paul was a good one. He's scheduled the
hearing for tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m." Mark said.

"Oh, my God! You mean Brian could be ours tomorrow?!" I practically
screamed.

"That exactly what I mean. With the report Paul tells me he's going to
write, there should be no problems whatever. I just checked on my computer,
there's a red-eye that gets into LA at 6:00 a.m. our time. There were no
seats in coach so I've booked you all into First Class. Grab a pen and I'll
give you the numbers for the e-tickets. That's all you'll need at the
airport." Mark said.

I quickly went and got a pen and wrote down the numbers Mark gave me. I
assured him we would be there and then went to tell Matt and my Dads the
good news.

"Tomorrow! Oh, my God! That's wonderful!" Matt said, throwing his arms
around me and kissing me.

Brian, knowing something good was up, immediately climbed down from Mike's
lap and came over and raised his arms to us to be picked up. I picked him
up in my arms and both Matt and I kissed an hugged him. I looked over at
Mike and Rick and they were beaming at the scene in front of them. I smiled
at Mike.

"Now you know what it looked like, huh?" I asked.

"Yeah. My thoughts exactly, son. Now I know what it looked like all those
years ago and you know exactly how it feels." he grinned.

"Oh, Michael! Matt! This is wonderful! All of us were so scared that
something would go wrong!" Rick admitted.

"We always believed that God had a plan and we think that this is it." Matt
said smiling.

"Well, okay then, we need to go shopping! Right now!" Rick said.

"Shopping? What for?" I asked.

"Because neither of you has a decent suit and you are NOT going into a
courtroom dressed in a t- shirt and blue jeans! You have to show them that
you are the responsible, loving parents that we know you are!" Rick said.

I looked at Matt and we both got sheepish grins on our faces.

"Yeah. I guess you're right. I probably wouldn't do for us to show up the
way we usually dress."  Matt said.

"And, while we're at it, we need to get some clothes for Brian to wear as
well." Rick said.

So after everybody went and got dressed, it was off to the Galleria Mall
and Dillard's. We were able to find two beautiful Hugo Boss suits for Matt
and I, along with dress shirts and ties. We also stopped in the shoe
department and bought dress shoes to go with them, for us and for Brian.
Then it was over to the boys department where we found the most adorable
suit for him with a checkered vest. We got him a small white dress shirt
and his own 'clip-on' tie. He looked so cute and yet very well-dressed for
a court appearance.

Of course, Grandma and Grandpa as well as Matt's Dad's were waiting for us
when we got home. They were equally excited about the news. We all decided
to go out to dinner that night to celebrate as a family. It was later, when
everybody left except Mike and Rick that I was able to pull Rick aside.

"Ahh...I don't exactly know how to ask this...but...ahh..." I fumbled.

"Would Rick and I watch Brian for a while so that you and Matt can have
some time alone together?" he grinned at me.

I blushed deep red, I know I did because I could feel the heat from my
face.

"Yeah." I said quietly.

Mike wrapped his arms around me and hugged me.

"It was the first thing that your Grandma and Grandpa did for Rick and me
when we got home from New York with you. And we'd been with you for three
days by that point!" he grinned. "I understand completely."

"Thanks." I said sincerely, giving him a hug.

Mike walked back into the kitchen where Rick, Matt and Brian were sitting.

"Brian." Mike said and our son looked up at one of his grandfathers. "How
would you like to go swimming in the pool for a while?"

Brian's eyes lit up and he grinned and nodded about as hard as he could!

"Mike, I don't know if he can swim." I said.

"Well, we're about to find out. And if he can't, then it's high time he got
his first lessons in how to, don't you think?" Mike asked.

Mike and Rick had taught me how to swim within two weeks of me becoming
their son. With the pool right outside our door, it was self-defense to
make sure that Brian knew how.

"Yes, you're right. He needs to learn how as soon as possible." I said.

"Okay then, Tiger! Let's head out to the pool." Mike said.

"What about a suit?" Rick said.

"Suits are for wimps! Since when do any of us wear suits?" Mike asked.

"Okay, okay. I'll get the sun screen, though." Rick said as he got up and
came closer to Mike. I could still hear Rick's quiet question to
him. "Okay, Mike, what have you got up your sleeve?"

"You remember when we brought Michael home from New York? What's the first
thing your parents did for us?" Mike asked Rick.

"Ohh!" Was all he said, but I could hear in his voice that Rick got the
message.

I looked over and Matt looked confused however.

"Mike and Rick are going to keep Brian very active for a while...I think
you and I could find something to stay active as well?" I said quietly.

At this, Matt's face lit up as well! He got up from the table, grabbed my
hand and practically dragged me to the bedroom. We could hear Mike and
Rick's laughter following us down the hall.  But when we got to our
bedroom, Matt suddenly became very pensive.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" he asked me, worry written all over his
face.

I started to laugh as I took him in my arms.

"Babe! You already sound like a parent! He'll be fine. Those are the two
men who taught me to swim when I was about Brian's age!" I said.

"Oh, I'm not worried about your Dads! I worried about Brian being without
us." he said.

"Babe, he'd better get used to it. We still have to go to work everyday. We
won't be around him all the time. He'll be fine without us for an hour or
so." I said soothingly.

"Yeah. I suppose you're right. I'm just being silly." he said, somewhat
ashamed of himself.

"Hey! None of that! You aren't being silly. That's our son. You love him as
much as I do and there's nothing silly about that." I said.

Matt laid his head on my chest and I just held him for a while, stroking my
fingers through his hair.

"God help me, Michael, I do love him." Matt said softly after a while. "I
guess this is all getting to me. The fear that it wouldn't happen and now
fear that it's going to. I don't know if I'll make a good parent."

"Of course you will. The fact that you're worried about it means you will
be! Bad parents don't worry about it - they just don't care." I said. "Now,
let's not let this time that Mike and Rick have given us get away."

He looked up at me and smiled. I kissed him deeply and before I knew it we
were naked and on the bed. I was on top of him, kissing him and he was
running his hands across my head and shoulders. I pulled back from the kiss
to look at him, laying there, his long, golden hair spread out around him.

"God! You are so beautiful!" I murmured.

He smiled.

"Make love to me, Michael. Make long, slow love to me. I need to feel you
inside me. I need to feel one with you. Please?" he begged.

"No problem, Babe. No problem at all." I said.

And for the next hour or so, that's what I did. I made long, slow,
passionate love to my mate - the man I loved. For a time, it was just the
two of us. Somewhere, in the after-glow I realized that it would always
come back to this, just the two of us. Oh, Brian would be with us for a
while, but then he'll find someone to love as we had and then we would know
that same sweet sadness that our Dads did when we left them to begin our
lives together. But Matt and I would always have each other, just as Mike
had Rick, Grandma had Grandpa and Matt's Dad had his Brian. All our lives
intertwined forever. And now our Brian would be part of that. Another
'branch' on the 'family tree'.

We walked out to the pool, naked, hand in hand. Mike and Rick were in the
pool playing with Brian who was seemingly taking to water like a baby
porpoise! We watched him dog-paddling between Rick and Mike and smiled at
each other. We got in the water and Brian dog-paddled over to us, hugging
each one of us in turn.

"He's quite a boy!" Mike said grinning. "He took to swimming faster than
you did, Michael!"

"Yes, I think within a couple of months, he should be ready for the Olympic
try-outs!" Rick laughed. "Well...maybe a little longer."

"Thanks, you guys." I said simply and I could see the way that Mike and
Rick looked at me, they understood.

"Hey! Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt!" Mike roared!

"So what time's the flight?" Rick asked.

"Very early tomorrow morning - around 5:00 a.m." Matt said.

"So you'll be wanting to get to bed early tonight. We'll make early dinner
reservations. How about, say, around 6:00?" Mike asked.

"Sure." I said. "That will be fine."

The dinner was held at one of our favorite restaurants, the High Life
Caf^Â. There was lots of laughter and toasts to us on our becoming
fathers. It reminded me of the dinner following our wedding. We went home
early though and got ready for bed. Even though it was not a large shower
stall, Matt and I usually showered together and there was room for Brian to
join us - it just meant that we actually did nothing but
shower. Well...Brian got to see his two Dads kissing a lot but nothing more
than that. We kissed him a lot, too, and he returned them. There was no
repeat of the 'masturbation' incident so I figured that we could leave that
talk for another time.  This time, I used conditioner on Brian's hair
without Matt even having to tell me.

Matt and I tucked him into bed in his own room again. We weren't sure if
he'd stay there but we didn't want to set the precedent of taking him into
our bed ourselves. We also didn't bother putting any clothes on him because
we figured he'd just take them off anyway. Then we went to our bedroom and
found we were both too tired to make love - especially quickly, figuring
that Brian would probably appear at any time to crawl in with us.

"Oh fuck! We are like parents, aren't we?" I said. "Too tired to get it on!
I guess the honeymoon is over."

"No it's not. It's just moved into a different phase!" Matt
insisted. "After all, this afternoon was incredibly beautiful."

"Yes. It was." I said kissing him gently.

It was about that time that we heard the door open and Brian came into the
room. This time, he crawled up the middle of the bed from the foot so that
he was right between us. He kissed us both and then settled down.

"No, Tiger. You can't sleep between us. We're big guys and we might roll
over on you. You go on and get on the other side of Matt and lay just like
you did last night with me." I said to him.

He smiled at me, kissed me and then did exactly what I said. Matt rolled
over, too and I spooned to his back, holding both Matt and our son in my
arms. As I drifted off to sleep, I sent a prayer of thanks aloft, knowing
that there was no way I could ever be happier than I was at that moment.

The flight the next day was hell. Let's get something straight. Flying
First Class is not comfortable. It is slightly less uncomfortable than
coach. Worse, in First Class, there are only two seats across which meant
that Brian couldn't sit between us. However, the minute we were airborne
and the seatbelt light was turned out, Brian immediately left his seat next
to Barry and crawled up in my lap and proceeded to fall sound asleep. For
the rest of the flight, he remained in either Matt or my lap, mostly
asleep. When we finally reached LA, Paul was there to meet Barry and Mark
and his secretary/lover Tom was there to meet us. Since all we had was
carry-on, Mark directed straight to a white stretch limo at the curb. Paul
took Brian with him after we explained to him that we would see him in
court in a little while. Paul had his clothes for court and would take him
by the group home to get him dressed before brining him to court.

"I've booked you guys a suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. It's right around
the corner from my office." Mark said.

"We don't really need a suite." I said.

"Well, it gives you two bedrooms - one for you and one for Brian." Mark
said.

Matt and I laughed.

"You arrange adoptions but you don't really know a lot about kids, do you?"
I said to Mark.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Brian is sleeping with us and probably will for at least a month. He needs
the security after all the changes in his life. He's not ready to sleep on
his own. After all, he's still subject to the nightmares that Barry told us
about. As long as he sleeps with us, he doesn't have them." I explained.

"Oh." Mark said. "I guess that interferes somewhat with your sex life,
doesn't it." he asked.

"Yes, it does to some degree. But we're willing to deal with that for a
while. Brian is more than worth being horny for a while." Matt said.

"When are you and Tom going to adopt?" I asked.

I thought Mark was going to have a heart attack! His mouth opened but no
sound came out. On the other hand, Tom was doubled over laughing.

"How...how did you know?" Mark finally got out.

"What? That you and Tom are lovers? That's easy. All we had to do was watch
the way you two look at each other." Matt said, smiling.

"I told you everybody knows." Tom said, still laughing.

"I still don't want to deal with it in the office. It's not professional."
Mark said.

"So how long have you guys been together?" I asked.

"Tom's been my secretary ever since I opened the office. We've only been
lovers for two years."  Mark said.

"Congratulations." Matt said.

"Thanks." Tom replied, but I got the feeling that Mark was still
uncomfortable with all this.

Then something clicked.

"So how long were you married to your wife, Mark?" I asked.

Mark looked at me in shock.

"Eleven years." he said, as if the words would strangle him coming out of
his mouth. "How did you know that?"

"Well, it wasn't by way of the Internet." I said. "I can tell from how
uncomfortable you still are with being in love with another guy. And you
obviously are in love with Tom. What's really too bad is that you still
seem so ashamed of it."

Mark looked at me like I'd struck pay-dirt. Tom sat there taking it all
in. I could see that he was very glad that someone was confronting Mark
with this.

"It's hard for me. I didn't think I was Gay until I met Tom. I knew I
didn't love my wife and I knew something was missing in our relationship
but I never understood what. Then I met Tom.  The more I was around him,
the more I wanted to be around him. Finally, I began to want him.  I'd
never had sex with another man before him. And haven't to this day." Mark
said.

"You sound a lot like my Dad, Rick. He'd never had sex with another man
before Mike. And he's never had sex with anyone else since the night they
first made love to each other. It's not unusual.  It can happen." I said.

"Did you always know that you were Gay?" Mark asked.

"Always. I knew I was attracted to guys since I was Brian's age." I said.

"Me, too." Matt said before Mark could ask him.

"Consider yourself lucky. Coming to terms with it after you're married is
no fun." Mark said.

"Mark, being Gay, no matter what people say, is just like having green
eyes. You're born with it and it's a perfectly normal variation of human
sexuality." Matt said.

"I know that intellectually." Mark said.

"Then don't look at it intellectually!" I said. "Look at it
emotionally. You love Tom, don't you?"

"Yes, more than anything in the world." Mark said, looking at Tom and
taking hold of his hand.

"Then just remember this - the only reason you have him, the only reason
that you feel that way - is because you're Gay. I'd say that if you really
love him and he really makes your life worthwhile, the way Matt does for
me, then you should be grateful that you're Gay. Otherwise, he'd just be
another secretary to you." I said.

Mark looked at me.

"I never looked at it that way! How'd you get so smart?!" he grinned.

"I'm not smart. My lover is." I grinned back as I grabbed Matt's hand in
mine.

By that time the limo was pulling up to the hotel. Mark told the driver to
wait. He and Tom got us through check-in and up to the suite where Matt and
I quickly showered (for once) and got into our suits for court. When we
emerged, Mark and Tom looked at us like we were aliens.

"My God! You two are gorgeous dressed up! Why don't you dress this way all
the time? With your money, you can clearly afford to!" Mark said.

"With our money, we can dress any damned way we choose and we hate dressing
up like this! We didn't even wear suits at our wedding!" I said.

"To each their own, I guess." Mark said.

"Do we have time for some breakfast? I'm starving!" Matt said.

"Yeah! Me, too!" I reiterated.

"Yes, we can go downstairs. The Polo Lounge opens at 7:00 a.m." Mark said.

We went downstairs and had breakfast and then hopped in the limo and drove
to the Edmund D.  Edelman Dependency Court building in Monterrey Park. This
is the only courthouse in the nation designed from it's inception to be
child-friendly. It is through this one courthouse that all adoption
petitions are heard as well as all the dependency and delinquency hearings
for the County of Los Angeles. We were guided by Mark to the chambers of
the chief judge, Michael Nash. Mark was speaking to the judge's secretary
when Barry showed up with Brian who came running to greet us. He looked
absolutely adorable in his little suit. I held him in my arms as Mark
guided all of us into the Judge's chambers.

The Judge sat at a desk which had a conference table running perpendicular
to the desk down the middle of the room. Mark directed us to sit on one
side with Brian while Barry sat on the other.  Judge Nash looked to be
about forty-five to fifty years old. He was tall and had dark hair which
was tinged with silver at the temples. He certainly looked like a judge to
me! He asked us to be seated, that we were still waiting on the attorney
from the Department of Children and Families to arrive. Judge Nash talked
to Barry for a while, asking how Frank was so it was evident that this
judge not only knew Mark, but knew Barry and knew him quite well. Mark
leaned over to me and whispered in my ear.

"The judge isn't 'family' but one of his sons is."

That gave me a clue as to what was going on. Within a few moments a very
harried young woman flew threw the door, apologizing profusely to Judge
Nash for being late, explaining a hearing in another courtroom was delayed.

"That's all right, Nancy. Calm down." Judge Nash smiled. "Take a few
moments and catch your breath. I'm sure there are some people in this room
you don't know. Especially Mr. Copeland and Mr. Stevenson. They are the
prospective parents for little Brian there. Now, Barry, I understand you
have a home-study report for me?"

"Yes, your honor." Barry said, giving copies to the Judge, to the attorney,
to Mark and to Matt and me.

We all sat reading Barry's report. Glowing wasn't the word for it. He'd
almost nominated Matt, me and our entire family for sainthood!

"I must say, Barry, this is quite an overwhelming report! Not like the ones
you usually present to me at all!" The Judge said.

"No, your honor. Not like the one's I usually present at all. That's
because this is the type of family that we so very rarely get to see and
usually only under these circumstances. You know in my work, Judge Nash, I
don't often get to see healthy families. In fact, you rapidly reach the
point where you don't believe there are any left. Then, every rare once in
a while, a family like this comes along and they literally restore you
faith in the bond of the family. I'm just grateful that they opened their
home to me and allowed me to glimpse their very loving and caring lives."
Barry replied.

"I'd say you were suitably impressed." The Judge smiled. "And so am I. I
take it that your agency is recommending this adoption, Barry?"

"Judge, I've got about six more kids I'd love for Michael and Matt to take
home as well and give a home to! Yes, your Honor, we are recommending for
this adoption." Barry said.

"Nancy? Any objections from Children's Legal Service?" The Judge asked.

"No, your Honor. The child's history is a sad one. We are grateful that
someone has come along with enough love to take this boy and give him the
good home he deserves." the attorney smiled at us.

"Well, Mr. Coventry. It's not often that I see you in this court yourself
unless there are cameras and reporters following you. Something special
that you handled this one yourself?" the Judge asked, smiling at Mark.

"Yes, your Honor. Just what Barry said. Once I had met the petitioners and
heard their story as well as Brian's, I couldn't resist handling it
myself. These two young men deserved nothing but the best." Mark said.

"Well, Mr. Copeland and Mr. Stevenson, such wonderful words we've heard
about you. What do you have to say for yourselves? Why do you want to adopt
Brian here?" The Judge asked Matt and me.

Matt and I looked at each other and Matt nodded for me to go first.

"Your honor, there is a very simple answer to that. We love him. Plain and
simple. We wanted a child to love and to raise and we found Brian thanks to
Barry. All of our financial records are somewhere in those papers you
have. They show that we can provide for Brian. But what we can give Brian
really has nothing to do with money. We can give him - meaning us and our
family - more love than any one little boy can ever need." I said.

"Your honor," Matt began. "Michael has really said it all. We love Brian
and he loves us. I know it's not probably part of these proceedings but
just ask him. Ask Brian if he loves us and wants to live with us. We'll be
glad to let your decision rest on that."

The Judge looked at Matt for a moment.

"I think your attorney is probably having heart failure right about now,
Mr. Stevenson." The Judge said, grinning. "You're right. Asking the child
is not usually part of these proceedings when the child is so young. I was
under the impression that this child cannot speak?" he asked.

"That's true, your Honor." Barry interjected.

"But he can hear quite well, your Honor. He can answer yes and no questions
by nodding or shaking his head." Matt said.

"Very well then, Brian?" the Judge said and Brian looked at him.

"Well, you do know your name, don't you!" The Judge said and Brian nodded.

"Do you want to go and live with these men?" The Judge asked Brian.

Again, Brian nodded yes and smiled at the Judge.

"Do you love them, Brian? Do you love Michael and Matt?" he asked.

This time Brian grinned and nodded his head vigorously. He then leaned over
and gave Matt a kiss before turning back and giving me one.

"I don't think I need to hear anymore. I'm entering an order placing Brian
into the custody of Matthew Stevenson and Michael Copeland, the child's
last name to be changed to Copeland.  Thank you all." the Judge said and
then tapped a gavel laying on his desk.

And that was it! With those words, Brian became our son - legally and
forever. We hugged him and we hugged Mark. Then we hugged Barry and then we
all went downstairs to the waiting limo. We all went to the group home so
that we could collect all of Brian's things which only half filled a small
cardboard box which the limo driver placed in the trunk. Barry
congratulated us and wished us all the happiness in the world with
Brian. We didn't let him leave until he promised to join us for dinner that
night to celebrate. We told him to bring Frank along, too.

Mark had the driver take us all back to the hotel where we quickly changed
back into jeans and t- shirts. We promised Mark we would put the suits back
on for dinner as we would hold it in the Polo Lounge and they require
jackets after 7:00 p.m.

After Mark and Tom left for their office, Matt and I were exhausted. Brian
had slept on the plane but we had not. It was now almost noon and we
decided to take a nap. We simply got undressed, undressed Brian and got
into bed. We knew we wouldn't have to put Brian down for a nap. We knew the
moment he saw us get into bed, he'd join us - and we were right. My head no
more hit the pillow and his little naked body was climbing up on to the bed
and into my arms.

When we awoke, I placed calls home to let everyone know that the adoption
had gone through and that Brian was now a member of our family. Everyone
was excited at the good news and asked when we would be home? We told them
that we would be flying back to Fort Lauderdale in the morning. We wanted
to get home as soon as possible so that life could start to become
normalized for Brian.

The dinner that night was wonderful. Mark and Tom came as did Barry and
Frank. We also invited Steve and Bart since it was thanks to their wedding
that we linked up with Frank and Barry and through them found Brian. Brian,
of course was the center of attention throughout dinner. He went around the
table, sitting on the lap of each male. When he sat on Tom's lap I could
see the yearning in his eyes for a boy of his own. The same happened with
Mark. I didn't think it would be long before the two of them would find a
boy to adopt. Brian, of course, knew Barry quite well and stayed with him
longer than anyone else. When Brian got to Steve and Bart, I noticed some
awkwardness on their part.

"If he's bothering you, just send him back to us." I said.

"No!" Steve said. "It's just that, to be honest, I've never had a kid sit
on my lap before. I guess I'm afraid I'll break him or something."

"Me neither." said Bart. "But it feels awesome. Like your supposed to
protect him or something."

"Yes, exactly." Matt said. "Don't freak out guys but those are your 'Daddy
genes' coming out!  All guys have them. The desire to father a child.
Perhaps you two should think about doing the same thing we did."

Bart looked at Steve and they both grinned at each other. The Bart looked
at Barry.

"Uhh...could we maybe have one of your cards? Just in case?" Bart asked.

"In case Matt's right?" I asked Bart who blushed a deep scarlet.

"Yes." Bart said quietly and Matt and I grinned at each other.

The dinner finally ended and we said good-bye to our friends. Mark and Tom
were going to see us to the airport in the morning so it was not really
good-bye where they were concerned. We thanked Barry profusely one last
time for what he had done for us. He passed it off as just doing his job
but we knew it was more than that. Bart and Steve both hugged us and said
that they would keep in touch. We invited them to come home to Fort
Lauderdale any time they wanted, that we would put them up and they
wouldn't have to let their family know that they were in town.

Finally, we went up to our suite and, even though it was early by LA time,
our bodies were still on Fort Lauderdale time which made it 3 hours later
so we started to get ready to go to bed. We got undressed and then all
three of us got in the shower. Brian had great fun 'washing' us and we had
our hands full with a very happy, wiggly and slippery boy.

It was that night, even with Brian in our bed with us, that we experienced
the first 'nightmare'. A truly dreadful, hideous scream woke us from our
sleep around 3:00 a.m. It took some time to calm Brian down to where he
would go to sleep again. I finally called down to room-service, which
luckily was 24 hours a day, and ordered a pot of decaffeinated tea. This
seemed to do the most to calm Brian down, sitting a drinking tea with
us. The incident seemed to leave all of us somewhat rattled. I was greatly
disappointed because I had hoped that being with us, sleeping in our bed,
would end the nightmares for him. Matt reminded me that it had been a very
stressful day for all of us so it was very possible that Brian was reacting
to all the stress. I hoped that was true.

We had arranged with Mark and Tom to have breakfast again in the Polo
Lounge before heading for LAX. As we talked, I was sure something was up
with the two of them.

"Okay, you two. You seem to be holding back on something. What is it?" I
asked, worried that it might have something to do with Brian's adoption.

"Oh, it's nothing to do with you." Mark said. "Well...maybe peripherally.
Tom and I did a lot of talking last night after we got home."

"Yes, we were up until all hours of the morning." Tom said.

"Tom has finally convinced me that it's silly for our relationship to
remain in the closet. Starting today, there will be some new policies at my
law firm, including domestic partnership benefits and Tom gets acknowledged
for who he is - my partner in life and also in the business." Mark said,
smiling at Tom and taking his hand.

"We also are going to have a commitment ceremony and we're going to adopt a
child." Tom grinned.

"Wow! That's fantastic!" I said.

"Yes, congratulations!" Matt added.

"We owe it all to you." Mark said.

"To us? What did we do?" I asked.

"Your little talk to me in the car yesterday really got me to thinking.
Then, when I held Brian in my arms last night at dinner, it was like
something went through me - a yearning I never even knew I had! A desire
for him to be mine. Now I truly understand what drives all of my clients."
Mark said.

"Mark, I don't know what to say." I said.

"Well, I do!" Matt replied. "Just tell us when the ceremony is and we'll
fly out to be there!"

And we all laughed at this.

When we flew home, the whole family was there to meet us at the airport
again. This time, Brian was used to all these faces and seemed incredibly
glad to see everyone again. We kept telling him that he was home now. No
more flying. No more living in a group home. He got to live with us always.
He seemed to understand this and, as day after day passed, he became
completely adjusted to living in our home. The nightmares continued for a
while, maybe three or four months, but then seemed to disappear. At least
we thought they had.

It was the night of his sixth birthday. Brian had been our son for over a
year now and though it was disappointing that his speech still had not
returned, we thanked God every day for this beautiful boy who blessed our
lives. Despite not being able to speak, he was a very active little
boy. We'd gotten him into t-ball and this was the first year for him of
little league. We worried at first how the other boys would accept him, not
being able to speak, but that was before everyone learned that Brian was a
truly incredible little athlete! He was the top hitter on his team and the
best pitcher they had. In a pinch, he could play every position on the
field. His popularity was assured - speech or no speech.

For his sixth birthday, Grandpa bought him a brand new bike - so what if
his other one was only a year old! I was just grateful that Grandpa didn't
buy him a car! We had a party with a big cake and he got lots of presents -
especially books. Brian still loved books only now he didn't have to be
read to, he read them himself. We were all quite used to Brian dragging a
book everywhere with him as he'd always done. Now, however, he would only
come to us with his book when he ran into a word he didn't know. He'd hand
you the book and point to the word. I'd tell him what the word sounded like
and then explain it to him. I noticed that he never had to ask about the
same word twice. Once he saw it, that was enough.

It was funny, too, because just that morning, he'd brought me one of his
books and pointed to a word that he didn't know. The word was 'Daddy'.
Since it was not a term we used with him, just as Mike and Rick had not
used it with me, he didn't know what it meant. I sounded the word for him
and then sat him down and explained what a 'Daddy' was. How Matt and I were
his 'Daddies' and that Mike and Rick were my 'Daddies' while Matt Sr. and
Brian were Matt's Daddies and that Grandpa was my Daddy Rick's Daddy which
made him my 'Granddaddy' and his 'Great-Granddaddy'. I'm not sure that
Brian got all the relationships but he seemed to.

We had lots of fun at the party and Brian seemed to really enjoy himself.
Grandpa, Matt and I took him outside after dinner and helped him get on his
new bike and ride around for a while. As it grew dark, we took him back to
the cottage where we all took a shower together (he still liked doing
that!) before we tucked him into bed in his room. He'd been sleeping in his
own room now for many months. We always tucked him in and read to him
before he went to sleep. Even though he could now read, he still wanted us
to read to him at night and we never minded.

Late that night, Matt and I were woken up with that piercing, dreadful
scream which we had almost forgotten! We leapt out of bed and ran to
Brian's room. I grabbed him up in my arms, holding him to me while Matt
wrapped his arms around both of us. We both kept telling him over and over
again that it was just a bad dream. We finally got him calmed down enough
that he loosened his almost 'death-grip' around my neck. Then I carried him
out to the kitchen where Matt made decaffeinated tea which was our now
traditional way of calming him down after one of these episodes.

When he was completely calm again, I carried him into our room and he got
into bed with us. He was laying between us and we were talking calmly to
him and telling him how much we loved him and that he was safe here with
us. We both kissed him on the cheeks at the same time and, when we pulled
away, he reached up and pushed our faces together. It was obvious that he
wanted us to kiss as he watched from below. Matt and I were deeply locked
in a kiss when we suddenly heard this strange sound, almost like a rusty
door opening after along time being closed. We looked down at Brian where
the sound seemed to be coming from - but that couldn't be! As we looked at
him, his mouth opened and suddenly we heard coming from it...

"Ddddaaaaddddyyyy."

THE END of SUBIC SURRENDER.

If you liked the story, write me at rimpigfl@yahoo.com.

I have a lot of other stories on NIFTY. If you want a complete list, write
me and I'll be glad to send it to you.

RimPig