Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 22:07:40 -0700 From: B.E. Kelley <hailcaesar2011@hotmail.com> Subject: The Keys to the Kingdom 2 This story is a work of FICTION. The events described are my own invention. Any similarities to actual events or persons are strictly coincidental. The author retains the copyright, and any other rights, to this original story. You may not publish it or any part of it without my explicit authorization. This story contains depictions of consensual sexual acts between teenage males. It is intended for mature audiences only. If you find this type of material offensive or if you are under the legal age to read said material; please proceed no further. It takes a while before there is any sex in this story but I think you'll like it. As always comments are welcome but please, be gentle. Please send your comments to: HailCaesar2011@hotmail.com The Keys to the Kingdom Chapter 2: Adjustments The next morning, I woke to the sound of morning cartoons, I haven't heard that sound in years. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and found Nicky sitting on the end of our bed, enjoying his Saturday morning program. I reached down and grabbed him from behind, then pulled him back to sit between me and, the still sleeping, Cam. "What are you watching buddy?" I asked. "Bugs Bunny," said Nicky. I couldn't believe kids were still watching that. Those cartoons where old when my parents were kids, but Nicky was laughing, so I guess the classics never really go out of fashion. He snuggled up next to me and we watched Bugs torment Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote chase the Road Runner and Pepe Le Pew stalk an unfortunate cat, before we decided to wake Cam. "He snore's really loud," Nicky commented. "You're telling me kiddo, why don't you wake him up for me?" Nicky tried his best to shake Cam's shoulder but couldn't budge him. When that didn't work I suggested a new tactic. Nicky reached over and pinched Cam's nose shut. Cam shot up with a snort, looking around the room like a wild man. Nicky and I thought it was hilarious. "Oh very funny guys," Cam offered, "I guess it's time for me to get up?" "Yeah, I'm hungry," Nicky informed us. "Hungry? Well we can't have that," Cam exclaimed. He picked Nicky up and threw him over his shoulder, then carried him out of the room, much to Nicky's delight. I got out of bed, did a little stretching and met them down in the kitchen. We gave Nicky a choice of French toast or pancakes for breakfast. He chose the French toast so I started whipping together eggs and cream, while the pan heated up. After his second helping, we told Nicky to head upstairs and take a shower so that we could get going. We had a lot of things planned for the day and needed to get a move on if we were going to stick to our schedule. Cam and I cleaned up as well and by the time we'd finished getting dressed, Nicky was already waiting impatiently for us down stairs. We piled into the car and headed for Danbury or more specifically the Danbury Fair Mall. It's a bit of a drive but they had a wider range of the stores we liked. The night before, while we had been getting Nicky ready for bed, we looked through his things and decided that we needed to take him shopping. Most of the things he had were fine but Cam and I had never had a little boy to dress up before, we were looking forward to doing some shopping. "What are we doing here?" Nicky asked when we pulled into the mall parking lot. "You're starting your new school on Monday," I informed him, "can't go to school without some new clothes, right?" "No I guess not, but I don't have any money," Nicky told us. "Did your mom and dad make you buy your own school clothes?" I asked Nicky, in jest. "Well, no but..." Nicky began, before I interrupted him. "But, we're your family now, we'll take care of you, you don't need your own money," I explained. "You don't have to do that. I don't want to be a bother, I'm just happy to be out of that other house I was living at," said Nicky. "We know we don't have to," Cam explained, "But we've never had our very own son before and we want to take him shopping, is that ok?" That seemed to return the big bright smile to Nicky's face. "Ok," he finally agreed, "if you want." We started at GapKids then made our way to Abercrombie Kids, 77 Kids by American Eagle and a number of other stores in between. At first, Nicky was reluctant to point out things he liked, so Cam and I started grabbing clothes we thought he'd like. Once he saw that we were having fun, picking out things for him, Nicky loosened up and started sharing his tastes with us. When we were finished, we headed back to the car loaded down with bags. We'd stocked up on shirts, tee shirts, sweaters, pants, socks, underwear, the works. We got him a couple of pairs of new shoes, a couple sets of flannel pajamas for those cold New England nights, a bathrobe and a new winter coat. Nicky thanked us profusely and insisted he didn't need all the things we bought but Cam and I assured him that we were happy to do it. In fact, we had a great time shopping with Nicky, he was so agreeable when it came to trying things on and he was just so cute in everything that Cam and I got carried away. I was glad Cam drove; there was a lot more room in his car. He still drove his moms old Mercedes that he'd inherited after we wrecked his car towards the end of our junior year in high school. I know what you're thinking but we weren't out being wreck-less. We were coming home from a coffee shop and a deer ran out into the street. Cam tried to stop but there wasn't enough time and we hit the poor creature at about 40 miles an hour. It's a miracle we weren't killed. Cam broke his nose and bruised a few ribs, I broke my collar bone but fortunately it was on the left side and I was still able to be on the tennis team, once I healed up. Somehow, the deer managed to get up and stagger back into the woods, but Cam's car was totaled. We had another stop to make but we had to run by the house first and deposit everything we'd picked up at the mall or we wouldn't have room for our next round of purchases. We quickly carried everything up to Nicky's room then headed back out the door. Our next stop was the Sports Authority in Milford, about 20 minutes from our place. We got Nicky a new backpack and a pair of boots for the snowy months but we still had a few other things to get. "You said you liked to play baseball, have you ever been on a team before?" Cam asked. "Yeah, I've played shortstop for a couple summers in little league," Nicky said proudly. That answered our question so we headed in the direction of the baseball gear. It took some convincing but Nicky finally picked out a new glove and a bat. Cam and I even bought a couple of baseball gloves for ourselves. We weren't really into baseball but since Nicky liked it, we were looking forward to playing catch with him. We headed over to the bicycles next. "Guys, really, you don't have to get me a bike, you've spent so much money on me already I just wouldn't feel right about it," Nicky gushed. "All the other boys in the neighborhood have bikes," I informed him, "don't you want to be able to go ridding with them once you make friends?" "Yeah that would be great," Nicky admitted, "I just don't want you to spend all your money on me, you've been so nice to me, I don't know what I can do to pay you back." "Nicky all you have to do is be a good boy and study hard in school and you'll have more than paid us back," Cam explained. "I don't know," Nicky questioned, "that doesn't seem like a fair trade. Don't you think you guys are getting a bum deal on this one?" "We need to get you a new bike Nicky," I said, "Cam and I like to go ridding and if you don't have a bike, we won't be able to go because we can't just leave you at the house." This little change in tactics seemed to win him over. Nicky picked out a bike and a new helmet and the big smile was back on his face. He started asking us a bunch of questions as we made our way towards the checkout counter. Where did we like to ride? When could we go ridding? How long would it take to put his bike together? I knew once we talked him into it, he'd be excited, I just needed to make a mental note to dig our bikes out of the garage; Cam and I haven't ridden in years. Once we got everything loaded into the car, Nicky threw his arms around Cam. "Thank you dad," Nicky beamed. Then it was my turn as he wrapped his arms around my waist and squeezed. "And thank you to daddy." Cam's smile was almost as big as Nicky's, it felt good being called dad. I felt just as good as Cam, we weren't sure how Nicky had decided who would be dad and who would be daddy but we didn't care. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet but we were falling in love with this little boy. When we got home we started the long process of organizing all of Nicky's new clothes. We'd gone a little overboard with our shopping and between the three of us, it took almost an hour to remove all of the tags and put everything on a hanger or fold it neatly into a drawer. The afternoon was winding down and we still had one more stop to make. At least once a month, we get together with our parents for dinner. Tonight we were going to my parent's house; Cam's parents would be there as would my brother Brian and his wife, Whitney and their son, Jack. Brian is a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force, stationed out on Cape Cod. He and his family had come home to visit our parents and would be heading back the next day so this was a great opportunity for us to introduce them to Nicky. When we got to mom and dad's, I told Nicky to stay behind me, that this would be a surprise for his new grandparents, he thought that was a great idea, he liked surprises. When we got out of the car, we headed to the door and walked straight in, we were expected and I always felt funny knocking at the house I'd grown up in. We found everyone sitting in the living room, mom and dad were chatting with Whitney and the Tuckers, Brian and Jack had the Red Sox game on. Despite our proximity to New York, dad and Brian had always been Sox fans; Yankee was a dirty word in our house. When they noticed we'd come in, our parents walked out to the foyer to greet us. Nicky stood right behind me and it wasn't until after we'd exchanged hugs with our parents that Cam's dad noticed him. "Well who's this?" Cam's dad, George asked. That drew all the attention to Nicky. "Surprise, it's a boy!" Cam announced. "You mean he's yours?" my mom, Alice, asked. "This is our foster son, Nicky," I shared. Our parents descended on Nicky, like a flock of hungry birds, as they moved in to hug him and welcome him to the family. Cam and I each got another round of hugs and congratulations, Brian and Jack even managed to break away from the game to share in our happy news. Everyone knew that our goal in taking in a foster child was to eventually adopt so they welcomed Nicky into the family with open arms. We made our way to the living room, where we explained how Nicky had come to us. Everyone made sure to tell him how sorry they were for what had happened to his parents and how happy they were that he'd come to live with us. Nicky, for his part, ate up the attention like it was going out of style. Our parents asked him a myriad of questions about his likes and dislikes and what he thought of us so far. Cam and I were quite pleased when Nicky stated that he thought we were cool and that he would like living with us. Tonight's dinner would be BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs so we headed out into the backyard while my dad, Phil, started up the BBQ. Despite their age difference Nicky and Jack seemed to hit it off and ran off to play catch while the adult's chit chatted. Jack's 14 and just started high school, it's been kind of rough on him because he's the new kid. My brother was only recently posted to Cape Cod and as is typical with military families, he and his wife had moved around a lot. "We'll he's absolutely precious," Cam's mom, Mary, mentioned in reference to Nicky. "Thanks mom," Cam beamed, "it's only been a day but he has a great personality and I think we're going to have a lot of fun together. Brenden and I are really looking forward to adopting him." "Has he said anything about having two dads and no mommy?" Whitney asked curiously. I thought I'd give them all a glimpse at Nicky's irreverent personality by explaining how he'd asked if we were a pair of queers. As I expected, everyone had a good laugh before continuing their questions. "What's he going to call you boys?" George asked. Just then Nicky and Jack walked over to join us. "Daddy, is it time to eat yet, I'm hungry," Nicky said, answering George's question. My dad went over to check on the meat and announced that yes, it was time for dinner. We gathered around the picnic table and Cam joined my dad at the grill, with a platter for the food. "Here's yours, ours will be out in a minute," Cam said, putting the entire platter of food in front of Nicky. "Hey," Nicky grumped. "What's that all about?" Mary asked me privately. "Just watch," I said, giving her a wink. The adults sat in awe as Nicky and Jack engaged in a hot dog eating contest. They wolfed down so many dogs that dad had to throw another package on the grill in order for the rest of us to have one. "You know, if I didn't know better I'd swear he was your real son," my mom announced with a smile. "That's what I said," Cam exclaimed. I took it in stride and gave Nicky a wink; he smiled back at me then went in for another hot dog. That's my boy. After dinner we enjoyed some of my mom's homemade blackberry ice cream and watched the sun set over Long Island Sound. It had been a long day and I think the excitement wore Nicky out; he seemed to run out of steam as the sun was setting. When it was time to go, our parents showered more hugs and affection on Nicky and told Cam and I how happy they were and how proud they were of our new family. We thanked everyone for the good wishes and headed home. It was after 9:00 when we pulled into the driveway so we had Nicky take his shower and put on his pajamas before joining us in our room for a little TV. Cam and I sat back against the headboard with Nicky sandwiched between us, as we had done for morning cartoons. We caught the end of Shrek on cable and at 10:00 I announced it was time for bed. Nicky didn't fuss; I'd seen him yawning and knew he was getting sleepy. Cam and I took Nicky down to his room and went through what would become our nightly ritual. We tucked him in under the covers then gave him a kiss on the forehead. We said good night but Nicky didn't speak until we headed for the door. "Daddy, would you read me a little more of that book from last night?" he asked. "Sure son, I'd be happy to," I replied. Cam decided to join us so we sat on the bed together and I read the next chapter of the Reb and the Redcoats. As before Nicky was sound asleep by the time I'd finished. Nicky slept well that night and Sunday morning I woke up to soft sunlight filling the room. It was a little early and Nicky was still sound asleep when I looked in on him. I headed down to the kitchen and flipped on the coffee then sat down to read the paper. After a while, I got the urge to make breakfast, that did the trick, Cam and Nicky both came down to join me for eggs, bacon and my specialty fried potatoes. We spent the morning sharing what information we had about Nicky's new school. I explained that I would be enrolling him in the morning and then picking him up before 5:30. The school had an excellent afternoon program, when the kids got out at 3:00, those with working parents would go to the library for study hall run by a teacher and some seniors from the high school who would help the kids with their homework or supervise them while they played. At first Nicky thought that was an awful long time to be at school but when I explained that he'd get his homework done and have more free time to play when he got home, he cheered up. I took Nicky out to get a haircut while Cam stayed behind to put together his bike. Nicky liked his hair trimmed short and neat, it was a good look for him. After that I stopped by my office, to leave a note for my secretary, that I'd be a little late Monday morning and to advise any of my students who might stop by to simply wait or make an appointment for later that afternoon. I gave Nicky a brief tour of the campus, which seemed to impress him, than we headed home. The bike was a little more complicated then Cam had expected and it probably hadn't helped that I'd accidently thrown out the English directions. It had taken Cam some time to find them so he was still working when we got home. Nicky didn't mind, he could wait to ride his bike, in the mean time he talked me into playing catch with him in the front yard. Needless to say, he wasn't dazzled by my skills. "Daddy, you need lots of practice," he commented. Cam finally got the bike finished so Nicky grabbed his helmet and took it on a test run, up and down our block. Cam waited until he was out of site before punching me in the arm. "Ouch, what the hell was that all about?" I asked, rubbing my bicep. "For throwing out the instructions," Cam smiled. "Hey, it's not my fault you couldn't read the German version." Cam rolled his eyes and put his arm around my shoulder. We watched Nicky race up and down the street for a while, I know he's 10 but he didn't know the neighborhood yet and we thought it best to let him get used to the area before we let him go too far. We started to get a little worried when his latest run up the street seemed to be taking a lot longer than the others. Before we could panic, Nicky rode into the driveway with a boy I recognized from our block. "Hey guys, this is Josh, he lives up the street," Nicky informed us, "can I go play at his house?" "Well let's see. Josh, are your parents home and do they mind if you have company?" Cam asked. "Yeah, they're home and I asked them if Nicky could come over before we came down here," Josh chirped. Evidently Josh had been bored and when he saw Nicky ridding up and down the street he decided to join him. That was all it took for them to start up a friendship. "Ok you may go but be good, listen to Josh's parents and make sure you come home before 5 so you can have dinner," I informed Nicky. With that, the boys were off, dashing back to Josh's house. "Thanks dad, thanks daddy," Nicky called over his shoulder as he scampered away. True to his word Nicky was home at 5, just in time to join us for dinner. He ate heartily and talked non-stop about his afternoon with Josh, the pair had evidently hit it off. I was glad that Nicky had made a friend so quickly, at least now he'll have a friendly face when he goes to school tomorrow. Because this was a school night we set Nicky's bedtime at 9:30, he wasn't thrilled about it but he didn't give us any trouble when that time rolled around. Apparently the supervision at the group home he'd been in wasn't that great and Nicky had been allowed to stay up with the older boys as long as he wanted. Cam and I firmly believed that a growing boy needed plenty of rest so we were fairly strict about bedtime. I read Nicky another chapter of his book but this time he was still awake when I'd finished. Cam and I kissed him good night then closed the door. He only got up once around 10:30 so he could get a drink of water but all was quiet after that. Cam looked in on him when we went to bed at 11 and informed me that our little man was sleeping peacefully. The next morning was hectic, Cam and I had to get ready for work and get Nicky ready for school. Nicky was a little groggy at first but perked up once he had his shower and got dressed. I made him breakfast while Cam finished shaving. After downing his toast and cereal, Nicky waited for me to finish my morning routine and then we were out the door. He held my hand as we walked up to the school and got a little quiet, I think his nerves were starting to act up a bit. I signed all of the appropriate paperwork and then Nicky was lead to his class, I kissed home on top of his head before he left and he blushed, apparently he didn't like the mushy stuff in front of the ladies in the office. Once he had gone, I made sure he was signed up for the after school program and shared some information about Nicky's past with the vice principal. I didn't expect any problems but if something should happen to upset Nicky, I wanted to be called right away. Once I'd dropped Nicky off I had to get back to the real world of being a university professor. When I got to my office I had students waiting to talk about the papers they'd handed in the week before. I felt like Indiana Jones, you know the scene in the movie where his students are bombarding him with questions and he snuck out the window, I could relate. I snapped myself out of my daydream and knuckled down to meet with my students. After my morning office hours I had two lectures in the afternoon and my mind kept wondering to thoughts of Nicky. I hoped he was having a good day at school and I couldn't wait to see him this evening. Cam was feeling the separation anxiety too; he called me on his lunch break to ask me how things had gone at enrollment and to tell me that he was also thinking about Nicky. When 5 o'clock rolled around I jumped in my car and sped out of the parking lot, I had to watch my speed, I was in a hurry to get to the school. When I pulled into the lot I saw Nicky out front tossing a football around with some other boys, one I recognized as Josh. I sat back against the trunk of my car and watched the boys play, waiting for Nicky to notice that I'd arrived. When he spotted me he ran over and hugged me in front of his new friends. The other boys followed him over and when he released me Nicky introduced us. "Daddy this is Robbie and Sam and you met Josh yesterday," said Nicky. "Hi Dr. Clark," Josh waved. "Hello Josh, boys, it's nice to meet you," I greeted. "They're all in my class, daddy, isn't that great?" Nicky beamed. "Yeah Nicky, that's wonderful," I agreed, "Josh do you stay late every day? "Yeah, my mom and dad don't get off until 5 and they don't like me to stay home by myself so I wait here until they pick me up," Josh explained. "Ok, give this to your mom," I said, handing him my card and writing our home number on the back, "tell her that if she'd like we can set up a carpool, one week I'll pick you and Nicky up and she can do it the next, if she'd like." Josh agreed to talk to his mom and Nicky and I made our way home. We had to stop at the grocery store first to pick up a few things and we made it home just as Cam was pulling into the driveway. Nicky ran over to give Cam a hug; Cam picked him up and carried him in while I brought in the groceries we'd purchased. Tonight was Cam's turn to make dinner and as we enjoyed our salad and roasted chicken, Nicky told us all about his day. He had been happy to discover Josh was in his class and Josh had introduced him to his friends. Nicky hit it off with the boys, I think the charm he works on adults must work on kids as well. After dinner I had Nicky show me his homework, he said he'd had the teacher who supervised his after school program review it but showed me everything anyway. I explained that it wasn't that I didn't trust him but as a teacher myself, I wanted to make sure he was getting a good education. That answer seemed to suffice. His work looked fine and after I'd examined it we settled in on the couch. I read through more student papers, Cam had procedure notes to go over for the next day and that left Nicky in charge of the remote control. We looked up from our work periodically to make sure the things he was watching were appropriate and to talk to him a bit so he didn't feel like we were ignoring him. He told us he understood that we had to work, that sometimes his parents had had to bring work home too. At 8:30 I tucked my papers back into my briefcase and got us all a small bowl of ice cream. Cam and I settled in to watch the next couple of shows with Nicky and at 9:30 Cam announced it was time for bed. Nicky didn't give us any static tonight, he put on his pajamas and climbed into bed, I read him another chapter of his book and when we kissed him good night he was ready to get some sleep. That became our routine over the next several weeks. We'd go to work, Nicky would go to school and I'd pick him up on my way home. He continued to do well in school and made friends rapidly. He often went to play with Josh while we got dinner ready or had Josh over at our house. Cam and I took up bike riding and going for walks with Nicky after dinner on nights when we didn't have paperwork. He seemed to know all the neighbors, or more importantly their pets. There wasn't a dog or cat on our block that he hadn't made the acquaintance of. On weekends we'd run errands or go out for a little fun and our house became the center for the neighborhood boys as Nicky was never short of playmates. Cam and I were pleased that our boy seemed to grow happier with each passing day. Fall was winding down and as the weather turned cold. Nicky surprised us with another little friend that he had made. One Friday night in mid November I woke up sometime around midnight. I could have sworn I'd heard a noise but as I lay there I couldn't figure out what it was. I started to think it was just a tree branch scrapping the roof when I heard it again. I got out of bed and walked down the hall, following the sound. It seemed to be coming from downstairs and when I reached the foyer the sound seemed strongest when I walked by the door. I opened the door and to my surprise there was a small dog sitting on our front step, she had been scratching at the door but once I'd opened it she sat there and looked at me. She was a cute little dog, and appeared to be a pug. She had a chubby, light colored body, curly tail, black ears and a black face with a scrunched up nose. I opened the door wider so I could step out and see if she had a collar but she had other plans and walked into the house. Once she was inside she turned and sat down again. She was staring at me as if she was waiting for me to shut the door. Ok, I'll play along I thought to myself. I shut the door and as soon as she heard the lock click in the deadbolt she trotted up the stairs. I followed close behind and she came to a stop outside Nicky's door. She sat down again and looked at me as if to say open the door. When I complied and opened the door she jumped on Nicky's bed and started licking his face. It took him a moment to wake up and realize what was going on. "Debbie, how did you get in here?" he said between giggles. That's when I flipped on the light switch. "I take it this isn't the first time she's paid you a visit?" I asked. "Uh-oh," Nicky gulped. I made my way over to his bed; "Debbie" had already maneuvered her way under his blankets. I sat down to have a chat about Nicky's new friend. "Care to tell me what's going on?" I inquired. "Uh, well, this is Debbie," he informed me, "I met her the other day when I was coming home from Josh's house. I stopped to pet her and she followed me home. When I went to bed that night I heard barking and when I looked out my window I saw her sitting out in our yard so I went downstairs and when I opened the door she came in. I figured she was hungry so I gave her one of the left over hamburgers dad made that night but when she was finished it started raining and well I just couldn't make her go back outside so I let her sleep in my room." Well, that explained were all the leftovers had been disappearing to. "Why didn't you tell us about this?" I asked. "I was going to but then I thought maybe you wouldn't let me keep her and I just love her so much I didn't want to have to give her up," he answered, "are you mad?" "No I'm not mad but in the future you need to come to me or dad and tell us about this stuff," I said. Nicky looked relieved but I knew he wasn't going to like what I had to say next. "I don't however; think we're going to be able to keep her." "But daddy," Nicky whined. "I know you like her sweetie but chances are she belongs to someone else," I said as gently as I could, "she looks to be a purebred and that means someone paid a lot of money for her, I'm sure they're going to want her back." "But she doesn't have a collar," Nicky informed me, "and I haven't seen any posters around the neighborhood." It was late and I was tired so I decided not to argue the finer points. "Listen, it's late and you should be asleep so I'll tell you what. I'll let Debbie stay in here with you tonight and we'll talk about this in the morning, ok? Nicky agreed and I tucked him back under the covers. I leaned in to give him a kiss and as I was doing that Debbie stuck her head out from under the blanket and licked my hand before ducking back into the warmth below. "What was that all about," Cam asked, in a sleepy haze, once I'd climbed back into bed. I explained my discovery to him and he went back to sleep. "Ok Hun, that's nice," he said before nodding off. In the morning I came downstairs and found Cam making breakfast. I sat down to have a cup of coffee and then Nicky showed up with Debbie in tow. "Who's this?" Cam asked as he came over to join us. "It's Debbie," Nicky announced. "Remember, the little surprise I discovered while you were snoring?" I reminded him. "Oh, right," Cam muttered, "Debbie huh? Where on Earth did you get that name?" "I don't know, she just looked like a Debbie to me," Nicky answered matter-o-factly. I couldn't help but notice what a well behaved dog Debbie seemed to be. While we were having our family discussion she simply laid at Nicky's feet. Most dogs would be begging for the food that was cooking on the stove but Debbie didn't even beg when breakfast was on the table. I was sure this had to be someone's missing pet. Cam and I decided that Debbie could stay with us for the time being but that Nicky would have to make up a poster announcing the dog he had found and place them around the neighborhood. If no one claimed her then he could keep her. He wasn't completely satisfied but he understood that if he had lost his dog and someone found her, he would want her back, so he didn't complain too much. Over the next two weeks Nicky and Debbie got closer. He was great with that dog, I never had to ask him to feed her or clean up after her and he always took her for walks. Debbie loved to chase Nicky and his friends around the yard, much to their delight and every night she was curled up under Nicky's covers snoring worse than Cam. By Thanksgiving no one had claimed her so it seemed that our new son had a new dog. Nicky was thrilled at our decision to let him keep his pet, we even let him take her with us up to the Berkshires where we celebrated the holiday with our family, at Cam's parents cabin. The past several weeks have flown by and Cam and I are eagerly waiting to see what the New Year has to offer.