Changes and Chance
Prologue:
*****Past*****
Sharon Kammer got married when she was very young. Some, well most, people would say that she got married too young… and she would not be able to disagree with those people. She married Gerald Padalecki when she was just nineteen years old, blinded by the man’s charm and status in their town.
Gerald was ten years older than she was, and a man of the world. Gerald was a very successful businessman, and knew the way to a woman’s heart. Sherri thought she had struck gold with the wealthy man that pursued her relentlessly. She was a very beautiful young woman, and she knew it, it was something that had attracted Gerald right away. Their courting had been fast and passionate. He bought her everything her heart desired… anything she could wish for he would make sure that she’d get it, spare no expense.
Back in those days’ people didn’t frown upon young people getting married. Nineteen was seen as a perfect age to settle down and start making a life for yourself… luckily, young women these days’ know better than to fall for the first pretty face that comes along. Sherri’s parents approved of Gerald, but what parent would complain when their daughter hooks a man with the looks and wealth of Gerald Padalecki. All parents hope for a son in law that can take care of their little girl.
The wedding was a fairy tale. There were white satin drapes, and people dressed their best to impress the bride and groom. Sherri had a blindingly beautiful dress made, and when she walked down the aisle (staring into the loving eyes of her husband-to-be) she felt like she could take on the world, like this was heaven on earth.
And then her world came crashing down.
Gerald wasn’t who he made himself out to be, as soon as the wedding bells stilled he whisked her off to Los Angeles where his business was located. He didn’t care that he took her away from everything she loved… her parents and the house she grew up in… her friends and family… and that little town where she was loved and wanted.
That’s when the tingling feeling in the pit of her stomach turned heavy and sour. The pink haze in front of her eyes turned black and thick, and she felt like she couldn’t breathe. The smiles turned to tears, and the white faded to black as the days started to blur. Gerald turned out to be a monster of a man. A man who expected his wife to be the perfect trophy, to behave as he wanted her to behave, and not have a mind of her own. When she dared to think for herself he’d make sure she was sorry she ever did.
During the second year of marriage they welcomed their first baby, a son they named Jeffrey and Sherri was on cloud nine with her bounding baby boy. The bliss was short lived as Gerald hired a strict governess to take care of the baby… stating that Sherri would just raise him to be weak and soft, and he needed a strong heir to take over business when he wanted to retire. Life started to become a chore. An assignment that she wasn’t sure she was able to pass. She felt as if there was no reason to stay until the little home test turned blue again.
Another boy… but this time was different; Jared Tristan Padalecki was born three weeks premature. He was weak and sick when he came out of her womb and into the world. Jared had to be placed in a monitoring ward, and Sherri was kept in the hospital for observation. She expected Gerald to swoop in and take her child like he did before… but this time he left the baby to her.
His reasoning was that the baby was weak, and didn’t have the Padalecki mentality. He wasn’t as strong and smart as his older brother.
Sherri looked at her son… those slanted eyes looked up at her full of love and trust, that wide toothless smile all for her and she fell in love for the second time in her life.
After Jared there was another baby, a little girl they named Megan. And as Gerald had done with Jeff, this baby (who was strong enough for her husband to be called a Padalecki) was taken from her mere days after the girl was born. She had felt like she should have fought for her baby. The girl she had always wanted, but when chubby fingers closed around her arms and wide hazel eyes had gazed up at her all was well in the world.
Her son was the light in her life; she played with him, cared for him, and helped him with his schoolwork as he got older. Jared was a bright little boy, and she felt loved by him… while Gerald ignored the boy, and chose to spend all his time with Jeff and Megan.
It was hard on little Jared and he did everything he could to win his father’s love, not knowing the man had no love to give. Then one fateful evening she got into a fight with her husband… she could have stopped the fight if she hadn’t confronted Gerald on his behavior towards Jared. She could have kept her mouth shut, and then she wouldn’t have fallen down those marble steps.
Clumsy, they called her, doctors telling her she should be lucky to be alive- lucky that her husband was there and saw it all happen so he could call an ambulance. People gathered around her bed and did tests on her. Various samples of blood were taken and numerous specialists looked at her chart- if only she hadn’t been so clumsy.
That moment her freedom got even more restricted, not only did she have a husband watching every move she made, now she was bound to elevators and ramps in a steel contraption that was called a wheelchair. Paralyzed from the waist down, she had always felt pity for people in wheelchairs because it seemed they had to give up such a large part of their lives… but sitting in that chair herself was different… but then again- she didn’t have much of a life to begin with.
A few years later came the worst day of her life. (Which was strange if you looked at it… she was married to a controlling maniac, and was paralyzed for life, one would think it couldn’t get any worse, but it could.)
Packed bags stood next to the front door. They were filled with clothes and shoes, books and knickknacks that would be shipped around the globe to England. He was leaving her, the only person in the world who loved her… who she loved more than anything had chosen to go to school abroad.
Cambridge was supposed to be an amazing institute and Jared was sure to flourish there. And maybe she was selfish, but she just wanted to grasp him by his pant leg and beg him not to leave her though she knew it would be futile.
Gerald made the decision for her… HE had shown her the admission papers, and destroyed her world…
That’s when that call came in; a steady voice telling her that her husband had died from a heart attack. She felt like snorting, and informing the doctor that it was impossible since her husband didn’t have a heart, but the next couple of days she was visited by doctors and lawyers all stating the same thing… Her husband had died and since the egotistical son of a bitch had never bothered to make a will- his entire fortune went to her.
Sherri had made sure that a significant amount was deposited in Jeff’s, Megan’s and Jared’s account. She saw Jeff and Megan at the funeral, both of them silent and awkward as neither knew what to say to their own mother. Sherri didn’t mind. Her children had been estranged from her for quite some time and she had gotten used to it.
The hospital sent a nurse over every day to take care of her and the maid kept coming twice a week (a maid Gerald had hired) and one day she just got sick of it! Sick of sitting around moping, while she had a beautiful house, and enough money to live comfortably.
She fired all the members of the staff and placed ads in the local papers, she wanted to be surrounded by fresh faces. By people who would accept her for who she was and not for who she once had been. Everything changed though when a young man with vibrant green eyes walked into her living room, green eyes that were haunted just like hers and she had felt an instant connection to him and hired him on the spot.
The man had been hesitant and suspicious, and the first of four wounded birds she had taken in… Jensen, the green eyed young man that had been kicked from his home by his parents. Who had no one on this world to love and no one to love him. Sherri was determined to correct that mistake.
Then a few months later Mellany had walked through the door, a scared little girl who hid her fear behind a bravado of tattoos and piercing and brightly colored hair. Last but not least, Steve and Chris, two men who were the exact opposite of each other.
Steve cheerful, open, and willing to put his fair in her hands…
…and his partner (Chris) a man with longer hair- a scar on his lip- and dark eyes that mirrored the pain of a hard life, but looked at his partner with such a fondness. She hadn’t been able to send them away. This is how their little family came to be, servants in a mansion of an eccentric lady, servants who were treated more like family than anything else and slowly they grew closer and grew together. Slowly souls healed as did wounds, tattoos settled and faded as new ones were added, hair grew and got cut and days went on and on- but the sun shone brightly in the house, and for the first time in a long time Sherri felt like everything would be okay.
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On March 1st in 1987, Donna Ackles lay in the maternity ward. Her newly born baby boy lay sheltered in her arms as she smiled down at him. Jensen Ross Ackles was born at 03:17am, in the dark hours of the very early morning. It was a hard labor for the woman, but the gratification and pride she felt as she looked into those beautiful eyes was well worth all the pain and trouble she had to live through to get there. Her hand cupped the back of his head, the light peach fuzz tickling her hand. Her baby was the most perfect thing in the entire word. Two feet to her left stood a chair, and in that chair sat her husband. Alan Ackles. His large hand rested on the tummy of their new born and his head rested on her thigh. He was sound asleep.
Getting pregnant had been quite the ordeal for them. After three miscarriages she and Alan were about to give up. Yes, they wanted a baby more than anything in the world… but every time the stick turned pink only to lose the baby… a part of Donna had died. When the stick had turned pink this time she prepared for another failure, another heartbreak.
The first few weeks she didn’t even tell Alan that she was pregnant again… not wanting to see the unveiled pain in her husband’s eyes when she had to tell him they lost another child. This time it was different. The first month went by and she was still pregnant, and then the second one. When she completed her first trimester that was when she allowed herself to start hoping again, start praying again. Alan went over the moon when she told him, and as the days turned into weeks… and the weeks turned into months… her stomach grew round and thick with their child.
Alan started to paint the nursery… yellow- Donna told him she wanted it to be yellow because this child would be their sun, their reason for living. Against all the previous odds she completed her second trimester and they were over the moon. The nursery was being filled with stuffed animals, toys, and all the good stuff little babies needed. Throughout her pregnancy Donna kept a little piece in the back of her mind prepared for heartbreak… right up until that day. The day that marked the viability of a baby, that day scientists learned that- even though it would be too early, a baby could survive. She cried on that day, cried so hard for all the lost lives she carried within, knowing that all the love she felt for those lost babies had been saved up, and now this little life inside her… this little miracle was going to get all the love she had to give.
When the contractions set in, there was a moment of panic… each time she’d lost a baby came back to her- but then she remembered that it was only mere days from her due date. Alan drove to the hospital… Some people gave birth in their own home, but they had known too much death to even risk it. They wanted doctors and nurses standing by should things go less than perfect.
Fear coursed through her veins as she lay in the hospital bed, the pristine white sheets soiled. Nurses and doctor’s screamed at her, the sounds of their voices dull in her clouded mind as she felt her body contract. Alan’s large hand was gripping hers, their fingers laced as he whispered words of love and encouragement in her ear. Hours and hours later a small bundle was pressed into her arms and she had gazed up at the doctors, confused and dazed.
“Your baby, Mrs. Ackles” The nurse had told her. “You have a beautiful and healthy baby boy.” In her twenty seven years of life those were the most beautiful words she ever heard. Her gaze drew down, and she had looked at the baby in her arms. He had her eyes. Her baby was going to change the world. She only had to look in those green eyes to know it. He was going to be perfect and she cried silently, proudly and lovingly as Jensen smiled up at her, big and toothless. Life after that couldn’t be any better. A couple of days later she got to take her baby home and suddenly the house wasn’t empty any more.
Jensen was a delightful baby. Yes, he cried and threw fits like all babies do and she loved every second of it. Never in her life had she thought she’d be grateful to be woken up in the middle of the night by a blaring baby, but… she was- and each time she happily got up out of bed to console the infant. The first word Jensen ever said was ‘Mama’. Though Alan insisted it was just a mumble Donna wasn’t fooled, the baby said ‘mama’ and it was the second best day of her life.
With crawling came new opportunities and fears. Donna grew eyes in the back of her head, and real plants that needed dirt were outlawed in their household seeing as Jensen would put anything he found into his mouth. He was a very happy toddler, and Donna just loved to watch him. What she loved even more was to watch him and Alan together. Her husband worked full days but when he got home the first thing he did was kiss her cheek and then lift Jensen up into his arms. They were inseparable.
Jensen’s first steps were to his father. Alan got home and Jensen was standing up with a little help from the coffee table but when his daddy walked through the door the toddler had let go of the wooden table and had taken a couple of wobbly steps towards his father before falling down onto his backside. His parents never saw the falling down part, all they saw was their baby boy taking his first steps. Donna saved all the mile markers. Jensen’s brass baby booties, his first change of tooth, and the bib he didn’t need any longer, all the one-pieces he used to wear… He grew like weed and it seemed she spent all her weekends shopping for new clothes. The booties turning into real shoes, and the baby suits turning into tiny jeans and shirts. She loved every second of it.
One of the hardest days in her life was the day Jensen went to pre-school for the first time. Up until then, she’d rarely let him out of her sight- and now he was going to be away for hours at a time? Such was life. The fuzz on his head had grown into soft blond locks that slowly got darker with age. The pale green eyes darkened into a vibrant green almost overnight and freckles started to appear on sun-kissed skin. Pre-school turned into real school, and Jensen just kept on growing.
He enjoyed playing with his newly discovered friends and Donna always joined the other mothers at the playgrounds as they watched their children play to their hearts content. Jensen was a very happy child, Donna and Alan made sure of that. They gave him everything he could ever want- and all the love he would ever need.
After Jensen, Donna tried a few more times to get pregnant… but it just wasn’t working. One morning she looked at her six year old boy… and realized that she and Alan needed to stop trying. Jensen was all they would ever need, and he was more than they had ever dreamed of. There was no sadness or loss from brothers or sisters he would never have. Donna watched each day as her little baby turned into a boy, turned into a pre-teen, and slowly started to turn into the man he would become.
Jensen was good at sports… each Saturday Alan would take him to the park where they would join other fathers and sons to play a game of friendly football.
When Jensen was thirteen he got his first girlfriend. Her name was Willa; she had long blond hair and friendly brown eyes. Donna knew her well because Jensen had been playing with her since he was nine. Willa always joined Jensen and his friends in the wild games they would play. She always kept up with the boys. Donna suspected that was what Jensen liked about her, that she was one of the boys.
When Jensen told his mother- Donna warned him not to suddenly start ignoring his other friends in favor of a girl. Jensen’s best friend was a boy named Kyle. Kyle was Jensen’s age, had dark brown, spiky hair and lived practically next door to them. Every waking hour they spent together. Kyle was there when Jensen and Willa broke up. He was there when Jensen fell down the stairs at school and broke his arm. He was the first to sign Jensen’s cast.
After Willa, there had been no more girlfriends. Jensen was only fifteen! He had other things to think about then girls! Boys at that age only thought about sports, cars and other ‘manly’ things. It was no surprise Jensen spent all his time with Kyle, playing outdoors and when the weather was bad they played video games in Jensen’s room. Donna wasn’t worried. Jensen’s sixteenth birthday was a milestone. The first day of the rest of his life, her baby boy was well on his way of becoming a man. That day they celebrated with a huge cake and lots of presents. A new bike from Alan and her, a new gaming devise from his grandparents, and a beautiful friendship bracelet from Kyle. Donna was too happy and unknowing to see that this day was also the beginning of the end.
School, sports, friends, Jensen was doing well at all departments. After he turned sixteen he got a job at his father’s garage, and he’d told his mother he was going to be saving up for a car. He was the type of son every parent would be proud to have... They loved him more than anything, or so they said. Shortly after Jensen’s seventeenth birthday it all went to hell.
They celebrated with the entire family, and afterwards Kyle took Jensen camping as a present. She should have known… should have seen it coming… but what mother would suspect. It wasn’t a day one would soon forget. Donna and Alan were watching TV in the living room when Jensen appeared in the doorway. He’d been scuffing at the floor with the toe of his boot and asked if they had time to talk to him... neither parent had any idea what it could be about, bad grades, girl trouble. Neither was prepared for the next words that came out of Jensen’s mouth.
Gay. Her perfect baby boy was telling them that he preferred men to women. That he had a boyfriend, that he’d been dating Kyle for over a year now. It was more than a mother should ever have to hear. She watched in a haze as Alan slapped Jensen in the face, and told him he was wrong. Told him that he was confused… and that he just needed to hang out with girls more… and that Kyle was corrupting him. Those were wrong words to say to a teenager, rebellious by age and hormones.
The screaming match that followed only stuck to her by half. She begged and pleaded for him to think this over, that the priest at their church would be happy to lead him back onto the path to heaven. The next thing she knew was Jensen storming out of his childhood home with a backpack on his shoulder- his father screaming at him to never show his face again. She stood with tears in her eyes as her life walked away. The miracle she’d waited for her entire life was a lie… it wasn’t prefect and good… it was wrong and flawed. She doesn’t know any better.
With what he had in his backpack… and a couple hundred dollars to his name… Jensen started to hitchhike. Dark road and even darker men taking him further and further away from everything he loved. A few weeks later, and thousands of miles from home, his money ran out. The clothes on his back were worn and tattered and he had no place to stay. Jensen was roaming the streets for days, looking for odd jobs to provide money to keep him alive. It was raining slightly when a car pulled up beside him. The window rolled down and a man peeked his head out. “Hey Kid, what do you charge?” Jensen might be young but he was no fool, he knew what the man wanted. He gave the man a foul look and told him to fuck the hell off.
Food got harder to buy and the days were getting colder and colder. Jensen was starting to look too skinny to be healthy, and the next car that pulled up, the next man that rolled the window down and made him the offer… he took it.
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When Mellany was three years old her life was perfect. She had a loving mother and a father who doted on her. They lived in a nice home somewhere in the suburbs. A large yard, white picket fence and a swing set in the garden. Two large dogs named Wally and Doug were her two faithful companions when she went exploring amongst the weeds.
Mellany's mother, Vivian, was a stay at home mom… since she had Mellany she didn’t have a job. Mellany's father, Ronald, worked at an advertising agency and she couldn't think of a time where she didn’t have everything she needed. Mellany had long blond hair, vivid blue eyes, and a tiny mole above her right brow. She was skinny and athletic because she loved being outside climbing on things she really shouldn't.
At the age of six Mellany lost her father. He was out playing pool with a bunch of his buddies when fate took a lethal blow. He was the designated driver to bring the others home… and where their group had taken that precaution another man had not. There was a head on collision on one of the crossroads.
The car with Mellany's father had been hit dead on, killing the two in the front seats and severely injuring the others. The drunk driver of the other car was uninjured aside from a few bruises. The day Mellany lost her father was the hardest day of her life. Not only did she lose a loving parent, the death of her father had been hard in her mother. Vivian has not worked since she had Mellany, and now all of a sudden she was a single mom with a little kid on her hips.
The funeral had to be arranged- and Vivian needed to find a new job. Since they couldn't afford the house without Ronald's job… they were forced to move. From their beautiful house in the suburbs… they moved to a house twice as small- in a neighborhood three times as bad as their old one. The house didn't have a yard to speak of- so Vivian told Mellany they had to get rid of the dogs. It broke little Mellany's heart to have to give up the dogs, but momma said she wouldn't want the dogs to be sad, did she. With their new owners they would have lots of space. The little girl not realizing that a pound was a far cry from a real home, yard or not. Life went on, though it was so much harder without a father, life went on. Mellany was enrolled into school while her mother worked at the local super market.
When Melly was eight years old her mother met a man. His name was Leon, and he worked in construction. Leon was a slightly overweight man who smelled funny and had bad teeth, Mellany didn't like him one bit. What Mellany thought didn't seem to matter though, her mother just kept seeing him. Over the years Leon practically moved in with them, and after three years of dating her mother he asked Vivian to marry her. She said yes.
Mellany got to be the bridesmaid for her mother. She was given a pretty white dress and bows and flowers were braided into her hair. Vivian wore a lovely white gown that was a gift from Leon. All the members of her family were there; except for the one she was missing the most, her daddy.
After Vivian married Leon- it gradually started to get worse… Leon acted like he could rule over Mellany, told her what to do and what not to do. When Mellany refused to call him 'daddy' he slapped her in the face. That was the last time she tried to deny him. Her mother didn't seem to be any the wiser. She thought her little family was perfect, and that Leon was the perfect husband. He was far from.
When Mellany was twelve Leon touched her for the first time. He placed his hand on her bare knee and slid it upwards. She'd screamed out and ran away from him. When her mother got home she'd crawled into Vivian's lap and told her what had happened.
She didn't know what made her mother react the way she did- but she pushed Mellany off her lap! And told her not to tell lies… Vivian told her she shouldn't be jealous of Leon because she would always love her little girl, but there was no excuse for making up lies.
It stopped after that. Leon kept away from her and didn't touch her. Looking back he was probably waiting for the mood to calm down before giving it another try. When Melly reached the age of fourteen Leon tried again. This time Mellany was too scared and too ashamed to tell anyone, she couldn't tell her mother because she wouldn't believe her.
It started with just over the clothes touching but as time went by Leon got bolder and more aggressive. By the time she was sixteen she'd lost all the innocence she once had. The happy little girl had been completely destroyed, and in her place was a sad, angry young woman who hated the world for the cards she'd been dealt.
At the age of seventeen she made a last attempt of telling her mother the truth. It was no surprise that Vivian didn't believe her, or didn't want to believe her. Three days later she ran away, a one way ticket to Los Angeles. There were not a lot of things that a seventeen year old girl could do to survive on the street.
She'd thought of resorting to prostitution, but at the first try she freaked out- and kicked the john in the balls. After that, every man just took the face of Leon… and she knew she wouldn't be able to come close to a man again. She wandered the streets looking for something she could do; when a flickering neon sign caught her attention. Mellany walked into the store and her eyes widened in wonder, as she looked around.
There was a woman in the store… her skin colored with hundreds of drawings. Intricate designs, and Mellany had been fascinated. The woman, Devon, recognized a person in need- and though Mellany didn't understand why, Devon gave her a home and a job. Mellany took Devon up on her offer, knowing it was the best she'd get. She spent weeks after that cleaning floors, tools, and rags.
A couple of weeks after that she saved up some money and sat down in Devon's chair for the first time. The second the needle had hit her skin all her other pain and nightmares had vanished into this air. The soothing buzz of the needle in her ears… and Devon's soft humming joining in when the woman set to work.
Hours later there was a dark snake wound around her neck, its mouth wide open, fangs visible right above her breasts. Her protector…. It was the first of many.
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It was raining that day, and raining hard. The skies were black with thunder clouds and the trees were swaying in the hard wind. Little Christian Kane was looking out of his bedroom window. His dad, Ben, was downstairs working on an engine block on the kitchen table. If Chris’s mom would have still been alive she would’ve been livid with her husband. Marcia Kane died when Chris was eight; she died of pancreatic cancer after a long and painful struggle with the vicious disease.
His dad was devastated by the death of his wife… he loved her more than anything and each September 2nd, Marcia’s birthday, he would take Chris to the cemetery and they would place a large bush of red roses at her grave. They held on though… they loved each other, and Ben made sure his little boy had everything his heart desired. He was the last thing he had left of his late wife and he treated Chris like gold.
The house next door to them had been empty for almost three years, but about half a year ago construction workers started to renovate the place. That was what Chris was watching, a large moving van in front of the newly renovated house. New neighbors… It wasn’t an uncommon thing in their neighborhood, people moved in and out of it all the time. This family was different though; this family had a boy Chris’ age.
The boy was blond and was skinny as far as Chris could see through the rain pouring down. He was helping his parents and the movers carry their possessions into the house. Small things that his skinny arms could carry. There was a bolt of lightning and for a second Chris couldn’t see a thing. When visibility returned her looked down and saw the boy staring up at his room, he raised a hand and waived at Chris. There was nothing else to do but wave back.
The first time Chris officially met Steve was when Brenda, Steve’s mom, came to their door to offer cookies. She said she just wanted to introduce herself, and her family to their neighbors. Steve was wearing tan pants and a smart sweater, his blond hair carefully combed backwards. Chris thought he looked silly.
The next time they met was in the park. Chris was walking home and spotted Steve right before the other boy was cornered by three larger boys. They teased and pushed Steve until he fell to the ground… his once clean pants black with dirt. Chris walked over, and without thinking twice he kicked the largest boy in the balls, sending him to the ground with a painful cry. He extended his hand to Steve and pulled him off the ground while the other bullies made a run for it. That was the moment their friendship began.
From that moment on they were inseparable. They were in the same class, attended the same sports, and hung out outside of school all the time… sometimes driving their parents to near madness. It became apparent quickly to all the bullies that you didn’t mess with Steve. He might be skinny and small but he had Chris behind him, and even the older boys were a bit fearful of Chris. When Chris was thirteen he signed up for Karate lessons, and then the teasing stopped completely. No one wanted to mess with them now and they were fine with that.
Slowly but surely their friendship deepened until they were fifteen, and finally found out what those confusing feelings meant. Their first kiss had been under the bleachers at school. Chris smuggled in a joint, and both boys slightly high… Chris made the first move. He was scared shitless of what Steve would do, but he just tangled his fingers in Chris’s hair and pulled him back in for a second kiss.
When they told their parents they had been blown away by their acceptance. Brenda even telling them she thought it was about damn time that they should come out to them. Life was pretty good after that. Even though at school they found out, and no one would dare to piss off Chris Kane who, even though he was a little short, was packing muscles for a teen.
They graduated High School and went to community college together where they had an apartment. When Chris was twenty he lost his father to cardiac arrest. It was a big blow for the two young men, and for a while it didn’t seem they would be able to pull it back together. With Steve’s help Chris found the strength to not give up and make his father proud by getting his diploma.
They moved to New York after they graduated and Steve started working for a local restaurant- while Chris went to work at a local bar. The house they moved into was small… and in a slightly bad area of town, but it was clean, safe, and theirs. It didn’t take long for destiny to strike. They were living there for a couple of years when one night things got rough at the bar. A large man didn’t like it when Steve leaned over the bar to give Chris a kiss. He’d just gotten off work, and went to visit Chris at the bar… he never would have thought the greeting would lead to all that. The man made it known he didn’t like ‘faggots’ and he pushed Steve… hard. The blonde lost his footing and smashed his head against the countertop of the bar- blood gushing down his face. Head wounds were always less than they appeared to be, but it was enough to make Chris livid.
He went postal on the large man, landing punch after punch until the man wasn’t fighting back any longer. The cops showed up and pulled them apart. People attested to the fact that Chris had been acting in defense so he was let go since the other man only had some bruises and cuts, nothing that couldn’t be fixed.
Chris and Steve were both very surprised to find the cops on their doorstep the next morning. Even more so when they cuffed Chris, and took him to the station for questioning. The man from the night before, Dale, had been brutally murdered. After the fight Steve went home so Chris could close up the bar… leaving Chris without an alibi for over an hour. He still had bruised knuckles and Dale’s blood on the shirt he wore the other night.
Judge and jury had been quick to convict him, needing the conviction to stay credible. The last Chris saw before he was pulled off by the guards was Steve’s shocked blue eyes… then the doors closed.
Prison, everybody reads about it, talks about it but they never get the true feeling of what that place really is. Yes, there are gangs and murders and felons in there… but what’s the worst are the walls. The feeling of entrapment, of knowing that you can’t go anywhere they won’t let you.
The first time someone shanked him he thought he was going to die. His last conscious thought had been of Steve, of how he would never see the love of his life again. When he woke up in the infirmary ward with the knowledge he’d have to go back and stare at the walls… he wished he had died. Steve visited him once a week. He’d quit his job and started working at a diner close to the jail where Chris was… anything to be close to him. Chris knew he worried, and he wished Steve would just move on- the blonde refused.
One night his cellmate decided he was lonely. The man weighted two hundred pounds and was six foot three, no match for Chris. The next time Steve showed up Chris told him to fuck off… he didn’t want Steve anymore and he wanted him to leave- Steve refused.
Three years it lasted. Three years of fighting for his life, three years of staying off the radar of violent criminals. Three years of only seeing Steve through bulletproof glass… then the cops made a break in the case. The gun that was used in the murder of Dale, the gun they hadn’t been able to find before. The gun that the jury decided Chris got rid of… was found.
It was amazing, as fast as you could convict someone to prison... just as long it took to get someone out. Evidence was looked at, examined, and looked at again before Chris’ lawyer saw a chance and proved his client’s innocence. Three years since he could touch Steve, three horrible years of being closed in, encased in concrete walls with men you wouldn’t wish upon your worst enemy… and now he was free. The first thing Chris did was tell Steve to get lost. That he had cheated on him in prison because he was lonely and horny… Steve, the bastard that he was, saw right though the lies and that night Chris spent it in Steve’s arms… crying like a baby.
Now all they had to do was figure out what to do. Who would hire an ex con. One thing Chris knew for sure, he never wanted to be cooped up like that again, and he never wanted to see the dreary state of New York for the rest of his life. The next day Steve came home with two Greyhound tickets… two one-ways to Los Angeles.
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