Chapter 8
Chapter List
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July
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Greg laughed as Elijah squealed loudly. He was up on a horse with Nick for the first time and Nick had just urged the mare into a canter, surprising the little boy with the sudden jolt and speed.
"I haven't seen him that happy in a long time."
Greg turned at the whimsical voice and smiled as Jillian leaned against the railing he was sitting on. Her hair was twisted up into a bun at the top of her head, with curly wisps escaping to frame her face. Greg could tell by her clothes, well-worn jeans, a tucked in t-shirt, and the cowboy boots, that she must have been watching for her next 'client' and spotted him instead. "Really?" he asked.
Jillian nodded, her brown eyes following the horse, "Yeah. It's been a very long time."
Greg's eyes widened as she spoke. Her voice had the same quality tone to it that Nick's had whenever they talked about Elijah and babysitters. He still didn't want to bring it up with Nick, but he was beginning to wonder more about it and the way Jillian spoke, it was obvious she knew something.
He turned back and looked at the man he had fallen in love with, the gorgeous smile that dimpled as he laughed, the shining eyes that he couldn't see from his distance but yet knew they were, his face flushed from laughing along with Elijah.
He turned his head again to say something to Jillian but caught sight of Tasha coming off the back porch of the main house, wringing her hands. She walked briskly over to them, a worried look on her face, "Mama, your two o'clock lesson is here but we've got a problem."
Jillian turned to her daughter, "What's..."
"Nicky!"
Both of the Stokes womens eyes, as well as Greg's, whipped towards the house as a tall man with shoulder length blond hair stepped out onto the back porch. The man never noticed them staring at him. Instead, he focused on Nick, who was still out in the middle of the training corral either because he hadn't heard the man or because he had and was choosing to ignore him.
Jillian's hand went to the base of her throat, "Oh dear God. It's Thad."
"Mama, Noah made the appointment. He didn't know." Tasha said.
Greg watched as Thad walked over to the gate. The man was good looking. His hair, upon closer view, was flat ironed into submission and streaked with brown highlights. He was wearing a rather tight tank top as well as tight jeans, showing off a thin but sculpted body that made Greg feel like a twig, "Who is that?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"Thad Barker. He and Nick dated in college." Tasha replied as Jillian walked over to Thad.
Greg's eyebrows shot up, "That's one of Nick's ex's?"
Tasha nodded, "Yeah. He calls around every holiday, trying to get information on whether Nick is coming home or not. He got lucky this time." She then gave Greg a forced smile before walking off to join her mother.
The sound of hoof beats pulled Greg's attention from one of the dreaded 'ex's' and he turned back to the corral as Nick rode up to him, "Hey G. Did you see that? Eli steered the horse over here."
Greg smiled, forgetting about Thad for the moment, "That's awesome sproglet. Was it a fun ride?"
Elijah nodded, his face shining in happiness, "it fun! an i dwove!" He wiggled around a bit to look up at Nick, "did good?" he asked, in hopes of more approval.
Nick rubbed the top of Elijah's head, "You did good." He then looked at Greg, "I'm gunna take him to the stables, show him how to wipe down Lulu. Wanna come with?"
"Sure." Greg said. He hopped off the fence and accepted Elijah as he was handed down to him.
Nick climbed down from the saddle and gave Lulu a pat on the neck, "You didn't mind the little extra weight at all, did you girl?" He crooned. He laughed as the horse shook its head.
"nicky cawwy me!" Elijah stated, squirming to get back over to him.
"All right little man, just give me a second." Nick quickly fixed the reins so he could walk Lulu and then turned to Greg and Elijah.
Greg couldn't help but laugh as Elijah all but threw himself at Nick, "Well, look at it this way Nick. At least you know he likes you."
Elijah nodded and happily wrapped his arms around Nick's neck, "luv nicky."
Nick pressed a kiss to the top of Elijah's head, "Love you too, little man." He then looked at Greg and winked, "You too, big boy."
"Gee, that made me feel loved all right. Short stuff here's a man, but I'm only a boy?" Greg asked as he tugged on Elijah's hair to emphasize the short stuff comment.
"Only in the best of ways G." Nick said and started walking, leaving Greg to catch up to them.
Because Nick had come to a stop between Greg and the gate, Nick had yet to notice Thad's presence and Greg would bet the only reason he still hadn't, even though they were almost flush with the small group standing there, was because Elijah was prattling away and Nick was doing his best to decipher the rapid toddler talk.
Greg had then started praying that the two Stokes women would be able to keep Thad occupied long enough for them to get by without being spotted. It seemed to have been in vain, however, as Thad stopped nodding to whatever it was Jillian was saying and his attention suddenly honed in on Nick.
"Nicky!" Thad exclaimed, acting as if he hadn't even known Nick was ten feet away from him.
Nick came to an abrupt stop and reluctantly turned towards the gate. He handed the reins over to Tasha as she climbed over to take the horse away to avoid the confrontation. He then began running a soothing hand down Elijah's back as the toddler buried his face at the sight of yet another stranger, "Thad."
Greg shuddered at the ice dripping from Nick's voice and was surprised that Thad hadn't noticed. Instead his grin had widened, "Wow, it's been so long. Here I was, just comin' out for a lesson with your mama and suddenly there you are." the blond eyed Elijah with a look that had Greg's hackles rising, "You givin' lessons during your vacation? That is so sweet of you Nicky."
"I don't give lessons, Thad. You should know that." Greg saw Nick's arm tightening around his son and wondered if Nick had caught the look as well.
Thad's grin lost some of its vibrancy at that, "Oh, of course. What was I thinking." It was then that Thad's blue eyes made contact with Greg's and they widened in realization even as he smirked, "I see. Not your normal style Nicky, I must say." The blue eye's flickered back to Elijah, "Not your normal at all."
Greg clenched his teeth and rested his hand on Nick's back as it visibly stiffened. He was grateful that Nick was holding Elijah. Nick wasn't the violent type, usually, but Thad was pushing at all of Nick's buttons with expert precision.
Greg was dying to say something, but with Jillian standing there and Elijah hiding his face but certainly listening, he held his tongue. Not his way, but there were some things a little boy did not need to hear and the words cruising through his mind would certainly top that list.
"Well," Thad continued, "They certainly grow them pretty out there in Vegas." His eyes roved slowly over Greg and he had to fight to not hide behind Nick. It made him feel dirty.
"I'm not from Vegas, sweet cheeks. Sorry." Greg retorted, putting his hand on his hip. With the hand still on Nick's back, he could feel the small shudders which he took as Nick trying not to laugh. Well, that was a good thing.
Thad apparently wasn't expecting a comeback, no matter how lame of one it had actually been, and his eyes narrowed, "I take it the kid's yours. Pretty lucky of you to latch onto a hard workin' and sweet man like Nicky to help raise your kid."
Greg winced. That was, or rather had been, a soft spot for him until Nick had sorted him out. It still hurt now to think about and he was also really regretting that he was wearing the rattiest clothes out of all that he had brought. Thad was making him feel like a gold digger.
Nick suddenly grinned, a move that surprised everyone except Jillian, who just smiled softly, "Hate to tell ya Thad, but Greggo here makes more money than I do." His grin dropped and his eyes turned to steel, "I don't know what the hell you're trying to do, but it ain't workin'."
"I dunno, Nicky. Your boy toy here's lookin' pretty unsure of himself, so yeah, I think it is workin'." Thad laughed and looked at Jillian, "Mrs. Stokes. Always a pleasure." He then winked at Nick and turned around, heading towards the front of the house, hips swaying as he went. Jillian followed after him to make sure he actually left.
Nick looked at Greg and frowned in concern, "Greg..."
Greg shook his head and kissed Nick's cheek and then the top of Elijah's head, "I'm okay. That stung a bit, but I know you're not just in this because of Eli. Though I gotta say, I certainly wasn't expecting to meet any of your ex's on this trip."
Nick shrugged and opened the corral gate, "To tell you the truth? Neither was I."
-----
Greg dodged another kid in his attempt to make his away across the lawn. He was surrounded by kids of all ages, some of them the older eight of Nick's eleven nieces and nephews. Oddly enough, the one sibling who didn't have any kids hadn't been able make it, as she was in Africa at the moment working in an exchange program.
He finally made it to Nick and wrapped an arm around the slim waist, "You make me incredibly grateful to be an only child." He murmured, watching as the group of kids ran passed, waving sparklers in the air as they went.
Nick laughed, "You'll get used to it. Where's the rug rat?"
Greg looked over at the house, "Trying to coax that little one out to play. Who is she anyway?" He had been given a rundown of names, but he was having a fairly hard time placing faces. He would have thought that her name would have been easier to place. Her curly hair was black and glossy and her skin was the color of chocolate milk, making it obvious that she belonged to Sammy and Kieran James, Nick's sister and brother-in-law.
"Trixie." Nick said, he too looking over at the back porch, where Elijah was sitting next to the little girl and waving his arms in the air as she giggled at whatever he was saying, "She's gotta be even more shy then Eli if you can believe it. Sammy was sayin' that she was getting picked on at the pre-school she went to."
"What for?"
Nick couldn't help but smile. His boyfriend apparently had no concept of the word discrimination, "'Cause Sammy's white and Kieran's black. New York may have all walks of life but kids can still be cruel."
"Hmm." Greg pulled away from Nick and walked towards the porch. He stepped down into the little gully type patio and sat down in the chair next to Trixie, "Hi sweetheart."
Trixie shied away from him in a manner that was oddly reminiscent of Elijah. Elijah patted her arm and shook his head reassuringly. Or as reassuring as three-year-old could get, "dat daddy. daddy da bestest." He said, sending one of his largest grins towards his father.
Greg took in the protective way Elijah was wrapped around Trixie and the way he was quick to re-assure her of his presence. He wondered then if they were going to see Elijah's first major tantrum when it came time to separating them, "Nick was just telling me all about you so I had to come meet you. He told me that you went to pre-school?"
Trixie nodded, her black curls tumbling around her head from her pigtails, "uh huh. it otay. like pay'tin like unca nicky. moma gots some i copy all time!"
"Really? That sounds pretty cool."
"uh huh! moma says i be vury really good." She then held up her hand, showing Greg the pads of her fingers, "like fingur pay'tin da bestest. messy dough."
Greg laughed, "I bet. Maybe sometime this week you could show me just how good you are?"
Trixie nodded vigorously then glanced at Elijah, who was still beaming at them, seeming to be proud, "only if wiza don't mind, dough."
"no, no mind." Elijah squeezed Trixie around the shoulders and then laughed when she giggled.
Oh boy, why was he suddenly hearing wedding bells in his head? He shook it off and then stood up, "Okay you two. I'm going to go over by Nick, okay?" He started out of the gully and paused at the top of the step's, suddenly overcome with the urge to add, 'and be good.' to that. He shook his head again and went back over to Nick, who was now helping to light the second set of sparklers.
Nick glanced at him, "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, fine. Thinking about looking into getting long distance for the house phone, but fine."
Nick froze in confusion and then suddenly swore and shook his hand as the match he was holding burnt out at the tips of his fingers. He sucked on his fingers as he ushered the kid in front of him over to Noah before turning his full attention onto Greg, "That was a really ambiguous statement there, G."
"Yeah, are you okay?" Greg asked, grabbing Nick's hand to look at his finger tips.
"Fine. The flame went out just as it reached where I was holding the match. Now, what's goin' on?"
"Oh, that." He laughed, "I think my little boy grew up on me."
Nick's eyebrow's shot up, "He's three, Greg. How much growin' up are we talkin' about?"
Greg looked back at Elijah and Trixie, who were still talking away about who knows what, "Just the way Elijah was with Trixie. I've never seen that before. I think we're going to have a big problem when we leave."
"Why? How was he..." Nick looked over as well and saw the two kids holding hands, "Oh."
Sammy walked over then, a hand under the baby carrier slung over her chest that was holding a sleeping one-year-old, "You two see it also?" She asked, once she was close enough not to yell.
Nick nodded, "Yeah. Greg mentioned something about long distance for the phone."
Sammy nodded as well, sending her own brown curls tumbling over her shoulder, "Yeah, thought about that too. It's amazing though," She said, looking at her daughter, "I've never seen her open up that way. Not even with her own brother."
"It's going to be a long flight back to Vegas if he's crying the whole way." Greg added softly, reaching out to grab Nick's hand.
"So what do we do?" Sammy asked.
Both men shrugged, "What can we do? It's not like we can separate them." Nick replied and then paused before stating, "I wouldn't want to do that anyway."
Sammy bit her lip and glanced over at her husband before looking back at her brother and Greg, "I'm not supposed to say anything, 'cause nothings finalized yet, but Kieran's in the process of being promoted. If it goes through, we're gunna have to move." She said, voice just above a whisper.
"Move where?" Nick asked, eyes widening as he realized what might be coming. Even Greg felt the same way and it seemed like his heart leaped into his throat from just the idea of what may be coming.
"Shh." Sammy waved her hand, "Quiet lil' bro. Like I said, it's not finalized so I'm not supposed to be blabbing it about in case it does fall through. I'm just giving a maybe scenario here."
"Will you tell us already?" Nick hissed, getting impatient. It was like he was a kid all over again and it was as aggravating now as it was back then.
"It's Vegas. Kieran wasn't too sure about it but I told him to go for it since you're out there. He was first pick so the chances are good."
Greg felt as if all the worry melted off of him, "Damn." He muttered, then smiled, "If you need a place to stay..."
Sammy laughed, "Yeah, Nick told me about your house. I might take you up on that until we find a place. The only thing this promotion doesn't cover is housing, which is a damn shame."
-----
Greg laughed and clapped along with Elijah as the first firework of the evening went off. He had always loved fireworks and since this was the first year Elijah was old enough to enjoy them, his enjoyment rose even more at seeing the excitement on his sons face.
The boy had reluctantly agreed to take his lap, only because Trixie was on Nick's. She was still much more comfortable with her uncle than with Greg. Sammy had left her with them and Kieran as she had had to take baby Dakota inside prior to the start of the main show. Kieran was sitting next to them with Maddox, his son from his previous marriage.
Nick had been right about Kieran and Greg had instantly felt comfortable around the older man. He was also 'closer' to Sammy out of all of Nick's sisters. Although the other three that he had met were all nice, Sammy struck a chord with him the instant he had met her and knew he had found a friend for life, even if something happened between him and Nick.
"This is so cool." Greg whispered.
Nick caught it and turned to look at Greg, "The fireworks?"
Greg grinned, "That's a part of it. I haven't been to a show since I left San Fransisco because of sproglet. But I was also thinking about Sammy."
Kieran leaned around Nick, "You're not planning on running off with my wife, are you?"
"Nah, I wouldn't do that. I got my own Stokes to worry about. Don't need to add another." Greg said after he stopped laughing. He looked down as Elijah tugged on his shirt, "What's up, babe?"
"shhh." Elijah hissed, holding his finger to his mouth, "Wuinin fo' twixie." He said, frowning at Greg.
"Oh, sorry."
Elijah nodded and looked back up at the sky as another colorful display went off. Greg looked up at Nick with raised eyebrows, "I lost him." He whispered.
Nick could tell he was joking though and just rolled his eyes, "Right G."
-----
Nick ran his fingers along Greg's bare back, humming lightly under his breath. Greg couldn't take it anymore and raised his head from it's position on Nick's chest, "Will you stop it? It's vibrating down here."
Nick snickered, "Not enjoying it?"
Greg rolled his eyes, "Not on the side of my face, no." He propped himself up onto his elbow and rested his head on his fist, "You know, we never did talk about the ex of yours."
"Why would you want to?"
"Dunno. Guess I'm curious." Greg replied as he shrugged a shoulder.
Nick sighed and dropped his head down to the pillow, "He wasn't always like that. He was still in the closet when we started dating and he was quiet, sort of preppy. Baseball player, scholastic awards, stuff like that. After he came out, well, he started to turn into what you saw." Nick propped his arm behind his head, "A few months before college ended, I caught him cheating on me and he told me it was my fault, that I drove him to it. Which is stupid if you think about it. He doesn't like the fact that I dumped his ass and has been attempting to get me back since. He's part of why I went to Vegas. He hounded me all through the academy and at the station." Nick laughed, "That just made me sound really self-absorbed."
"Why'd you choose Vegas anyway?" Greg asked, ignoring Nick's last comment. He could see himself doing the same. Well, the attempting to get Nick back if he were dumped, not the cheating part.
"You know, I don't really know." Nick said, looking at Greg, "There were other places out there that had some cool job openings that I qualified for, but something about Vegas just drew me in. Which is weird 'cause I don't even like gambling all that much."
Greg snickered and buried his face at Nick's neck, "Maybe it was fate."
"What? That we both ended up in Vegas only a year apart?" Nick shrugged, "Hell, why not? That can explain why none of my relationships prior to you made it past the third date, usually."
"Mm, could be." Greg scooted back down to rest his head on Nick's chest again, slipping with ease into the same position they had been using since Nick had come to live with him, "Pretty unique thing between Eli and Trixie, huh?"
"Yeah. I'm glad we found way's around the cross country separation. The web cam idea should work pretty well until we find out about Kieran's promotion."
"Uh huh." Greg traced his finger along Nick's abs. Both were without shirts, Nick's first step to ease the awkwardness of the whole naked thing. Greg had to admit, he liked sleeping on Nick's bare chest more then he did when a t-shirt was in the way, "Is Trixie her full name or is that a nickname?"
Nick laughed, "It's a nickname. Her full name is Beatrix, which was my grandmother's name. Sammy always liked it and swore all of us off of using it."
"Beatrix? You know there's..."
"A book series with that name. Yeah, I know. Sammy's got the full set. Mama started getting them for her when she was younger because of her fascination with the name. I read some of them too one summer. Some of the phrases and wording used to crack me up."
Greg yawned and snuggled closer to Nick as he said, "It was written in the fifties man, what were you expecting?"
TBC...
Okay, I've been wanting to put an A/N in about this for awhile now...so I'm doing it here. The Trixie/Beatrix convo at the end does not, in face, refer to Beatrix Potter. At least, it doesn't in my mind. My mom got me into a book series when I was ten or so that was sort of like Nancy Drew but the main character was Trixie Belden. There were over 30 books written (I've read them all) and recently (as in the past two years) they have been re-printing the beginning of the series. It's fantastic and I've even read them to a girl I used to babysit, even though I had to explain what dungarees, loafers, and jalopies were. XD
Chapter 9