Chapter 12
by Dan Kirk
Davey and I did little more than kiss and grope each other a bit before my parents knocked on the door to tell us that dinner had been ordered. Davey sighed as I mentioned that I was going to take a shower and get changed, but he gave me one final kiss before leaving the room. When I was showered and changed, the conversation continued while we ate Chinese.
“We’ve reached the conclusion that our son is either very deranged, or something we can’t quite understand has happened.” Dad said as we all filled our plates with the food. He and Mom looked worn out already, and Mom had a sad expression on her face.
“What we don’t understand is, if this is true, what happened to our Brian.” Mom said quietly, moving the food around on her plate without taking a bite.
“I am ‘your’ Brian.” I answered emphatically. “The only difference is that I have more memories than I did before January, and I’ve lost a few memories. Everything else about me is the same.”
“I don’t think that’s quite accurate.” Dad said with a frown and a significant look at Davey.
“I’ll be blunt about this.” I said firmly, catching the eyes of both of them before continuing. “I’ve always been bi-sexual, attracted to both guys and girls. Before January, I might have allowed myself to believe that Marcie was the girl I loved, but I know better now.”
“How do you know that?” Davey asked, speaking up after hurriedly swallowing a bite of chow mien. “I’m not the same Davey Jones you fell in love with in that other timeline.”
“Yes, you are.” I said passionately. “You may not have all the memories that he had, but you are the same person.”
“That just doesn’t make sense.” Mom said with a shake of her head. “Our experiences are part of who we are as people.”
“Mom, is Dad the same person you married?” I asked her pointedly. “Is he exactly the same as he was when you met him and fell in love?”
“No, and that’s my point.” Mom argued. “It’s the experiences we’ve had since we got married that make us who we are today. How can you say you’re our son when you don’t have the memories of us, the memories he should have from the time he was born?”
“I do have most of the same memories.” I countered. “My life in this timeline and in my original timeline was much the same, except for a few minor events. They didn’t start to differ at all until 1981.”
“But that’s five years of changed memories.” Mom asserted. “You’re not him, and I want to understand what happened to him.”
“He’s here, in me, and I’m in him.” I argued. “We’re one and the same. It’s like I’ve got amnesia of those years, and memories of other years.”
“I don’t know if I can accept that.” Mom muttered. “It’s like my son died and was replaced by an imposter.”
“Do you remember when we visited Uncle Rich back in ’78?” I asked her. “We got into that argument and I stormed out of Uncle Rich’s apartment. You spent two hours driving around
“You remember that?” Mom asked with wide eyes.
“I told you, I am your son!” I stated emphatically. “It’s just that I have slightly different memories of a few years.” There was silence around the table while everyone picked at their food. Nearly twenty minutes passed before anyone spoke again.
“So how old are you?” Dad asked, breaking the long silence. “Are you in your eighties or are you seventeen?”
“I’m seventeen with a lot more memories than your average seventeen-year-old.” I answered. “
“You said your timeline was different from this one, but that there’s a lot of things the same.” Davey said next. “When the Challenger blew up, you said it was something wrong with the O-rings on the booster. Is that how you knew, because it blew up in your timeline?”
“No, it never blew up.” I shrugged. “It blew up in the original timeline that Davey was from. In nearly every subsequent timeline he managed to stop it from happening, and a few other events from happening as well. Other things, like earthquakes, hurricanes, and some wars happened anyway.”
“You said you came back because terrorism threatened the future of this timeline.” Dad said slowly, as if he was thinking each word over carefully before speaking. How are you going to do something about that if you won’t let the government know about you?”
“It’ll take time, and making sure I’m in the right position to advise the right people at the right time.” I answered. “I had decades of conversations with time traveler Davey, and with Sean as well. Before he had his stroke, Davey reached the conclusion that stopping a single event, or a series of events might change subsequent events, but they alone don’t change history for the better and usually the changes end up being for the worse.”
“Why is that?” Mom asked.
“Because you’re right in that our experiences, our memories make us who we are as time goes by.” I said. “If you stop too many of the horrors from happening, people forget about the dangers of certain things, and they get reckless. It’s like a kid who’s never been burned seeing a huge bonfire as a young adult and not realizing he can’t stick his hands in the fire without getting burned.”
“I’m not sure I understand that.” Dad said and I let out a sigh.
“It’s not easy to grasp right away.” I replied. “The fact is that the Challenger accident brought about much needed reforms. With Davey’s shortcut to helping stop it from happening, NASA didn’t learn the lessons it needed to learn and we ended up losing two more shuttles to accidents by the end of the 1990’s. In the end, what we theorized was that what needed to be changed weren’t specific events, but our understanding and learning from those events. In many ways, we need to have our bubble pricked and learn some hard lessons.”
“Like what?” Dad asked.
“Do you really want a deep political/philosophical discussion right now about international relations and the short-sightedness of our current social-economical system?” I asked while arching my eyebrow.
“Not right now, no.” Dad said with a shake of his head.
“Good, because I do have school in the morning.” I laughed.
“Aren’t you finding school boring?” Mom asked me. “I mean, you’ve been through school already, and probably college, right?”
“I’ve been through high school, college, law school, and gone back for two doctorates as well.” I answered and Dad snorted.
“You went to law school?” Dad asked and I nodded while he shook his head. “Figures you wanted a lawyer to deal with Ellsworth and his daughter.”
“God, I’d be bored if I had to go back through high school.” Davey muttered.
“It’s not the most exciting thing in the world, except I do enjoy sports, and NJROTC, and all the other stuff that goes along with school.” I said with a shrug and Davey looked at me like I was crazy. “Besides, if I want to go to college again, I’ll need a high school diploma and they won’t just hand me one if I ask because I’m a time traveler.”
“No, I guess they wouldn’t.” Mom said with a slight smile.
For the next few hours, all three of them peppered me with questions about my life in the other timeline, and I could see the wariness and distrust fading from their eyes as I answered the questions. Several times my parents asked me questions that required answers slightly different than answers I’d previously given. It was obvious they were trying to delve into the truth of this situation as much as possible by trying to uncover any inconsistencies they could. What food remained uneaten had long since grown cold by the time dad yawned and stretched.
“I think I’ve heard enough.” Dad said with a long look at Mom first and then at me. “At this point, I have to admit that as crazy as it sounds, I believe you. I’m still not sure how I feel about everything, but I’m ready to sleep on it.”
“Thank you.” I said and stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’ll call it a night now. There’s school in the morning, and I have a test in English.”
“I’ll be back in a minute to help clean everything up.” Davey said as he stood to follow me out. He led the way to my bedroom but stopped outside the door and looked at me with a slightly worried expression.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“I’m wondering about you and me, and all this.” Davey said softly, looking into my eyes as if hunting for a lifeline. “I mean, I know you think we’re meant to be together, and it sounds like a dream come true. But I can’t help but feel it’s wrong.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“You, me, the whole sex thing.” He said softly. “I guess I can’t lie to you, you’re not the first guy I’ve had sex with, but I’ve always thought it was wrong; something not to be thought about, much less discussed. Until you, I didn’t even think it was possible to really feel love for another guy, I thought it was just about sex and girls were who you fell in love with.”
“I know.” I said sympathetically and he smirked.
“Of course you know, it’s me who doesn’t know.” He said softly. “I want it to be true, that you and I can live together and love each other, but I don’t know if I can.”
“Take it one day, one moment at a time.” I suggested. “You came back twice and sought me out, and you were right to do that. The thing is, it was me who was where you were at right now, except I never really expressed it to him in words. Davey, the other you, the one with all those memories, he was so confident about us when I knew him. Still, he took his time with me, let me reach the decision that I loved him and wanted him, and he gave me time to work out my issues with the whole time travel crap.”
“What did you do?” He asked.
“It took me days to reach the decision you did earlier tonight.” I said with a shrug and he smiled. “I’ve always known you’re smarter than I am.”
“No I’m not.” Davey demurred. “I wonder though, when you look at me, do you see me or do you see him? Do you love me because of him?”
“You are him.” I asserted. “I said it earlier and I meant what I said. The only difference between you and the Davey I spent a lifetime with is that he had more memories than you do right now. As far as I can see, you are, at your core, the same person that he was, and it is those qualities that attract me to you, no matter what memories you do or do not possess.”
“So you see both of us?” He asked and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s one thing I’ve always loved about you Davey Jones.” I said softly, reaching out and caressing his right arm. “You are quick on your feet and figure things out so much quicker than I ever could hope to do.”
“Stop that.” He said with blushing cheeks and I leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. Davey pulled me into a hug before releasing me and turning to head back into the dining room. I got ready for bed, and although I should have been unable to sleep, as soon as I lay down on the bed, I was asleep.
The next morning I woke up to icy water being dribbled on my face. Davey actually giggled as he scampered out of my room while I sat up in bed spluttering with indignation. The sun was barely touching the mountains in the east, but I found Davey in the kitchen wearing a sweat suit that mom had bought him the other day. It was really nice cotton pants in a dark blue and a gray hooded sweatshirt.
“It’s about time you got up, old man.” He teased me and I realized I was in for a lot of payback for all the times I called him ‘old man’ in the last timeline. Still, the fact that he was taking it so well made me feel good inside. “I thought we’d just go for a run from here instead of going to the school.”
“You’re really getting into this exercise stuff, aren’t you?” I asked him and he shrugged while blushing slightly over his orange juice.
“I feel better after.” He said with another shrug. “Besides, it’s something we do that’s just the two of us. I like that.”
“So do I.” I said warmly, getting my own glass of orange juice. I’d put on a pair of sweatpants that were a lighter blue than his, so after downing the juice, I went back to my room to finish getting dressed.
We were now doing a good three miles on the morning runs, and at a decent pace without even having to stop for a walk. Davey was inordinately proud of that little fact, and when we got home to find Mom in the kitchen, he gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek before heading off to the shower, calling his dibs on first use of the bathroom.
“He’s in a good mood.” Mom said after he’d left. There was a bit of tension in the air, and while I filled a glass of water, she gave me a long look before letting out a sigh.
“You doing okay?” I asked her.
“Yes, Brian, I am.” She answered. “I think I’m going to be okay with what you’ve told us. I look at you and you look no different, except for maybe the way you carry yourself. I hadn’t realized it before, but you’ve been a lot more confident without that arrogant pose I’d gotten used to seeing. You are different, but in all the important things I think you’re still my Brian.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Mom.” I said earnestly.
“How much does this change things?” She asked. “Do you expect to be treated like an adult now?”
“Well, I am almost seventeen.” I replied with a smile and she chuckled. “In other words, I’m your son and I’ll always be your son. You’ll always be my mother, Dad will always be my father. Our relationship will change as the years go by, but no matter what else, I’m physically seventeen and I’m living under your roof.”
“You had kids in that other timeline, right?” She asked even though we’d gone over that several times last night.
“Yes, two boys.” I replied.
“Do you think you’ll want kids in the future?” She asked me with a wistful look on her face. “I know you said people’s opinions on gays as parents change, but will you go through having kids again? It must have hurt a lot to leave them behind like that.”
“I miss them a lot, but the truth is they were probably injured or killed when the dirty bomb went off.” I said with a slight shrug. “There wasn’t much time to think about that while Sean and I were getting ready to do our duty, but I’ve grieved over them the last couple of months here, and I’ve realized there wasn’t much I could do for them. As for kids in the future, more than likely we will, if Davey still wants them.”
“Does he?” Mom asked.
“Probably.” I said with a shrug. “Everything’s too new right now for us to have talked about it much.”
“I guess so.” She replied and then got a worried look on her face. “Doesn’t the age difference bother you? Every time I think about it I get a little uncomfortable.”
“I’m seventeen, mom.” I reminded her. “Sure I have more memories, but that doesn’t make it all that different. I remember being old, sure, but the body really does affect the brain as well as the brain affecting the body. I’m not in my eighties anymore, and I know that.”
“Still, couldn’t you use your knowledge to influence him in a bad way?” Mom asked with a worried tone.
“I could, but I won’t.” I said with a shrug. “In our relationship, I might have opened the door for him, but I didn’t trick him into walking through it, he did that on his own.”
“I did what on my own?” Davey asked as he came into the room with his shaggy hair still wet, but he was wearing a newer pair of jeans and a sleeveless light blue OP shirt with a hood. The shirt showed off his much more slender body, and his arms that were starting to develop some good muscle. I had to turn away from Mom so she wouldn’t see the reaction, but a glance back showed her smothering a laugh.
“Fall for this big guy here.” Mom said and Davey blushed while looking down at the table. “What will you boys have for breakfast?”
“Cereal please.” Davey said and mom proceeded to get him a bowl.
“I’ll have some too when I finish showering.” I said. “Davey, I hope you left me some hot water.”
“Nope.” He said with a smarmy grin and I cuffed him up the side of the head before scooting out of the kitchen.
Marcie wasn’t in school that day, to the relief of many, and it seemed that the furor over her paternity allegations was already dying down to be replaced by sniggers about her being a slut. I almost felt bad for her as I realized that she’d be shunned for the rest of her high school career, but in the end she’d deserved what she’d gotten. She’d gambled on her future and lost badly.
As the days, and then the weeks progressed, things evened out and life became downright pleasant for the most part. Davey and I both took the ASVAB test in late March, just before spring break. Talk about ‘time travel’ became infrequent as he and my parents saw that I was much the same person they’d known and they grew accustomed to the concept that I just had a few extra memories rolling around in my head.
Davey’s mother ended up having to go through detox after she recovered from her surgery because they’d given her too much morphine and she’d grown addicted to the stuff. Davey took his sister to visit her every weekend, and I even went with them a couple of time. Monta stayed up there, living in Uncle Rich’s old apartment and turning up her lip every time she saw a gay couple, but other than a few comments about Davey and I ‘being careful’ when we were up there, she didn’t say much.
The biggest change was Dad’s business venture. They landed a few big clients right off the bat, and as a result he ended up being gone for most of each week, and even occasionally over the weekends. We all missed him, but Mom was especially lonely, and I wasn’t surprised when she ended up going to see him a couple of days a week. Most of the stuff she was doing was charity work, and she didn’t need to be in town all week.
Davey and I didn’t mind since he liked to make love in all sorts of interesting places.
That was one of the biggest differences for me to adjust to in this timeline. The Davey I’d known had been a passionate, skilled lover, but he’d been very discreet. Most of the time we’d made love it had been in a bed, behind closed doors and curtains. This Davey found the most amazing places to unbutton my pants, including in the mornings on the way to school, in the gym shower after baseball practice when he’d purposely delayed me so the rest of the team had already left, the backyard of the house after a friendly wrestling match, and along the canal bank during an early morning run.
He wasn’t the only one doing the seducing though. I knew him very well, and I had to admit that a young sex drive, and having Davey in my reach again made me very horny. Barely an hour went by when I wasn’t thinking about the next time Davey and I would have sex, and I did my best to get him back for all the times he’d ambush me, pulling down my pants before I could protest.
Davey got turned on by a lot of things, and chief among them were tight clothes. Whether it was me in my baseball uniform, or just wearing a particularly tight pair of jeans and a tight t-shirt, I could see his eyes glaze over whenever I wore something form-fitting. Male birds were often very colorful in order to attract a mate, and I knew that clothing always attracted Davey like few other things could.
In the last timeline, when his family could afford nice clothes, I’d never quite understood why what I wore could have such an impact on his lust, but having seen the poor clothing that his family could afford in this timeline, I understood this aspect of him better. The Davey of that timeline had been a product of a rather poor family, and the effects of that had stayed with him from his original childhood.
“I’m going to rip those pants off you later.” That was something I heard almost every day from Davey, usually as a hushed whisper as we walked from one class to the next, and every time I’d shiver in anticipation of that happening. Almost always he did manage to rip them off of me, and I knew better than to change out of whatever clothing had turned him on so much, rather waiting to let him peel them off of me.
He enjoyed it nearly as much as I did.
Dad joined us to go fishing with Pete during the middle of March on a Saturday. Davey was surprised at how good of an experience it was, with all of us catching several fish (including Davey actually catching his first one despite all the times he’d gone fishing with Pete as a kid). His grandfather seemed to have lightened up a bit, and barely even complained about paying off Davey’s car or continuing to make his car insurance payments.
My relationship wasn’t just about sex with Davey, and although he usually went to his own room and slept in his own bed, we usually spent an hour or two in my room, just cuddling together on my bed while we talked quietly. He had a lot of questions, ranging from how to accept being gay and in a relationship to discussions about the last timeline, and what I had planned for this timeline. Most of the time he just listened, but as the days went by, he started proposing some of his own ideas, or critiquing mine in a way that showed me he really was thinking through my ideas, and that he was willing to be with me through the whole thing, taking an active part in what I hoped would be a productive change for the world.
The Monday a week before the start of Spring Break, we all sat in the dining room after dinner for a talk about what we would do for the break. Normally my family went on a trip somewhere for a few days, and my parents would tell me where we were going at this time, having kept it as a surprise while they made their plans.
“Boys, we’d planned for a trip to
“I understand.” Davey said with a sigh. “Thanks for including me in the plans though.”
“You’re as much a part of this family as Brian, David.” Mom said with a smile and a long look at him. He blushed but didn’t protest. “As for what we’re going to do next week, Dad’s having to travel for his meeting so we’re going with him for the entire week instead of just a couple of days. His work will pay for his airfare, and we’ve gotten a good deal for the rest of us and for our hotel rooms. You boys won’t mind sharing a room will you?”
“No.” Davey said with another blush and she laughed.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“
“Is this something to do with the Grayson merger?” Davey asked after we’d smiled at each other. Since he still did a bunch of typing for dad, it figures he’d have some idea what was going on in Dad’s business.
“Yes.” Dad said and he had a proud smile on his face. I was pretty sure that Davey had been showing much more interest in dad’s work than I was, and Dad seemed to appreciate that. He and Davey had really bonded the longer that Davey stayed with us. “Would you like to come along to the meetings?”
“I’d like that.” Davey said with a broad smile that my father returned.
The last week of school before break flew by as we prepared for our trip. Davey blushed when we went to the sporting good store and I insisted that he buy a Speedo for the trip, but he did buy it, and he made sure that I bought one as well. Brandon, Trevor, and Todd (who was beginning to hang out with us more) were all jealous of our getting to go to
The only real snag came up when Davey visited his mother the day before we were to leave. At first she said she wouldn’t let him go, but Monta stepped in and told her she was being selfish. Davey and I wisely left the hospital room while Monta proceeded to chew
It had been a long flight to
On Monday while Davey went to some meeting with my father, I was dragged out for shopping with my mother. All things considered, there were worse ways to spend the day than shopping in
That meant we also had to get short wet suits for the surfing lesson, and my mouth watered at the thought of Davey wearing one of them. When he tried it on later that night in the hotel room, I hoped the maids cleaning our room were at least mollified by the large tip I’d leave them in the morning. Davey didn’t seem to mind, although he wasn’t quite sure about surfing.
We spent Tuesday morning learning to surf before he returned to the hotel room to get dressed for a meeting that he was going to with Dad. During the lesson, I’d noticed one of the other guys that was learning to surf with us talking to Davey, and Davey flirting back a bit. That got me jealous, and Davey noticed the jealousy with a little smirk that oddly enough set me at ease. Davey turning down the guy’s suggestion of meeting up later in the week for some ‘practice’ made me feel even better.
The week in
Friday was our last full day since we were flying out early Saturday morning, and I’d talked my parents into letting Davey and I go off by ourselves. I didn’t tell Davey where we were going, and he watched me anxiously as we took a series of buses to get to our destination. It was still fairly early in the morning, just a little past nine, and we both wore shorts over our Speedos, and tight white t-shirts. We’d packed our snorkeling gear into two bags that we carried, and from that Davey had figured we were going to a beach, but hadn’t figured out anything else.
When we got to the beach I’d picked out, I was glad to see that it was still fairly empty. Together we picked out a spot, put down our towels, took off our shorts, donned our snorkeling gear and headed out into the water. Davey was wearing the new black Speedo with gray stripes while I was wearing a red pair that I knew he really, really liked. There weren’t all that many schools of fish around where we snorkeled, and we ended up playing tag in the water, chasing each other over and under the waves tagging each other on the butt and then swimming off as we were chased.
We did that for nearly two hours before we were both tired enough to head back up to the beach. It was nearing noon, and the beach was crowded with people as we waded back up out of the water, carrying our flippers in one hand and snorkel masks in the other. Davey stopped cold as he looked around at the crowded beach and turned to me with wide eyes.
“This is why you picked this place.” He said with a little half-grin.
“Yes.” I said, moving the mask to the hand with the flippers and reaching out to put my arm around him in public. He stiffened slightly at the touch, but relaxed against me a moment later and we walked back to our towels like that. As we walked there were many guys looking at us, some with lust in their eyes, some with sly smiles, and others with friendly looks on their face. Davey kept staring at them, and when we passed two guys that were so busy kissing each other that they didn’t see us go by, I could feel Davey’s body relax. When we laid down on our towels, dropping our gear, he scooted over so that he was firmly against my side and leaned in to kiss my ear.
“I love you Brian.” Davey said softly and I looked up to see tears in his eyes as he looked at me before looking around. “I thought I was going to freak out the first time you and I walked around the Castro. Most of those were just too weird, but here, it’s no different than the other beaches we went to this week except it’s almost all guys.”
“I thought you should see this before we go.” I said with a smile as I also looked around.
“Do you think they’d freak out if we fucked right here?” Davey asked with a vivacious leer that caused a swelling in my Speedos. Instinctively I moved my hand to cover my crotch, but I decided to tease Davey instead and let him see the lump growing there.
“They’d probably just take pictures or try to join in and then you’d be put in jail.” I said with a shrug. “But if you want, I won’t stop you.”
“It’d suck going to jail for having sex with my boyfriend.” Davey joked.
“Who said anything for going to jail over having public sex with me?” I joked back and he looked confused until I finished the statement. “You’d go to jail for starting a riot after I refused to let anyone but me touch you.”
“Har har, very funny.” Davey said as he swatted my arm and laid back on his towel, stretching out to soak up some sun. I did the same, and felt a little thrill as his hand found mine and we entwined our fingers while soaking up the warm Hawaiian sun.
Life was good, damn good.
