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Patt's getting a tad bit bogged down in real life, so I'm taking over for her on Courage Under Fire for a bit. My name is Kel, my address is dragonbane4@aol.com
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Megan waited until Jim was trapped in the moving vehicle to start with her questions. Privately, Jim was surprised that she'd waited that long. "Jim, what is really going on here?"
Jim sighed. "Would it help if I said I really didn't want to talk about this?"
"No, because you need to. It's not healthy to have all that anger pent up inside you and I know you're just *such* the touchy feely type," Megan responded pertly. "So, spill it." She didn't need to ask Jim for directions; everyone knew where the old man's house was, just nobody bothered to go.
"Well, in a nutshell, my dad's a closet fag who doesn't want his son to be one, and he's using the fact that he's been forcing the Dean to have sex with him in order to pay his debts to blackmail the Dean into firing Blair if he doesn't break up with me," Jim said, finally revealing the whole story in one sentence. "But, thanks to my little brother Stevie, we got the whole truth, the Dean is thrilled to have it over with, and I'm going to tell my dad once and for all to leave Blair and I alone."
Megan was quiet for about a block, digesting that. When Stephen had told her, it seemed more clinical, less tawdry, but now that she was sitting in the car beside big Jim Ellison who had been so turned around he didn't know ass from head... it was the most despicable thing she had ever heard. "At least he'll have to."
"I hope so, Megan... I hope to God that's so, but my dad is a bastard. If he can find another way to hurt us... he'll do it, I don't have any illusions about that."
Megan pulled up to the sidewalk and put her hand on Jim's arm. "Jim... just remember, he can't touch you anymore."
William met the two of them at the door, having seen them pull up to the driveway. "Jim. Nice to see you with a lady. Pregnant too, from the looks of her... kid yours?"
"No, it belongs to my *husband* Simon Banks. Perhaps you've heard Jim speak of him?"
"Can't fault an old man for hoping his son is finally dipping his wick in the right well, can you?"
"Stop it, Dad, right now! I won't let you talk to Megan like that! She's a lady, she's my friend, and she's my best friend's wife."
William gave her a mocking bow. "My most sincere apologies, Lady Banks," he said with a hint of a sneer.
Megan rolled her eyes and sat down on the couch. Jim made a move to sit down beside her, but William took his arm. "Let's talk in the other room, Jimmy."
Jim jerked his arm out of William's grip. "Don't touch me." He looked back at Megan. "Will you be okay here?"
"Of course, I'll be fine. If you need me, yell for me," she said with a smile. "I'm just going to put my feet up and relax." She squeezed Jim's hand, and lowered her voice for his ears alone. "Watch the bastard, Jim."
"Always." Jim gently squeezed Megan's hand in return, and then followed his dad down the short hallway and into his dad's study. "All right, Dad. The game is over."
"What game?" William asked innocently, pouring a small glass of bourbon. "Would you like one?"
"The sex for money game with Dean Wilkerson," Jim said clearly. "It's done. We have proof, we have pictures, we have the receipts, we have cancelled checks. If you ever try to harm Blair again, if you try to break Blair and I up ever again, those pictures will be splashed across every paper and magazine in the Western Hemisphere."
William sat his glass down and moved over towards Jim but stopped close of touching him. "When you were a kid, I used to think you were the ugliest duckling I'd ever seen. You and Stevie both... damned ugly kids. You finally started growing out of yours about eleven, twelve years old. And look how fine you grew up to be. An eligible bachelor that can't commit and a fag."
"At least we know it runs in the family," Jim shot in.
Megan heard the insult to Jim, heard Jim's father calling him an ugly kid, and quietly padded down the hallway. She stood just outside the door, listening.
William turned and looked at Jim. "But look at what a fine figure of a fag you turned out to be. Never thought that ugly kid would turn out as such a handsome man." William put his bourbon glass down, and looked at Jim again. "I bet I know one thing your little brother didn't tell you," William said softly. He walked up to Jim and whispered in his ear. "I bet he didn't tell you that it was you I wanted to fuck and not Wilkerson."
Jim shoved William back and stepped back a few steps himself. "Sick bastard!" Jim spat out.
William's entire demeanor changed. He straightened his back. "You didn't think so when you were a kid, Jimmy," William whispered, his hand caressing Jim's cheek slowly, lovingly.
--Flashback--
Suddenly, Jim was eleven year old Jimmy again, sitting in this very room. Dad was sitting behind the desk and Jimmy was peeking around the corner of the door. "You called, Dad?"
"Sure did. C'mere, Jimmy," he said, patting his lap. Jimmy looked around warily. Nobody was allowed in Dad's office, that was the rule. He and Stevie even tiptoed around the door. "It's okay."
Slowly Jimmy padded barefoot into his dad's office, and climbed into his dad's lap. "What did I do, Dad?"
"You didn't do anything, Jimmy," William said softly, stroking his young son's face. "I just wanted to see how you're doing, make sure Sally's taking good care of my boys." His hand slid down Jimmy's chest, over his groin and back up, but this time under his shirt. "Making sure you got meat on your bones," William explained, feeling his son's smooth skin. "Jimmy, take off your sweater, I can't see."
"Okay, Dad." Little Jimmy obediently peeled off his sweater, baring his sensitive skin to the chilly air in the office as his dad's hands moved over his chest. "She's been real good to me and Stevie."
"Oh, I just bet she has," he said softly. "How old are you now, Jimmy?"
"Eleven, sir."
"You're growing up fast." William carefully slid Jimmy off his lap. "You're getting to be a big boy." He reached down and hugged his son, running his hands over Jimmy's ass and then cupping his groin. "A *very* big boy."
--End Flashback--
The entire remembrance took only seconds, and Jim was frozen as William's hand cupped his face, then slid down his throat and over his shoulders, pushing his jacket to the floor. Shivering in the cool air of his Dad's office, Jim still couldn't move. //He did this when I was eleven and I didn't fight him then, I can't fight him now, he's my dad!// William's hand moved over Jim's chest, and down over his groin, lightly cupping Jim's now-adult package and smiling softly. Then he made to slide his hand back up, under Jim's shirt, and someone caught his wrist.
Megan couldn't believe what was happening. From the time William touched his face to the time he almost had his hand under Jim's shirt, the younger Ellison had not stirred. "Jim!" she called out as she crossed the room, getting no response from either Ellison. When she got to William, she saw his hand caressing Jim's package, and she jerked his hand off. "Take your hands off him right bloody now."
"Get out, bitch, this isn't your business," William said, roughly shoving Megan backwards. She stumbled a few steps but didn't fall.
Something about the motion of William shoving Megan back and her startled cry shook Jim out of his reverie. Reflexively he swung and flattened his dad, laying the older man out on his back as he helped Megan steady herself. "You... okay? The baby?"
"Me... what about... never mind. Get out of here, Jim, and get out of here right now. Don't look back." She shoved Jim towards the door, watching him stumble out. //Dear God, what have I just seen?// Megan thought to herself as she bent to pick up Jim's jacket. William was moving, and she put the heel of her boot on his balls. "Leave Jim alone. Don't *ever* come near him, or Blair, or Stephen. Don't come near any of us ever again. You're a sick bastard, William Ellison, and if you do come near them, I will go to the police and tell them what I saw here today." She paused, and then stomped down hard on his balls, and then turned and fled. Jim was sitting on the bottom limb of the huge oak in the front yard, shaking and crying. "Jim... don't make me come up there, mate."
Jim didn't answer, just kept crying. "I didn't... I didn't remember until he touched me again," he finally choked out. "I was eleven years old sitting on my Dad's lap in his office while he touched me... what's the matter with me? I couldn't move, Megan, I couldn't do anything until I saw him push you, and I hit him. I hit my own dad."
//This doesn't sound like the Jim Ellison I know,// she thought worriedly. "Jim, come on down out of the tree. We'll go see Blair and he will help you get through this."
"Blair... no, Megan, don't you see... I can never see Blair again, not after this... he won't... he won't want me when he knows. He'll never want to see me again." With that, Jim swung out of the tree, and landed beside Megan, hugged her briefly and then ran to his truck.
"Jim! Jim, wait! Where are you going!" The rev of the truck engine was his only answer, and Megan jumped in the car, pulling out in front of traffic and following Jim, hell bent on not losing him. As she drove, she dialed the cell phone with one hand. "Simon. Listen, baby, I need you to do something for me. Go get Blair; he was still at the school with Stephen. I'm following Jim right now--I'll tell you the details later, just tell Stephen and Blair that William tried some shit on Jim and he's running. I'm following him and when I know where's gone, I'll call you back."
"Megan, slow down. I know where he's going. He's going to hide out at the house he just bought. It's his way. I'll give Blair and Stephen the directions," said Simon calmly. "You come back to the station and tell me what's going on."
"I gotta call Blair first."
"Call him from the station. Jim's left Blair's number here."
"They're not in his office, they're at the Dean's. Damn. Call the dean's office and have them call me."
"All right, Megan, but when you come home, you better tell me what's going on. Then you're going to lie down and take care of that precious baby."
"I love you, Simon."
"I love you too, Megan. Be careful. Let Jim go," was his final admonition.
Megan slowed down, stopped at the nearest gas station, and waited for Blair's phone call.
As soon as Simon hung up, he dialed the college's main switchboard and was transferred to the Dean's office. Krissa, the assistant answered, and put it straight through. Then she stuck her head in the door. "Mr. Sandburg, Mr. Ellison, that's for both of you."
"How do you put it on speakerphone?" Blair asked, and the assistant showed him how and left. "Sandburg."
"Blair, Stephen, it's Simon. Megan just called. She said to tell you both that William tried some shit--her words--on Jim and he took off for the cabin."
Stephen and Blair exchanged uneasy looks. "Did she say what?"
"No, no, she didn't. I had a feeling she didn't want me to know. She did say to call her. Her cell phone is 555-6483."
"Thanks, Simon."
"Just take care of Jim, that's all the thanks we need." Simon hung up, and Jim's brother and his lover exchanged looks again.
"He hit on Jim, didn't he?" Blair asked, dread icing over his heart.
"Yeah. I'm sure he did," Stephen said, slightly repulsed. "He probably offered Jim a deal that you'd be safe if Jim would fuck him."
Blair shuddered at that thought as he dialed Megan's cell phone number.
"Hello?" Megan's voice sounded upset and strained.
"Megan, it's Blair. Stephen's with me."
"Thank God. Blair... Stephen... I think... I know William tried to molest Jim this afternoon, and I think he did it when Jim was a child," she said in a rush. "After William touched him today and Jim decked him I found Jim sitting--"
"--sitting in the oak tree, in the front yard?" Stephen interrupted. "Crying."
"Yes--how did--"
"I used to find him there when we were kids... he was eleven, twelve, thirteen, I couldn't have been eight or ten... Dad would call Jimmy down to help in his office and then later, like an hour or two later... I'd find Jimmy up in the tree crying. He always said it was something in his eye, bark from climbing the tree," Stephen said, his throat closing and his voice faltering. "When... when he left for school, he told me... make sure you stay away from Dad's office. Never go in no matter what. Oh, God, Jimmy."
Blair put his arm around Stephen. "You didn't know. Christ. Megan, where's Jim now?"
"The new house he bought. Simon's got the address here at the station. Come by and get it. He'll give you directions and everything."
"Megan... keep this quiet. Jim won't want anyone else knowing about it," Stephen said.
"Blair... just a warning... he thinks that you'll never want him again, now that you know."
Blair blinked back hot tears. "I love Jim. I don't care what happens, I'm going to be with him."
"Then come on. I'll meet you at the station. Simon will give you directions and maybe you can help Jim. Don't leave him alone, Blair, he doesn't need to be alone right now. He needs you. He needs your love."
"Don't worry, Megan, I'll take care of Jim." He disconnected the call, and hugged Stephen. "Come on, Stephen... he's going to need both of us. Can you drive?" Stephen nodded. "Then I'm leaving my car here. Give me your phone, I need to make arrangements for someone else to cover my class for tomorrow, and give them the extended lesson plan." Blair was nowhere near as calm as he appeared, but he had to organize things, for Jim's sake. Jim needed him.
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