This work is copyright. I have given permission for a copy of this story to be placed on the Nifty Archives under the terms of their submission agreement. But This work may not be copied or archived onto any other website or newsgroup without the prior written permission of the author.
This story is fiction, it didn't happen, to the best of the author's knowledge no one in the story exists in real life.
If you have a problem with reading stories of a homosexual nature, then bugger off. Also you shouldn't read on if you are below the age of consent, or you have the misfortune to reside in an area where reading and downloading this kind of material is against the law.
My editors (Tom W and Lars) are wonderfully patient people, thanks guys.
Chapter 23
Alighting from the train at Manchester Piccadilly railway station, Morgan looked up at the large clock set above the platform. It was 9:35. 'Darren should be here soon,' Morgan thought as he hoisted his hold-all onto his shoulder and walked down the platform towards the main concourse, the grey drizzly morning doing little to lift his mood.
Morgan had to admit that he'd had second thoughts during the journey, 'What if Darren turns out to be a paedophile?' He'd almost gotten off the train at an earlier stop to catch the next train back, but he realised that he had little alternative but to carry on. His old life wasn't something he wanted to return back to.
Sitting himself on a bench with a good view of the station's main entrance, Morgan began his vigil. If Darren came in via this entrance, then he'd be able to get a good look at him and anyone who was with him. The time seemed to pass with leaden slowness; Morgan listened to endless announcements from the automated and very precise voice that informed commuters of arriving and departing trains. People walked, jogged, and in one case crutched past him, as they got on with their lives, oblivious to the internal struggles he was experiencing. He'd never visited a railway station on his own before. His heart wouldn't stop pounding in his chest and his palms were cold and sweaty; he had to keep wiping them on the sides of his trousers. 'Will he turn up? Will he be alone? Will he hurt me?' Morgan didn't know. Then he saw him. Darren looked a bit taller than he'd imagined, but it was definitely him. Morgan grasped the handle of his bag more tightly, ready to make a run for it if necessary, but Darren seemed to be alone.
Scanning the crowd for signs of a twelve-year-old boy with curly brown hair and wearing thick-rimmed spectacles, Darren locked eyes with someone matching that description. 'Yes, yes, that's him.' Darren quickened his step and opened his arms wide to receive the first hug from his son.
Gone were Morgan's fears; he leapt to his feet, took a few steps forward, and was enfolded into a tight hug, something he hadn't experienced in such a long while. He felt as though he was finally home, safe and loved. "Dad, oh dad, you came for me. Thank you, thank you, oh dad, thank you." He burst into tears; the relief that it would all be all right was overwhelming.
"I said I'd be here, Morgan, didn't I? Come on now, son, dry your eyes, we need to talk." As a gay man, Darren didn't ever think that he'd be able to fulfil the internal yearning within him to hold a son in his arms. It was a most unbelievably wonderful experience, but the cold hard truth of reality soon set in. Morgan, much as he might wish otherwise, wasn't his son. "Come on, do you fancy a drink?" Darren certainly needed one.
Morgan relinquished his tight hold, and looked up at a cautiously smiling Darren. "Yeah, thanks, dad."
Darren took hold of Morgan's hold-all and slung it over his shoulder. Placing his other hand on Morgan's back, he guided his son across the station concourse. 'Not exactly 'Brief Encounter,' Darren mused, remembering the old black and white movie, as he looked round the station buffet.
"So, what's your poison?"
Morgan giggled. "Um, Tango, please."
As Darren got the drinks, along with a couple of packets of sandwiches, he knew he'd have to try and talk the young lad into going back home; his parents, even though they didn't sound like ideal role models, would soon notice the absence of their son. Much as Darren would like to care for Morgan himself - he thought he'd make a pretty decent job of it - he knew it just couldn't be.
Once through the serving line, they found an out of the way table in a far corner.
"Morgan, we really need to talk about all this, love. You realise that what I'm doing could count as kidnapping, I could go to jail."
"But you haven't kidnapped me, I've run away."
"Yes, love, but I'm still committing a crime. Morgan, you took a heck of a risk meeting me; I could be all kinds of a monster. You must have seen all the stuff they tell you kids about not meeting up in person with those you chat to online."
"Yeah, but you're nice, you wouldn't hurt me." After meeting Darren in the flesh, Morgan was sure that he wouldn't hurt him.
"Yes, love, but you still took a risk. I could have been any age, I could have pretended that I was twelve like you, and, oh well, all kinds of horrible things could have happened."
"But you didn't say you were twelve, you're thirty-five. You are, aren't you?"
"Yes, I'm thirty-five." Darren took out his driver's license and showed it to Morgan. "We have to talk about what happens now."
"I'm coming to live with you."
"Morgan." Darren looked at him. "You're a bright kid, you're not stupid. You know that the police will soon be looking for you, and it'd only be a matter of time before they found you. And I can't imagine what your mum and dad will go through when they find out that you're missing."
"They won't even notice. They don't love me."
"Morgan, answer me this, do they hit you? Do they shout at you a lot and make you cry?"
The boy shook his head. "But they don't spend time with me, I'm a disappointment to my dad cause I can't play football and stuff. I once overheard him say that for all the use I was, I might as well have been born a girl."
Darren shuddered inwardly. "You don't go without food though, do you? The fact that we've IM'd one another tells me that you've got a computer and it's in your bedroom?"
"Yeah, so?"
"Well, you get money spent on you, that must tell you that your parents love you."
"Suppose so, but they never listen to me."
"I think if you ask almost every twelve-year-old that question, they'd say the same thing about their parents."
"Suppose so. But it's right what I said, I can't go back to that school. Lenny, he, he'd, he'd hurt me." Morgan started to cry. "And I've no friends, no one at all."
Darren put an arm around him. "Okay, love, please don't cry."
They sat there for another half an hour, Darren patiently trying to coax Morgan into going back home, and he steadfastly refusing.
"Why won't you let me just come and stay with you for a few days, then?"
"We've been through this, I'd get into trouble."
"I'd tell them that it was okay, that you hadn't hurt me at all."
"I'm not sure how much of that they'd believe. Look, Morgan, there's something you don't know about me, and it might make you not want to come and live with me anyway. Do you know what it means to be gay?"
Morgan nodded. "You like men, not women."
"Well, yeah, kind of. Now that makes things more complicated. Because I'm gay, I have to be more careful about what I do. It'd look really suspicious if I took a boy home with me. Now I know and I hope you'd know that I would never hurt you in any way, but other people wouldn't know that."
Morgan stayed quiet for a couple of minutes.
"You okay?"
Morgan looked up at Darren; he had a haunted look in his eyes, which immediately put Darren on full alert. "I might be gay, too," Morgan said in a really quiet voice. Darren wasn't sure if he'd heard him correctly.
'Oh shit,' Darren thought. "Okay, um, you're only twelve, it's possible you don't know yet."
"I'm pretty sure, I've seen pictures on the net, I, well, I..."
"Yeah, I get the idea." Darren shuddered at the thought of someone so young being exposed to such things. "Morgan, I'll ask you one last time, will you tell me where you live, so I can drive you back home? I'll have a talk to your mum and dad and..."
"Nooooo." Morgan shrank into himself.
"Okay, sweetheart, okay. We won't do that then. Look, I don't like this, I don't like this at all, but if you won't let me take you back to your home, I only have three other options, I could take you to a police station or . . ."
"They'd send me back, I'd run away again." Morgan was very firm in his answer; Darren knew he couldn't take that course.
"Okay, my second option is to just leave you here, to face God knows what, but I can't do that. The only thing I can do is to take you back to my place." Darren was trying to justify his actions as much to himself as anyone else, he knew he was between a rock and a hard place. "But taking you home means I'd be committing a crime."
"I know, I know you could get into a lot of trouble, but I promise I'll tell everyone that you were nice to me."
Darren sighed. He didn't like it, but saw little alternative. "Okay then, lets go."
They stood up, Darren shouldered Morgan's bag, and they exited the railway station.
"I tell you, she is," Ben insisted.
"But that's impossible," Josh said in return.
"Well, boys," Robbie said from the driver's seat of his Trooper as he headed towards Josh's house. "Sister Angelina is pretty ancient."
"See!" Ben stuck his tongue out at Josh.
Ben had been told by one of the bigger kids that Sister Angelina, the school librarian, would be celebrating her eightieth birthday the next week, but Josh wouldn't believe him.
"Yes, well, maybe ancient is the wrong word, I honestly don't know how old she is. She was the librarian when me and your dad were at school, and she looked pretty old even back then. But I seriously doubt that she's eighty."
"Seventy-nine, she'll be eighty next week," Ben corrected.
When Robbie turned into Josh's street, he saw a police car parked outside Morgan's house. "Wonder what's happened there," he said quietly.
"Well, it wouldn't surprise me if one of them has got arrested, they're always arguing, seems like they're at it every night," Josh observed.
Nancy emerged from the Smith's house, she'd been keeping a look out for Robbie's car. It was every parent's worst nightmare to have his or her child go missing. Nancy was more relieved than she could say to see her son was safe and sound. "Josh, oh sweetheart." She hugged her son in the middle of the street, much to Josh's discomfort.
"Mum." Josh tried to disengage. "What's going on?"
"Sue got a call from the comprehensive to say that Morgan hadn't turned up for registration." The comprehensive school had, in an effort to decrease the levels of truancy, implemented a system of contacting a parent if an unexcused absence occurred. "You've not seen anything of Morgan today, have you?"
"No, but then he doesn't go to our school."
Ben had overheard the conversation and got out of the car. "Do they know where Morgan is?"
"No. You don't know anything do you?" Nancy asked Ben.
"No, sorry, he rang me up on Saturday, asking if I wanted to come over, but I had stuff on," Ben said, remembering the pool party.
To Robbie, Nancy asked, "Can you hang on a minute? The police might want to talk to Ben about this."
"Sure, no problem," Robbie said.
Ben's interview with the policewoman yielded little new information. Ben was beginning to regret not being more of a friend to Morgan.
After being given a card with the policewoman's number on it, just in case he thought of anything else, Robbie took his son home; he was also extremely glad that Ben was safe.
The police investigation didn't yield very many clues. All they were able to glean from their house-to-house enquiries was that Morgan was very much a loner; no friends amongst the neighbour children, the parents argued frequently, a fact which they didn't volunteer themselves, and no one heard or saw anything unusual during the course of that day. An examination of Morgan's room proved that some clothing and other personal effects had been taken, so Morgan had obviously planned to leave. There were no posters on the walls; the room was neat and tidy and devoid of the usual clutter. When they were told that Morgan seemed to spend a good deal of time on his computer, the police decided to take it away for further examination, hoping to get a lead from that, as all other avenues seemed very unproductive.
As darkness began to fall, with still no news of Morgan's whereabouts, Mr and Mrs Smith's anxieties grew. The neighbours, though understandably sympathetic towards the Smith's plight, were nevertheless relieved to be given an evening free from the sound of raised voices.
"That police car's still out there," Nancy said to her husband, Jamie, when she took a peek through the curtains. "Jamie, I know it's wrong of me to think it, but I'm ever so relieved that it wasn't our Josh."
"Yeah." Jamie moved his eyes momentarily from the TV screen.
"He, Morgan, I mean, he's quite a lot like our Josh in a lot of ways, quiet, not got that many friends and all."
Jamie knew that there would be little chance of being able to give his full attention to the TV, and Morgan's disappearance had affected him more than he was comfortable about admitting. He'd always taken his relationship with Josh for granted. Jamie hadn't been all that close to his own father; Leroy Pearson had believed in making his children steer their own course in life. Jamie hadn't minded his father's distant relationship to him, as he'd always been a confident and outgoing person. Not unsurprisingly, Jamie had instinctively followed the same course with his own son, but Nancy's comment about how similar Josh and Morgan were caused him to begin a re-evaluation of his previously held beliefs. There were, Jamie believed, several differences between Josh and Morgan; Josh was a strong lad, 'a chip off the old block;' he was good at sport, something Jamie suspected wasn't true in Morgan's case. However, Jamie was now realising that his son shared a number of similar characteristics, too. Josh was quiet, withdrawn and never seemed to bring attention to himself. 'Could our Josh get into the same state of not having any options left but to run away?' The thought disturbed Jamie a great deal. 'No, our Josh knows he can always come to us if he's got a problem, but do we, do I, ever make time just to talk with him? To find out what he's feeling, what sorts of things make him happy, what worries him?' Jamie was ashamed to realise that no, he didn't interact with Josh as much as he should.
Jamie stood up, realising that the situation across the street had acted as a wake-up call to him. "Our Josh doing his homework?" he asked his wife.
"Yes, love," Nancy said, lifting her face from her magazine.
"Right." Jamie left the room, went upstairs and tapped on his son's door. Hoping that he wouldn't come across as a total fool, Jamie entered.
"You okay, son?"
"Um, yeah, dad." Josh wondered what was going on, his dad hardly ever came into his bedroom.
Sitting on the end of his son's bed, Jamie began. "You know, if ever there's anything that's on your mind, you can come to me or your mum about it."
"Um, yeah dad, I know." Josh felt a little uncomfortable. This was unchartered territory.
Jamie spotted his son's unease, and guessed correctly at its cause. "Son." Jamie wasn't sure how he could phrase his comments. "Before you're allowed to drive a car, you have to pass a test. Before you can use a piece of equipment at work on your own, you have to show them that you know how to use it safely. But when you become a dad, there's no tests or exams to pass. You're on your own, really. Yeah, there's loads of books you can read, but I should think they don't all give the same advice, all that I know about being a dad is what I got from my own parents, and that's what I've done with you, I've just copied what my own dad did with me."
Josh had never heard his father speak so openly before; Jamie had always seemed so, well, unapproachable. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense."
"Well, I grew up okay, I know my dad loved me, but he hardly ever told me it though. And I've been thinking, you and me, we're alike in some ways, but we are different, too. You're a lot more sensitive than me."
"Yeah, sorry."
"No, son." Jamie said looking right into Josh's eyes. "That's not a bad thing, nothing you should apologise for. Look, um, I'm not very good at this. How my dad brought me up, well, it's probably not how I should bring you up. I mean, dad hardly ever gave me a hug. I suppose looking back on it now, I wished he had."
"Yeah."
"Son, what I'm saying is that I'm sorry."
"Sorry? But you're a good dad."
"Thanks, I'd like to think I am, but if you could, what, um, how would you want me to be?" Jamie knew he'd phrased the question badly; he was right earlier, parenthood didn't come with a 'how to' manual.
"Um, I dunno." Josh did know. He would love it if Jamie was more like Ben's dad, but he couldn't say that out loud.
"I don't think I'm doing this right, son. Look, about hugging and stuff; I've never been what you would call a physical person. I remember our next-door neighbours back in Kingston, they were a lot poorer than us, but they always seemed to me to be really happy, and I wonder if that was because they were always telling each other they loved one another. Oh heck." Jamie was beginning to wish he'd not started on this, but he had, and he had to see it through. "Josh, son, I'd really honestly love it if you'd give me a hug, would you like that?" He opened his arms, and to his surprise Josh ran to him and almost knocked him over with his enthusiasm.
"Dad, oh dad, yes, oh I love you." Josh was overjoyed. Yes, this was what he wanted, what he'd always wanted. He'd seen how his dad had been kind, but distant towards him in the past. He tried to understand that this was how it had to be, but when he'd seen how Ben had interacted with his dads, he just knew that he'd love it if he and Jamie were like that.
"Son, I'm sorry we didn't do this years ago. I'm really sorry." Jamie clung onto Josh tightly; he was amazed at how wonderful it felt to hold him. He'd missed out big time in the past.
Josh eventually loosened his grip and looked up at his dad; a little unsure of himself, Josh leant forward and kissed Jamie's cheek. The gesture at first startled Jamie who tensed, he saw the instant look of fear in Josh's eyes, and knew that he'd been the cause. "Son, no." Jamie tightened his hold around Josh again. "Thanks, it was lovely, and I'm sorry for tensing up." Jamie rocked his son for a few more seconds before loosening his grip. "That's something we've not done for a long time, and you don't know how much I just realised I'd missed it."
"Thanks, dad."
Josh sat down on his bed next to his father.
"Josh, like I said before, if there's anything, anything at all that you're ever worried about, please son, please tell either me or your mum. If you left home like Morgan has done, well, I just don't know how I'd cope. You won't know until you get your own kids what it'd be like, but it would break my heart if there was something that was inside you that you couldn't face telling us, and you felt that you had no option but to run away."
"Yeah, dad." There was something inside him, but no way could he tell his dad.
"If you've got a problem with someone bullying you, cause of your colour, or you owe someone some money, or, I don't know, you get into drugs. Please Josh, tell us. I'll try my hardest to understand. And, Josh, I promise you," Jamie locked eyes with his son, "that we'll work it out together. I dunno, if you get a girl pregnant or, god forbid, you think you might be queer, I'll understand."
Josh's eyes widened involuntarily, he let out a quick gasp of alarm. Josh couldn't help shiver slightly when his dad said 'queer'. Jamie spotted it.
"Son?"
Josh looked down; he tried to stop his shakes, but he was beginning to lose the battle. His dad knew, he'd be kicked out, he'd be hit, no, he couldn't cope with it, especially now that he'd reached a new understanding with his dad.
Jamie realised that he'd unintentionally stumbled onto something, and given his son's reaction, it was something big. Jamie hoped he'd handle it right. He had to; he knew that the next few minutes could be the most crucial ones of his parental life. He sent up a quick prayer for guidance. "Please, Josh, please."
"It's nothing, honest," Josh said through his distress.
"I promise, son, I promise it'll be alright."
"You'll hate me, dad. I can't, I can't." Josh curled himself up into a ball and sobbed out his pain.
Jamie wrapped his arms around the shaking ball of human misery. 'It has to be something I just said, what was it?' Jamie thought it unlikely that Josh had got a girl pregnant. He wasn't sure if Josh had reached puberty, and he'd not got a girlfriend; he was only twelve, and he hardly ever went out, except when he was with that Ben Powers kid. Realisation dawned like a huge weight slamming into him. Josh had looked frightened when he'd talked about queers, and he hadn't phrased the comment in a nice way. Jamie did a quick evaluation. His dad had always denigrated anything remotely connected with homosexuality, and Jamie had just followed along, behaving as his father had done. 'Shit, shit, shit!' Hadn't Jamie just promised himself that he wouldn't behave like his dad? And at 'the' most critical moment, he'd done exactly the opposite of what he'd promised.
'I've got to do this right, I've just got to, Josh is so God damned precious to me for me to screw it up.' Continuing to cuddle his son, Jamie opened his mouth; in as loving a tone as he could muster, he spoke. "Josh, please son, look at me."
Very slowly, Josh uncurled himself, but wouldn't, couldn't look at his dad, he was just too scared.
"Please, Josh," Jamie took his son's hand and gave it a squeeze. "If you tell me that you think that you might be gay, I will love you just the same. I don't care what I've said before, that's gone, over with. Joshua Leroy Pearson, you are my son, and nothing, absolutely nothing will ever change that."
In a tiny voice, quavering with fear, Josh said, "Dad, I think I am, gay, I mean."
Jamie was as good as his word; he wrapped his son up in his thickly muscled arms and hugged him very tightly to his chest. "I don't care, son." Jamie was openly weeping himself now. "I'm just so fucking proud of you. You'll always be my son, I'll always love you."
"I was so scared to tell you because of what you've said in the..."
"I know, son, and I'm sorry, I honestly am. I can't think of how you must have felt all those times."
"Yeah." Josh continued to weep, but his tears had turned to relief, what he'd so feared hadn't happened. His dad, his idol, still loved him despite what he was.
Jamie and Josh held onto one another for a few more minutes. Josh eventually loosened his grip and looked into his dad's face; he'd never seen Jamie cry before.
"Thanks, dad, for being so, well, you know."
Jamie smiled. "If there's one good thing that's come out of Morgan running away, it's that your dumb old dad has finally realised what a super son he's got."
Josh beamed with happiness.
"You, um, are you sure, you know, I, oh heck, I've no experience with qu..." Jamie was mortified that he almost said the word.
"Soright, dad, I know you didn't mean to say it."
'God, what a son.' "Thanks, um, you're sure that you're gay, I mean, do people know that sort of thing at your age? I don't understand about being gay or anything, but if you help me, I'll try."
"Thanks. Well, not for definite, but I'm pretty sure, yeah. It just feels so right when I hold Ben..." Josh realised he'd probably said more than he should.
Jamie nodded. "Is Ben your boyfriend?"
"Well, kinda."
"Does his dad know about him?"
"Oh, yeah, they both do." In his relief of finally disclosing his darkest secret, Josh's mouth was running ahead of his brain.
"Both, you mean his mum and dad?"
"Well, um, yeah, sort of."
Jamie looked confused. "Sort of?"
"I can't really say, dad. It's not, and, well I can't say."
"But Ben's parents are alright about him being gay."
"Oh yes, yes, that's not it."
"I don't follow, then."
"Well, it's kind of..." Josh didn't know how to proceed. "I promised I wouldn't say."
"Okay, don't worry about it." Jamie patted his son's wrist.
"It'll take me a bit of time to get used to it, you having a boyfriend and everything, I might slip up now and again. Heck, I was fourteen before I had my first girlfriend."
Josh giggled.
"You are safe, though, I mean, oh Josh, you're a bit young to be having sex, I mean..."
"It's okay, dad, we're not, um, you know." Josh was turning several shades of red, talking about one's sex life to a parent was just too embarrassing.
Jamie smiled. "Okay, I think I understand. Your granddad used to ask me some real embarrassing questions, so as long as I know you're being safe, I won't say any more."
"Thanks, dad," Josh said in relief. 'Boy what a day this has been,' he thought, letting out a breath.
There was a knock at the door. "Can I come in?" Nancy asked. Jamie had been upstairs for almost half an hour, and she was curious and a little concerned as to what was going on.
"Yeah, mum."
When she entered, Nancy could see that both the men in her life had red eyes, they'd been crying. She tried to remember the last time Jamie had cried. It was when Josh was born, and Jamie had first held him in his arms. "What's wrong?"
Jamie looked at Josh quizzically. He put an arm around his son, something Nancy couldn't remember him doing for a long time. "Want to tell her?" Jamie asked softly.
Josh wasn't sure if he could face coming out twice in one day, but telling his mother shouldn't be as difficult as telling his dad. "Um, mum, I'm gay."
Nancy put a hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp of surprise. No one spoke for about thirty seconds, though the time seemed to drag for longer than that for Josh. He began to revise his opinion on how easy it would be to tell his mother. He shuddered, and Jamie gave him a squeeze.
"Well, um, it's something I've thought about before," Nancy said. "But kind of mulling it over in your head, and actually knowing about it, well, aren't the same thing, I guess."
"Sorry, mum," Josh said, head down, closely scrutinising the pattern on the carpet.
Nancy realised that she'd upset her son, something she hadn't intended. "Oh, Josh love, no, you don't need to be sorry, I think that's what I should be. It's just come as a bit of a shock. You sure about it, I mean, you're still pretty young."
"Yeah, mum, I'm pretty sure. Girls are okay, but boys, well, one boy, I like a lot."
"Ben?"
Josh nodded. "I love him, he's, well, I like to, um, well, you know." Josh was blushing again.
"Does Robbie know, and Carl?"
"Um, yeah."
"Robbie and Carl?" Jamie asked.
"Robbie's his uncle, Carl Powers is his dad. They live up at 'The big house', didn't I say?"
"No." Jamie shook his head. "Robbie Foster, as in Foster's Glassworks?"
Nancy nodded; it was only a matter of time before Jamie got to know. "Yeah, the same one. Though he doesn't have much to do with the place, I don't think. I went to school with him." Nancy wasn't sure why she'd added that last bit.
"Oh, right. Um, did you pull any strings to get me that last promotion?"
Nancy shook her head. "Nope, I spoke to Robbie afterwards if you remember, but he didn't say much, and with you hovering around I couldn't, but he asked me if the best man for the job had got it, and you know the answer to that better than me."
"Right."
It had certainly been an evening for surprises.
"I feel guilty, I should've been a better friend to Morgan," Ben told his two dads as they sat at the kitchen table eating their tea.
"Whilst I understand what you're feeling, Ben, I'm not sure you could have done much else for Morgan," Robbie said.
"Exactly, how were you to know that he'd run away?" Carl added.
"I know, but still."
"Ben love," Sarah spoke up. "You're one of the sweetest little lads I've ever known, you can't take everyone's troubles on board."
"Yeah, but," Ben sighed. "If I'd have gone round."
"You said the last time you went there, his mum and dad were acting really strange," Carl said, recalling the day he'd come out to his parents. Ben had spent the afternoon with Morgan, but throughout dinner the adults would only talk to the two kids and never to one another.
"Yeah, it was majorly weird, suppose they were having trouble even back then."
"So how was you to know that it'd all blow up now?" Sarah put in.
"Exactly," Carl said. "Though I'm pleased you're the sort that wants to help people, but you can't help everyone. If Morgan was feeling so bad, then he could have spoken up more strongly, gone to one of his other friends, or a teacher perhaps."
"Don't think he has many friends, he didn't at middle school anyway," Ben said.
The three adults continued to try and bolster Ben's mood. They must have been successful because, much to Sarah's delight, Ben asked for a second helping of the stewed fruit pudding she'd baked.
Morgan was enjoying himself at Darren's. He had someone with him who cared, there wasn't the sound of raised voices coming from below. Best of all, Darren didn't treat him like a kid. They'd ordered in pizza, a food his mother rarely let him have. The two had sat on the sofa eating it with their fingers, grinning at one another with tomato stained faces.
Darren tried to push away his anxieties at the situation; he'd gently probed Morgan into telling him more about his home life. Morgan had said a certain amount, but often got too upset; Darren, not wanting to make things worse, had stopped the questioning.
They were snuggled together on the couch watching something on the Discovery Channel, Morgan surprising Darren with his in-depth knowledge of whale song, when there was a knock at the door. Morgan immediately stiffened.
"Okay, don't worry, it's probably William, you know, my business partner," Darren said, getting to his feet. He was right, it was William.
"How's it going?" the visitor asked as he stood on the doorstep.
"Come in," Darren said, stepping to one side. He spoke quietly, hoping Morgan couldn't hear him. "I've tried to get him to tell me his address, but he just won't. I bet his parents are frantic, though I have to say they don't sound like ideal people to raise a child."
The two moved into the main room.
"Hello, little fella, I'm William, I'm kinda like Darren's dad, as well as his business partner."
"Right, hello." Morgan still wasn't sure.
"It's alright, love. William's on our side," Darren tried to reassure.
"Now then." William parked himself in a chair opposite Morgan. "All this is a bit of a mess, isn't it?"
"Um, yeah." Morgan admitted.
"What do you think can happen, in the long term, I mean?"
"Dunno." Morgan said, looking down at the carpet; in truth he hadn't given much thought to what would happen in the future, he'd just wanted to get away from his school and his family.
"Well, let's take school for example. You need to go there, and how is Darren supposed to explain you to the school authorities?"
"Dunno," Morgan admitted.
William sighed.
The three talked for a while longer, but didn't seem to resolve anything.
"Look, it's getting late. Will you be able to work in the shop tomorrow?" William asked Darren.
"Should be able to, but I'm not sure what we can do with Morgan here."
"Can I help? I know a bit about computers as you know."
"Yes, that's true, but I don't think it'd be a good idea if you met the public, they'd want to know why you weren't in school."
"Yeah."
"He could work in the back, there's that order for Simpkin's to get through. You should be able to do some basic assembly of PC parts, shouldn't you?" William asked.
"Yeah, no problem." Morgan was glad that the conversation had moved away from trying to get him to go back home.
"Right, I'll be off then." William stood up. "See you both tomorrow, then."
William left the building wondering how on earth Darren was going to get himself out of the mess he was in. He could understand Darren's desire to become a father, it was something William had thought he'd never achieve until Darren had dropped into his lap. But Morgan was so young, and was there without the permission of his parents. He could well understand Darren's desire to 'pay it forward,' a term William had encountered on the Internet. Darren wanted to pass the good fortune of finding a decent and loving father on to Morgan. William shook his head at how Darren had gone about things, but after asking himself what he'd have done if the same situation had happened to him, William was forced to conclude he'd have done pretty much the same.
Robbie, Carl and Ben were sat watching TV when the phone rang. "I'll get it," Ben said. He was nearest the door anyway. Going into the hall, he picked the phone up. "Hello?"
"Cub, it's me."
Ben thought Josh's voice sounded rather strange. "Josh, um, Bear, what's wrong?"
"Mum and dad know."
"Huh, know what?"
"About me, they know I'm gay. They're okay, they don't mind, and I'm, and dad, well, he said that he didn't want to bring me up like he had been. I'm just so happy." Josh continued his monologue. Ben couldn't follow it all, but Josh sounded happy, and that was the main thing.
"That's great, Josh. I'm so pleased for you."
"Yeah, me too, I mean I'm glad they know, but I was so scared that dad would hit me or something, but it's all right."
Ben managed to get out of an excited Josh what had lead up to the disclosure of Josh's darkest secret. "Well, we'll be able to spend more time together, then."
"Yeah, um, maybe, I don't wanna, like, upset dad too much though, I think it'll take him a bit of time to get really used to it, I think I need time, too, but I think they'll let me sleep over at weekends and stuff like that."
"Yeah, cool."
"Oh, I didn't tell dad about your two dads, though. I nearly did, but I managed to stop myself."
"Thanks, don't suppose they'd mind too much, but thanks anyway."
Morgan was delighted at how easily he took to the tasks that Darren had set him in the back room. He'd played around with the innards of his own PC, but as he wasn't too sure of what he was doing, he hadn't dared to do too much. With Darren's patient teaching, however, Morgan soon began to acquire a real aptitude for PC construction. As he didn't have to constantly look over his shoulder for any signs of trouble from members of Lenny's gang, Morgan was able to devote himself completely to his task.
"Okay, son, I think that about wraps things up for today," Darren said coming into the back room. Morgan had been working on his own for the past few hours; once Darren had shown him a couple of times what needed doing, he'd soon grasped the idea and ran alone with it.
"Huh?" Morgan looked up at the wall clock and was amazed to discover that it was half past five. "Wow, I didn't realise it was that late."
"Been enjoying yourself?"
"Yeah, honestly, dad, I have. It's been great," Morgan said, smiling broadly.
To Darren, Morgan reminded him of a younger version of himself. He'd been totally captivated by the then relatively new concept of personal computers when he'd been only a few years older than Morgan.
"Yep, well, we ought to be going upstairs and see what we can throw together for our tea."
"Okay, dad." Morgan hopped off his stool, and followed Darren up the stairs to the flat.
Sitting in the living room with a plate of chicken and pasta in their laps, the two watched the local evening news. Morgan froze when he saw footage of his mother making an appeal for his return. To Morgan, she seemed to have aged at least five years; she didn't look as though she'd slept at all. He began to cry.
"Son." Darren was instantly at Morgan's side; he took the plate from his lap and cuddled him. "You really have to go back home, you know."
"Yeah, I didn't think she'd be that bothered about me. She never seemed to take that much notice of me before."
"She looked really upset," Darren observed.
"Yeah, she did."
"Morgan, son, I think it'd be best if I drove you home, rather than calling the police, that way you'd be back with your mum and dad a lot faster."
"Okay, but, well, I wanna keep in touch with you, my other dad, too. I've loved stopping with you, and I'm scared they won't let me see you again."
Amongst other things, Darren was worried about not seeing Morgan again, too. Somehow he doubted that Mr and Mrs Smith would let their kid see him, but that couldn't be helped. Morgan belonged at home with his parents.
"I think you ought to pack your bag, love. I'll go and get the car out."
"I love you, dad. I really do, but, yeah, I think I've got to go home."
Morgan and Darren entered the lion's den that was the Smith household. Morgan would later describe it as a circus; a confusing mass of questions, tears, raised voices, and accusatory comments.
Throughout all the fuss, Morgan had remained firm; Darren hadn't lured him away, it had been his decision to run. Darren had asked him time and time again to tell him where he lived, but he'd refused. Morgan had also insisted very firmly that he wanted to see Darren again, and if his mum and dad really loved him as they kept telling him that they did, then they'd let him see him, let him talk to him on the phone and Instant Message with him.
Darren had expected trouble, and he'd got it. George Smith had almost landed a punch on him a couple of times, but Darren had remained calm, pointing out as logically as he could that he'd not had that many options. "Would you have preferred me to walk away when your son threatened to commit suicide?"
"You could have told the authorities about how he was feeling," George, Morgan's dad had angrily replied.
"All I had was a first name, IM and Hotmail address, nothing else. I'd no idea which part of the country he lived in, I tried to get his address, but he wouldn't tell me."
Morgan nodded. "I was too scared that he'd tell you dad, and I'd be made to stay here."
George ignored his son's words. "Well, when you met up with him, why didn't you contact the police, then?"
"Because Morgan said he'd run. Mr Smith, your son is a very distressed young man, anything could have tipped him over the edge."
"Our Morgan's alright, a bit of a nerd, but he's alright."
"No, Mr Smith, that just isn't true. He wouldn't have run away if he was."
That had almost caused another round of fisticuffs. The middle aged policeman who was sat between the pair, trying to keep them separated, had to intervene.
"Spare the rod, and spoil the child. That's what I've always said," George said, treating Darren to his philosophy on child rearing. "If I'd have been harder on him, he wouldn't be the sissy he is today."
Darren turned to the policeman. "Officer, frankly, I'm amazed poor Morgan has stood life in this house as long as he has."
Despite trying to maintain an air of neutrality, the police constable had to agree with Darren's comments.
The debate raged for a little longer; eventually some consensus was reached. To his delight, Morgan's parents agreed to allow him to change schools.
"You might have to stay at the comprehensive until Christmas, love. I'll have a word with the education department, and see if we can get you moved to St Winifred's for the New Year," Sue Smith said.
"Thanks, mum. I've tried to get on at the comp, but I'm always picked on."
"I know, sweetie. I should have listened to your problems more often, but you've complained a lot in the past when there'd been nothing wrong. So I didn't take your comments too seriously this time."
"Yeah, mum, I'm sorry, you're right. But honest, it's not nice there at the minute."
"I'll go up to the school with you tomorrow morning, and get an appointment with the headmaster."
After an exhausting round of questioning, Darren finally managed to convince everyone that he wasn't the monster they'd first suspected. He left the Smith house, promising Morgan that he'd ring him later that night.
George Smith had also been persuaded to leave the house for a trial separation; things hadn't been going well in their marriage for some time, and he had finally been convinced that leaving would be best for all concerned.
To be concluded (Yes folks, the next chapter will be the last)