Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:39:49 +0000
From: Chris Salter <chezmoi_ou_cheztoi@msn.com>
Subject: How I Met Jake: Chapter 19

If the thought of two men involved in a relationship, or if the act is
prohibited in your area, then don't read on, press the little Red X. If not,
read on McDuff.

Disclaimer: I don't know Jake, don't claim to, nor do I wish to imply his
sexual preference or relationship status. Jakeyboy deserves to be happy, and
that is what we must be for him. This work is fiction, nothing more.


Chapter 19:


The hotel room was revolting. There were suspicious stains on the once
beige carpeting, made even more revolting by the white stains on the
bedspread. Chris didn't even want to sit down on the bed, let alone sleep
in it. It reminded him of what The Brady house would look like if overrun
by coke fiends.

It didn't really matter, as soon as Chris tearfully pulled himself into the
bedroom, he was immediately on the phone to another airline.

"I'm sorry sir; it looks like flights are fully booked until Sunday." The
woman apologized.

"Thanks for trying." Chris replied distantly before ending the call. He
then sat on his suitcase, not wanting to touch the flooring of the room. He
really didn't want to spend any more time in this place, but it was the
only room he could get at this time of night.

Suddenly it dawned on him. He picked the phone up from his lap once more
and tearfully searched through the various numbers, eventually finding the
home number he was searching for. He pressed the button to connect the call
and waited.

"Hello?" Came a strange voice over the line.

Chris thought he had dialed the wrong number at first, holding the phone
away from his ear quickly, he realized it was indeed the right number,
hearing the acknowledgement once more, Chris finally spoke up, "Hi, is
Daniel there?"

"He's in the kitchen at the moment, who's calling?"

Chris grimaced. He was beginning to understand why Jake didn't trust him.
Every bump in the road sent him running back to Daniel. Realizing he was
having a conversation in his mind, he finally sniffled out, "It's Chris."

"Just a minute, I'll grab him." The man said before going quiet.

Chris could hear some shuffling on the other end of the line followed by
some muffled voices. Wiping the tears away from his eyes once more, he
waited for Danny to grab the phone.

Finally after a loud commotion, Danny spoke up, "Chris, what's wrong?"

Once again, Chris' eyes were reenacting Niagara Falls. "I fucked up Danny,
Jake doesn't trust me, and we split up and I ..." He quickly inhaled
through his nose to stop a trail of mucous from dripping out, "I got my
things out of Maggie's place and now I'm stuck in this fucking revolting
hotel room because I can't get a flight and I don't know.. HELP!"  He
begged.  "I'll come get you; you can stay in the guest room." Danny
replied. "Where are you?"  *** *** *** ***

Chris had been waiting in the seedy hotel lobby for about 45 minutes before
Daniel finally burst his way inside.

"Come here." Danny replied as he lovingly brought Chris into an embrace.

"Thank god you're here," Chris exclaimed as he began to expel more and more
tears. "I didn't know what to do."

Danny gently rubbed his hand on the back of Chris' neck, "You did the right
thing, but you should have called me straight away." He then looked over at
the homophobic, Hawaiian shirt-wearing manager behind the counter. "Come
on, let's get out of here."

Tearfully, Chris helped Danny relocate the various bags into the trunk of
his black BMW.  He then slipped into the leather passenger seat and slowly
closed the door with a solid thud. Once Danny was behind the wheel, Chris
finally looked up, "Thank you for doing this."

Danny started the engine, causing the car to let out a throaty roar from
the exhaust; he then carefully pulled onto the street and back towards
Manhattan. "I care too much about you, just promise me one thing though."

Despite the fact, it was summer, and slightly warm outside, Chris was
freezing from being absolutely heartbroken. He fiddled with the
passenger-side climate-control, setting it to the heating mode. He then
looked over at Danny, "What is it?"

Pulling onto the onramp to get onto the bridge, Danny looked over at Chris
briefly, "Stay until you were supposed to go home." He then quickly
overtook an old sedan, which was hogging the right hand lane. "I want to
make sure you're okay."

"Fine." Chris grumbled as he tried to control his emotions, "I'll stay for
a few more days." He then closed his eyes and rested his head against the
window. He missed Jake so much, it literally felt like he had been kicked
in the stomach all night long. He continually tried to control his
crying. This task was fruitless, as every few minutes a mental image of his
first kiss with Jake came to mind, followed closely by images of Jake
holding his hand the day before.

Danny finally pulled up outside a large garage door and searched around the
dark cabin for the remote. He then waited for the door to open before
directing the car inside to his usual parking spot. Switching the engine
off, he looked over at Chris, who was sleeping.  "Poor baby," Danny
muttered to himself as he slid out of his seat and headed over to Chris'
door.

Carefully opening the door, Danny unbuckled Chris' seatbelt before. As
Chris began to stir, Danny finally spoke up, "Come on, we're here."

Slowly pulling himself out of the comfortable leather seat, Chris moaned as
the realization of the days events sunk in once more. "How did I let this
happen, Daniel?"  Stepping out of the car, Danny grabbed him in another hug
before taking Chris' hand.

Danny led Chris towards the elevator, "We'll get your stuff later." Leading
Chris inside the elevator, he held Chris close to his body as they made
their way up through the floors of the apartment building.

They finally reached the floor and Danny walked Chris along the tiled
hallway to a large black door. He then pulled the key from his pocket and
pushed the door open.

"You're back?" Alex asked as he stood up from the couch.

Chris saw the relatively tall man dressed in a black v-neck shirt and a
grey pair of pants quickly get to his feet.

"Yeah, I rescued Chris from that fleapit." Danny said as he threw his keys
in the bowl near the door. He then brought Chris towards Alex and
introduced them.

"I'm sorry for ruining your evening." Chris apologized as he looked around
Danny's apartment. It was decorated in various brown tones, completely
different to the place they once shared. However, his interior decorating
side was quickly pushed aside as he thought about losing Jake.

"It's fine, I completely understand." Alex replied, "I'm sorry about what
happened. I wanted to you under better circumstances."

Chris smiled weakly at Alex's comment, before being led to the guest
bedroom by Danny.

Leading Chris into the large and cool bedroom, Danny sat Chris on the bed.
"Do you want to talk about it?"

Chris shook his head; it still hurt him to think about it. How could Jake
not trust him after what they had been through? "Maybe tomorrow, I don't
know. I just want to disappear."  He then flopped to the side and rested
his head on the soft cotton pillow.

Sitting down at the end of the bed, Danny carefully pulled Chris' shoes off
before pulling a blanket over his body. He then reached into Chris' pockets
and pulled his wallet and phone out before heading out of the bedroom. He
quickly leaned over and kissed Chris on the cheek, "It will be okay." He
said as he stood up and switched the light off.

Closing the door quietly, Danny headed over the coffee table and dropped
the wallet and phone down before sitting down and resting his head on
Alex's chest. He sighed, "We have to make this right. It was my fault."

Resting his head on top of Danny's short black hair, Alex whispered, "It
wasn't." He then kissed the small quarter sized bald spot on Danny's head,
"You didn't know this would happen, I don't think any of us would have."

"I suppose," Danny replied as he closed his eyes.  *** *** *** ***

Danny arose early from bed; he wanted to see if Chris was up and about.
Alas, he was still in the same position in the bed. After carefully padding
his way in to make sure Chris was still alive, Danny covered him back up
and headed into the kitchen to make himself strong black coffee.

Once the coffee had finished dripping into the cup, Danny picked it up and
padded back into the living area. He was making his way towards the dining
table before a buzzing coming from the table caught his interest. He slowly
made his way over to phone and picked it up.

Looking at the screen, Danny could see that the call was coming from a
Private Number.  Curious as to who it was, he accepted the call.

"Chris, thank god we got you." Came a female voice.

Danny looked towards the bedroom door, "This is Chris' ex, who's this?"

"Is that Daniel? Hi it's Jakes sister Maggie." She said in a sad tone, "So
Chris is still in New York?"

Sitting down on the couch, Danny leaned forward and took a sip from his
coffee, "Yeah, I've convinced him to stick around for a few days. I want to
make sure he's okay, I had to rescue him from a cheap and sleazy hotel." He
then took another sip, "He's been lying in the same position in bed all
night."

"Jake was too, I had to steal his phone when I convinced him to shower."
Maggie was then silent for a short while, "We have to fix this."

"I don't know what we can do really." Danny replied mournfully. "It seems
like Chris is a mess."

"Is there any way of getting Jake over there?" Maggie asked.

"I suppose," Danny thought for a moment, "My boyfriend Alex is here, maybe
if you can get Jake to come with you. Tell him you have to visit a friend
or something."  Laughing softly, Maggie agreed, "I think that could work. I
like the cunningness of your plan actually. Give me your address, I will
try and get Jake to come with me."

"Great." Danny replied before giving Maggie his address and the details of
the cunning plan. He then finished the coffee before getting up to inform
Alex of the plan.  *** *** *** ***

"I don't want to be out Maggie. Why did you drag me to this place?" Jake
moaned as he stepped out of the elevator.

Maggie had to think on her feet, "Because I need you to carry something
home, and Pete couldn't come."

They approached the large black door, Jake continued to complain, "The last
thing I need right now is to be a pack horse. Couldn't you have come
another day, you know, when your little brother's heart hasn't been ripped
apart?"

Maggie knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer the door. "You
needed to get out Jake, now this is Ramona's pediatrician, so be nice."

Jake shrugged as the door opened, revealing a tall dark haired man wearing
rimless glasses.

"Can I help, oh Hi Maggie, come in." Alex commented as he stood aside,
beginning to get used to his role. "You must be Jake," he said as he shook
Jakes trembling hand.

"It was nice of you to let us see you during the weekend," Maggie commented
as she glanced around and spotted Chris' wallet and phone sitting on the
coffee table. Not wanting Jake to see it, she quickly flipped him around to
admire a painting on the wall.  "Isn't this amazing? I've been trying to
buy it off Alex, but he won't part with it." She then glanced over at Alex
and directed her eyes to the coffee table.

Subtly Alex made his way over to Chris' belongings and slipped them into
his pocket. He then waited for Maggie and Jake to turn back around, "Take a
seat, I'll grab that paperwork."

"Sure," Maggie replied, "Come on Jake."

Silently Jake followed her and slumped onto the couch. He watched as the
good looking doctor disappeared into a side room for a few minutes. His
attention was then drawn back to memories of his first night with Chris,
followed by memories of the fight. Suddenly his lip began to tremble.

"Jake, I'm sorry, but we can go home soon." Maggie apologized.

Suddenly the door burst open and Alex returned with various fake documents
for Maggie to sign.  *** *** *** ***

Chris was awoken fairly early by the sound of Danny and Alex dragging his
bags into the room.

After Alex quietly slipped out of the room, Danny sat himself on the bed
near Chris' torso and gently brushed Chris' hair out of his ear. "How you
doing champ?"  Danny quietly whispered.

"I really don't know." Chris replied distantly. He felt numb all over, and
not even the touch of his ex boyfriend was enough to bring him out of his
spiral of misery. "I miss him, but he doesn't trust me." Chris sighed as he
hugged the pillow closer to his body.

"I think it will work out in the end. You two just had a misunderstanding."
Danny said softly before getting off the bed, leaning down to kiss Chris
once more, "There's some people coming over soon, they need to pick some
stuff up." He then stroked Chris' tear stained cheek, "You can stay in here
if you want to."

"I think I will." Chris replied as Danny left the room. One he was alone,
Chris peeled himself out of the bed and padded his way across the wooden
floor to his bag. He searched through it and found his iPod and the
magazine he'd purchased at the airport.

Chris then stumbled back to the bed, inserted the headphones into his ears,
opened the magazine and began to torture himself. Finding the song he was
searching for, he pressed play.

"i'm going as far as i can go, away from here, away from you, jake, and the
hole you've sunk me into.

i wish that i could belong here, with you, and just be, but that's not all
that i'm about.

your life is built on accidents, like meeting me.  you write everything
down in your grocery list - people do this.  even insects buzz like
airplanes, why can't we fly away?  i'm going as far as i can go.

your dad died, cause his heart hurt, arking away his forty-five years,
dragging your mom along.  i don't want that, neither do you. neither do
you.  if i am not fun, and i am not interesting, perhaps i am not
interested in you, neither are you.  you can't stand in front of an oven,
cause it's warm, and the fumes are dangerous.

i'm going as far as i can go.  away from here, away from you, jake, and the
hole you've sunk me into.  i wish that i could belong here, with you, and
just be, but that's not all that i'm about to do."

Chris continued to cry for several hours, listening to the same song over
and over until he heard a knock coming from the front door of the
apartment. Partly curious as to whom it was, he paused the song but kept
his head on the pillow.

*** *** *** ***

"Here you go," Maggie said as she handed the papers back to Alex. She then
thought about what to do next, "Can I use your bathroom?"

"Sure, it's down the hallway to the right." Alex replied as he surveyed the
fake documents.

Standing up, Maggie looked down at Jake, who was still slumped over in the
couch. "Can you help Alex with the thing, it's pretty heavy."

Slowly getting up, Jake wiped his red eyes before begrudgingly agreeing,
"Okay, where is it?"

"Oh it's in the first room," Alex commented, "I'll be in there in a minute.
I just need to put these papers away."

"Okay then," Jake replied as he hesitantly made his way towards the
door. He slowly depressed the door handle and pushed it open.

The room was pretty dark, except for a crack of light streaming in from the
bedroom window. From the dim light, Jake surveyed the room noticing a few
suitcases near the door. He could also see a bed in the room, with what
appeared to be large mound under the covers, thinking he had the wrong
room, Jake stepped back towards the door before he noticed it had been
pulled shut.

Flicking the light on, caused the mound to move. Jake panicked as he came
to the realization that someone else was in the room. "Sorry, I think I'm
in the wrong room."

Pulling the sheets from over his head, Chris sat up, "Jake? What are you
doing here?"

--- 20 soon ---

Developments! Dum Dum dum.... Yeah, I've cracked.

Anyway, my emails are still crapping out. I do love hearing from y'all
though. chezmoi_ou_cheztoi@msn.com
Drop me a line, it's fun and kooky, like funny hats. Assuming I get the
mail, I will reply. You guys rock, I heart you all.

Some of you have also began to wander over to my little webgroup of
suckiness! Check it out, chapters go up there before nifty, so yeah.
http://groups.msn.com/HowIMetJakeCafe

I should be uploading the next chapter in the next few days. Back to being
studious though!

Chris