Date: Thu, 22 Nov 2001 01:21:35 EST
From: Dakotajoe2000@cs.com
Subject: hanging by a moment, chapter twelve

	This story is copyrighted and the sole possession of the author. No
duplication is permitted without the express written consent of the
author. It will contain graphic description of consensual male to male sex
and may be offensive to some. If this is not something you wish to read,
please look elsewhere. Certain events in the story are based loosely on
real events so the names of the characters, with the exception of mine,
have been changed to reflect that. Hanging By A Moment is the title of a
song by Lifehouse. Constructive email can be sent to Dakotajoe2000@cs.com

Chapter Twelve -- The First Signs of Autumn

	Nick woke with a start.  The room was unusually chilly and then he
remembered why.  The sliding glass door in the living room had been left
open intentionally overnight to air out some of the fumes.  He had been
living in the apartment for two full months and parts of two others and was
finally finishing the decorating process.  He took his time in the bedroom
knowing that was where he spent the majority of his time, not mentioning
the importance of Jason in his life now.  With the addition of school, a
full time serving job and a boyfriend that popped in from time to time, he
didn't have lots of time to do anything at the house.  Last night he took
some free time and finished it up.  The cold air whipped into the bedroom
and Nick pulled his bathrobe tight around his chest and headed for the
bathroom to answer mother nature's call.

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

	My toes hit the hardwood flooring just off to the side of my bed
and a quick chill went up and down my spine.  I quickly reached for my
robe, hoping not to be exposed to any more of the cold air that had invaded
my room.  I found a pair of socks laying on the love seat just opposite my
closet doors and quickly put them on.  I was now thankful that I had
thought about that in advance last night.  I brushed my teeth for the
morning and went to get the paper.  When I opened the door and bent down to
reach for the paper, I was greeted with a surprise.  There was a single
yellow rose laying on top of the paper.  I immediately recognized the color
as a symbol of undying friendship and I melted.  Jason was such a
sweetheart.  He took a morning run everyday during the week and he would
stop by from time to time to wake me up or say hello.  He was still staying
with Trey, but he only lived three blocks away so it wasn't much of a
stretch for me to see him every day.
	I picked up the rose, inhaling its sweet scent and headed back to
the confines of the kitchen.  Jason and I had made some serious decisions
in the first several weeks of our relationship.  He and I had been seeing
each other now for more than two months.  Today's calendar chirped
September 12th when I opened my day planner, meaning two months and eight
days had passed since we became an item.  We sat one evening and talked,
shortly after our shower together.  There wasn't going to be any physical
activity between us for a while.  We wanted to get to know one another
before we started in on anything like that.  I don't think that we really
set a time line for it, we just knew that we needed more time with each
other in different ways.  Things were going really well in that aspect.
Jason spent the night several times in the last month, but usually on
nights that we had stayed up late to watch a movie or something of the
sort.  We also agreed that although I didn't have the greatest job in the
world and would eventually be tight on money he should continue living with
Trey.  He was okay with that too.  It gave us both our space, but with him
living so close, it still gave us the opportunity to be with the other
whenever time allowed.  The subject of us moving in had been breached
though, and on more than one occasion.  It wasn't something I was opposed
to, but I told him every time that the timing would have to be perfect or
it wouldn't work.
	The rose fit nicely into a vase that I had hidden under the sink.
I never expected flowers from my man, but I was always one to do little
things like that so I had one there just in case. I set the vase on top of
the little counter that separated the main part of the kitchen from the
eating area.  Light was filtering into the living room now from the bright
morning sun.  I had to adjust my eyes to peer into the room.  I slowly
walked over to the sliding glass doors when I felt my stomach fall.  You
never really know why things like that happen, but I was immediately sick.
I sat on the couch for a minute and I could hear sirens in the distance.
Faith and Jason were the only two people in Portland that I had become
close to and I knew something had to be wrong.  I wasn't sure what was up
but I waited for the phone to ring. I waited quite a while and once I was
pretty sure that I was overreacting, I went and took a shower.  I had an
early evening shift at work.  I managed to weasel my way out of a close so
that I could spend some time with Jason.  We were going to go to the movies
and see Others....at least that was the plan.  The warm water felt good
cascading over my body and I enjoyed every second of it.
	I was getting dressed when I heard a soft knock at the door.  It
was uncharacteristic of Jason's double knock, pause and knock and certainly
not Faith's "I'm gonna pound on this door until you open it" knock.  I
pulled my jeans tight and fastened the belt and headed for the door.  I
opened it and found a young girl, maybe 18, standing there with tears in
her eyes.  She sorta gasped at me and then started to stutter.  I tried to
help her along.
	"Yes, can I help you?"
	"Uh, um. Are you Nick?"
	"Yeah, I am."
	"Boy, she said you had a nice body but,..."  she cleared her throat
and continued.  "I'm Jody, Faith's younger sister."  They didn't look
anything alike I thought.  I was about to invite her in when she told me
what I had been expecting to hear just 30 minutes ago.
	"Jason's been hurt."


	I quickly donned a shirt and headed for the door.  Jody stopped me.
	"Unh uh.  Not that one."  I glanced down at the shirt I was wearing
and saw a variety of large colored paint spots all over it.
	"Thanks", I said and pulled a Gap shirt out of my closet.  We
grabbed my keys and headed to the hospital.  From what Jody told me, she
and Faith had been at the Wells-Fargo down the street from our complex and
were in the process of leaving just as Jason was jogging by.  Faith flagged
him down and began chatting with him.  They introduced each other and I
guess Jody got sorta antsy in front of him.  That was when Faith explained
who he was and who he was seeing...that being me.  She was highly
embarrassed that she was flirting with a gay boy but Faith reminded her
that she had done the same thing with me.  Their conversation continued for
several more minutes until the unthinkable happened.  Alarms went off
inside the bank and a masked man came dashing through the front door.  Jody
paled and dropped the mason jar that had until just recently held loose
coin.  In his nervous state as well, the man turned, whisked out a gun and
shot in the direction of the shattering glass.  From what the poor girl
told me, Jason did everything he could to protect the two of them.  He took
a bullet in his left shoulder and one in the right hamstring.  She stopped
talking and started bawling.
	"I'm sorry."
	"For what?" I asked.
	"I'm the reason your boyfriend is hurt."  She continued sobbing and
I needed to be paying attention to the road.
	"It is not your fault that he's hurt.  He may have been shot
anyway.  If he hadn't been there, you may be dead.  Did you think about
that?"
	She didn't respond to me, but I could tell she was thinking about
it.  We pulled into the hospital's parking garage and found a spot almost
to the top of the garage.  I didn't really want to walk that far, but when
you're in a hurry, another 25 steps isn't going to be that noticeable.  We
checked in with the receptionist who pointed us in the right direction and
then we stopped at the gift shop.  I made my special purchase for him and
then we headed to the fourth floor.  The nurse watching the doors on the
fourth floor pointed me to Faith when we walked in.  I guess she had been
expecting us.  Faith gave me a deep hug and then she hugged her sister.
Jody had her hands buried deep in her pockets and was kicking at the floor.
I stepped over to her and took her cheeks in my hands.
	"It's not your fault.  He's going to be okay.  Trust me."
	She shrugged and leaned in to cry more on my shoulder.  I let her.
It had been a traumatic day for all of us.  Faith looked at me, also with
tears welling in her eyes.  I assured her that things would be okay.  She
nodded.
	"He's in surgery right now.  They have to remove the bullets from
his shoulder and leg and give him some blood.  They say he lost about two
pints."  Faith sighed.  "The doctor said that the prognosis is good.  He's
going to need some time at home to rest but that he'll be his normal self
by Thanksgiving.  He's also going to need some physical therapy to regain
the strength in his legs.  Shoot, I guess I should let the doctor tell you
this stuff."
	I just ruffled her hair and sat while we waited for Jason to make
his appearance from surgery.

	We had been sitting in the waiting room for about 45 minutes when a
doctor walked up to us.  She introduced herself as Sharon Walker,
specialist in muscle therapy.  I took this to be a very good sign.  She
told us that the bullet that entered his shoulder didn't cause any major
damage and that it was relatively easy to remove.  The one in his leg was a
different matter she said.  From the angle of entry, they could tell that
he had made a dive to cover the girls.  The bullet entered his lower
hamstring and tore a path directly up the muscle and lodged itself just
short of his spinal cord.  She said that they were worried about nerve
damage so rather than go fishing after it, they made a direct cut into the
muscle near where it was lodged and removed it that way.  He wouldn't be
able to walk at all for a week, not without crutches for six and wasn't
allowed to run for six months.  He was also supposed to have intensive
muscle therapy and that was why she introduced herself and gave us the
news.  I guess we were going to be well acquainted for the next set of
months.  Dr. Walker pulled me aside for a minute once I had assured Jody
that everything really was okay, just as I had told her.
	"He's been asking for you," she said.  I just stood there and
blushed.  "You must be very special to him."
	"I guess.  I don't really know a whole lot about him yet, I mean,
we're just getting started but..."
	She cut me off.  I got a big hug from her and she whispered into my
ear.
	"Go see him."  She pointed down the hallway with her clipboard and
informed me that he was in room 412.

	I knocked softly on the door and entered.  I knew that he wouldn't
have a problem with me seeing him `indecent' as the case may be, but I
wanted to respect his privacy.  He was laying limp on the bed and had an IV
hooked up to his right arm.  He was leaning away from the door and his gaze
appeared to be fixed out the window.  I wanted to go and hug him right away
but I held back.  I crossed my arms on my chest and sighed.
	"Hey guy," I said.  I tried to choke back the tears.  I wasn't
doing a very good job.  I didn't get a response from him, so I edged to the
bed.  Faith and Jody were at the window watching; I could feel it.  His
stare seemed so distant and I could tell that he had tears in his eyes too.
I leaned over him and softly touched his cheek with the outside knuckles of
my fingers.  He swallowed hard but didn't move otherwise.  I leaned in
again and kissed him at the same spot on his cheek and whispered...
	"I love you, Jason."
	The tears started rolling down his cheek but he was trying so hard
to hold them back.  I wiped one away and attempted to look into his eyes
but they were still fixed on something else.  My heart became heavy and I
turned to leave.  I was halfway to the door when I heard him.  It was soft
and full of salty tears, but there nonetheless.
	"Please, don't leave."
	I don't know how fast I got back to his bedside, but I had his hand
grasped in mine within a split second.  I openly let my tears go.  He did
too.  That lasted for a minute or so and then he stopped, sniffed and
smiled at me.  I felt a squeeze on my hand and I knew that he was going to
be okay.  We were going to be okay.  I motioned for the girls to come in
and they slowly shuffled their way to the bed.  Jason was the first to
speak.
	"Good to see you again, Faith.  Jody.  Hi.  This is my boyfriend,
Nick, but I think you guys have already met."  She blushed a deep shade of
red and looked at the floor.  The four of us sat there talking for a bit
and enjoyed each others' company.  It was almost ten o'clock, the time when
visiting hours are over when a nurse came in the room.
	"Alright you kids....out of here."
	"It isn't ten yet," I protested.  She put her hands on her hips.
Large nurses have a way of being intimidating, but this one hadn't eaten
yet and I didn't want to cross her.
	"Listen, I didn't ask what time it was.  I know visiting hours are
not over yet, but he's going home and I don't intend on having y'all block
my room while I get him ready.  now scram."
	She didn't have to say anything twice.  I was out of the room in
short order and the girls were hot on my heels in pursuit.  We sat again in
the waiting area until an orderly brought him out in a wheelchair.  He
grabbed my hand as we walked to the elevator.  I wanted to kiss him, but I
figured our little displays of affection would be best limited to holding
hands.  Faith went to go get my car for me as I sat at the curb with my boy
and Jody.  She glanced at us a couple of times and I know that she was
still having trouble believing that my man was gay.  I can't say I blame
her.  He is quite the catch.  She pulled right up and Jody helped me load
him into the back seat.  I sat with him on the ride home and held his hand.
He smiled for me a couple of times and I blushed every time.  Jody had some
crazy college station programmed into my car's memory already and I kicked
her seat from behind to let her know I was displeased.  She squaked at me
and said something about not paying any attention, but I wasn't paying any
attention.  The rest of the ride home was short.

	I offered to let Jason stay at my place while he was recovering.
He had a week of no walking and I can't imagine him wanting to stay at
Trey's place all day by himself.  I had the computer available to him, so I
knew it would work out for us.  Trey was cool with it too....he didn't like
the idea of having to sponge bath Jason for several days.  I, on the other
hand, had no problem with it.  Faith and I helped him up the stairs and
then we said our goodnights.  Jody waved at us as she left and I still
wonder what that poor girl will do with herself.  I got Jason all laid out
on the bed and made sure he was comfortable.  I walked around the bed and
could feel his eyes follow my every move.  I slipped under the covers and
snuggled up to him.  He was warm and it felt good to have his naked flesh
pressed up against my body.  We said our goodnights, shared a passionate
kiss with each other and slipped off into the same dream world with each
other.

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

That's it.  There should be more along soon.  I'm really enjoying this
again.  Hopefully the holidays won't keep me too busy.  Speaking of which,
I hope y'all have some great ones.  Any creative comments or constructive
criticisms can be sent to Dakotajoe2000@cs.com