The following is a work of fiction. Any similarities are entirely fortuitous. The story may contain profanity and references to gay sex. If such content offends you please leave now. The author retains all rights to the story. Do not copy or use without written authority from the author. Write Bobby at this address with your comments.

Tyler:

"How the fuck did they find their names out!?" I screamed once inside our house.

"I don't know, Tyler." Jared said calmly. The kids ran upstairs which was good considering I was about to throw out every word I knew.

Austin walked into the house with Monica following closely behind. "Tyler, I'll report this to my lieutenant tomorrow."

"I want something done tonight! Whoever the fuck this is knows me, they know you, and they now know our kids. Well, just fucking great!" I said to Jared.

"Babe, I know, but we can't do anything about it tonight, it's after eleven." Jared said, still remaining calm.

"You will never hide anything from me ever again. Do you understand me?" I got in Jared's face and stared into his eyes.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, avoiding my glare.

"Fuck!" I went to the liquor cabinet in the kitchen and downed some tequila. After I had a few giant gulps, I went upstairs to my bedroom and slammed the door shut.

* * * *

Jared:

"I really fucked up," I sighed. "I should have told him from the start."

Austin sat beside me. "Now don't go beating yourself up. You were only trying to protect him."

"Whatever," I groaned.

"Well, we should head out, but call if you need anything, anytime."

"Thanks a lot, Austin. I'm not sure if we can stop by tomorrow, though."

"No problem," he said. I walked him and Monica to the door and to his car. Then I went back inside and crashed on the couch.

The next morning, I was awoken by the smell of bacon in the air. I crawled off the couch and tiredly walked into the kitchen. Tyler was making his usual Saturday breakfast.

"Good morning," I said, walking closer to him.

He stopped what he was doing and turned around. I could tell he had been crying a lot. "Morning,"

"Look, Tyler, about last night..."

"I'm sorry," he sobbed.

"Oh, no, baby," I said, walking up to him with my arms open. I pulled him against my body and hugged him tight.

"What I said last night was out of line," he cried. "I know you were probably just trying to protect us."

"I promise you'll know everything I know from now on." I said gently. I kissed him on the lips before he turned back and continued cooking breakfast.

A few minutes later, Tyler and I were joined by Travers and Keegan. We enjoyed a nice conversation during the great breakfast that Tyler cooked up. The boys were excited about going to Austin's later today, but I'm not sure if we're still going after last night.

Later in the day, the boys decided to go down to the basement and swim. Tyler also went down there, but graded papers instead of swimming. I eventually wandered downstairs as well because it got lonely up in the house. Tyler had stopped grading and was now reading the newspaper.

"I'm just going to order a pizza for dinner. Is that all right with you?" I asked him.

"Fine by me," Tyler replied, not looking from the paper. "Let's invite Austin and Monica. He still needs to explain about her."

"I'll give him a call and a heads up," I smiled.

Tyler grinned at me then put his paper down. "I was thinking about something,"

"About what?"

He leaned in closer to me and whispered, "Travers's sexuality,"

"Oh,"

"Remember when I told you about Trevor coming out to me on Tuesday? Well, what if I invited him over some time and get him to know Travers for us?" he said.

I was stunned by his idea. "Is that legal to have a student over?"

"Of course it is," he said. "Besides, no where in any code book does it say my children cannot have a student of mine over as their friend."

I grinned knowing what he was up to. "All right, I see where this is going. You're going to invite him over for Travers's party aren't you?"

"Maybe," he grinned.

I just laughed wildly. Tyler went back to reading the paper. About an hour later, the kids got tired of swimming and we all went upstairs. By that time everyone was starving. I called in the pizza and I gave a ring to Austin. He and Monica were totally into the idea of coming over for some food. I guess their remodeling was kicking their asses.

Tyler was sitting in the dining room with a serious look on his face. It seemed as though he was thinking very hard about something.

"They were near us," he said in a quiet monotone.

"What? Who was near us?" I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about.

"The note writers," he said, looking straight at me. "They were near us at some point in the night!"

"You mean like sitting by us?"

"Yes, or even parked by us. How else would they know their names? Unless they accessed some sort of files or something, but they don't seem that intelligent."

"I'll be God damned," I muttered. Suddenly, the doorbell echoed throughout the house.

"Dad, Austin's here!" Travers shouted from upstairs.

* * * *

Tyler:

"Hey Austin, Monica," I said, opening the front door to let them in.

"Afternoon," Monica said joyfully.

I felt a gust of hot air as Austin stepped inside. "Man, it gets hotter and hotter every damn year. I hate the heat!" Austin complained.

"Sweetie, that's why we are getting the best air conditioning unit they have at Sears." Monica said in a motherly tone.

I snickered. "That's right, pookie." Just as I closed the door, the doorbell was rung again. This time it was the pizza boy. I opened the door back up and paid him. "You look so familiar. Do I know you?"

"I don't think so," he said nervously.

"Oh, okay, sorry then. Goodbye." I closed the door and thought for a second. He just looked so damn familiar, but I can't place his face. I took the pizzas into the kitchen where Austin was practically drooling for food. Once he saw the boxes he jumped up and took them out of my hands.

Everyone had at least three pieces of the wonderful food. Keegan and Austin, however, had about seven pieces total. The boys went downstairs to the basement to take another dip in the pool. Austin, Monica, Jared, and I moseyed downstairs as well with a bottle of wine.

"So, Austin, I came up with a theory that the note writers were near at some point last night." I said.

"What makes you think that?" Monica asked, sipping her wine.

"Well think about it. They knew the kids' names. How else could they have gotten them?" Jared said for me.

"Maybe they accessed some sort of files?" Austin considered.

"Austin, really now?" Monica laughed. "I can honestly say that these people have no class at all and most likely no brains."

"I didn't recognize anyone last night. If you ruined one of their lives, or both, then wouldn't you have recognized someone?" Austin said.

"But I didn't," Jared groaned. "Man, I am so useless."

I turned Jared's head so he was looking at me. "You're my useless husband whom I love, though." Everyone laughed.

"Hey dad, watch this!" Keegan shouted. We all turned our heads to see him do a cannonball into the pool. He's always been the more adventurous and extreme one over Travers.

A few hours and wine bottles later, everyone went back upstairs. Austin and Monica went back to their house to make sure the construction was getting completed. Jared left me to get a shower while I helped Keegan with some homework.

"All right, show me what is causing so many issues here." I said.

Keegan was shuffling around with multiple papers. He finally grabbed just one of them and handed it to me. "My teacher is making the class do a family tree."

I looked at him, trying not to show my shock. "Family tree?"

"Yeah," he answered. I could sense sadness in his voice.

This isn't right. All of his teachers have known that he's adopted. Making him do a family tree or anything having to do with his blood relatives is strictly forbidden. I'll have to talk to his teacher about this tomorrow and see if I can pull here head out of her ass.

"Well, why don't I get us some ice cream, huh? And we'll watch your favorite movie." I said to him with a small smile.

"All right, dad," Keegan said. He walked out of the dining room into the kitchen. I noticed how sad he sounded and looked. His teacher should have known better than to give this assignment to him.

I got both of us some chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream before going into the living room and sitting in front of the TV. Instead of watching his favorite movie, he wanted to watch some new cartoon. You know, I noticed since I was a teenager that kid channels come out with new cartoons that nobody likes. I miss the classic cartoon shows. I remember the new cartoons that started coming out when I was in high school. They were all lame. All of them. You just can't beat the classics.

"Dad, did you ever meet my birth mom and dad?" Keegan suddenly asked.

I thought about my answer. "Actually, when Jared and I adopted you and your brother, your parents did not want to see us. I guess they were just too scared or nervous."

"Will me and Travers ever see them again?"

"Whenever you and your brother want to see them again I can try to arrange it. One thing your parents wanted was an open adoption."

"What's that?"

"Well, it's an adoption where the birth parents keep I contact with their kids in some form of way."

Keegan looked at me sadly. "What if they don't want to see us?"

"Oh, honey, who wouldn't want to see you? You're the cutest little boy in the world!" I said as I scooped him up into my arms. He latched onto me tightly, crying softly.

Jared walked into the room just then. "What's wrong?" he silently mouthed.

"Why don't you go on upstairs and play some video games? I'll be up there in a few minutes." I said into Keegan's ear.

"All right, daddy." he softly spoke.

Jared sat next to me and started eating my ice cream. "So what's up?"

"I'm pretty sure he misses his mom. He's worried that she doesn't feel the same." I explained to my pig of a husband.

"How did his birth parents get brought up?" Jared asked, still stuffing his mouth with ice cream.

"This," I walked into the dining room ad grabbed the project directions paper then brought it back to Jared. "He has to do a family tree."

Jared started to read the paper. After he finished he looked a little pissed off. "Does his teacher have no common sense? She knows that he's adopted."

"I know," I stated. "I'll talk with her tomorrow and have her give him a different project or just excuse it from him all together."

"I'll go upstairs and play video games with him. I know you have a lot of grading to do."

"Thanks, Jared." I mocked. I'd much rather play video games, but in truth I do have to start grading some homework...and tests, ugh.

* * * *

Jared:

"All right, you're going to have to teach me how to play. It's been a while since the last time I've done this." I said as Keegan handed me a controller.

"Gosh, dad, we just played last week." Keegan laughed.

"When you become my age you forget these things,"

"Aren't you only 23?" he asked.

"Well, yeah, but that is getting up there."

"Okay, dad," Keegan started the game up. He quickly refreshed my memory on how to play. Within ten minutes of playing, Keegan was kicking my ass. The memory of playing this was suddenly brought back to life. Another ten minutes and I evened out the score.

Playing the game made me take a trip down memory lane. I remembered when Tyler and I would play video games nonstop. Then again, when I came out to him that day under a tree, pointless hours of video game play were put behind us as our relationship grew.

An hour later, my eyes had had enough of flash and bangs. I admitted defeat and then went downstairs to get some coffee and pain pills. Tyler was in the office when I found him after I swallowed a couple pills. He was busily grading some tests. I offered my assistance, but he told me only he's allowed to grade the tests. He did give me some homework, however.

"Tyler," Travers said, walking into the office, "can I have some money for a smoothie? And can I go out with some friends to get said smoothie?" He stood with his arms crossed and less than happy look on his face.

Tyler turned around from his work. "Sure," He dug in his back pocket for his wallet then pulled out a twenty. Travers snatched it out of his hand without saying a word.

"Excuse me, what do you say?" I sternly said.

"Oh, right, sorry," Travers said. "Is this all I get?"

"Wrong-o, son," Tyler said. "I believe the correct word is 'thank you'."

"Whatever," he dully responded. He turned and again walked out.

"Hey, hey, hey," I shouted. "Say the damn phrase or you won't be going out tonight!"

"Thanks for nothing!"

That was it. I got up from my chair and walked out of the office. He was already gone, however. I went back into the office and gulped down the rest of my coffee.

"I don't know if that damn kid deserves my car." I pondered aloud.

"He has been acting rather moody, but how did you put it? Oh, right, he's just going through puberty." Tyler said with a laugh.

I went behind him and bit his ear lobe. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

* * * *

Tyler:

"How was everyone's weekend?" You know, you'd think that repeating that line all day today would get boring, but in all honesty it's actually been pretty exciting. My students are really starting to warm up to me. Considering it's only the second week of school, I'd consider that a great achievement on my part.

"I went to Vegas," Kat responded.

"That's awesome," I replied. "Drive or fly?"

"We flew," she replied.

"Cool, cool,"

"We saw some strip show,"

"Ah, I've never seen it and I really don't want to." I laughed. "My strip show is at home." The class giggled. I blushed and realized that maybe I shouldn't have said it at all.

I continued my lecture for the day. I then proceeded with giving them an assignment before starting the movie up. My students really have enjoyed this movie so far. I'm hoping they find the next one interesting as well. You see, I have a unique system for teaching. As I have explained before, I give notes, then an assignment, and then they get to watch a video dealing with the current chapter.

The bell rang signaling the entire 3,500 student body to go home. I quickly packed my things and headed for my Murano in the teacher parking lot. On my way, I again took the time to notice the students around me. There were a few couples holding hands and talking as if they didn't have a care in the world. Others were walking with friends to a bus. Then there were those by themselves either on a cell phone or an mp3 player in their hands. When I arrived at my Murano, of course, Travers was no where to be seen. Fifteen minutes passed and there was still no sign of my son. Now I was starting to get pissed off. It's hot out and I am frying just sitting here.

I started my Murano up and drove around the parking lot in search of him. It must have been another fifteen minutes before I finally found him with some friends in the orange groves that were next to the school. But my discomfort from the heat was soon replaced with a much more powerful emotion. Rage.

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

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Feel free to e-mail me with any comments or questions. Also feel free to join my group at this address.