This is my first attempt at writing a story for Nifty Archives and you readers so please bear with the mediocrity that may be found here before I really get into the flow. I am planning for Love on the Rocks to be more than a simple stroke story, which means, you have to wait for the sex. This is a tale of a life saved and the friendship/relationships that come from that. I do not know any of the people that may appear over time, thus I cannot tell you anything about their personalities or sexual orientations/habits. Furthermore any and all trademarks and characters mentioned in this story are the property of those who own them and not of this authors nor any archive service or printing service which supplied this work to you. This is pure fiction. If you are under-aged or offended by faceted relationships between men, please go somewhere else! That said, I hope you enjoy this! Any comments are welcome at trek35_1@yahoo.com but please be nice to me! I'm new at this and am not sure what I am doing.

Previously

"Hay David...why don't ya do me a favor here and help me out a bit." He said. I ran over to him and looked him in the eye. Jon reached onto the table and picked up a keyring on the table. It had a large cross on it and looked rather old. "You see this here keyring. I want you to hold on to it for me." "Yes sir" "This keyring will be a symbol of the trust, love and respect we should have for eachother. It has the keys to my car, my truck, my house, and my bar on it. If you ever doubt any of those things in me all you have to do is look at this and know how I really feel about you ok" Jon said to me looking me right in the eye. I was shocked. Shocked that this man that I had just met would trust me with such a valuable item. I could use this keyring to rob him blind but he trusted me. I was in awe of this man. And you know what. I never did check and see if those keys actually did work in all his stuff. I never felt the urge to. I just trusted him.

As the song continued to play, I arose from my kneeing position on the kitchen floor and wiped my eyes on the sleeve of my shirt. Looking over at that keychain that hung on the wall. I hung it there the day I moved in to this place as a reminder of what I had stumbled into. That faith and trust that Jon had so freely given me while asking nothing in return. I remember when he did that I was so completely in shock that I could not respond to him at the time. Remembering that feeling, I could not help but to sob a little more. What hurt the most was the not knowing. Not knowing or able to know what was really going on. All that the said on the news broadcast was that his plane went down and that there appeared to be no survivors. The telephone began to ring at this point. I didn't want to talk to anyone but I answered it anyway.

"Hello" I said into the phone. "David, this is Father Reardon. I can tell you already have heard. I will be right over. I just wanted to see if you were home so I would know where to find you. If you will wait right there I will be right over to get you ok." He said. Although it was difficult to talk at that moment I replied "Ok Father I will be right here".

Placing the receiver back on its cradle I went over to the sink to splash some water on my face. I didn't want Father Reardon to see how bad I really was. I knew it would take him at least an hour to get here because of how far I lived outside of the city. I had come to enjoy being far away from the busy noises of the big city. I loved the privacy that this place offered and that is one of the main reasons that I bought it. And now that very privacy made me feel so cut off from the rest of the world. I knew I was in no shape to drive. But somehow I had to find some answers. I had to know if he were alive or dead. After washing and drying my face I called the airport to check and see if there were any flights going out to Dallas tonight. That was where the news announcer said that the plane had gone down at.

"Las Vegas International, how may I direct your call please." Came the pleasant voice over the phone. "Transglobal desk please" I requested. "Please excuse the question sir but are you a relative of a potential aircraft victim please" she replied. "Yes ma'am, my father was to be on the Dallas flight this morning" I said through the sobs. "I thought so Sir, if you will hold one moment I will transfer you to their support desk" she said as I could hear a flight to New York being called over the airports public address system. After a series of clicks another pleasant sounding voice came onto the line. "Tranglobal Support desk this is Rosemary speaking," she said into the phone obviously putting in as much sincerity as she possibility could. Through the sobs I said, "My name is Michael Richard David Erikson-Muclusky. My father Jonathon Everett Muclusky was on flight 3751 to Dallas and the news just said that his plane went down while landing in Dallas." "Yes Sir, Father Steven Reardon just called me as well and said that you might be calling. He asked me to tell you that everything has been arranged and that he would be over to your home to pick you up shortly to fly straight to Dallas." "Thank you Rosemary" I replied returning the receiver back to its cradle.

I had been use to traveling most of my young adult live so I already had a suit case packed upstairs in the hall closet so there was no rush getting ready to fly out now. The only think I could think of to pass the time was to check and see if there were anymore news briefings. I decided that the best thing to do now was to make myself some coffee and watch the news and wait.

The haze and smoke from the crash site was overpowering. The stench of jet fuel filled the air. There were screams as well to fill in here and there. The field where flight 3751 went down had been hit before. But never like this. There were aircraft parts spread for miles around. Bodies as well as body parts littered the field. In the wind a light scarf of some red material flapped like a flag off of a sharp edge of fuselage. In what had been seat 17J sat a man of about 65 years of age. He had a gash on the left side of his forehead where some flying debris had passed by him as some unknowable speed leaving the evidence of its passage. Blood was seeping from that gash and was spread about the left side of his face obscuring his vision. Jonathon Everett Musclusky had lived through much worst though and this was not going to be the day he would choose to die. His mind was set upon that thought as he struggled with his seatbelt in an effort to free himself. Once that task was complete he looked about his immediate surroundings. Assessing the situation he found that he was lucky enough to have been sitting in a five seat deep section of the plane that had remained intact. Being who he was, he could not just sit back and let other do the work so he immediately set about helping his fellow survivors about him. Quickly assessing each person to see if they were alive, he helped those he could to the relative safety of the ground. Giving each a stern warning to move as far away from the plane as possible. Most heeded his warning and quickly moved toward the airport. Some however were too dazed and confused to understand what he had said and just began to wonder through the wreckage and strewed luggage that surrounded the immediate area.

After helping the final victims down to the ground Jon though of Father Reardon for a moment and prayed the shortest prayer know to Christendom. Looking up into the sky he whispered "help" and jumped down himself. He began to wonder through the wreckage looking for more victims that could not or would not assist themselves. Coughing now and again as the smoke and the jet fuel fumes began to get to him. But he could not stop. Not while there could be one more life to be saved. He felt as if there were some strong guiding hand laid upon his shoulder. Somehow he knew that he was safe and that he was doing exactly what was expected of him. He knew that if it were at all possible he had to safe as many lives as he could. Stopping every once in a while to grab a wondering confused person and guide him or her toward the airport as he went he made his way to the cockpit of the plane.

Once there he climbed up into the pilot's area and checked to see if he could help them. When he got there he was appalled at what he found. The navigator had been crushed beneath the falling panels during the crash and the co-pilot was missing his head and left arm at the upper chest. There was no way for him to save either of them. But the pilot was another story. Even though blood covered his face, his upper body and arms had seems to be basically unharmed other then cuts and scrapes. He was unable to move. His legs had been trapped beneath the panel. "Just sit right there young fella and I will see what I can do to free ya." Jon said to the pilot laying a gentle hand upon his shoulder in an effort to comfort him and let him know that he was not alone. Without a single tool Jon set about trying to remove the seat he was in from its mounting. Unable to actually make any progress with that he looked about for some other alternative. Looking under the pilot he found that both of his legs were on petals. Reaching as far as he could Jon grabbed each foot and pulled it back toward the seat until they both rested upon the decking. This freed up some space for Jon to make an attempt to move the pilot out of the seat. But Jon didn't want to cause him further injury by moving him out just yet. Looking about the cabin for anything to use as a cervical collar he found some of the aircraft skin had been ripped off of the side of the plane and used that and some of the seat cushion as a soft barrier. He bent the metal with his bare hands into a collar with the seat cushion inside of it and placed the makeshift cervical around the pilot's neck. Gently, Jon began to encourage the pilot to begin extricating himself from the seat. Jon wished he could have more thoroughly checked his legs out to insure that neither was broken but there just had not been enough space for him to get to them. It was because of this lack of space that Jon could not see that the pilots left leg had not been broken but had been badly cut on his thigh. Thinking quickly he tore off the sleeve of his suit jacket and used it as a kind of bandage to help stop the bleeding. And quickly but gently got the pilot toward the back of the cabin, which was open to the crash site.

All of a sudden Jon felt fear wash over him. A dread that he could feel deep in his bones. He turned to the pilot and said, "we must move quickly now. Please bare with me ok". The pilot just shook his head as he blindly followed Jon's directions. Soon both of them had their feet back on the ground and Jon guided him toward the airport where Jon could see that a triage` area was being set up. As Jon passed a section of wreckage he could have sworn that he heard a babies cry from behind him.

"You keep going straight on now and I will catch up to ya captain." Jon told him. "Thank you sir" was his only reply as he kept on walking in the way he was going. Jon let go of the man and turned back toward the plane to find that baby. He rushed back even though he still had that deep-seated fear he was feeling in his gut. He knew that he did not have much time but he also could not see himself not trying to rescue that baby.

"This is Lauren Cook with NBC News at the site of the crash of flight 3751 here in Dallas. The scene is one of devastation. We are seeing many survivors and hearing many inspiring stories of heroism. I just spoke to one of the flight attendants that said that the pilots had make a super human effort to land the plane even though it appeared to have lost an engine. We are also hearing reports of quote and angel of mercy who is rescuing people from certain death unquote. We are unsure as to exactly what that means. I also just spoke briefly with the pilot who said that some rather large older man rescued him from being trapped in the cockpit and that the man went back to the plane to look for more survivors just before I spoke to him. He said that the man was not with rescue services or with the local fire department but didn't know who he was." A loud explosion could be heard coming from the television and as this happened I could see the cameraman pan the view towards the plane. The area around one of the wings was engulfed in flames and the fireball was expanding.