The usual warnings of dire consequences that nobody ever reads.
Don't proceed if you are under the legal age for accessing such stories. Don't proceed if you are unfortunate enough to live in an area where it is illegal to download and view such material.
This story is fiction, it didn't happen, the characters aren't real.
Finally, this work is copyright, all rights are reserved. The reader may print out or archive a copy for their own personal use, but hosting on any website without the author's permission is strictly prohibited.
I dedicate this story to my friend, mentor and editor Tim Mead. If it wasn't for his persistent prodding and 'gentle' enquiries about my progress, I don't think this story would have ever been finished.
Trapped Nerves
by Drew Hunt (drew.hunt@blueyonder.co.uk)
Chapter 6
Pill Hill, Portland OR July 2005
"You guys okay down there?" the maintenance man shouted from the top of the elevator shaft.
"How long are we gonna be stuck in here?" Parker bent his head back and asked loudly.
He and Mason had been trapped in the elevator car for over twenty minutes while the guy from maintenance tried to diagnose the problem.
"Uh, I can't find out what's wrong. So I called the elevator engineers."
"And?"
"They're not sure, either."
"Jesus Christ," Parker muttered.
"They said they'd send someone out."
"How long's that gonna take?"
"Uh, well, could be a couple hours."
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Parker slammed his fist into the metal wall of the elevator car.
"NO,PARKER, NO!" Mason screamed. He was instantly transported back thirteen years. Unwelcome images of Parker slamming his fist into his locker and shouting those self same words echoed round Mason's head. He began to tremble violently, as mental flashbacks of his beating at the hands of the football team crowded his mind.
Parker spun to face Mason. "What? How come you know my . . ."
Even through his terror, Mason was able to see the dawning light of recognition appear on Parker's face. "Mason? Is, are you?" He moved toward the wheelchair.
"NO!" Mason brought up his arms defensively.
"Mase, I. . . " Parker shook his head and moved closer.
"HELP!" Mason screamed.
Parker halted. The car fell silent, save for Mason's heavy breathing.
"What's going on down there?" the maintenance man asked.
Mason couldn't answer, his mind was locked.
"You guys okay?"
"We're okay," Parker shouted up. "Don't worry, nobody's hurt."
Parker stared at Mason, his eyes raking along his body. "I, uh. It's really you. Oh man." Parker slid down the wall of the elevator car and sat down. Mason felt a little easier.
"Why did you disappear on me?" Parker eventually asked, breaking the silence that had fallen between them.
"I . ." Mason didn't know what to say.
"I know I really screwed up when I said what I did that morning."
Mason laughed, but it wasn't through amusement.
"I guess you still hate me. Can't say I blame you." Parker's face fell.
The two sat, just looking at one another. Mason believed he'd dealt with the whole Parker episode. He thought he'd forgiven him, but seeing him now, he wasn't so sure. Part of him still loved the man, while another part hated him for all he'd done to hurt him and ruin his life.
Parker reached into his suit coat pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. Unfolding it he looked at the contents. "Hey, I never made the connection before. I've got an appointment to see a Dr. M. Grant. Fuck, that's you isn't it?"
Mason nodded. Why would Parker be coming to see him professionally? Mason was an infectious disease specialist. Although his field was quite varied, the majority of his patients in the Portland area were gay men who had contracted HIV. Mason's eyes widened. Not his Parker, his beautiful Parker, it couldn't be. Mason shook his head, Parker had long ceased to be his.
"Guess you've figured it out." Parker said scrutinizing his shoes. "I got the bad news a couple months back."
"I'm sorry," Mason said before his cell phone started ringing. "Excuse me," he said to Parker before flipping the phone open. "Maggie?"
"Dr. Grant, your first appointment was 15 minutes ago, but. . ."
"Yes, sorry. I meant to call you earlier. The elevator has broken down with me trapped in it."
"Oh dear."
"Would you reschedule my appointments? Mr. Parker Collins is in the car with me."
After explaining he could be trapped for some time, Mason ended the call.
The car fell silent. Mason, feeling he had to say something, anything, asked, "What's been happening to you these past thirteen years?" He was alarmed to realize he could have added 'Andd two months eleven days.'
Parker sighed, "Jeez, where do I start?"
Mason was now in full doctor mode. He just waited for Parker to tell his story in his own words and at his own pace.
"It probably won't surprise you that much of my adult life I've been too fucking chicken to admit what or who I am."
'Still with the pity party. Some things never change,' Mason thought, but maintained a well-practiced neutral expression.
"I got a football scholarship and went to college, but then you might know that cause your dad was one of my professors. Hey, why didn't he ever tell me anything, apart from that you'd gone to college out of state?"
"What happened after college? Did you practice law like you wanted to?" Mason wasn't ready to answer any of Parker's questions.
"I met this girl, her dad was a senior partner in a law firm, and, well, uh. . . We got married."
Mason stayed passive. He wasn't altogether surprised. Saddened, but not surprised. "Go on," he said calmly.
"Well, uh, I got a job in her daddy's firm, passed the bar exam and was starting to climb the ladder. But.. ."
Mason could imagine what the 'but' was, though he was determined not to interrupt.
"We had a couple of kids, boy and a girl, but. . ."
Again Mason stayed quiet.
"Being married wasn't easy."
'There's a surprise,' Mason thought.
"Well, uh, I started using the Internet. I visited different chat rooms where I could chat with other men who were like me."
Mason nodded.
"That helped a lot, but just talking to people who understood only went so far, you know? Shit, I'm not proud of this," Parker mumbled. "But well I'd visit adult bookstores, even public restrooms and. . . Well you know."
The venom in Mason's voice surprised even him. "You could never stick to just one partner when I knew you, so it's no surprise that nothing has changed." Mason didn't care that his mode of questioning wouldn't be approved of by the state medical board.
"You're right. I've had a crappy life. I'm a fucking worthless piece of shit. When Sue found out, I lost everything. The job, the house, my marriage, access to my kids. Then when I found out I'd gotten the plague, I. . ."
"It's always been about you! 'Please feel sorry for me, I've had such a crappy life,' Well fuck you, here's a newsflash. Your life has been a hell of a lot easier than mine." Mason banged his fist on the arm of his wheelchair. "Whatever went wrong in your life was your own doing. I can't fucking say the same about mine."
"Sorry," Parker said in a small voice.
"Ha, that's rich!" Mason spat. "Tell me, Parker, which parts are you most sorry for? Outing me to the whole fucking school or setting your football buds on me, beating me to within an inch of my life, then tossing me out of a delivery van breaking my spine?"
Parker's face went white. He open and closed his mouth, but no sound came out.
"Well, I'll tell you what I'm sorry for. I'm sorry I stuck with you for the seven months we were together. No, scrub that. I'm sorry I kept taking you back after you kept shitting on me."
"I'm sorry, Mase." Parker buried his head in his hands.
"I fucking bet you are! I'm also sorry that I went to all the trouble of building a dream life for us. You remember that birthday dinner I'd planned for you, the one you couldn't attend because you had to be with your latest beard?"
"I'm sorry."
"Is that all you can fucking say? Well, you're not fucking half as sorry as I am." Mason paused in his vitriolic outpouring to draw breath. "Because if you hadn't outed me and got your buddies to try and kill me you'd have gone to that dinner. My eighteenth birthday present to you was to be a full ride scholarship I'd talked dad into arranging for you."
"But, how. . ."
Mason put up a hand to stop Parker interrupting. "It didn't even end there. Because I was fucking stupid enough to love you and wanted to make our life as good as I could, I'd gone out and contacted several realtors. They'd given me a list of off-campus apartments that we could go look at. I'd persuaded mom and dad to pay for a four year lease for whichever place we liked the most."
"NOOOO! Stop it! I can't hear any more!" Parker clenched his fists and beat them on his skull.
"Yeah. I'm so fucking sorry that I was dumb enough to love you enough to do all that for you. For us."
For several minutes the only noise in the elevator was Parker's heavy breathing.
"You said something about being beaten up by some guys on the team?" Parker asked once he'd gotten a hold of himself.
"Yeah," Mason too had had a chance to calm down.
"I swear, Mason I don't know a thing about that. I promise on my kids' lives that I don't."
Looking at the sincere and pleading expression on Parker's face, Mason was beginning to believe him.
"What happened?" Parker asked softly.
Mason closed his eyes. "After school I was ambushed by four members of the football team. They hustled me into a small delivery van, took me to some woods somewhere and kicked the crap out of me."
"Oh God."
"My memories of what happened are sketchy. The EMTs told me they found me on a road in the middle of nowhere. The injuries I sustained were consistent with landing on my back after being thrown from a moving vehicle."
"Oh Christ, Mase, no!"
Mason had told the story so many times, he was able to continue in a dispassionate flat monotone. "It seems my injuries were too severe for the local hospital in Crawford to deal with. So I was air lifted to Seattle.
"My spine suffered trauma at L4 and L5." He pointed to his side to indicate the height of the injury. "Though I've got some feeling below this, it's, uh. Well I won't bore you with all the medical crap." People tended not to want the gritty details about his condition.
"My right leg was broken in three places, my left femur suffered a single fracture. Then there were the broken ribs, the trauma to my left cheekbone as well as innumerable contusions which covered most of my body."
"Oh my god. Mase. I had no idea about any of this. I swear to you I didn't."
Parker made to rise to offer comfort, but Mason fended him away. Parker began to pace the confines of the metal box.
"For months I had no memory of what happened. The cops kept visiting me, but I couldn't tell them anything. When I started to get flashbacks, I remembered there had been four of them and only one of me. I figured they'd have had plenty of time to create alibis for each other. I knew it'd be my word against theirs. So I never told the cops anything.
"Who did it, Mase?" Parker asked. He sounded calm, but Mason knew better.
"It's not important now. It happened a long time ago."
"Fuck!" Parker punched the side of the elevator car. This time Mason didn't react. "I bet it was Henry Livingstone, he was always such a fucking asshole."
"I thought Henry was your best friend on the team, and no, Henry wasn't involved."
"Who did it, Mase. I wanna rip their fucking heads off."
If anything, Parker's desire for vengeance helped Mason to think more kindly about his former lover. Mason reached out and took hold of Parker's hand and gave it a squeeze. Parker squeezed back before disengaging and head butting the metal wall.
"Those fucking bastards are gonna pay for what they've done to you. When I. . ." Parker began pacing again, thumping his fist into his palm.
"What's the point? You'd only end up going to prison and. . ." Shaking his head, Mason continued, "A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then."
"Honestly, Mase, I swear I didn't know anything about any of this."
"I believe you. For a long time I'd cast you as the devil, the sole cause for all that was wrong in my life. Why didn't you come see me? Why'd you stay away?
"What? But I tried to. I all but camped out on your driveway, but your folks wouldn't ever tell me anything apart from that you'd left town and weren't coming back."
"Shit! God. That was my fault. I told mom and dad not to tell you where I was or what had happened to me."
"Why not? Mase I was fucking going out of my mind. All I knew was that I'd outed you and you disappeared," Parker snapped his fingers, "Just vanished into thin air."
It was Mason's turn to say, "I'm sorry." He began to think about the consequences of his actions. If he hadn't frozen Parker out, he would have learned years earlier that Parker hadn't been responsible for his attack.
"I guess we both made bad calls. You for, well outing me, and me for pulling away and not wanting to see you."
"Not a day has gone by that I haven't beaten myself up over what I did. As soon as I'd calmed down I realized the full implications. I didn't think you'd want to see me so I skipped classes."
"I wondered where you'd gone. I thought it was you not wanting to see me."
"Oh, fuck. No, Mase, never. Fuck it's all my fault." Parker slumped to the floor, pulled in his knees and lowered his head.
Mason moved his chair in front of Parker and put a hand on his shoulder.
"We both screwed up. We were young, inexperienced, and. . ."
"You always had it together, though," Parker sniffed. He took hold of Mason's hands. Looking directly into Mason's eyes, Parker said, "Mase, there's one thing I regret more than anything else about those days. I never told you that I loved you."
Mason closed his eyes.
"I was too scared, too stupid to. . ."
"I won't pretend that it didn't hurt when you couldn't love me the same way I loved you."
"I did love you, Mason, please you have to believe me." Tilting his head upward, Parker raised his voice and said, "Hey, bud, you still there?"
A couple of seconds passed before the maintenance man confirmed his presence.
"Fourteen years ago I had the great honor of being the boyfriend of Mason Grant. Up until today I never told him that I loved him. I need you to hear me say it." Looking down at Mason, but still speaking loudly, Parker said, "I know this is way overdue, babe, but I promise with hand on heart," Parker moved his right palm over his heart, "that I loved you from the first day I kissed you in your parents' hot tub."
Mason stared up at Parker. He was astonished he'd said what he had.
"Did you hear what I said, bud?
"Uh, yeah. Congratulations I guess."
"Wow," Mason eventually said. Never did he imagine that Parker, paranoid, scared to be labeled as gay, Parker would ever make such a declaration and in such a public way, too.
"I know it doesn't. . . can't mean anything now, but. . . I'd promised myself that if ever I met you again I'd do what I just did."
"Thank you." Mason didn't know what else to say.
The two went quiet, Mason in his chair, Parker looking down at him.
"So, uh," Mason said to break the silence. "You said you lost your job. I assume you found another, what with the nice suit."
"This," Parker said, brushing at his pants, "was one of the things I managed to salvage from the house before Sue sent everything to Goodwill." He sighed. "Her kicking me out of the house and losing my job was just the start. I soon realized that the word had gone out and no law firm in the Pacific north-west would hire me. It's true what they say about hell having no fury like a woman scorned. Sue and her bitch of a mother have taken that to a whole new level."
"I'm sorry." Mason really was, he wasn't just saying it.
"Thanks. So I had to settle for a post at the Public Defender's office here in Portland. They're so desperate for trained lawyers, they'll take anyone."
"Please, Parker, don't put yourself down. I'm sure you were. . . are good at what you do."
"Thanks. You always did believe in me even when I didn't myself. Shit! I wish I could turn back the clock and. . . "
"I know. If only I hadn't gone on at you that day. If I hadn't frozen you out, you'd have come to see me and you'd have told me you weren't responsible for the attack."
"We really managed to screw it up between us, didn't we?"
The two stopped talking and just looked at one another. Mason was trying to get his head round all the new information he'd been given.
"How did you manage to get me a scholarship?" Parker asked bringing Mason back to the present. "I mean I thought I'd explored all the options, except for playing football all through college."
"Dad seemed to be on every fucking committee at the university, we hardly ever saw him in the evenings. I found out that one of these committees decided on discretionary full-ride scholarships."
"Wow. I'd never even heard of such things."
"I only knew about them `cause I happened to see something dad left on his desk at home once. I bugged dad until he agreed to put your name in. The news that you'd been successful arrived just a couple of days before your birthday."
"Oh, Mase. You'd done all that for me? Why didn't you tell me that you'd applied? Sorry, guess it doesn't matter now."
"I didn't tell you just in case it didn't come through, I knew you'd be bummed about it."
"Shit. I never deserved you."
"I loved you, Parker, plain and simple."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Parker covered his face with his hands. "I'm so. . . sorry just isn't enough. If only, oh fuck, if only I hadn't lashed out. We could have lived together, studied together."
"Parker," Mason said softly.
Parker didn't reply.
"Parker, please." Mason said louder.
Parker raised his head.
"Come here," Mason opened his arms. Parker all but fell into the embrace. Mason closed his arms around the long remembered frame of his former lover. It felt incredibly comfortable hugging Parker again.
"I'm sorry, Mase. I'm just so sorry. I fucked everything up. Oh God I want to die for all the pain, the hurt I've caused you, caused us."
"Hush." Mason rubbed Parker's spine, he could feel the bigger man shaking. "You can't blame yourself for it all. Remember I'm partially to blame, too."
"Not for the attack."
"No, but you're not to blame for that either."
"But if I hadn't. . ."
"But nothing. Did you tell those guys on the team to beat me up?"
"NO, never! You must believe me."
"I do. I'm just trying to point out that it's not all your fault. You didn't tell Todd, Jared and the others to go after me,"
Parker's head shot up. "Todd and Jared? I'll. . ."
"Shit! You won't do anything, Parker, do you hear me?"
"But. . ."
"No, Parker. Getting back to what I was saying, very little of it was your fault. You weren't involved in me being hurt." Cupping Parker's face in his hands, Mason said, "I forgive you, Parker Collins"
"I don't deserve to be forgiven."
Pulling Parker back into his chest, Mason gave him a tight squeeze. He'd been lucky enough to have a supportive family around him. They'd helped him to come to terms with things. He guessed Parker hadn't had the benefit of a support network. He'd had to go it alone, all the while adding more and more troubles to the fire. Mason shuddered at Parker trying to walk the straight and narrow path without anyone to lean on.
Eventually disengaging, Parker said, "I'd forgotten what a great cuddler you were."
Mason wasn't ready to tell Parker that he'd missed holding his big frame for the past thirteen years, too.
* * * * *
The guys received an update from the maintenance man when he told them an engineer from the elevator company was expected to arrive within the hour.
Mason was thankful that the atmosphere inside the elevator had calmed significantly. Although there were long silences, they didn't seem uncomfortable. One or the other would speak up, recalling some of the highpoints of the time they'd spent together as teenagers. Neither felt the need to dredge up any of the less pleasant aspects of their friendship.
"Do you remember Lorraine Little?" Mason asked at one point.
"Uh, no, don't think so."
"Yes you do. You dated her for a while. Tall. Straight black hair."
"Oh yeah. She was your date when we, uh. . ."
Mason smiled, "It's okay." Mason didn't want to bring up the disastrous double-date episode, either. "She had figured us out you know."
"Huh?"
"She'd worked out that we were boyfriends."
"Really?"
"Maybe you really have changed. If the seventeen year old Parker had been told that piece of news, he'd have been climbing the walls right about now."
Parker sighed. "You're right. Is that why you didn't tell me about it back then?"
"Uh huh."
The elevator car fell quiet again.
"Does your family still own that cabin by the lake?"
"Yeah."
"Man, that place." Parker sounded wistful.
"You always seemed a lot more relaxed when we went up there."
Parker nodded. "First place we ever made love,"
"I know." It was still one of Mason's most precious memories.
"I've heard they're making a movie about two cowboys who meet on a mountain and fall in love."
"Yeah, I read the book last year."
"Me two. I couldn't help thinking of us when I read it. Ennis, not realizing he had the chance of something real special." Parker hung his head. "Remind you of anyone?"
Mason didn't comment. He'd had the same thoughts when he'd read the book, too. Ennis's inability to reconcile what he felt with what society demanded, had more than a few parallels with how Parker couldn't express his love for Mason.
After a few moments, Mason asked, "When it comes out in the movie theaters, would you like to go see it with me? I don't think I could watch something like that on my own."
"Really? Wow. Yes. Thank you. I wasn't looking forward to seeing it by myself either."
All the talk of the movie and his parents' cabin in the Cascade Mountains set Mason's mind wandering. The more he thought about it, the more he wished for it to happen. "Uh, I was planning on going up to the cabin this weekend. Mom and dad rarely go up there these days. After the attack, they had ramps and things put in to make the place accessible for me."
"That's good."
"Look, um," Mason was hesitant, "If you want, and if you've not got anything else scheduled, uh, would you think about maybe going up there with me?"
Parker's face was a study in changing emotions. Shock, disbelief, joy, but ultimately his expression turned to sadness. "I can't. It'd, well it'd not be right."
"It's okay. Probably it was a bad idea." He sighed. "I shouldn't have mentioned it. You'll have something planned with your kids or a boyfriend I expect."
Parker laughed, though it was without mirth. "I'm only allowed supervised visits with the kids twice a month." Staring into Mason's eyes, Parker said, "And you were the only man I could ever attach the term 'boyfriend' to."
"Huh?"
"Mase, you were it for me. No one ever compared or came close."
"Oh, uh." Mason couldn't help but feel a small thrill of pleasure at knowing that Parker had never loved another man.
"What about you?"
"How'd you mean?"
"Boyfriends. I mean surely there are lots of cute male nurses and. . ."
Mason shook his head. "Parker, although things kinda still work down there," Mason waved in the general direction of his crotch. "I don't. . . haven't. Let's just say the last person I truly made love to was you."
"I don't know how you could want to invite me back to the cabin after what I've done to you, I mean I. . ."
Mason shook his head. "Didn't I tell you earlier that I don't blame you for any of that?"
"But that doesn't stop me from blaming myself."
Mason let out a long breath. "As you know I'm an infectious disease specialist and you are supposed to be my patient. But, and don't take this the wrong way, I can't be your doctor. We're too close, there's too much history between us to maintain a proper doctor-patient relationship."
"I guess."
"What I'm getting at is I can't be your doctor, but. . . Oh I don't know. I could be someone, a friend, who could help you deal with all these unresolved issues."
"I don't know."
"Parker, you need someone to talk it out with. Trust me, I'm a doctor," Mason grinned.
Parker smiled. "But, uh, wouldn't you be too close to it all?"
"Probably. But I know you. You wouldn't be able to really open up to anyone you didn't know, didn't trust."
Parker nodded.
"Does that mean a yes?"
Parker treated Mason to the ghost of a smile. "Persistent aren't you?"
"Yup. And maybe the best place to start your, our, healing would be the cabin."
Parker's smile increased. "Okay. Thank you. Though, uh, I think we oughta take things, uh, slow, I.
Mason looked down at his withered legs and felt a wave of sadness wash over him.
"No, Mase, no. I don't mean cause you're disabled." Parker took Mason's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Thanks. I understand. The cabin has more than one bedroom, if we need them."
Parker nodded.
* * * *
"Hey, guys?" the voice of the maintenance man echoed down the elevator shaft.
"Yeah?" Mason said.
"I've got Terry with me, from the elevator company."
"Hi there fellas," a new voice drawled. "Y'all okay down there?"
"Yes, we're okay, but could you get us out?"
"Shore `nuff. I'll have ya outta there `fore ya know it."
"Christ that's all we need, a fucking straw-chewing red-neck cowboy." Parker said softly.
Mason snickered. "I don't know, cowboys can be kinda hot. Remember the cowboy costume you rented for the Homecoming carnival?"
"I seem to remember you took a real liking to me in that. It was embarrassing having to take the stained costume back to the rental shop, though."
Mason laughed out loud.
It wasn't long before the car began to moan and shake slightly.
"Just lowerin' y'all down, fellas. No need to git spooked."
"Is he for real?"
"Sure is, pardner." Mason couldn't help himself. He was euphoric at knowing he'd soon be free. Despite part of him wishing for more, Mason believed he and Parker had the chance of re-establishing some kind of friendship.
They heard a loud clang from above, before Terry said, "Sumbitch!"
Mason and Parker exchanged glances. Mason hoped there wouldn't be too much more of a delay.
"Uh, fellas, I've lowered the car a good six feet, but it's jammed. It don't seem to wanna go up nor down now."
"Jesus," Parker muttered.
"Y'all just hang in there,"
Parker looked at Mason who looked back at him. They both snickered.
"I'll come down to the other side of the doors on yer floor. We might be able to get you out anyway."
The two waited until Terry knocked on the metal doors. "Okay, fellas, let's see what happens."
The doors slid open. Mason saw that the ceiling from the upper floor was in view.
"Ah, not too bad, but there's a mighty big step down," Terry drawled. He was a thin man standing just over six feet tall. Mason was rather disappointed that he wasn't wearing a cowboy hat, nor indeed chewing on a piece of straw. However, all wasn't lost, for under his grey overalls he wore a gingham western shirt open at the neck revealing an ample carpet of chest hair. Terry also had on a pair of dun colored cowboy boots.
"Oh, sorry, friend, I didn't know that ya was an invalid," Terry said seeing Mason. "Uh, guess I could carry you out if'n someone'll git ya chair."
"No, it's all right," Parker said taking charge. Turning to Mason, he asked "May I carry you?".
"Uh, yeah, guess so." Mason wasn't sure, but thinking about it, if he had to suffer the indignity of being carried, he'd sooner Parker do it.
"Uh, how's the best way to go about this? The last thing I want to do is to hurt you."
Parker's deep concern touched Mason. "If you lean down over me, I'll wrap my right arm around your neck. Then if you work your right arm under my knees and support my back with your left arm, you can lift me out."
"Okay."
Parker did as directed, taking infinite care.
"You're so light," Parker said once Mason was lifted up.
"The lower half of my body has lost almost all its muscle mass."
As Parker carried him to the edge of the elevator he lost the battle with his emotions. " Mase. I. . ."
Mason saw tears rolling down Parker's cheeks.
"What happened to you, bud. It's not right. It's so fucking not right."
Their faces moved closer. Parker halted before their lips could touch. Mason closed the distance. For the first time in 13 years, two months and eleven days, Mason shared a kiss with the man he loved.
The End
Author's note - I began this story with Mason and Parker entering the elevator. I am ending the story with them leaving it. The characters have been given every opportunity to forge some kind of future together. I leave it to the reader's own imagination to decide what kind of future that will be.
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