Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:43:39 -0700 (PDT) From: Mary Barrett Subject: To Rise Again Ch.4 Gay Male/Sci-fi Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction that came from the recesses of my own mind. Any names or places are all of my own creation. Any characters that may engage in sexual activity are over 18. If reading this is illeagal where you are from then please do not continue, you know your laws. I hope you enjoy what I have tried to create. This story includes M/M relationships..if this is not for you, then please leave now. This is my 1st attempt at writing anything, so please be kind. Comments are welcome..good or bad. Also...THANK YOU to all of "My Boys",without you I never would have done this, you know who you are. Note: You can also find my story located at http://thestorycloset.org/node/17 River woke up in his bed later that day not remembering how he got home. He did however remember the pain that he experienced and the image of his daughter that he got right before he started his run. `Strange,' he thought, `that's never happened before.' He remembered while growing up, that his mother would often get headaches that came out of nowhere and laid her up for a few days. Maybe it was a genetic thing that was just now showing up. It still did not explain the flash of image he got of Raivyn being held in a room somewhere, scared and alone. She was only 3, who would do that to a child? River figured that taking a shower would make his head feel a bit better. Just moving made him a little queasy, but he had things to do today. He had to figure out a way to find Angelica, and now that Mr. Donavan was making him go to the charity event at the end of the month, he had to find another time and another way. He had hired a private investigator to find them, but so far, no information had been turned up. Then there was that image of Raivyn he had this morning. That scared him. Was it just his imagination? He had to know what caused the painful episode. He wished that he could speak to his parents, but they were gone and never coming back. Standing under the hot spray of water he let the tears come. The tears that he had held back for so long now, the tears that he refused to shed. Tears for the loss of his parents, tears for the loss of his daughter, tears of anger and sorrow. He let them mingle with the spray of the shower. He had hoped that Angelica would come back with his little girl. That she would realize she was wrong. Wrong about leaving andwrong about taking Raivyn away from him. Raivyn was his world, she became the center of his life the day she was born and he held her in his arms that first time and looked in her eyes. They created a bond at that moment, father and daughter, that no one would ever be able to destroy. That night, River sat down and made another list of any and all people that could possibly know where Angelica and Raivyn had gone. He had been down this road already once, 6 months ago when she first took off. Every lead he got was a dead end though. Not even her family knew where she was. Like they cared anyways, after tossing her out when she got pregnant with Raivyn. Screw them and their money. He worked late into the night, racking his brain for anything that he could remember of their lives together. The 4 years that he thought they were happy. All he managed to do was make his headache worse. He stood up and turned to head to the bedroom when he was struck with the blinding pain again. This time he collapsed to the floor in a heap, the pain was worse. He got more flashes of an image, of his Raivyn. She was crying out for her daddy, the lady that held onto her was being too rough. The last image he saw before passing out made it appear that Raivyn was looking right at him. ****** Eithen pulled in to the drive of his parents place and was greeted at the door by his mother. "Hey Ma, how are you feeling today?" "Won't complain dear. You really need to stop by more often young man, we don't get to see you nearly enough." "I know Ma, I need to make more time for you and pops. Is he available? I really need to talk to him?" From the look of desperation on her son's face she could tell that something was wrong. Taking hold of Eithen's hand she led him through the house and into the kitchen where she left him to sit at the table while she went to retrieve his father. A few minutes went by before they returned. She decided to let them talk while she made some lunch. "Hey pops, I'm really sorry to have to call you in on this, but it is..." Eithen was cut off from explaining by his father who simply held up a hand for silence. "I know that Eithen. I'm always your last resort. Now...tell me what has been happening and who it is that I need to help you find." Eithen gave a sigh of relief, he never doubted that his pops would help. He just didn't like the thought of having to put him back out there in the field after all this time. "Well pops..." And for the next 3 hours Eithen filled his parents in on the events of the last week, his reasons for doing what he had done and then finally getting to the reason for asking his father for help. "Oh that poor child, you have to find her Devon." `Ma, always there to nudge my father along.' "You know I will my dear." Turning his attention back to Eithen he asked, "What all do we know about the people that this Angelica person left her daughter with?" The rest of the night involved numerous phone calls and people coming and going from the house. Plans were being made and set into motion. They knew that they needed to find this little girl before it was too late and Eithen needed to find her for River's sake. He needed to keep him sane and emotionally stable. He knew the only way to do that was to reunite him with his daughter. So now, his 1st priority was to the safety of Raivyn, his 2nd priority was to River's well being. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to keep him close and happy, he just knew that it had to be done. Eithen made it back to his place just after midnight. It had been a very long and emotional day. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep, knowing that he had to go into work the next morning and face River, pretending like he knew nothing of the situation. How was he going to be able to pull that off, he wondered. `Oh well, I'll sort it out in the morning' he thought as he drifted off. That night Eithen dreamt of River. It was a strange and pain filled dream. He saw River lying there on the ground, writhing in pain, covered in what appeared to be blood. As he tried to get closer to him, he was held back by an unseen force. The harder he fought to get to where River lay, the further back he was pushed. He stood there, unable to do anything. Then he noticed the figure kneeling beside River on the ground. It was a child, it was Raivyn. She turned her head and pleaded with her eyes for Eithen to help her father. He felt useless, he felt... BEEP...BEEP...BEEP. `Damn alarm.' Monday morning Eithen made his way into the office a bit earlier than usual. He wanted to try and avoid River as much as possible until he could confirm that they had a lead on Raivyns' whereabouts. So, he just sat in his office, going over reports and notes for the week ahead of them when he noticed how late it was. It was well passed the time for River to have arrived, yet he had not notified Eithen that he was at his desk as he would normally do. Eithen got up and headed over to where River's desk was located. Not seeing River brought back images of his dream the night before. He suddenly had a bad feeling. ****** River became aware of his surroundings as he slowly managed to open his eyes from the throbbing in his head. `Oh God, not again. What the fuck is wrong with me?' He tried to stand up but did nothing more than fall back onto the floor in pain, his whole body ached. Reaching up, he felt for any damage he may have done to his head when he landed on the tile floor. Pulling his hand away, it was sticky and red. "Oh shit!" Once again he tried to get up but he found he just didn't have the strength, so he just laid there. He felt so tired and weak, his hands were shaking and he just hurt. `Fuck, I have to get to work. Mr. Donavan hates it when people are late or don't show up, this can't be happening, not now.' River managed to finally roll over onto his hands and knees before the throbbing in his head started up again. That was as far as he got before the pain increased to a roar and he fell to the floor again and passed out. An hour later there was a knock at River's front door. Eithen just knew that something was not right, not after the dream he had the night before. When he got no answer, he started pounding and calling out. "RIVER...I know you're in there...c'mon man, open the door, it's Eithen." He waited a moment, just listening. He was about to turn around to look for a back door when he heard it. Faintly, he could hear moans of pain coming from inside. If it hadn't been for his sensitive hearing he never would have caught it. He had to get in there, he had to make sure River was ok. `Shit, looks like I'll have to break the door down.' Eithen glanced around to make sure no one was near before he did a partial shift and forced his way into the house. What he found made him stumble and stop in his tracks. Just like in his dream, laying there on the floor was River. He had a small puddle of blood under his head, and you could hear him moaning from the pain he was in. "River, Oh God, what happened?" Eithen asked as he made his way over to where he lay on the floor shaking. Eithen knelt down beside River, placing a hand gently on his face, stroking it, trying to get River to talk to him, but he was unresponsive. He needed to get help, and he needed it fast. Pulling out his cell he dialed 911 and waited for the dispatcher. "Yes, my name is Eithen Donavan, I need an ambulance sent over to 1-6-9 Gaylor Lane...Yes....I found my friend laid out on the floor shaking and unresponsive. He may have hit his head as he fell. There's a small puddle of blood that I can see...Yes...Please...Thank You ma'am." After what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes, Eithen was able to hear the sirens approaching the house and let the dispatcher know that they were there before hanging up. ****** The first thing River became aware of was the feeling of laying on something soft. The last he remembered was trying to get up off the floor, after having another one of those episodes. `Where am I?' he wondered. He tried to open his eyes, but it was way to painful. "Ohhhh...I freakin hurt everywhere," he said outloud to himself, or so he thought. "River, oh thank God, let me get the nurse, don't move...ok?" He knew that voice...but it was all wrong. That could not have been Mr. Donavan, his boss wasn't concerned about anyone but himself. But he knew that deep, husky voice belonged to no one else. "Good evening Mr. Addison, I hear that you were in here talking just a moment ago. My name is Molly, I will be your nurse for the night. Do you think you can open your eyes for me please Mr. Addison?" As she was talking, River could hear her moving around and checking the machines that he was hooked up to. He just noticed that he had an IV in his left arm, wires attached to his chest and a bandage on his head. "H...ho...how...umm...how did I..ohhh it hurts. How did I get here?" River finally manged to get out. His head was pounding and his body felt like it was being wieghed down by a ton of bricks. "My head is freakin' pounding, is there anything I can get for it, please? And it hurts to open my eyes." "Oh, sweetie, I know you hurt right now, you took a pretty hard hit to your head when you fell. I'll see about getting you something for the pain. The doctor should be in shortly now that you're awake. We really need you to try and open those pretty brown eyes though." Molly was trying to be as gentle as she could and keep her voice down, and River really appreciated it. "Molly, who else is here with you? I can hear someone else in the room." "Well Mr. Addison, if you would just open your eyes you could see for yourself who is here with me." Molly said with a hint of a smile in her voice. River struggled once again to pry his eyes open, noticing that Molly must have turned down the lights. It didn't seem to be as bright or as painful this time around. His vision was a little blurry, but he was able to make out the shape of the person standing just to the left of the lady he assumed was his nurse. He knew that body just like he knew that voice, he wasn't wrong. It was Mr. Donavan that was in his room. `But why would he be here? ` River asked himself. Blinking a few times to make sure, River just laid there and stared at this man, who over the past week has made him feel like less of a man. `What the hell is he doing here? I'm nothing more than a paid slave to him, must be here to make sure his investment is safe.' River was fuming, he really did not need this on top of everything else that was going on with him physically and mentally. He still didn't understand why this was happening to him. "What the hell are you doing here Mr. Donavan?" Eithen was taken aback, not so much by the question, but how it was put to him and River noticed the pained look that momentarily crossed his face. `Well to bad if I hurt his feelings.' Eithen took a moment to calm down before answering."When I realized that you had not shown up for work, I knew something was wrong. You have never missed a day of work, and you didn't call in. I was concerned, so I went to your place and found you lying on the floor. I called for an ambulance...you were unresponsive when I tried to talk to you. You scared me River." Eithen mentally cringed when he realized what he had just said. `Why did I just say that?' `Why is he acting like he cares? He has never been anything other than a dominant ass, and it has just been getting worse the longer I work for him.' "Why should you care Mr. Donavan, I am nothing more than a simple employee that you can push around?" "Oh River, you have never been a `simple employee' as you put it. The office couldn't run without all that you do for me and everyone else. I know that I am tough on you, but it really is for the best interest of the everyone involved." By this point River was ready for Mr. Donavan to leave, he couldn't take anymore of this garbage. " I think it's time for you to go Mr. Donavan. I appreciate the help you gave to get me here, but you need to leave." River was getting more pissed the longer he had to listen to this man. Molly who had been standing there the entire time just shook her head, understandng what was going on, even if they didn't. " Mr. Donavan is it? I'm going to have to ask you to please leave, visiting hours are almost over as it is and Mr. Addison here needs his rest. You may return in the morning to check on him again." Eithen went from staring at River to looking at the nurse, nodding his head he said, "thank you ma'am, I'm sorry if I caused any additional stress to River." With that, he turned and walked out the door. `There has to be a way to get him to trust me, I need him to trust me.' Those were the thoughts going through Eithen's head as he left the hospital and headed to his parents place to see what had been found out concerning Raivyn.