Date: Sun, 11 Mar 2018 10:35:16 -0500 From: David Achterhof Subject: coming out of my shell chapter 22 Copyright to this story remain strictly that of the author. No other publication or use of this story is allowed with the consent of the author. This story contains male on male sexual content both implied and explicit. If this offends you please do not continue. All characters and implied situations are strictly those of the author and are not based on any real life events or characters. If you are under 18 years of age please exit this story now Chapter 22 DAVIS' POV I'm sitting here holding Marcus's hand, resting my head on his shoulder with Colton sitting on my lap laying back against me and still sobbing a little. I had my eyes shut when I heard "What is my nephew doing with these faggots?" My eyes shot open, and all I saw was red and some middle-aged woman and a sleazy looking lawyer. Before I could say anything, I heard Paul, "Ms. Delong I will ask you to refrain from that kind of language especially around a child." "Get my nephew away from those pedophiles," Ms. Delong said spewing vitriol along with an unmasked hatred in her voice. "Listen, madam, and I must use that term lightly; don't you ever call us that again! We are human beings who happen to be gay," Marcus said in a darkened tone but a polite one. "How dare you speak to me like that, you good for nothing!" "Stop being mean to my daddies!" Colton shouted. I was shocked by him saying this because I never felt him move, but when I looked down, he was completely turned around having his eyebrows knit and a very stern look on his face. "These two are NOT your daddies!! They are perverts, and I am here to take you away from these disgusting fags!" My insides were raging with anger, but I wasn't going to do anything with Colton with us. "Denice, will you please take Colton to the play room, please, until we are through?" Paul asked. Colton wrapped his arms around my neck. I knew that Colton wasn't going to go willingly without Marcus or myself. "If it is okay, I will go with Denise, get Colton situated and return?". Mr. Martinez nodded in agreement. We walked out of the room following Denise. I did notice that when we walked past the lawyer, Colton tensed up and tried to bury his face in my chest; farther than it already was. We reached the room, and I asked him what was wrong. That's when he told me that the lawyer was the bad man that hurt his mom. I realized that this sleaze-bag lawyer killed Colton's mother. As I walked back to the conference room, my head was running through all this information, and I knew that this day was not going to end well. As I rounded the corner, I ran into officer James. I quickly informed him of the situation, and he told me that his friend Paul called telling him that there might be trouble. I was about to say something else when we heard screams. I quickly departed towards the scream; I knew what was going on. I reached the last corner and stealing a look around, saw Marcus, Paul and Mr. Martinez against the far wall with their hands raised. The aunt and lawyer drew their guns while yelling instructions at them. I panicked, whipping my back around the corner to slow my breathing I felt a presence next to me, and heard officer James' deep husky voice, "What's going on?" "The so-called aunt and lawyer have Marcus, Paul, and Mr. Martinez at gun-point," I said with a panicked tone starting to creep into my voice and glaring eyes. James must have seen this. "Listen to me, Davis, this will have a good outcome. Trust me; we will handle this; it's what we are trained to do." "I know that James but that is my fiancé in there. I'm frightened and angry, wanting to help. I know it is not protocol but damn it, I will do this with or without your help." I didn't mean to raise my voice. Officer James put his strong, firm hand on my shoulder. "Davis listen to me. I know there is a lot going on right now, but I also know that you can handle yourself in rough situations. I did a little research on you and Marcus and found the file on your assault, and you're one tough SOB and I will not to stand in your way because I know that I can't, but if I give you a direct order, you have to need to follow what I say. No questions asked! Do you understand me?" His imperative was both forceful and sexy, and I... (sad to say) I got turned on a little. I nodded in agreement, pulling my knife from the inside of my jacket. Now I know what you must be thinking... I'm turning into a ninja, but in these times, we need protections, and since I'm not a big gun person, these are my weapons of choice. I looked around the corner again as the shouting seemed to be increasingly louder, and I could tell that the two criminals were growing more agitated. I knew this scenario had to end now. I took a deep breath and started to make my way down the hall, going from a doorway to doorway. A stroke of luck was, that even though the whole wall was glass, the morons left the door open and still had their backs turned towards me. I finally made my way down to the last doorway before the conference room. I took another deep breath, gathering all my thoughts. I knew I needed to clear my head before I directly confronted them. I was ready, knowing it was now or never. I rounded the corner aimed my knife and threw it. It struck the lady in the arm she went down. The lawyer turned, but it was too late as I was already on him, swinging my baton at his head, dropping him flat. I had a split second to look at Marcus, and he had a look of utter disbelief. The woman got up. I had to admit; she was a tough bitch. She pulled the knife out of her arm... "I'm going to kill you!" she screamed. I was ready for her. She came at me wildly, not aiming or being precise. I backhanded her into the wall making her head bounce off the wall. She came at me again I was going to end this now. I planted my left foot, spun 'round, catching her across the face, making her fly back into the lawyer who was trying to get up again. By that time officer, Jason and his partner had arrived and got them in handcuffs soon the conference room was flooded with officers and EMT's and other investigators. I was sitting with Marcus on a couch in the corner, my adrenaline was gone, and I was melting more and more into Marcus embraces as he is whispering sweet things in my ears. For some reason I was in shock I don't know why but after everything happened all my emotions hit me at once like a tsunami. My knife and baton were taken by the police as evidence I didn't even care right now I just wanted my little boy in my arms. I wanted to feel him in my arms smell his hair; I wanted him to feel and know my love for him. I looked up and running down the hall as fast as he could be my baby boy I fell to my knees my arms wide open, I started to cry as he ran into my arms. He was sobbing I was sobbing giving him kisses and smothering him with love. I felt Marcus put his arms around me and we were whole again we were a family a whole family, my family. We had been sitting on the couch together for a little while when officer James came over "hey guys how are you doing?" he asked. "well I don't know right now I guess I'm still in shock over the whole situation" Marcus replied. I didn't say anything; I didn't know what to say honestly. "I do have to tell you that the media is here and they want to talk to those involved in the case now we can avoid them but then you run the risk of them coming to your home until you finally talk to them" we both looked at each other, and I nodded in agreement "we will talk to them but we will not have a lengthy press conference just a simple statement and a maybe a few question we just really would like to go home" Marcus replied. So, we did the press conference with Mr. Martinez and officer James doing most of the talking. Of course, we were asked questions. They were the stereotypical question, the usual stuff; we finally were able to end it after about 20 minutes. DAVIS' POV We tried to go about our normal lives after that day but our story went viral, and the next week we were getting calls from Good Morning America, The View, and Ellen DeGeneres all asking for interviews. Marcus and I talked in good length about what we should do and even though we wanted to put this behind us we also decide that this could be good for the LGBT community who want to adopt and see a strong couple getting through a tough situation like this, so we wanted to do this. We flew to LA to do Ellen first. The experience was unreal; going out on that stage was unbelievable, she was so awesome, and Colton was so cute; he loved the attention. We flew back home two days later; our interview was watched by several million people we started to receive emails and messages of well wishes and story of another couple who were trying to adopt and going through hardship, wanting to give up but are story helped them keep on striving to become parents. Of course, we got the hate mail that we never opened because we didn't want to give those people the attention they desperately wanted. Next week will be flying to New York to talk on the view and GMA I'm excited to do the interviews now. At first, I was nervous, but after getting all these letters and emails, I want to continue doing this because if we can help a one whether it's a homophobic parent who sees the light and regrets what they did to their child or a couple who have been struggling to adopt a child. The following week we flew to New York and were the first interview was on Good Morning America. We took our places on stage after Michael Strahan introduced us telling our story, "Please welcome Marcus Pedallow, his fiancé Davis, and their future adoptive son, Colton." There was a round of applause from the audience. "Welcome, guys, glad that you could be here." Michael greeted us. "Thank you for having us," Marcus replied. "We know most of your story, but for those who don't, tell us how you came to be Colton's foster parents?" "I was sitting at a coffee shop just around the corner from our house doing some homework, when I felt like I was being watched I looked up from the book I was reading, and I saw this little boy staring at me. I struck up a conversation with him, and he asked for something to eat, well I couldn't say no-how to him, (I'm a sucker for children, always have been). Anyway, during this conversation, he told me that he had been on the streets for two days now after the bad man hurt his mommy it took me only a couple of seconds to realize what he meant. I had called the police and waited for them to arrive once they did I explained the situation and told them exactly what Colton told me. He reported the crime while we went to the hospital to check him out. We met the social worker who granted me and Davis emergency temporary custody until the court appearance the next day. It only took one night, and we fell in love with him faster than we fell in love with each other. We both enjoyed being called daddy of course now its daddy and papa." That got a chuckle from the audience. "You two are very intelligent young men. What made you decide to become parents at such a young age? You are both in college still, right? And have part-time jobs. Are you nervous about being able to handle everything?" Michael asked. "Well... We have thought of length and agonized over it, ultimately deciding that no matter what, we were going to raise Colton; no matter how hard it was going to be." I had replied. "How are you going to accomplish this?" Michael asked. "As for myself, I'll be taking the semester off to take care of Colton. Marcus offered, saying he would, but I didn't want him to put off medical school. After this semester, we will put Colton in school, and I will go back in the fall." I replied. "How do your families feel about you as fathers at this age?" Michael asked. "Marcus' parents with my aunt and uncle have spoiled Colton rotten. They enjoy the grandparent's role along with Marcus' uncle Jason and his fiancé as well. Then there is my brother with his partner, my cousin and his partner and our friend Kenny, whom Colton called "uncle" the first time he met them." "It seems like you have a great support system at home, ready and waiting," Michael said. "Yes, we do we're extremely lucky. Of course, we had trouble with relatives. However, we have cut them out of our lives to where we are so much better off." "Since the story broke about what happened, how have your lives changed?" Michael asked. "Well, after we did the Ellen show, we started to get emails and Facebook messages from young gay couples similar us who want to start a family and from couples who have thought about giving up because they kept being denied by agencies because they are gay. Originally, I didn't want to do any interviews, but Marcus and I talked about it, and we realized that we could help more maybe even inspire young gay people to not give up on wanting to be parents. Also, to show the public that gay parents are just as good a straight parent." I said Marcus was nodding in agreement. "Colton, I have a question for you, what's it like now that you have two daddies?" Michael asked "I love my daddies they protected me from the bad man I also get to cook with my daddy Davis he is a really good cook" Colton replied smiling "What do you to cook?" Michael asked "Cookies! I love cookies." Colton replied with his adorable smile which got awes and chuckles from the crowd. We finished the interview and went to the views studio and did that interview. Marcus did most of the talking during that one. We flew back home and started are lives as a family, we kept getting interview request most of them we didn't do because they were from publication's that were trying to insult us and degrade us, and we weren't going to let them try that. We did do a video interview with Anderson Cooper which was fun I enjoyed doing it after about a month our lives started to calm down the last interview we did was for people magazine. As time went by we settled into our lives as parents we were officially granted full adoption of Colton in March, a day I will never forget. SIX MONTHS LATER........ MARCUS' POV So here I am, going into my second year of medical school, and you would think my life would be stressful, and it is, but you would think it would be more stressful since I'm a parent and I have a fiancé, and we have begun the process of planning our wedding. Everything is going great. Davis, I swear was meant to be a father, has been so great with Colton and to take time off from school to raise him until the fall. I don't know what I would do without him, I love that man to death I can't wait to marry him and be able to officially call him my husband. DAVIS' POV It's been a full year for the guys in San Antonio, and much has happened. Marcus and I are now fathers and are in the beginning stages of planning our wedding. Carl and William are doing fantastic and then Kenny; I'm so proud of the progress Kenny is making, of course, he likes Michael a lot. It's so cute when he is going to meet him for a talking session he gets all nervous and turns red with nerves. I hope they get together I can tell that from some of the sessions I have been to with him that Michael is protective of Kenny and that he cares for him. I also see the rage in his eyes when the topic of Derek comes up. That's a scare that Kenny is never going to get over and I can tell that as much as he wants to take those memories away, he can't. Then there is my little man these past few months getting to bond with him taking him to the park and the movies. Sitting on the couch watching cartoons and listening to him laugh when he thought something was funny. I have enjoyed it so much and believe me; it is going to be hard to send him off to school. He is so smart too; I'm proud of him, he is going to be an excellent student. I have also been thinking a lot about my future, and I have decided that I will be quitting computer science and going to nursing school to become a nurse practitioner. I don't want to regret not going for this, so I'm going to do it, I will be telling Marcus soon. I am meeting with my counselor next week to plan my new major. I hope that Marcus is happy with my decision, I know this way we can open a practice together and be a gay medical power couple. Oh, the silly thoughts in my head sometimes. Hey everybody thank you for reading this latest chapter I know it has been a really long time since my last chapter and im sorry for that. There is a lot going on in my life right now I hope that I can get back to once a month or quicker but right now I don't know. Im hoping that my life will calm down soon, I hope to here from you as always you can reach me at my email bigdizzy21@gmail.com . Thanks again to my fabulous editor Paul who puts up with all of my crap and helping me to continue even when I want to quit and get down and depressed, he is always there for me.