Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2000 10:46:16 EDT
From: LENNOXBEAR@aol.com
Subject: Beyond the Blue, part 21

Beyond the Blue, part 21		by lennoxbear@aol.com

The following is an erotic story involving gay relationships and male to
male sex.  If such offends you, leave.


Ron sat in front of the TV and made pages of notes to back-up his theory on
whom was harassing Al and who, he hoped, was not also the shooter.  Another
boring evening of TV passed him by as he outlined his case and prepared for
presentation to the Captain and the detectives investigating the case.  The
phone's ringing brought him back to the not so real world of TV for a
moment.  He aimed the remote and muted the usual diatribe.

"Hello? Hey thanks for calling.  Really?  Issue huh?  Any idea if it's
current?  No way of knowing unless we test everyone's then.  Sure, do
whatever you need to do.  Mine will be the first and I also have Jim and
Al's, although those are eliminated by default.  Sure, first thing in the
morning.  Thanks again sir.  I realize you didn't need to let me know but I
appreciate it.  I guess about the same.  I haven't heard anything else.
No, I asked Bo and Steve to call me if anything changed.  Have a good
evening."  Ron hung up the phone and looked back up at the TV.  No, leave
it muted.

He returned to his notes and added a couple more paragraphs of information.
It was 10:00 PM, the time he tried to get to bed in order to have plenty of
rest for work.  The alarm went off at four AM so he could get out and do an
hour of walking before showering and heading in to work.  He was tired but
didn't think he could sleep not knowing what was happening with Al.  Ron
stared at the phone and when it rang it startled him.  If only the lottery
worked that way.

"Hello?  Hi.  You did, already?  That was fast.  I didn't think you would
have a chance to follow-up on our talk earlier.  Thanks, I appreciate your
help.  He was?  Yep, he's a creature of habit.  Oh really, no surprise huh?
What was his reaction when you told him?  That flat.  No, I'm not sure.
No, it only adds another page of notes to my case.  No, no real definitive
proof.  I didn't say that, and it may be a bit of a stretch to prove.
Yeah, he does why?  Are you sure?  Yeah, I do know him, very well.  That's
a possibility but I don't know exactly how to ask that question.  Gotta
work on that one.  No, I haven't heard anything else.  Let me know if you
hear from Jim.  And, Linda, thanks for helping.  Good work.  Good night."

Ron made a few quick notes and noticed it was now almost 10:30.  Fuck, who
needs sleep.  He grabbed his car keys and headed downtown to the Marriott.
He found the slip of paper in his pocket and pushed the elevator for the
fifth floor.  The man answered the door with a surprised look.

"Hi, sorry to bother you but could we talk?"

"About?"

"Your father."  The door closed behind Ron.

Jim followed the doctor down the dimly lit hallway to Al's room.  Brad
stood next to his brother and smiled weakly.

"I asked if it was OK for you to come in, after all, in my eyes, you're
Al's family."  Jim nodded thanks to Brad and looked at his pale lover still
unconscious in the bed.  He bit his lip and fought back the catch in his
throat.

"How is he?"  The doctor on duty, a Dr. Pratt, put his arm around Jim's
shoulder.

"Well, he lost a lot of blood but he is stable.  The guns shot wounds were
actually pretty clean.  The one that grazed his head did very little
damage, basically a flesh wound.  The two in the shoulder are what caused
the blood loss.  The one bullet went through cleanly, but the other must
have ricocheted off something then hit Al, lodging near a bone.  We got
that one out fairly easily."

"Then why is he out cold?"  The doctor walked around to check Al's IV.
Brad put his hand on Jim's as the big cop held Al's hand.

"He hit his head pretty hard as he fell.  Near as we can figure, he hit it
one way on the car as he came down and then bounced off the pavement again.
Head injuries, even when brushed off as a mild concussion, are nothing to
taken lightly.  Al hit pretty hard."

"Is there brain damage?"

"No, we don't think so, he wasn't deprived of oxygen but there is a
hairline fracture.  His bodily reaction is this."

"How long will he be out?  Is this like a coma?"

"No, not exactly.  He is very weak, just from the blood loss, give him
time."  Tears rolled down Jim's face as Brad held him tightly.

"Then, he's going to be OK?"

"We think so, but he has to have one helluva headache right now and we
can't treat that exactly.  And the body takes awhile to replenish blood
loss.  I don't think he'll be pumping iron for some time. Guys, we need to
let him rest."  Jim nodded in agreement.

"Thanks doc."  The two men walked to the door with the doctor.

"You need to get some rest yourself officer, why don't you go home.  I'll
call if anything changes."

"Yes sir. Thank you."

"Brad, Jim and I will be back to the waiting room in a couple of minutes."
Brad walked back to where Bo, Steve and Kenny were waiting. "How long you
guys been together Jim?"

"Not long, just a matter of months, so much is changing for us, so
quickly. Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I don't know.  We have a mutual acquaintance, Eric Stout, who called
to check on Al earlier.  From what he told me you two seem to be pretty
committed already.  Just from the things he observed.  He admires strength
in relationships among people.  So do I."  Jim nodded thanks.  "He lost a
lover not too long ago to a motorcycle accident, so he sees in you what he
saw in himself and Dave.  And....."

"What?"

"So did I.  My lover passed away about six months ago from HIV/AIDS
complications.  If you need anything, call me, please."  Jim looked into
the doctor's kind face and hugged him.

"Thanks again, I feel like I can go home and rest better now.  Not sure if
I can handle work tomorrow."

"I think you probably need a day or two off.  Besides, I am sure they will
only bombard you with questions on the whole incident anyway.  Look out for
yourself.  Good night, I better finish my rounds."

Jim walked down the hall to the arms of his friends.  He looked at Brad
sitting in the corner.  "Where are you staying?"

"Didn't make plans."  Jim pulled him up and herded him toward the door.

"You can stay at my place, we can bond."  The five men walked into the
parking lot.  Steve pulled a bag from Bo's truck and walked toward Jim.
"What's the bag?"

"My stuff.  I thought I'd stay with you to keep you company, if you and
Brad don't mind.  Bo will pick me up in the morning on the way to work."
Bo and Kenny hugged Jim and took off.  Jim steered the big truck home and
showed Brad to a guestroom, sparsely furnished as it was.  Jim made a quick
call to Ron to say he needed the day off, but only got the answering
machine.

"The only choices left Steve, are the sofa upstairs or sleep with me."

"In that case, don't try anything funny, let's get some sleep."

Ron stood behind the big man and watched as he navigated the Internet on
the laptop.  Within seconds they were looking at a site for muscle men,
bears, to be exact.  Ron chuckled to himself but didn't comment out loud.

"This is it.  Let me find Al's page and then mine, that may be the clue you
are looking for."

"Al has a page?"

"Oh yeah, a good one.  Here it is."  Art came over and looked over their
shoulders.

"Look, I'm sorry to interrupt but I wanted to get to the bottom of this."

Art held up his hand and shook his head.  "Don't worry, Al's a friend of
mine too.  We want to be sure whoever shot him gets caught.  But, I'm
afraid I don't see the connection to Sonny."

"Well, I'm looking for something that links the two of them and I thought
it might be here.  The first was Sonny telling me he was gay."  Ron
motioned to the computer as Sonny stopped clicking through Al's page for a
second.

"In that case, I think I know what you are looking for, this."  Sony
clicked on a page of photos in Al's collection marked "Folsum."  A
screenful of small thumbnails popped up and Ron began squinting.  "I can
make them bigger."

"No, that's OK.  There's more information here than I, holy fuck, doesn't
wearing that hurt?  Wow, more than I need to know."

"This one."  A full screen picture opened of Al and Sonny standing together
in leather, and not much of it, on a sunlit street in San Francisco.
Sonny's arm was around Al and the two looked very comfortable together."

"That's it, that would have done it."

Art sat on the bed.  "Done what, I'm confused?"

"Pushed his father over the edge. Sonny, you say you haven't old your
father you're gay, right?"  Sonny shook his head yes but was ashamed to
admit it. "What if, he accidentally stumbled on this site?  Finding out Al
was gay would push one button, but then he finds this picture of Al with
his son."

"Omigod.  You think it would do that?"

"I hear your father ragging on and on in the station all the time."  Art's
face dropped.

"Holy fuck.  Your father's a cop, he finds out another guy on the force is
a fag and that this fag made his son gay, too weird. Or he thinks that's
what's happened."  Sonny's shoulders sank as he opened his page and pulled
up the same picture, plus a couple more of him with Al, in obvious sexual
poses.

"Ron, I know my father can be a real redneck bastard but I hope you're
wrong."

Ron put his hand on Sonny's shoulder.  "I know you do son, but we need to
question Dirt."

"You're father's name is Dirt?"

"His nickname.  We're big on nicknames in my family.  Do what you have to
do Ron.  Let me give you copies of this picture and the page addresses.
You can probably find them in the files on my dad's computer. I know how he
thinks.  He most likely bookmarked them and went back several times to feed
his rage."

Art got up and put his hand on Sonny's other shoulder.  "But to shoot
another fellow officer?"

"I saw how he was with my mother and us kids, he could do it."

Ron looked at the floor.  "I'm sorry Sonny.  You're a good man and don't
deserve this.  I better go, I've done enough damage."  Sonny got up and
hugged the older man.  "I hope you can forgive me."

"I'm not angry with you Ron.  I know how he is, I'm sorry he can't control
his emotions and he needs help.  I pray Al will be OK."

"So do I son, good night."  Sonny sat on the edge of the bed as Art saw Ron
to the door.  When Art returned, Sonny was sitting quietly and crying.  The
two men sat in silence and held each other tightly.

Linda sat on the sofa and took deep breaths as Janet handed her another
glass of water.  She took a long drink and closed her eyes.

"He was livid.  I've never seen such rage and hatred.  When I ran into him
in the grocery store and struck up that conversation, I was hoping Ron was
wrong and that this policeman couldn't be the one who shot Al.  But as soon
as I mentioned Al, wham, he was off in a tirade."  Janet sat down and held
her.

"I was surprised you agreed to do this for Ron, it was dangerous."

"I didn't know the man harboured such anger, against, well, everyone.  He
let gay epithets fly that I don't care to hear again."

"Do you think Ron's right?  That Dirt shot Al?"  Linda shook her head in
wonderment, her eyes wide with emotion.

"I'd say he was the number one candidate."

"Do you think Al will be all right?"

"I hope so.  I know I picked on Jim for being too close to the man, but
truth is, he was always kind, gentle and generous to me, never mean or
ugly.  Now that he's Jim's lover, at least I guess he is, I can see that
side in Al.  No one deserves that anger and hatred."

"Is Ron going to recommend they bring him in for questioning?"

Linda put her arms around Janet and held tightly.  "I hope so.  Dirt's just
nutty enough to go to the hospital and try to finish him off.  And if he
figures out Jim's story, I pray he doesn't go after him.  I want my child
to grow up with a father, not the picture of one he never knew."

Jim lay back in the bed with his arms under his head.  Steve worked to get
comfortable in the king size bed but felt a bit ill at ease.

"Are you OK Jim?"

"I don't know, maybe I should have stayed at the hospital."

"Dr. Pratt said he thought he would be all right.  You need to give it
time, the body fights back and Al's is fighting.  I'm sure the detectives
in investigations will have plenty to ask you tomorrow."

"I don't even want to think about that.  They left me a message not to
report for duty tomorrow but to report for questioning.  I need a break, I
guess I do need rest, but I'm a mess mentally and emotionally."

"We knew that before this."  Steve smiled trying to create some humour.
"You'll be fine, get some sleep."

"I know we tease you about being the token straight man now, but.....are
you man enough to hold me?"

"That has nothing to do with being gay, or straight or a man.  That's just
being a friend and caring."  Jim huddled against Steve and felt the man's
thick arm wrap around him.  Steve felt Jim slowly relax and within minutes
he was asleep.  Steve stared at the ceiling and thought through everything
that had happened among his friends in a very short period of time.  Jim
held on tighter in his sleep.  They awoke in the same position a few hours
later.

When they arrived at the station the next morning, Bo and Steve reported
for duty as usual.  Jim, in street clothes, reported for questioning.  Ron
was busier than usual and seemed to be mired in paperwork, which he was
handing off to a bewildered Wendy.  She looked at the pile and thumbed
through the outlines.  Her eyes caught on several notes and she kept
looking up at Ron

"Is all of this true?"  Ron shook his head.  "I'm impressed with the
thoroughness of your investigations Ron, but I am sorry to see what you
feel is the conclusion."

"You mean you think I shouldn't rat on a fellow officer?"

"Oh know, not that.  I think, if he did it, he deserves the consequences.
But he was always nice to me, it hurts to think, I missed this other side.
Am I that bad a judge of people?"

"No, we can all be fooled.  If it is Dirt, he needs help.  You aren't a bad
judge."  Wendy watched Jim thank Steve, then watched the young cop head to
the locker room.  "And he's one of the better ones."  Her face flushed.

"And what you have here, about Jim and Al?"  Ron looked at her blank face
and swallowed hard.

"All true."  Wendy took the forms to put in order and retype the requested
sections.  She stopped to say good morning to Jim as he sat waiting for the
detectives in investigations to arrive.  He stood up to meet her as she
hugged him.

"It'll be OK Jim.  He'll be fine, I'm sure."  She headed for her office as
Jim looked at her then over at Ron.  Wendy returned with a cup of coffee
and asked if he wanted cream and sugar.  He turned to follow her into her
office, as Dirt reported for work.  Ron watched from his desk, knowing full
well that Wendy saw everyone who came and went in the parking lot.  Good
timing.

The locker room was quiet except for the men all asking for an update on Al
and Earl.  Bo and Steve shared what they knew but hadn't heard a thing yet
that morning.  Kenny stuck his head in the door and motioned for Bo.  Bo
told him they had dropped Al's brother Brad off at the hospital on the way
in to work.  He had promised to call if things changed.

Ron brought the morning duty meeting to order and started with an update on
Earl.

"Earl is still in the hospital and his condition remains grave.  His doctor
has been very tight with details but from what he tells me and from what
Earl's family and friends say, it doesn't look good."  The men sat and
nodded their heads in silence.

"Al is in serious condition with a skull fracture, concussion and bullet
wounds.  He is stable and while not in a coma, is unconscious and weak.
Our prayers are with both men, their families and partners, a word which
has a lot of meaning to Jim."  Ron stared directly at Dirt's cold face.

He finished the duty roster and sent them out.  Steve and Bo looked for Jim
before they look on patrol.  He was still chatting with Wendy when they
found him.  The investigations guys called him just as Steve and Bo rubbed
his shoulder.  Jim followed the detective down the hall.

Wendy smiled at Steve.  "Could I speak with you a second?"  Steve shrugged
his shoulders as she came over and Bo, smiling sheepishly, excused himself
to pick up their patrol car.  "Jim told me that you stayed with him last
night."

"He, he, told you?"

"Yeah, that you stayed out of concern and consoled him until he fell
asleep.  You're a good friend and a good man."

"Oh.  Well, I think a lot of Jim and Al; they've been good friends to me.
It's the least I could do."

"It's more than some people would do.  I think that's really nice.  I was
wondering something?"

"What?"

"Would you like to have dinner with me sometime?"  Steve looked down at the
attractive woman and at the sincerity in her face.

"I'd like that a lot."  She smiled and tilted her head.

"So ask me?"  He laughed and took a deep breath.

Jim sat at the table as two detectives grilled him over every little detail
he could remember from the previous day.  He was beginning to feel guilty
of shooting Al himself when their tone of questioning took a different
turn.  They explained that he didn't have to answer these questions then
proceeded to ask what Jim knew of the harassment Al had received.  Jim told
them what he could but was beginning to be concerned that their questions
were taking a turn of conviction toward a fellow officer.  They were
carefully phrasing their questions to avoid Jim outing himself.

He leaned back in the chair and took a long drink of his coffee. "Guys, if
you are trying to tiptoe around the question of whether Al is gay, yes he
is and I am his lover."

The older of the two men looked down at his notes then back at Jim.  "We
don't have to include that statement in this report."

"It's the truth and I have nothing to hide, nor does Al.  We love each
other very much."

"The fact that you are a couple is secondary to the case, not really
relevant."

"Does it make a difference to you, do you have a problem with it?"  Both
men said no but that someone on the force may and that they could target
Jim next.

"Jim, you need to be careful until we have someone in custody for
questioning."  The two men expressed their concern for his safety if word
got out that he was gay and Al's partner.  Jim thanked them.  He got up to
leave.  "Officer?"

"Yes.  I respect that you want to be open, but do please be careful.  We
investigate too many hate crimes and I don't want one to be a fellow gay
officer."  His partner looked at him quizzically.  "That didn't come out
right, did it?"

"Not unless you are admitting to being gay also?"

"No, I just, I'm not, I know gay people, have gay friends and don't want to
see anyone hurt."  Jim stood up, smiled and shook their hands.

"Thank you for your concern.  Do you have a suspect in mind?"

"Yes, and we expect to pick that person up within the hour."  Jim felt his
heart skip.

"Thank you."  Jim walked back down the hall to the reception area.  Wendy
was typing happily at her desk. She waved and motioned Jim toward the
coffeepot.  He walked in to return the cup but turned down the offer for
more.

"I'll only have to spend time in the restroom."  She chuckled and smiled
broadly.  Jim looked at her suspiciously.  "Why the big grin?"

"Steve asked me to dinner."

"That's cool.  He's a great guy.  I think you'll like him."

"So do I."  Jim excused himself to head to the hospital.  Ron stopped him
at the door.

"Let me know how things are, OK? You don't look so hot Jim."

"I slept fairly well, but I still feel tired.  Guess my emotions are taking
their toll."

"I'm sure.  Go.  But call if anything changes, dammit."  Jim nodded slowly
and walked out the door toward his truck.  Sonny came around the corner and
watched the big man drive away.  He watched until the big Ford rumbled out
of sight.  Ron saw him walk in and watched cautiously.  Sonny slowly walked
over to the desk.  He let out a deep sigh.

"So what's happening?"

Jim walked through the hospital and checked the waiting room but didn't
find Brad.  He looked into the office where Dr. Pratt worked but he was not
in either.  As he came around the corner to the hall where Al's room was,
he saw Bard and Dr. Pratt disappear around the far corner.  Pratt's arm was
around Brad's shoulder. He stood outside the door and paused with his hand
on the knob. He turned the knob and slowly walked in to the dark room.  Jim
looked at the pale, unshaven face of his lover.

"Don't just stand there.  I only have one hand available here.  It's tough
to pee in one of these little bottles. Help."

To be continued, comments-suggestions?  	Lennoxbear@aol.com