Date: Sun, 3 Mar 2024 10:25:44 +0000
From: DJ Warner <djwarner1984@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Inheritance Clause 15

This story contains descriptions of graphic sex between males.
If that kind of thing does not appeal to you, stop reading now.

This story is pure fiction. If this resembles something that happened to
you, it must have been an incredible experience. But it's simply a
coincidence.

All comments are welcome: djwarner1984@hotmail.com
Please donate to Nifty: https://donate.nifty.org/

-DJ

==========

The Inheritance Clause - 15

The court officer escorted Artie, the boys, Niven, and Krantz to the
library. Dawson and Adam entered the room first. Dawson grabbed two waters
from the basket Niven had set up in the library. He sat down on the
settee. Adam joined him. He handed a bottle to Adam. They both silently
opened their water bottles and drank.

Niven and Krantz came in next. They both moved to stand near the
settee. Artie came in last. The court officer closed the door. Artie looked
at the four of them and then he took the chair that Niven was sitting in
earlier that morning.

There was a minute of quiet, with just the sound of the grandfather clock
ticking. Then Artie spoke.

"Adam," Artie said.

"Dad, I don't want to talk to you right now," said Adam.

"Adam! I'm your father!" Artie barked trying to intimidate him.

Adam looked at him with disbelief and shook his head. Dawson wanted to
comfort him but held back. Adam took a sip of water and avoided looking at
his father.

Artie had a behavioral pattern where he would try to bully someone to get
what he wanted. After an attempt or two, he would back off. This behavior
almost never worked for Artie. Yet he continued to use the tactic.

Artie was true to form here. After Adam rebuffed him, Artie withdrew and
stayed quiet.

There were several minutes where no one made a sound. The persistent
ticking of the grandfather clock seemed to intensify the uncomfortable
feeling in the room. Then there was a sharp rap at the door. The door
opened and Judge Lynch came in. She was no longer wearing her judge's
robe. She had on a plain blue dress and off-white low-heeled shoes.

"Well, Mrs. Niven... Perhaps you can prepare some rooms for me and
Mr. Jameson?" the judge said.

"I should get the master bedroom. After all, he was my father," Artie
declared.

"No one gets the master bedroom!" Adam said loudly as he perked up and
straightened his back.

Dawson stood up.

"Please..." Dawson said, holding his hands toward the floor to calm
everyone.

Artie looked at him with disdain.

"Judge Lynch, you reinstated the conditions of the will, correct?" Dawson
asked calmly to the judge.

"Yes, I did, Mr. Stewart," the judge said.

"Please, call me Dawson," Dawson said, "If that's the case, then Adam and I
share the responsibilities of this house according to the provisions of
clause C. You and Mr. Jameson are our guests. We should decide who gets
which room and all the other decisions about the running of this house."

Artie was about to protest when the judge responded.

"That sounds reasonable. What do you recommend?" the judge said.

Dawson turned toward Adam. Adam spoke without prompting. The judge watched
the boys intently.

"Judge Lynch, you'll be more comfortable in a west wing guest room, the
single room next to granddad's office. You'll have more privacy," Adam said
to the judge. He directed his next comment toward Dawson, "And we should
put my father in one of the guest rooms on the east wing next to our
rooms."

"I agree," Dawson said to Adam. "Niven, do you see any problem with that?"
he asked her.

"No, that will work out just fine," Niven said.

"Great. Now, Niven, about lunch and dinner. Can you accommodate the four of
us for the weekend?" Dawson said, "Oh... and with everything going on, we
didn't prepare a dinner menu."

"That will be fine," Niven said, "Judge Lynch do you have any allergies or
dietary restrictions?" she said as she looked at the judge.

"No," she replied.

"And we should give the judge a tour of the house, so she knows her way
around," Dawson said.

"I can do that after I show them to their rooms," Niven said.

"Thank you, Niven," Dawson said.

"Anything else?" Dawson turned to Adam.

"The tasks. We have to clean out one of the closets today. I thought we'd
continue with the artwork task this afternoon. And we were planning on
going out to the property line tomorrow to rebuild the fence," Adam said.

"Are these tasks from the conditions in clause D?" the judge asked.

"Yes," said Adam.

"What's clause D?" Artie interjected with an angry tone.

"Oh, right..." Dawson said, "Judge Lynch, can we share the details of the
will with Adam's father, so he's up to speed on what we're doing here?"

"Hmmm, I think that will be ok," she said, "and I'd like to accompany you
when you perform these tasks."

"Sure," said Adam.

"Ok," said Dawson.

The judge turned toward Niven and Krantz.

"And I'd like to know the directives that have been given so far," Judge
Lynch said.

"I can review those with you," Krantz said.

"Great," Dawson said as he clapped his hands together once and then held
them in front of himself.

That basically signaled the end of the discussion.

"Follow me, I'll show you to your rooms. Lunch will be served on the
terrace at noon," Niven said.

Niven, Artie, and the judge left the library.

"I think I can find my room. I lived in this house long before you ever
came here," the boys could hear Artie snapping at Niven in the hallway.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Krantz asked.

Dawson and Adam looked at each other. Then Dawson looked at Krantz.

"I think we're good for now, Krantz," Dawson said, "What about you? Are you
and Niven going to be able to handle all of us yourselves?"

"We'll manage," Krantz said.

Krantz paused for a moment as if he were going to say something else. But
then he turned, left the library, and shut the door.

Dawson sighed and flopped down on the settee. Adam immediately slid over
and leaned on Dawson. Dawson wrapped his arms around Adam. Dawson began
caressing Adam's arm. Adam could smell Dawson's manly scent. It comforted
him.

"What are we going to do?" Adam said.

"We are going to get Judge Lynch alone and tell her about us. We don't have
a choice. She's going to figure it out. She's watching us like a hawk. We
shouldn't try to hide it," Dawson said quietly.

Adam didn't say anything for a while. He was comforted by Dawson gently
caressing his arm.

"Yeah, you're right. How about after lunch?" Adam said.

"Sounds good," Dawson said.

They leaned against each other in quiet for a few minutes.

"What am I gonna do about my father?" Adam said.

"Well, what do you want to happen?" Dawson said.

"I don't know," Adam said.

"Well, figure that out and I'll be here to help you," said Dawson.

Adam took Dawson's hand into his and held it against his chest.

"Are you ok with what went down with Vickie?" Dawson asked.

"Hmm, she did make it easy for me," Adam said.

"Yeah, but she seemed pretty hurt. You still care about her, don't you?"
Dawson said.

"Yeah... I guess I do," Adam said.

The boys didn't say anything for a while. Adam replayed in his mind what
unfolded with Vickie during the inquiry. Dawson began to think about the
stutters in Clayton's video.

"Did you notice the skips in your granddad's video?" Dawson asked.

"Did you see all three?" Adam said, "I only saw it happen once."

"Yeah, I saw them," Dawson said.

Adam shouldn't have been surprised that Dawson noticed the stutters that he
missed. But, nonetheless, he was still surprised and it showed on his face.

"Do you think that means someone altered it?" Adam asked.

"I don't know," Dawson said, "The corruption was most likely caused by
someone editing the video after it was on the flash drive. But it is still
kind of weird, isn't it? I mean, as far as we know, everything Clayton said
in the video was true. So why was it edited?"

"Hmmm," was all Adam said.

Dawson quietly held Adam as they thought about it.

"We should get up before the judge or your father come back," Dawson said.

"Mmm, yeah," Adam said as he leaned forward.

The boys got up. Dawson opened the library door. They left the library and
started toward the stairway to go to their rooms to change out of their
suits. Artie was storming down the stairway.

"Where is everything?" Artie said angrily to Adam.

"Where is what?" Adam said back, testily.

"Where are the things that were in my father's room? I have a right to take
what I want," Artie said angrily.

Adam looked toward the floor and sighed softly. He looked up at his father.

"Dad," Adam very calmly said, "you don't have a right to take what you
want. Granddad gave everything to me and Dawson."

Artie looked at Dawson dismissively and was about to protest.

"But," Adam said, holding his hands up in front of himself, "I'll ask
Krantz to let you go through his things. We moved everything to the
basement."

Adam contacted Krantz and told him that Artie wanted to go through
Clayton's things. Krantz said Artie could meet him in the basement. Artie
left.

"He really is angry all the time, isn't he?" Dawson whispered as they
ascended the stairs.

"Yup," Adam said, "He'll be even angrier if he realizes we already took
what we wanted."

Dawson chuckled as they continued toward their rooms. When they got there,
Adam went in through his door to keep up appearances. He came through the
bathroom into Dawson's room. Dawson was removing his suit jacket. Adam
practically ran at him. Dawson struggled to remove his suit jacket as Adam
tried to hug him.

"Babe," Dawson said gently.

"I just want another hug," Adam said.

He managed to slip his hands under Dawson's arms and wrap them around his
back just as Dawson removed his suit jacket. Dawson sighed, tossed his
jacket onto the couch, and hugged Adam back. They embraced for a few
moments as Dawson began rubbing Adam's back.

"This feels so good," Adam sighed.

"Mmmm," Dawson agreed.

Dawson began rubbing his cheek against Adam's hair.

"Oh, hey..." Dawson said, "What did the judge ask you when she got you
alone in the pool room?"

"Oh... It was all questions about you. I got the impression she thinks
you're the mastermind behind all of this," Adam said with an amused look on
his face.

"Well, I am a very suspicious character, you know," Dawson said playfully.

He loosened his hold on Adam and kissed him with a quick peck on the lips.

"I know. That's what I told the judge," Adam joked, trying to keep a
straight face.

He kissed Dawson with a quick peck in return. The boys started to
laugh. They then embraced each other again.

"I love you, babe," Dawson said.

"I love you, too," Adam said.

"C'mon, we should get changed," Dawson said as he tried to move away.

Adam pulled him closer and they kissed gently. They separated and Adam went
into his room. They both changed. Adam came into Dawson's room with the box
that contained the things from his granddad's bedroom that they wanted to
keep. Dawson looked at the box curiously.

"Do you have the hippo?" Adam said, "I don't trust my father. I want to put
the love notes and the other things from my granddad in the office, so he
can't try to steal them."

Dawson went to his bureau and got the hippo.

"You really think he would try to steal from you?" Dawson asked.

"Well, let's not find out," Adam replied.

To keep up appearances, they each exited through their own bedroom doors
into the hallway. Adam contacted Niven to ask where she and the judge
were. She said they were in the basement, finishing up the tour. He asked
her to bring the judge to the second-floor west wing. They were planning to
clean out one of the storage closets in the hallway.

The boys went down the hallway. Dawson opened the office and Adam put the
box on one of the desks. They locked the office and went down to Clayton's
bedroom. They both looked around. The room looked so empty after they had
cleaned it out. They went back into the hallway when they heard the bell of
the elevator. Judge Lynch came out and headed toward them.

"Mrs. Niven had to take care of something, so she sent me up," the judge
explained.

"Did Niven give you the full tour?" Adam asked.

"All of the inside of the lake house, yes, Mr. Jameson. It's quite
impressive. Although, I still haven't seen the grounds yet," she said.

"Please, call me Adam. Nobody calls me Mr. Jameson," Adam said.

"Ok," she said, "I think I can do that."

"There's something Dawson and I would like to talk to you about in
private. Can we give you a tour of the grounds after lunch, so we can
talk?" Adam said.

"Of course," said Judge Lynch.

She didn't ask what they wanted to talk about. But she did looked back and
forth between the boys to try to gauge the seriousness of the topic. She
couldn't read anything from them.

"Niven is probably busy getting lunch ready. We should go down and get some
cleaning supplies," Dawson said.

"Oh, she sent them up. They're in the elevator," the judge said.

"Ah, great," said Dawson.

The boys both eagerly started toward the elevator. The judge started to
follow them, but then stopped halfway to the elevator. The boys had grabbed
the supplies and were already coming back down the hall. Adam opened the
double doors of one of the closets to reveal some bed linens, towels,
curtains, and boxes of miscellaneous things.

"Oh, good. No pun books," Dawson quipped.

"Oh, c'mon, you pretend to hate puns, but you love them," Adam said.

Dawson realized the judge had no idea what they were talking about. Dawson
started to explain. Adam jumped in with details. They took turns going back
and forth, seamlessly explaining as if it were one person telling the
story. Of course, they left out the parts where Dawson tickled Adam and
they rubbed their erections against each other. The judge listened
intently. She politely smiled at places where others would have laughed.

They began sorting the items from the closet. The judge observed them as
they made quick work. Adam contacted Krantz and told him they would bring
the donation and trash items to the basement. When they got to the
basement, Krantz met them at the elevator. They unloaded everything and
headed back up. They separated to wash up for lunch, which was already
served on the terrace. Before heading down to lunch, Adam grabbed his copy
of the will so his father could read clause C.

The boys got to the terrace. There was a garden salad, an array of half
sandwiches, and various bags of snack chips. There was also a variety of
cans of drinks, plus pitchers of lemonade and iced tea.

Artie had already served himself and was sitting at one of the tables
eating. The boys thought it was rude that he didn't wait, but neither of
them said anything.

Artie saw them. He turned in his chair. The judge appeared in the entryway,
but no one saw her.

"Where are my mother's engagement and wedding rings?" Artie garbled angrily
with food in his mouth. "Your grandfather wore them on a chain around his
neck. I want them. They belong to me."

"No," Adam said in a measured tone, "They don't. Granddad gave them to me
and Dawson. The only way you will get them is if the judge rules that you
get granddad's inheritance."

Artie looked at Dawson. Then he saw the judge. He decided to back down. He
turned back toward his plate and continued eating. Judge Lynch just stood
in the doorway, taking it all in. At that moment, Adam saw the judge. Adam
wasn't really sure how much of the exchange the judge saw. Pretending that
none of it happened, he asked her what she wanted to drink. He poured her a
glass of iced tea while she made a plate. Then the boys got their food and
drinks. They all sat together with Artie.

The judge began asking Artie questions about his time growing up at the
lake house. Artie's responses were tinged with bitterness and anger.

Niven came out to the terrace while they were eating.

"Judge Lynch, your staff has dropped off your bags. Mr. Jameson, your wife
has dropped off yours. I've placed them in your rooms," Niven said.

"Thank you, Mrs. Niven," the judge said.

Artie said nothing.

"Adam," Niven said, "I have a message from your mother. I've confirmed with
Krantz it's ok to deliver it to you."

Adam tilted his head in curiosity. Artie looked up with interest.

"She says she was sorry to see what happened with you and Vickie today. She
sends her love and wishes she could give you a hug," Niven said and then
she pursed her lips.

"Thank you, Niven," Adam said with a tinge of sadness.

Niven left and they finished lunch. Adam and Dawson both sat back in their
chairs and were looking out over the lake. Artie was sipping his seltzer
water, looking down at his empty plate. The judge asked about the artwork
task.

Adam started explaining and then Dawson chimed in. They went back and
forth, again seamlessly explaining what they had done already and how Adam
was designing each room for the artwork to fit with it. The judge observed
them, her eyes going back and forth between them. When they were almost
finished, Artie interrupted them.

"I want the portrait of my mother," Artie rudely demanded.

Adam turned and looked at him in surprise.

"What portrait?" Adam said.

Dawson looked at Artie with curiosity.

"Your grandfather had a portrait commissioned when they first got
married. It used to hang in the living room. He took it down shortly after
she died. I want it," Artie said.

"Dad, first of all, you need to stop demanding things. Second," Adam said
with controlled anger in his voice, "Dawson and I own the lake house and
its contents 50/50. And we have a task we must complete. Once Dawson and I
have finished the inventory and placed the artwork throughout the lake
house, Dawson and I will be happy to consider any requests you have for any
of the remaining pieces."

He emphasized the word 'consider' when he spoke.

"What gives you the right?" Artie asked with indignation.

Adam pulled out his copy of the will from his back pocket as he stood
up. He placed it down on the table, next to his father's plate.

"This does!" Adam stated with determination as he pointed his finger and
stabbed the will.

Adam straightened up his body and took a deep breath. He exhaled. He very
calmly continued.

"Dad," Adam said, "you need to realize that Dawson and I must do what we
are doing, or thousands of people out there," Adam pointed out into the
air, "who have spouses and children and families they have worked hard to
provide for, will be screwed over. Read clause C," Adam stabbed at the will
again, "I don't know why granddad set it up this way, but that's what
Dawson and I are dealing with."

There was silence as Adam's father sat there. He looked over at Dawson with
contempt. Then he looked down at the will.

"And stop looking at Dawson like he's the enemy. Read this," Adam said as
he stabbed the will again, "He has as much say about what happens in this
house as I do. You might want to start treating him a bit nicer."

Artie cleared his throat and looked up at Adam.

"It doesn't say in this will that you can talk to me like that, does it?"
Artie said with an edge.

Adam had an exasperated look on his face. Dawson tilted his head in concern
for Adam. Adam turned and faced Dawson and the judge.

"I will be in the garden. Please come find me when you're finished here,"
Adam said as calmly as he could.

He pretended as if his father wasn't there and he walked away. No one said
anything for a few minutes. Then Dawson spoke.

"Judge Lynch," Dawson said softly, "I need to use the bathroom. I'll meet
you out here and then we'll find Adam so we can talk with you."

Dawson got up, picked up his plate and silverware, came around to where
Adam's plate was, and stacked them. He collected the silverware and Adam's
glass. He walked over and put the plates, silverware, and glass on the
service tray. Then he went inside. The judge and Artie sat in silence for a
few moments.

"What are they talking to you about?" Artie said to the judge.

"They want to have a private conversation with me," Judge Lynch replied.

"About what?" Artie asked.

"I don't know. They wish to speak to me in private. So even if I did know,
it would be inappropriate for me to tell you," the judge calmly said.

She watched Artie's body language as he reacted to what she said. Artie
cleared his throat. He gripped the arms of his chair tightly as he sat
there looking down at the will. They sat there for a couple more
minutes. The judge wanted to see if Artie would say anything more. He
didn't.

The judge got up. She picked up her plate and went over to the service
tray. She put her plate on the stack. She placed her silverware with the
pile Dawson had started. She went over to pour herself some more iced
tea. At that point, Artie got up, picked up the will, and without saying
anything, started to head into the house.

Dawson came out and passed Artie going inside. Artie stared at the ground
and didn't acknowledge Dawson. Dawson went over to the table. He picked up
Artie's plate and silverware and placed them on the service tray. The judge
watched him. He swiped up any remnants from the table and made sure it was
clean. He collected the two empty seltzer water cans Artie had left. He
swiped a napkin over the table to clean up the condensation from the
drinks. He put the cans on the service tray as well. He took his iced tea
glass and began refilling it.

"Ready?" Dawson asked.

"Yes, but I have a question for you," Judge Lynch said.

"Sure," Dawson said as he casually looked at the judge when he finished
filling his glass.

"Why did you stack and move all the plates? And clean the table? Won't
Mrs. Niven take care of that?" Judge Lynch asked.

"Yes, but she has enough to do. Why make more work for her?" Dawson
replied.

The judge looked at him as he replied.

"Hmm," was all she said.

Dawson took a fresh glass and poured some lemonade into it. He grabbed a
few napkins and put them in his back pocket.

Dawson began giving the judge a tour of the outside. He pointed out things
to the judge as they made their way through the different areas of the lake
house grounds. They finally made their way to the garden. When they got
there, Adam was leaning against a tall hedge on the edge of the garden,
facing away from them, looking at the lake.

Adam heard them approaching. He sniffled and brought his hands up to his
face and wiped his eyes before he turned around. His eyes were red.

"Adam, if you'd like some more time, we can talk later," the judge said
with some sympathy.

"No... no... I'm ok," Adam said.

Dawson placed his iced tea down. He pulled out the napkins and handed them
to Adam.

"Thanks," he said.

Adam turned away from them, blew his nose, and swiped it with one of the
napkins. The judge was surprised that Dawson knew Adam would need the
napkins. Adam stuffed the used napkin into his pocket and held the others
in his hand. He turned back to face them. Dawson held out the glass of
lemonade. Adam smiled and took it. He took a generous sip. The judge
observed again how Dawson anticipated what Adam would need.

"Judge Lynch, let's sit over here, so we can talk," Dawson said.

Dawson arranged a couple of the garden chairs together around a small round
table. The three of them sat down facing each other. The judge held her
iced tea in front of her. Dawson and Adam put their drinks down on the
table.

"So..." Dawson said as he looked at Adam.

Adam nodded. The judge scrunched her forehead as she watched them.

"What we need to tell you is going to look really bad for our claim to my
granddad's inheritance. But we don't care about that. What's more important
is the truth. So, here's the truth..." Adam said.

The judge leaned in as she looked at both boys.

"Dawson and I are in love," Adam said.

After Adam told the judge that he and Dawson were in love, he paused to see
her reaction. Her face didn't show anything.

"We know this looks bad, but please listen to our story," Dawson added.

The boys began to tell the story of how they met and the moments they
shared up to that point. They took turns talking, going back and forth,
seamlessly sharing their story. When Dawson began telling the part where he
met Elvis, Adam interjected.

"Wait, we should see if Elvis will be here tomorrow, so you can meet him,"
Adam said to the judge.

She saw both boys get animated as Adam contacted Krantz. Krantz had already
contacted Margherita Santos. Elvis would be there and they could bring
apples and carrots again. The judge was a bit surprised at how excited the
boys got at the prospect of seeing Elvis.

They continued, in tandem, telling their story. They both teared up when
they got to the part where they shared songs in the ballroom with each
other. And they couldn't help but gaze lovingly at each other when they got
to the part where they fell asleep on the couch watching the
thunderstorm. By the end of their description of how they fell in love,
somehow their chairs had moved closer together and they were holding hands.

When they finished, they both looked at the judge, trying to read her
reaction. She didn't reveal anything.

"Well, that is some story," she simply said.

Dawson looked at the ground.

"Look, Judge Lynch... We know how this looks. We're trying to be honest
with you," Dawson said.

He let go of Adam's hand and gestured both hands toward her as he looked
up.

"If you don't believe us, we have a request," Dawson said.

The judge looked immediately at Adam. He was looking at Dawson with a
curious look on his face. The judge put up her hand to stop Dawson.

"Wait," she said, "before you tell me your request... Adam, do you know
what he's going to say?"

Adam looked at her funny.

"Well, not exactly," Adam said, "but I have a sense of what it is."

"But you haven't actually talked about what Dawson is going to request,
have you?" she said as she looked back and forth between them.

"Well, no," said Dawson.

"But you said 'we' have a request," the judge said to Dawson.

"Well, yeah. I know Adam will agree," Dawson said.

"How do you know?" Judge Lynch asked Dawson.

"We just kinda know," Adam said matter-of-factly.

The judge just sat there looking back and forth between them. Finally, she
put her hand down.

"Ok, but I want Adam to tell me the request," the judge said.

"Ok," Adam said without hesitation, "If you decide we should not be the
beneficiaries, please appoint an intermediary to manage the assets. We need
to know the tenants and employees who will be impacted will be ok. You've
seen my father in action. He has no compassion for others. He won't
hesitate to ruin their lives if he can squeeze more money out of them."

Dawson nodded the whole time he was speaking.

"And this is what you were going to request?" the judge said to Dawson.

"Of course," Dawson said, "We don't care about the money. We just want to
make sure the right thing is done here. And if we can't be the caretakers
of what his granddad built, we need to know it will be someone who will
protect his legacy."

"Amazing," the judge said.

"What?" Adam said as both boys looked at her with curiosity.

"You know you keep speaking for each other, as if you have one single
voice, don't you?," the judge said.

"No we don't," Adam said with skepticism as he looked at Dawson, "Do we?"

"I don't think we do," Dawson said shaking his head slightly.

The boys looked at each other with confusion, then looked back at her. She
simply grinned.

"Amazing," she said again.

Judge Lynch looked at the ground. Then she got a determined look on her
face as she looked at Adam.

"What about Miss Cartwright? How were you planning on reconciling a
relationship with Dawson while you were engaged to Miss Cartwright?" the
judge asked.

Adam looked at the ground and fidgeted in his chair.

"Well... I hadn't really figured that out," Adam admitted.

He then reached out blindly for Dawson's hand. Dawson reached out and
grasped it. Adam looked up at the judge.

"Judge Lynch, you have to understand... what I feel for Dawson is so far
beyond anything I ever felt for Vickie... beyond anything I ever thought
was possible for one person to feel for someone else. I knew I would have
to break it off with Vickie, but I didn't know how I would do it because of
the constraints of the will," Adam said as he looked directly at her.

Adam then looked back toward the ground with sadness written all over his
face.

"And your father, you haven't told him yet?" Judge Lynch asked.

"No, he doesn't know," Adam said with some sadness in his voice, "I'll have
to tell him at some point."

"We told Niven and Krantz, but they had already figured it out," Dawson
said.

"I'm not surprised. It is kind of obvious." the judge said. "I suspected
there was something going on between the two of you when we talked this
morning in the pool room. That's why I kept you behind and asked you all
those questions about Dawson. When we were together cleaning out the
storage closet, it became obvious that you two were more than just
friends."

She paused to see how the boys reacted to what she was saying. They didn't
say anything.

"Are you sure your father won't figure it out?" she said to Adam.

"No, my dad is not going to notice anything. He's too self-absorbed," said
Adam. He paused and then added, "He sat and watched my fiance break up with
me in the middle of a room full of people. She dramatically threw her
engagement ring at me, making a tremendous scene. He hasn't said a single
word to ask me if I'm ok. Even when Niven served up the perfect opportunity
for him to say something when she gave me the message from my mother, he
just sat there and said nothing."

"Oh, I forgot..." the judge said.

She stood up and reached into her pocket. She pulled out the engagement
ring. She handed it to Adam.

"One of the officers retrieved it," she said softly.

"Thank you," Adam said as he held the ring between his fingers and looked
at it.

The judge looked back and forth between the two boys.

There was quiet for a few moments as Adam looked at the engagement ring and
Dawson looked at the ground. She waited to see if the boys wanted to
volunteer anything else. But neither of them said anything.

"Well, you have certainly given me a lot to think about," Judge Lynch
finally said as she stood up, "I'm going to give you two some time
alone. Come to my room when you're ready to continue the artwork
inventory."

"We will," Dawson said.

The judge turned and left. The boys waited a few moments, just sitting
quietly, looking at the ground. Dawson finally stood up and opened his
arms. Adam stood and leaned toward Dawson. He swept Adam into his
arms. Adam's eyes began to water as all of the emotional events of the day
caught up with him.

"I've got you... I've got you..." Dawson kept saying as he embraced Adam
and rubbed his back.

Adam clung to him, sighing in relief.

==========

If you like this story, tell me: djwarner1984@hotmail.com
And then donate to Nifty: https://donate.nifty.org/

-DJ