Date: Tue, 22 May 2012 22:07:40 -0700 From: B.E. Kelley Subject: The Keys to the Kingdom 1 This story is a work of FICTION. The events described are my own invention. Any similarities to actual events or persons are strictly coincidental. The author retains the copyright, and any other rights, to this original story. You may not publish it or any part of it without my explicit authorization. This story contains depictions of consensual sexual acts between teenage males. It is intended for mature audiences only. If you find this type of material offensive or if you are under the legal age to read said material; please proceed no further. It takes a while before there is any sex in this story but I think you'll like it. As always comments are welcome but please, be gentle. Please send your comments to: HailCaesar2011@hotmail.com The Keys to the Kingdom Chapter 1: In the Beginning I never expected to have children. I always figured that my sexuality and the prejudices of others, would keep me from having that experience. My names Brenden Clark and I've known I was gay since I was about 11 or 12. When the other boys at school started to develop feelings for girls, well, I just didn't. It never bothered me until I reached my thirties. I was settled in my career, in a loving relationship with my partner, but I wanted, needed more. I was born in New York City and lived there until my parents moved us out to the Connecticut suburbs, when I was 8. I loved living in the country, plenty of space to run and play and I was happy in my home life. Unfortunately, life has a way of turning on you and today's happiness can be tomorrow's nightmare. My parents were killed in a plane crash and I found myself totally alone. With no mom and dad to look after me, no grandparents, aunts or uncles to take me in, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I ended up in the foster care system and was eventually adopted by my new parents. I was lucky, I found a loving home where I was able to grow and thrive. I expected there to be drama when I came out to my family but even that was fairly painless, they loved me for who I was and accepted me without hesitation. I was a junior in high school when that happened and shortly after making the announcement to my parents, I met the boy of my dreams, Cameron Tucker. I'd actually known him for a few years, we played sports together and were on the periphery of each other's circle of friends but we'd never been close. That changed rapidly. Cam was handsome with his reddish brown hair and soft brown eyes, he was athletic and had a lean trim body but what I found most attractive about him was his intelligence, sensitivity and ambition. Cam and I each had goals. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and become a doctor. He studied hard, and was aiming for the Ivy League. I wanted to be a lawyer and also had big college plans; my birth parents had both attended Yale University, as had many of my ancestors on my father's side of the family. I was obsessed with getting in, I felt like I'd be letting down generations of Clarks if I didn't make it. Cam and I spent the spring of our senior year rushing home, at the end of the day, to check the mail and see if the acceptance letters we were waiting for had finally arrived. We were both growing impatient as the weeks ticked by and the responses we wanted hadn't come. Finally when the wait couldn't get any worse, word came. I was accepted to Yale University, there was just one problem. Cam didn't get in. Suddenly our plans were ruined, we'd planned to attend college together and build our relationship, to prove everyone wrong, that high school relationships can last but the admissions board had just thrown a monkey wrench into our plans. My acceptance to Yale was bittersweet knowing that Cam wouldn't be there with me. He'd be going to the University of Connecticut, not far from my campus in New Haven but as busy as we both expected to be, any distance would be a strain, and then things got worse. Late in the spring, Cam got a letter informing him that he'd been accepted to Stanford University, out in California, 3,000 miles away. He offered to stay and attend UConn, but I knew I had to let him go. Stanford had an outstanding premed program and being successful there would help him with his ultimate goal of getting into Harvard Medical School. I didn't want Cam to resent me for the rest of his life by staying close to me in Connecticut and risking his dream, reluctantly, I let him go. We agreed to try the long distance thing but neither of us was convinced it would last. The way our school schedules worked out we'd only see each other on major holidays that we'd have to share with our families and for a month during the summer. The day we parted company, I felt almost as empty as when I'd lost my parents. I threw myself into my studies and along the way my career plans changed. I had been planning to go to law school and build a brilliant career putting scumbags in jail, before I ran for public office, but I'd always loved history and the diverse courses offered at Yale changed my plans. I ended up majoring in ancient history and classical literature. Cam was busy to, the premed coursework at Stanford was one of the best programs in the country and he had to bust his butt to keep his grades high. Being busy helped us both, it kept our minds off of missing each other so much and made the time we did have together, something we looked forward to. In the end we survived. I got my B.A. in Ancient History/Classical Literature and Cam got his B.S. in Biology/Premedical Studies. The best part is that we both applied to Harvard, Cam was accepted into the medical school and I was accepted into the graduate program. If we thought college was tough, grad school was even worse. Though we lived together, we didn't see each other all that much because of the hectic pace of the programs we were in. The time passed quickly, however, and in four short years I had my PhD and Cam had his M.D. Now that we were done with school, Cam had to do his medical residency at a hospital and we got really lucky here. I was ready to follow him where ever he needed to go but as fortune would have it, we were able to go home. Cam got hired as a resident at Yale-New Haven Medical Center and I got a job as an associate professor of history at my alma mater. Life was good, we were in love, we had challenging careers that stimulated our minds and the time we spent alone was filled with adventure and happiness, but as the years ticked by, the longing set in. We would go out to dinner and see ourselves surrounded by happy families, we'd jog over to the park to play a round of tennis and watch the kids playing ball, than we'd go home and feel empty. We loved each other without question and felt that we had more than enough love to give a child of our own, so we started to explore our options. Cam talked to some friends at the hospital and we were leaning towards using a surrogate mother but you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men. As we began to interview perspective surrogates we came to a couple of conclusions, first whoever we selected would contribute to our child's DNA and so far we hadn't found anyone we felt comfortable "mixing" with. Secondly, we were in our early 30's, 32 to be exact, and with our careers, we weren't sure that a baby would fit into our lives. Most importantly, we thought that bringing another child into this world wasn't exactly fair when you had so many already waiting for good homes. In the end, we decided to explore adoption. We talked to my parents about this because in addition to adopting me, they had also adopted my two younger brothers, Jason and Brian. They knew the system and could help us along the path. The first thing we did was contact the social worker who had handled my case as a boy. My parents had stayed in contact with her and had become friends, she'd also arranged the adoptions of my brothers so she was familiar with our family history. Our caseworker's name was Molly Nichols; she had just started with the Department of Children and Families, when I was adopted but now she was a seasoned professional. Right off the bat she explained that we were lucky to be living in Connecticut, our state allowed same sex marriage and permitted gay couples to foster children and adopt, so we wouldn't have any problems there. Molly had us fill out a ton of paperwork, asking every possible question about our backgrounds and then she started asking us about kids. "Do you guys have any idea what kind of child you're looking for?" Molly inquired. "Well, any healthy child really," Cam answered for us. "That's great and it would make my job easier but it's important for me to know what you're expectations are so that I don't place a child in your home that you aren't compatible with," Molly informed us. Cam and I traded a look; we weren't exactly sure how to answer. "Ok, let's start with the basics. Would you like a boy or a girl?" "A boy," I answered, "Cam has a sister but I grew up with just brothers, I don't think we'd know what to do with a girl." "That's fine, a lot of men feel that way," Molly stated, "what about age?" "We were thinking around 10 to 12," said Cam. "We'd like someone that's young enough for us to parent but old enough to look after themselves for an hour or two, if we're late getting home from work," I offered. "So you'd be leaving the child unsupervised?" "No, no that's not what I meant," I tried to explain, "we'll arrange for all the proper childcare, babysitter, what have you, I was just saying, should an emergency situation come up it would be nice to have a kid we could leave by himself if we were running late or had to run an errand." "Don't worry I wasn't accusing you," Molly said, letting me off the hook. "Lots of parents work; it's not a problem for a child to be left on his own for brief periods of time, as long as that's not the norm." I breathed a sigh of relief, I thought I'd ruined our chances of being parents because I was thinking of having to stay late for a staff meeting. "Now, what about ethnic background?" Molly wanted to know. "Hmmm, we hadn't really considered that," Cam explained, "I think we'd be open to any child but it might be easiest if we took in a boy along our own ethnic lines." "I agree with Cam, we wouldn't want to deprive a child of his ethnic identity due to our own ignorance, we haven't had a lot of experience with minority groups," I offered. "That's fine, again these are just questions designed to make the child feel as comfortable in your home as you are having him there," Molly informed us. "I'll put down your ethnic preference as open and we'll discuss it on a case by case basis if a boy comes up, will that work for you?" Cam and I both agreed and Molly continued with her questions. We also explained that we were interested in children that would be eligible for adoption; we didn't know if we could handle becoming attached to a boy just to have him taken away when his parent's situation improved. It might sound a little selfish but do any parents relish the thought of losing their child? When we were finished, Molly informed us that it would take some time to process our paperwork so we should be patient, but once that was done things could move pretty quickly. When we got home, Cam and I tried to put the paperwork out of our minds, but we felt like kids waiting for Christmas. We were excited and went about the process of making our home more kid friendly. We painted one of the spare rooms a cheerful blue, that would be appropriate for a boy in the age group we'd specified, and also picked out some furniture. I tried to help putting the furniture together but I'm a man of letters, not Bob Villa. After slamming the hammer into my thumb for the tenth time, I threw in the towel. Apparently you aren't supposed to use a hammer on screws anyway, who knew? After about six weeks, I got a call from Molly. "Good afternoon Dr. Clark, this is Molly Nichols calling, I have some news for you and Dr. Tucker." "Molly please, you've known me since I was a kid, its Brenden and Cameron, and what's the news?" I inquired. "Well, I wanted to let you know that your paperwork has been approved and the State of Connecticut has certified you as foster parents," Molly informed me. "Oh that's fantastic, I can't wait to tell Cam," I exclaimed, "do you have a child in mind for us?" "Not yet, we're still entering some of your information into the system but I wanted to give you a heads up because as I told you before, things could happen quickly once the paperwork is done." Molly gave me some additional information on the system, basically we were on call. If a suitable child came up, who needed a foster home, DCF could call at any minute and potentially bring the child over within hours. Cam and I were thrilled and went out to dinner that night to celebrate. Thursday afternoon, I got home before five. I could have stayed at my office grading papers but I felt like I'd be more productive at home. I stuffed a stack of essays, on the fall of the Republic, into my briefcase and headed out the door. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw a car with state government plates out front and when I made my way to the door, I found Molly waiting for me. "I hope you don't mind my stopping by," Molly offered, "I called your office but your secretary said you'd left for the day and I didn't have your cell phone number with me." "It's no problem, it saves me from having to grade a stack of papers," I joked. Molly pulled a folder out of her bag and handed it over to me. Inside there was a picture of an adorable blond boy with bright blue eyes and an infectious smile. "This is Nicholas," Molly informed me, "he's 10 years old and his parents died in a car accident about two months ago." "Oh the poor thing," I sympathized, "where is he now?" "He's currently living in a group home but I don't think that's the proper setting for him, most of the boys there are in their mid to late teen's and poor Nicholas is a bit of a fish out of water." "How did he end up there and not in a regular home?" I inquired. "Initially, after his parent's death, his grandparents took him in," Molly explained, "the problem is they're in their late 70's and just can't keep up with him. The grandfather ended up having a stroke and has to have 24 hour care from a live in nurse and there is no way the grandmother can care for the boy on her own. Reluctantly they had to sign him over to the state." "Wow, I understand the problem but how tragic for the boy, to lose his parents and then to be rejected by his grandparents like that," I said. "Believe it or not, it happens more often than you'd think." "Nicholas meets most of the criteria you and Dr. Tucker, Cameron, specified," she continued, "he's 10 years old, white, protestant background, the caseworker's at the home say he's a bright, precocious child. I think you guys would hit it off." "He sounds perfect but I have to talk it over with Cam of course, he should be home in an hour." "Unfortunately I have another appointment I have to get to," Molly informed me, "this is my cell number, talk to Cameron and give me a call this evening. If you decide you'd like to take the boy in, I'd like for you to come and meet him tomorrow, if you hit it off you could take him home then." I thanked Molly for coming by and told her I'd call her as soon as I had an answer. She left me the folder with Nicholas' picture and I waited for Cam to get home. Forget about those papers, I won't be getting any grading done tonight. I waited impatiently for Cam to get home, he was two hours late. As a general surgeon he often has this problem, a procedure will come up in the afternoon and he can't exactly clock out and hand things over to another doctor if he isn't finished by 5 o'clock, we just have to be patient. He was exhausted, he'd performed a laparoscopy on a teenage girl with appendicitis but there were complications and he wasn't able to get the appendix out until the last minute. We sat down to dinner and I handed him the folder with Nicholas' picture. A warm smile came over his face. "Who's this little guy?" he asked. I explained what Molly had told me about Nicholas and his situation, I was careful not to leave anything out so that Cam would have as clear a picture of what we were getting into as I did. "Well, I'm sold, what do we do, call her and tell her we'll take him?" Cam asked jokingly. "She wants us to come by the group home and meet him tomorrow; she says if things go well we can take him home then. Can you get the afternoon off?" I asked. "For this, you bet," Cam informed me, "I'll tell the chief resident to keep my name off the afternoon procedure list and I'll meet you here at noon. What's your schedule like tomorrow?" "It's Friday so no lectures, I just have open office hours in the afternoon but my students will understand," I replied. I called Molly as soon as Cam and I had compared our schedules. She was worried that we might not be interested when I didn't call her right away but I explained about Cam's late procedure and she was thrilled that we wanted to meet Nicholas. She arranged to meet us at the group home at 12:30 the next day. Neither of use slept much that night, we were too excited by what the next day might hold for us. I don't know how Cam got through his morning but mine seemed to drag on. I had a staff meeting with the department chairman at 9:00am and the hour that took felt like three. When that was finally over I sat in my office trying to grade the papers I had neglected the night before but my mind kept wondering. By 11:30 I had my briefcase packed and was practically jogging to the car. When Cam got home at noon, I didn't even let him come in the house; I jumped in his car and gave him the directions that I'd gotten from Molly. Molly met us at the group home and had us wait in the living room while she went to get Nicholas. Cam and I both paced about the room nervously, she seemed to be taking her time coming back. When she came back into the room with Nicholas I was a little surprised, given the situation he was in, I expected to see a sad little boy but he was all bright eyes and big smile. He walked right up to me and stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Nicky, nice to meet you." "Well hello there, it's nice to meet you to," I replied, shaking his little hand. "Nicholas, this is Dr. Clark and Dr. Tucker and if it's alright with you, they'd like you to come live with them," Molly explained. "Really? They're not here to give me a shot?" He asked. "I promise no shots," Molly laughed. "Are you sure, doctors always say they're not going to give you a shot then they sneak and stick you right in the arm," Nicholas continued. "Don't worry, I'm not that kind of doctor," I explained, "I don't give shots, I give home work." "Oh no, I'd rather have the shot," he groaned. "Well I'm a regular doctor," Cam offered, "if you'd like a shot, I have my bag right out in the car." "I think I'll pass if you don't mind," Nicholas whined. This kid's personality was infectious, I liked him already. Cam shot me a wink and I knew he felt the same way. "We'd really like you to come and stay with us, Nicholas," I offered, "what if we promise that we won't give you any shots or homework?" I made sure to emphasize the "we" I didn't want him thinking I'd lied to him when we expected him to do his school work. "Yeah, I'd like that, it's boring here, none of the older boys ever want to play with me," Nicholas confessed. "Well in that case Nicholas, why don't you go pack your things while I have Dr. Clark and Dr. Tucker sign some forms?" Molly asked. "I'm already packed, I can't wait to get out of here," Nicholas exclaimed with a happy smile on his face. We quickly signed the forms, collected his luggage and loaded up the car. Once we were on our way, I asked him a few questions and then he started talking a mile a minute. "Nicholas, we were thinking of stopping to grab some lunch, are you hungry?" Cam asked. "Yeah, I'm starved, but can you do me a favor?" he asked. "Sure buddy, what do you need?" I offered. "Well, my names Nicky, everyone always calls me that, I don't like Nicholas so much, is that ok?" "No problem, I like Nicky better to," I told him with a wink. That seemed to make him happy. "What kind of doctor gives homework?" Nicky asked. "What?" I responded. "Back at the house you said you didn't give shots you gave homework, what kind of doctor gives homework?" he reiterated. "Oh, well I'm a teacher at a college," I explained, "I had to go to school for a long time and get a degree called a PhD and so my students call me doctor or professor." "Hmmm, I've never heard of that before," Nicky explained. "Well that's because there aren't a lot of professors teaching at elementary schools. To teach at an elementary school you only need a four year degree," I told him. "Oh, so does that mean my teachers are nurses than?" Nicky asked. I couldn't help but laugh, this kid was adorable. I explained a little more about my education to Nicky then he turned his attention to Cam. "So are you a teaching doctor too?" he wanted to know. "Nope, I'm a regular old fashioned blood and guts doctor," Cam teased. "That's cool," Nicky stated matter-o-factly. "So you're both doctors, does that mean you're rich?" "Oh, well, no, not exactly, I mean we do pretty well but we don't live in a mansion or anything," Cam told him. "That's ok, I don't need to live in a mansion, I'm just glad I don't have to live at that house anymore, those boys were boring," Nicky shared. "So are you guys some kind of queers or something?" Nicky asked innocently. Cam's eyes popped out of his head and I burst out laughing. "What's so funny, that's what it's called when two guys are together isn't it?" Nicky inquired. "Well that's one way to put it," I informed him, "but the more polite way to say it is gay. And yes, we're gay. Does that bother you? "Nah, I don't care, you guys seem nice and I think it might be cool to have two dads." Cam and I looked at each other relieved that he was comfortable with our status. "That reminds me, what am I supposed to call you guys?" Nicky wanted to know. "Well my name is Brenden and this is Cameron; or Cam," I informed him, "you can use our first names or anything else you feel comfortable with." "What if I wanted to call you dad, is that ok?" he asked tentatively. "Oh, well, that's ok with us, but you don't have to, you can call us whatever makes you feel best," Cam answered. "I miss having a dad," Nicky stated then went quiet. Cam and I didn't push the issue then, we decided to let him think about what he'd like to call us and go from there. Fortunately we arrived at the restaurant and were able to change the subject. Cam and I were amazed at how Nicky packed away the food, he was only 4'5" and a lean 80 pounds but he ate like a high school football player. We starred in awe as he tore through his third basket of fries. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd swear he was your real son," Cam teased. "What do you mean?" Nicky asked looking up from his plate. "You were too busy eating to notice but Brenden eats like a vacuum cleaner, just like you," Cam joked. "What, I'm hungry?" Nicky and I said in unison. "I rest my case," Cam smiled. After we finished lunch we proceeded home. Nicky was a bit more subdued now, I figured he was just full and feeling like a nap, I know that's how I felt. Nicky looked around our front yard and at the house and seemed to give them his approval. He was first through the door, when I got it unlocked and needed no invitation to go exploring. Cam and I sat back and watched him with smiles on our faces. He was so curious about things and asked a million questions, particularly about some of the pictures we had on the walls from our travels. "Where was that taken?" Nicky asked pointing to a picture of Cam and I in front of the Parthenon, in Athens. "That was taken in Greece," I explained, "as part of my research for my PhD, we did some traveling around the ancient world. That summer we went to Rome, Athens, Jerusalem and Cairo." "Wow, you've really been to all those places?" "Sure, do you think you'd like to travel someday?" I inquired. "Yeah, I love to see different things and I like hearing about all the places where famous stuff has happened," Nicky answered while examining the rest of our pictures. "That's great, I like those things to," I shared, "I'll show you our photo album sometime and you can see all of the places we've been." Nicky told me he thought that would be cool and then proceeded to check out the rest of the house. We then took him upstairs and showed him his room. He seemed to approve of the décor so we left him up there to unpack his things and make himself comfortable. I still had that stack of papers to grade so I sat down in the study and forced myself to work, so that I'd be finished by the time Nicky came back downstairs. He'd taken his time unpacking and putting away his things and it was a couple of hours before he came back downstairs to join us. I was just finishing my grading when he asked if he could go outside. I took him out in the back yard and after he explored a little, we started to kick the soccer ball around while Cam fired up the BBQ and began to grill some chicken and vegetables for dinner. Over the course of our backyard outing we learned a little more about Nicky. He liked to play sports, especially soccer, baseball and wrestling. He loved animals and desperately wanted a dog of his own. We took that as a big hint, we'll have to see how things go, Cam and I had been talking about getting a dog anyway. Nicky also told us that he liked school and got fairly good grades. We told him that he'd be starting a new school Monday and that didn't faze him, in fact everything we presented to him, that we thought might be a challenge, he greeted with a smile. After dinner we watched some TV then settled on a family appropriate movie. Nicky sat between us on the couch and by the time the movie was over, he was snuggled up against Cam, sound asleep. Cam carried him up the stairs and I pulled back the blankets, we then tucked him in, kissed him on the forehead and turned out the lights. After closing the door, I flipped on the light in the hall bathroom incase Nicky had to get up in the night, I didn't want him getting confused, in the dark in a, strange house. Around midnight, there was a gentle knock on our bedroom door. Cam is a pretty sound sleeper and when I looked over he was snoring so I figured I'd handle this myself. I opened the door and found Nicky there, looking small and afraid. "Daddy, I'm scared," he said looking up at me with those big blue eyes. "That's ok buddy," I said as I scooped him up in my arms, "let's go back to your room so we don't wake Cam. I placed him back in his bed, pulled up the blankets, turned on the bedside lamp and then sat next to him. "So what's the matter Nicky, what scared you?" I asked. "I don't know, I woke up and didn't know where I was. I'm not normally like this, I'm not a baby," he was quick to assure me. "It's ok to be scared in your new home, it's only you're first night. I don't think you're a baby." I asked Nicky if he'd like me to read to him a bit, he told me that he normally read to himself but that it would be ok if I read to him, just this once. He seemed really concerned that I didn't think of him as a baby. We'd stocked the bookshelves in his room with a supply of books we thought a boy might like and after I remembered what Nicky had told me about his fondness for history, I pulled "The Reb and the Redcoats," off the shelf. This is a story about a resourceful American Army officer during the revolutionary war, who is all of 15 years old. He is taken prisoner and held in a home in southern England, headed by a Redcoat recovering from war wounds. This unusual story of the American Revolution from the perspective of a British family playing "host" to a young American prisoner of war, is filled with timeless themes of patriotism and forgiveness. I read it when I was about Nicky's age and as I started the story, he seemed to enjoy it. I read the first chapter and when I looked down, he was sleeping peacefully. I placed the book on his night table, kissed him goodnight once more and made my way back to my room. I crawled in bed next to Cam and my last thought of the night was that our son was sleeping soundly down the hall and all was right in the world.