Chapter 98

 

A Day of Reconciliation

 

Part 3

 

 

 

Back over to Hunter and Tommy…

 

 

 

As Tommy carried Hunter down the hallway, he looked at the doors on the sides as he passed. There were a number of medical rooms and other rooms that Tommy didn’t recognize the names of as he carried Hunter away from that area.

 

“Hunter, you like animals, right?” asked Tommy.

 

“Yes Sir,” peeped Hunter.

 

“Can you show me Al’s animals?” asked Tommy.

 

“Yes Sir,” mumbled Hunter.

 

“Is that alright Al?”

 

“Yes Tommy, you have fun on my farm. If I need you for anything I’ll tell you.”

 

“Thanks Al,” Tommy said.

 

Hunter directed them back to one of the elevators as Tommy carried him around. Tommy walked into the elevator and put down Hunter as the elevator began to move. When he walked out, he was surprised to see that he was in a small room with double doors. He walked over to the doors holding onto Hunter’s hand. He pushed them open and stepped outside. He stopped, stunned at what he saw. He was looking at a very massive cave. The farmland and pastures went on as far as he could see. It was amazing, when he looked up the entire ceiling was ablaze with light. It was easily at least a hundred feet to the ceiling. The sheer size of the farm astounded Tommy. In order to get around he had to ride an electric four-wheeler while Hunter jogged alongside him. He only saw a small portion of it but it was easily much bigger than Cameron’s farm.

 

As Hunter showed him around, he was amazed to see the herds of animals Al had. Tommy saw not just the standard farm animals, like the ones that were delivered to Cameron’s farm, but also some exotic ones. The standard farm animals were all oversized but many of the other animals were normal sized. There was actually a pride of lions with their own herd of zebras and wildebeests in a fenced off area next to them. Each herd was fenced off with a huge fence to keep them inside their own area and safe from the others. All three of them were more on the normal sized end of things. There were over a hundred of the zebras and wildebeests but only a dozen or so lions.

 

When they went by the lions, something strange happened. Almost all of the lions immediately came over to the fence making Tommy quickly step back out of paws reach. They actually made a sound like purring when Hunter went up to them. The only ones that didn’t come over were the two large males. Hunter reached through the fence and began to pet them for a bit. Tommy saw that many of their muzzles were blood stained, as they must have recently finished eating. It was then that Tommy saw the two large males still eating at a carcass off in the distance. Hunter then scared Tommy when he did something totally unexpected. Tommy was startled to see him leap over the twenty plus foot tall fence that separated them. He was dumbfounded when the lions began to play with Hunter as he rode them around a little. Tommy felt as if his heart would stop when Hunter picked up the cubs and began to play with them. Hunter and the cubs ran over to the carcass and began to eat some of it. Tommy felt himself slip to the ground as he sat in stunned silence, as the two males just moved aside to let the cubs and Hunter have more of the kill. Tommy was a bit disgusted to see Hunter tear into the animal with only his teeth and pull away a large chunk of meat, which he quickly chewed and swallowed. Tommy’s heart began to pound as a lioness ran over to them. Hunter turned around at the last moment and took one look at the lioness. She lied down in front of him on her back as he began to rub her belly. One older looking lioness went and picked up the cubs and carried them a little ways away from the older males to where some of the other lionesses began to wash them. Once the cubs were moved, she went over to Hunter who was still rubbing the one lioness’s belly and picked him up by biting the back of his pants. She carried him over to the other cubs and began to wash him up too. Tommy laughed at seeing this as the lioness pinned Hunter down to wash him up. He knew Hunter was more than strong enough to get away but Hunter just let the lioness wash him along with the other cubs. Once all the cubs were clean, they went back to playing. Hunter climbed on top of the old lioness and lied on her back as she walked around some. He hugged her once then leaped from her back over the fence back to Tommy. The two alpha males then walked over by Tommy and Hunter and roared scaring Tommy shitless. Hunter then roared back at them even louder as they then walked away, back to the huge steer carcass they had been eating.

 

Tommy was a bit shocked after seeing all that but now he knew why Hunter loved his Lion.

 

“Hunter, before you do something like that again, please warn me. You scared the shit out of me, I thought that lion was gonna eat you,” said a very shocked Tommy.

 

“Yes Sir, but you needn’t worry. They never would have hurt me. Even if they wanted to, I would have sensed it and killed them first. They know this, which is why they would never do that. You would be just as safe with them if you wanted to pet them as long as I was with you.”

 

“Ahh, that’s okay Hunter. I think I’ll feel better on this side of the fence,” Tommy said glancing one last time at the two large male lions as they were eating the rest of the carcass. “Hunter, how big is this cave?”

 

“A couple billion cubic feet,” Hunter said simply making Tommy’s mind boggle at the massive proportions of the cave.

 

Hunter showed Tommy the hydroponics portion and Tommy was amazed at how plentiful Al’s farm was. He had never seen a hydroponics farm before. It surprised him that they could grow so much food with only liquid nutrients. Hunter explained to him that a good portion of all the food was used to feed all the other animals. Many of them were then fed to the carnivores that Al had. The many buildings that housed the plants covered acre upon acre of area. The amount of food he saw was astounding.

 

“Angel, I wanted to ask you something but you don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to, okay?”

 

“Yes Sir.”

 

“Al said something about them doing something to you for the scans more than just scanning you naked. What did they do to you?” asked Tommy a little afraid of the response but too curious not to ask.

 

“The scanning machine is extremely sensitive, which is why it’s best if there are no clothes on. A couple of the scientist wanted to get an ever better image of some things that were happening in me, so they decided to skin me. That way my outer skin wouldn’t interfere with the imaging,” Hunter said mechanically.

 

“Oh Angel I’m so sorry. That’s terrible,” said Tommy pulling the boy into a hug.

 

Tommy just stood there holding the boy saying soothing things to him. After a minute of silence from Hunter, he began to sob a little. Tommy kept holding him tenderly as he let Hunter finally cry over what happened to him. It took awhile but Tommy just lovingly held his Angel and let him release some of the pain he felt due to what they did to him. Eventually, the boy stopped crying and just held onto Tommy as he quietly sniffled and finally got himself under control once again. Tommy held Hunter tenderly as he thought, ‘one more down only about a million more to go.’ Tommy knew he still had a lot of pain locked inside him because of what they did, but he was happy Hunter was able to let a little of it out.

 

“You feel a little better now?” asked Tommy gently.

 

“Yes Master,” Hunter replied. “Sir,” Hunter added quickly seeing the look on Tommy’s face after he called him ‘Master’.

 

Tommy quietly walked through one of Al’s buildings holding Hunter’s hand trying to make his Angel feel a little better. Tommy was astonished to see all the different robots that Al had to take care of the plants. After seeing the building that housed an experimental crop of corn, he asked Al if he could take some of it home for everyone up on the hill. Al assured him that the corn was perfectly healthy and told him that a couple bags of it would be sitting by the front door once they were ready to head out and go back home.

 

“Hunter, I can understand why Al has the farm animals but what’s the deal with the others?” asked Tommy as the two of them were leaving the building.

 

“The other animals I had captured and brought here shortly after the comet passed by.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Well most of them were locked up in zoos and would have died if I didn’t let them out. I know what its like to be locked up,” Hunter said sadly. “And I didn’t want them to starve to death. I brought them here, and Al set up areas for them on one of the other floors. Once we regained access to the farm, I moved them all over here. They like it much better here as they have lots more room to run around.”

 

“Why didn’t you just let them loose so they could survive on their own?”

 

“Many of them were bred in captivity, so I wasn’t sure they could survive on their own. Plus, most of the other animals the carnivores would survive on were dead. The ones I thought could survive on their own I did let loose or transported them to an environment where they could survive. I kept the zebra’s and wildebeests to help feed the lions. Al has been occasionally looking for areas where we might be able to let them go, but so far, the animal life is too fragile to add them to it. Once we have enough zebras and wildebeests we will be able to move all of them so they can all survive.”

 

“Wow, that’s really cool,” said Tommy amazed at how busy Hunter had to have been after the comet event.

 

“Tommy, I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation but I’m going to need Hunter in Medlab 1. I need him to do a couple tests to confirm my diagnosis,” Al said through the speaker system.

 

Tommy saw Hunter tense up once again in fear, so he quickly picked up the boy and hugged him.

 

“It’ll be okay Angel,” Tommy murmured. “I’ll be right there with you the whole time.”

 

“Yes Sir,” whimpered Hunter.

 

Tommy rode the four-wheeler with Hunter holding onto his back over to the small building in the center of the cave. He carried Hunter into the elevator and it started to go back down to where the medical labs were. With a little help from Hunter, he carried the boy back over to Medlab 1.

 

“Now Angel, I need you to be brave. Al needs to do these tests to help out Jose and he needs you to do this. Do you think you can do it?” asked Tommy as he held the frightened boy outside the lab.

 

“Yes Sir. I’ll face my fear and do what needs to be done,” Hunter said trying to make his Master proud of him.

 

“That’s my good boy,” Tommy said smiling at him.

 

Tommy walked into the lab holding Hunter’s hand as he uneasily followed along. He saw Jose lying on an exam table naked with his hands covering his genitals. Bryan was sitting in a chair next to him, talking softly doing his best to calm the embarrassed boy down. Tommy saw Al on the monitor wave to them as they walked into the lab. He saw Hunter give Al a little wave as he cautiously followed Tommy over to the table where Jose was.

 

“Thank you for bringing Hunter to help out Thomas. Now Hunter, I need you to take a small blood sample from Jose. Then you will need to give him a cystoscopic exam. You will find everything you need on the two trays Bryan has moved next to the table,” Al said.

 

“Yes Al,” Hunter said moving over to the table.

 

“Wait, what’s a cytopic thing?” said Jose worriedly.

 

“It’s a procedure where we will be able to see the inside of your bladder and some of your urinary tract,” Al said simply.

 

“How do you do that?” said Jose suddenly scared at what he was thinking they were going to do.

 

“Relax Jose. Hunter will insert a very small tube into your urethra until it reaches your bladder,” Al told the frightened boy.

 

“WHAT!” shouted Jose not really sure what a urethra was but it didn’t sound good at all.

 

“Calm down Jose, I’m sure it’s necessary and they will do everything they can to make it as painless as possible,” Bryan tried to reassure him.

 

“I’m afraid it is necessary, and that is why I wanted Hunter to do it. I could have talked Bryan through it but then it might have hurt. Hunter is qualified to do it so that any pain is minimized,” Al said calming the boy a little.

 

“I won’t lie to you Jose-sir, it will be somewhat uncomfortable but I promise I will be very gentle,” Hunter said as he used an alcohol swab to clean a section of Jose’s arm.

 

Hunter then picked up the needle and after finding a vein, he quickly inserted it into Jose’s arm. He then attached a tube to the other end and it quickly began to fill up. Hunter filled three different tubes and then removed the needle and bandaged up the small wound.

 

“Wow Hunter that was the easiest blood draw I ever had,” said Jose amazed that all he felt was a very small pinch.

 

“Thank you Jose-sir I tried to minimize the pain for you,” Hunter said getting a strange look from Tommy.

 

“Good job Hunter,” Tommy said standing next to him overlooking Jose as he lied on the table with one hand covering himself.

 

“I’m sorry sir but I need to reposition you for the next part,” Hunter said as he pulled out these stirrups for the poor boys legs.

 

“What are those for?” asked Jose.

 

“Your legs sir,” Hunter said locking them into place.

 

“WHAT?” Jose asked startled sitting up.

 

“It’s okay Jose,” Bryan said as he helped the boy lie back down as Tommy and Hunter lifted his legs and strapped them to the stirrups. Hunter then gently placed a strap across the boy’s belly.

 

“What are the straps for?” asked Jose even more afraid as he thought back to before the comet and his stepfather’s special punishment room he would be taken to when his mother was away and he or his brother were bad.

 

“They are to hold you still so that you don’t accidentally get hurt during the exam.” Seeing the fear in Jose’s eyes and recognizing it from his own past, Hunter undid the straps. “You won’t need them if you think you can hold still.”

 

“I’ll hold still, I promise,” said Jose, breathing a sigh of relief after the straps were taken off.

 

“You need to remove your hands sir,” Hunter said gently.

 

A very red-faced Jose slowly moved his hands away from his genitals. With his legs up in the stirrups, he was giving all of them a very good view of everything he had, including his little pink hole. He hoped it was clean, as he had washed it as good as he could right before he and Bryan had headed out. As Bryan took a hold of one hand, Tommy stepped to the other side of Jose and took his other hand as both of them watched Hunter. Hunter then began to wash Jose’s penis using a special antiseptic to kill any germs that might be there. He pulled back Jose’s foreskin carefully washing underneath, and then used a topical anesthetic to numb Jose’s penis tip.

 

After a few minutes, Hunter pinched Jose’s penis and asked, “Did that hurt sir?”

 

“No, I felt a little pressure but no pain,” Jose responded.

 

“Good,” as Hunter injected some more anesthetic into the head of Jose’s penis after pulling back the foreskin once again.

 

Both Bryan and Tommy winced in sympathy pain as they watched Hunter push the needle into Jose’s penis. Jose just lied there with his eyes closed tightly squeezing onto both Bryan and Tommy’s hands.

 

“Did you feel that sir?”

 

“Nope, same thing, a little pressure but no pain,” replied Jose.

 

“You’re lucky. When they used to do this to me they never used any numbing agent.”

 

“Really, that must have hurt,” said Bryan.

 

“You have no idea, they used a much bigger scope than this one too,” Hunter said sadly remembering the pain he had to endure when they did this to him.

 

After waiting a few more minutes for the anesthetic to work completely, Hunter pricked the head of Jose’s dick with a needle to see if there was any reaction. When Jose didn’t even notice what Hunter did, he knew it was time for the rest of the procedure. Hunter lubed up the scope and the tip of Jose’s penis to try to make sure it went in smoothly. Hunter noticed that the lube Al had provided must have had a minor anesthetic mixed in to help prevent any pain as it went up Jose’s urethra.

 

“Okay, I’m going to put it in you sir. Tell me if you feel any pain please,” Hunter asked.

 

“Okay,” said Jose quietly.

 

“You need to hold very still now please sir.”

 

“I will.”

 

Hunter then very gently pinched open Jose’s urethra and slid the scope in slowly. On a monitor next to the table, they watched as it went into the boy.

 

“I’m ready,” Jose said.

 

“That’s good, but he already started,” replied Tommy gazing down at the frightened boy brushing the hair away from his eyes.

 

Bryan and Tommy were amazed at what they were seeing as Hunter slowly pushed it up the urethra. Hunter and Al were the only ones who recognized what they were seeing, but the others just thought it was cool. As Hunter pushed the scope into the boys bladder, it collected the urine that was released and then squirted some clear fluid all around the boys bladder.

 

“Oh, that feels weird,” said Jose.

 

“Does it hurt?” asked Bryan worriedly.

 

“No, just strange,” replied Jose thinking it felt like someone was pissing up his dick.

 

“Please sir, hold still. I need to get a good look around,” Hunter said as he focused on some obviously abnormal tissue inside the poor boys bladder. The scope then took a very small piece of the abnormal tissue for analysis.

 

“Okay, it’s just hard. It feels weird,” Jose said.

 

Hunter knew exactly what he meant, as he had to keep spraying the boy’s bladder, and then drain it. When it was done to him, it was always a strange sensation. However, he did it much more gently to Jose than it was done to him. As Hunter was examining Jose’s bladder, the urine and blood sample were quickly being tested for any abnormalities. Once the bladder exam was done, Hunter gently pulled out the scope once again checking Jose’s urethra for any possible damage. When the scope was finally removed from Jose, Hunter gently wiped him up and helped him out of the stirrups. Jose sat up with Bryan’s help and just sat on the edge of the table swinging his legs a little. He was once again using his hands to cover his genitals self-consciously.

 

“Are there any other tests that need to be done?” asked Bryan rubbing Jose’s back in an attempt to comfort the humiliated boy.

 

“No, you did all the other tests that were needed. You can get dressed now Jose,” Al said.

 

“How long before you get results?” asked Bryan as he went over to Jose’s bag.

 

He pulled out a fresh pull-up and then brought it along with Jose’s clothes to the boy so he didn’t have to get up. Jose was very grateful to Bryan, as he was extremely embarrassed to be naked in front of Tommy. He was used to being naked in front of Bryan as he took a number of baths with him. Hunter also wasn’t a problem as he had seen Hunter naked many times, the latest earlier that very day. Besides, he knew Hunter didn’t even concern himself with his own nudity, let alone anyone else’s. He had been naked in the bath with a number of the other younger boys but never before in front of Tommy and it embarrassed him a great deal to have Tommy see him like that. The exam was almost too much for him, but he closed his eyes throughout to try to pretend that Tommy wasn’t there. He did open them occasionally and was fascinated to see what his insides looked like, but usually he had them closed to try to pretend this was happening to someone else.

 

“I have most of them now but a few tests require a day or two to complete,” Al responded.

 

“Well, then what’s the results?” asked Tommy.

 

“I’m sorry Jose, but it appears you have degenerative nerve damage to your bladder and it’s spreading. That’s why the problem has progressively gotten worse. It will continue to do so if something isn’t done soon. Based on the scant history Jose was able to give me, I would guess it was due to complications from his severe urinary tract infection that he suffered while at the mall. I can’t be certain about that but it seems logical. In one way, it’s fortunate that this happened. Because it brought to light another problem, which if left unattended could have had some very serious consequences. From the scans Bryan did and the exam Hunter just finished, you have what appears to be invasive squamous cell carcinoma,” Al said.

 

“He has cancer!” exclaimed Bryan scaring Jose.

 

“Yes, he does.”

 

“Am I gonna die?” asked Jose to Bryan.

 

“No Jose, you aren’t going to die,” Bryan said quickly trying to reassure the boy.

 

“But people die when they have cancer,” Jose said thinking of his Grandma.

 

“It depends on the type of cancer and how bad it is. Your cancer is not good and it has begun to metastasize. Meaning it’s beginning to spread,” Al said.

 

A hologram suddenly showed up above one of the tables they hadn’t used. It was a hologram of Jose. A very naked Jose, and showed a great deal of detail. Too much detail Jose thought looking between the holograms legs.

 

“This is obviously your body, and this,” Al said as the body became basically transparent and a new structure could be seen inside it, “is your urinary tract.” Everyone was fascinated as the urinary tract expanded to cover the table so that they now had a very good view of it. “Now the black dots on it are nerves that are damaged. The blue part is the cancer. You can see it has begun to spread out of the bladder but thankfully only a very small amount. Now the good news is that there is a chance it all can be fixed,” Al said.

 

“Thank God. See Jose, you are gonna make it through this,” Bryan said pulling the boy, who had only so far been able to pull his pull-up back on, into his lap to try to better comfort the boy.

 

“With conventional therapy I could confidently say you would live at least another two years, but we aren’t going to do a conventional therapy. My therapy should cure you of your cancer and nerve damage so that you can live out a normal lifespan. The nerve damage might not be 100% fixable but the cancer won’t cause too much difficulty as long as you stick to the treatment plan,” Al said.

 

“That’s great,” Bryan said happily.

 

“It’s not that great. Treating the cancer will be relatively simple and from all the history on this type of treatment, it shouldn’t even cause you any side effects once you stop it. There is also no history of the cancer ever coming back, once it was destroyed, which is very good news. The regrowing of the nerves will be a bit trickier. It’s only about a 75% chance the nerve damage can be fixed, and even then it might not be able to repair everything,” Al said somberly.

 

“What does all that mean?” asked Jose worriedly pulling his pants on.

 

“It means that the cancer isn’t much of a problem as long as we deal with it now. If left for another few months, it would be much more problematic. Still curable, but would take a lot more time and effort. The nerve damage is another story. While there is a good chance I can stop the nerve damage from getting any worse, the chance that you won’t ever have to use the pull-ups again isn’t as good,” Al said as kindly as he could.

 

“You mean I’m gonna get stuck wearing these stupid diapers forever!” cried Jose throwing his shirt away, scaring Hunter causing him to quickly hide behind Tommy.

 

Jose was relieved to hear that the cancer wasn’t going to kill him and that it could be dealt with, but learning he might be stuck in diapers for the rest of his life, was devastating.

 

“It’s going to be alright Jose,” Bryan said hugging the crying boy.

 

“That’s true Jose, if all else fails Hunter will fix you,” Tommy said trying to pull Hunter out from behind him, where the little boy was seeking refuge from Jose’s outburst.

 

“Really?” sobbed Jose terrified that he would be stuck in diapers for the rest of his life.

 

“Yes sir, I can heal you,” Hunter said sadly, as he walked around Tommy where he was hiding to go touch Jose, thinking this is what Tommy was about to order him to do.

 

“Hunter STOP!” said both Tommy and Al causing the poor boy to freeze in place.

 

“I’m sorry Hunter,” Tommy said quickly. “You know you aren’t supposed to do that without permission.” Seeing the poor boy still hadn’t moved he said with a sigh, “You can move and breathe now Hunter.”

 

“Yes Master,” Hunter said sadly, terrified he would be punished for almost breaking one of Tommy’s rules.

 

“Relax Angel. I’m not angry with you. I just don’t want you to hurt yourself unless there is no other way,” Tommy said picking up the frightened boy and hugging him. “And I think Al has another way.”

 

He really wished Hunter would stop calling him ‘master’ as it made him feel weird, but he knew the boy couldn’t help it. It just made him feel bad as it showed him how far Hunter had regressed, and that was a lot.

 

“If he can fix me, why don’t you let him,” cried Jose.

 

“I’m sorry Jose but we can’t right now. He has to go out on another mission for Al tomorrow,” Tommy said gently rubbing his frightened Angel’s back trying to calm him down.

 

“What does that have to do with him healing me?” sniffed Jose.

 

“It causes him an extreme amount of pain to heal anyone. Last time he went out on a mission for me, he was tricked into healing Billy the day before. He didn’t do very well those first couple days, and a number of other people paid for his pain because of it,” Al said surprising everyone there and making Hunter tremble in fear that he would now be punished for it.

 

“Is that true Hunter?” asked Tommy gently.

 

“Yes Master,” replied Hunter tremulously.

 

“It’s okay Angel, you aren’t in trouble. Billy might be in a bit more trouble but you aren’t. Try to calm down now.”

 

“Oh, I didn’t know,” said Jose a little ashamed for wanting Hunter to fix him after he found out what happened. He wanted to be fixed with every fiber of his being but not if it caused that much pain or even possibly death to someone else.

 

“Don’t worry Jose, if Al can’t fix you back to how you are supposed to be, then and only then will we get Hunter to heal you. I want to give Al’s treatment a chance,” Tommy said kindly. “I take it you do have some sort of treatment planned Al, right?”

 

“Of course I do. The cancer won’t be a problem and can be fixed without the need for surgery, as long as he maintains his schedule of treatment. As I said, it also has a good chance to stop the nerves from getting any worse and it should heal them. The question is whether it will be able to return all the nerves back to new,” Al said.

 

“You aren’t going to inject him with the nanites, are you?” asked Hunter remembering the absolute agony he experienced when the scientists did that to him.

 

“No Hunter, I won’t be doing that. While that would have an almost 100% chance to repair the nerve damage and destroy the cancer, it also would almost certainly kill him. I don’t think we want to try that, so we will go with a treatment that has a good chance of success but also a very minimal chance of hurting him any more,” Al said.

 

“Yeah that sounds a lot better. Let’s not do the nanits, let’s do the treatment,” Bryan said.

 

“Yeah,” agreed Jose, but he still wished Hunter could just heal him.

 

“Good. Jose unfortunately the treatment will take time and there will be some side effects during the treatment,” Al said.

 

“How long, and what side effects?” asked Bryan as Jose buried his face into his chest crying once again.

 

“It will take a couple months for the full treatment. We won't know how effective it will be except during periodic testing we will do here,” Al began.

 

“Why won’t we know?” asked Bryan.

 

“Because the medicines that will hopefully repair the nerve damage will also suppress Jose’s ability to consciously use them.”

 

“What does that all mean,” asked Jose.

 

“It means for the duration of your treatment, you will have no control of your urinary tract. Meaning you will have no control when you urinate.”

 

“Fuck this sucks,” sobbed Jose.

 

“I’m sorry Jose but it gets worse. The cancer medicines will also cause you some difficulties. They will make you much more tired than usual. You will begin to lose some muscle control, meaning you won’t be as coordinated as you used to be or as strong. You will find it more difficult to walk around and your hand-eye coordination will pretty much be shot. They will also make you lose control of when you have a bowel movement. So for the next few months you will have no control of when you need to urinate or defecate.”

 

“What?” asked a stunned Jose.

 

“It means you will be pissing and pooping your pants uncontrollably,” Bryan explained to the boy. He really wished it was different but Jose needed to be told the truth in a way that he would understand and Bryan wasn’t sure he understood what Al said.

 

“I know what that means, I’m not stupid! Can’t we use some other medicine?” cried Jose.

 

“We can do the conventional therapy of chemotherapy, probably a couple rounds of radiation, and possibly some surgery. As I said before though, if we do them you probably will only live for a few more years. They also have a host of side effects you will have to deal with. They might not be quite as embarrassing but they will be just as debilitating, if not more so.”

 

“We aren’t going to do that. We will do your other therapy,” Bryan said.

 

“It’s my body, so I’ll decide!” shouted Jose.

 

“No Jose. I’m not going to take a chance of you dying on me when Al can cure you. You might hate me for making you do this, but at least you should be alive for a long time to hate me. Kate and I love you too much to let you die, so we are going to go with the treatment that will cure you. Even if you don’t want to,” Bryan said kindly.

 

“Oh,” said Jose stunned a little at hearing Bryan say that Kate and he loved him. “But I don’t want to have to wear diapers anymore, especially if I’m gonna have to use them for both things,” he added sadly.

 

“It’s gonna be okay little man. It’s only for a few more months and then you will be all healed up. You won’t have to wear them after that. Try to look at the positive side of all this. You will live and eventually be all better. I know it’s gonna be a couple hard months for you, but you can get through this. Kate and I, along with all the others, will be there for you doing our best to make it as easy for you as we can. I’m not gonna lie to you, it’s going to be difficult, but the important thing is that you are going to live and you will be healed,” Bryan said.

 

Tommy just stood there holding Hunter feeling sorry for the poor kid.

 

“That’s right Jose. What’s important is that you are going to live. I’ll do what I can to help you out too, and try to make sure no one teases you because of this. If anyone does, make sure you tell Bryan, Kate, or me and we will deal with it,” Tommy said nicely.

 

“Okay,” Jose said sniffling.

 

“Good, then you need to know about your treatment plan. You will be on a regimen of three different medicines. One is a pill you will need to take every morning and night. The second is a liquid that will have to be diluted in water. Unfortunately, to take enough of it you will need to drink about a gallon of water throughout the day on top of any other liquids you drink. This is going to make you urinate a lot more. This won’t just be because of how much liquid you will be drinking but because of the medicine. Therefore, it is very important you drink other liquids too. That will prevent you from being dehydrated. The third medicine is a suppository. Bryan or Kate will need to give you that one. I’ll have special instructions for them so that they give it to you the correct way. Hunter can give you your first one before you all leave showing Bryan how to do it,” Al said.

 

“What’s a suppository?” asked Jose afraid of the answer.

 

“It’s a type of medicine that you have to insert into your body and it dissolves inside you,” Bryan said slowly, afraid to say anymore.

 

“Where do you have to insert it?” asked Jose getting more afraid by the moment.

 

“They can be inserted in a couple places. In your case, one will be inserted into your rectum once a day. Because it needs to be inserted properly for it to work, Hunter will teach Bryan and Kate how to do it for you.”

 

“They don’t have to do that, I can do that on my own,” said Jose.

 

“I’m afraid not. With your loss of muscle control, you most likely won’t be able to do it correctly. In addition, you will probably need assistance with putting on and taking off your diapers. Due to the large amount of liquid you will need to drink, you will also be wetting much more. The small pull-ups you have on right now won’t be able to hold what your body is going to be putting out. Therefore, I recommend that Bryan and Kate use some extra absorbent diapers for you. The night diaper especially as it will probably take a beating while you sleep. I’m sure you don’t want to wet so much you wet the bed. I have some that you can use and they will be waiting for you by the front door. When they take off your night diaper in the morning, they can give you the suppository. It is very important you take all your medicine at approximately the same time each day. Now once the treatment is done, you will probably have to be potty trained again. Once that’s done you should be fully healed,” Al said.

 

“Great, this just keeps getting better and better,” moaned Jose.

 

“You can do this little man, remember by doing this saves your life,” Bryan said.

 

“I know, but this is so humiliating. Why does it have to happen to me!” cried Jose once again grabbing onto Bryan and sobbing his eyes out.

 

“It’s going to be okay little man. We all are going to help you through this,” Bryan said.

 

Tommy went over to Bryan and Jose with Hunter trailing along behind. Tommy began to rub Jose’s back as Bryan hugged the emotional boy.

 

“You’re gonna be just fine,” Tommy said attempting to help Bryan calm the crying boy.

 

“Okay,” said Jose trying to get a hold of himself again, but failing.

 

After a few minutes of Bryan and Tommy, trying to calm Jose down, Hunter joined them and took a hold of Jose’s hand. Tommy gave him a sharp look to tell him not to heal the boy, which Hunter understood but thought he really should do it anyway. He didn’t though, as his training was too ingrained to disobey his Master right in front of him. Hunter closed his eyes and gently squeezed Jose’s hand. Moments later, Jose was able to stop his insistent crying. Tommy was looking strangely at Hunter, who was looking back innocently at Tommy.

 

“Now that everyone feels better, Hunter will you get everything ready to give Jose his first dose of treatment?” Al said.

 

“Yes Al,” Hunter replied going over and getting a couple things ready.

 

“Umm, Tommy I think Jose would probably feel better if you waited outside for this,” Bryan said.

 

“Of course, I’ll be right outside,” Tommy said. Seeing the sudden terror in Hunter’s face, he quickly added, “It will be alright Hunter. Bryan will look after you for the few minutes this will take.”

 

“Yes Sir,” whimpered Hunter as he forlornly watched Tommy leave the lab.

 

“You’ll do fine Hunter,” Bryan said not sure why Hunter was having a problem with this.

 

“Yes Bryan-sir,” said Hunter taking a deep breath and pushing aside his fear. “Jose-sir, I need you to take your pants and pull-up off and then lie on your back on the exam table.”

 

“Okay,” said Jose feeling much better now that Tommy wasn’t in the room to watch him.

 

He was still a little embarrassed to do this in front of Bryan and Hunter but since they seemed to be the ones along with Kate who were going to be giving him his medicine, he figured he better get used to it. He didn’t want to think about who would be changing his diapers. He hoped it would only be Kate but he doubted it. Once he was undressed again, he climbed back onto the table. He lied down on his back with his legs hanging off the edge.

 

“Good sir, now please raise your legs and bend your knees,” Hunter said.

 

Jose rather embarrassedly pulled up his legs and hooked his arms around his knees to hold them in place. Bryan stood next to the boy and brushed his hair as he looked down upon the boy.

 

“Bryan-sir, you will need to move down here to see exactly what I’m doing,” Hunter said.

 

Bryan obediently moved but moved his hand to the boys belly as he began to rub it gently, hoping it might help Jose. He then watched as Hunter opened the suppository and then put on a rubber glove. He used a little water to wet the suppository and then spread Jose’s cheeks a little more than they already were. Using his index finger, he very gently inserted it a couple inches into Jose’s rectum. He then used both hands gently holding Jose’s cheeks together.

 

“Is that it?” asked Bryan.

 

“Yes sir, other than sitting here holding his butt cheeks together for around ten minutes, and don’t forget to lubricate it or it might hurt him a little,” Hunter said.

 

“Okay I’ll make sure we use some Vaseline so it will go in easy,” Bryan said.

 

“No Bryan-sir. It has to be water-soluble or it won’t melt inside him. You need to hold his cheeks closed afterwards to ensure it doesn’t come out by accident,” Hunter explained.

 

Once the ten minutes was up, Bryan helped Jose to sit up and get back into his clothes. When they were ready, they headed out to where Tommy was waiting for them. Hunter immediately ran over to Tommy and leaped into his arms just as soon as he was out of the lab.

 

“I’m proud of you Angel. You faced your fears and were able to help out Jose,” whispered Tommy to the relieved boy in his arms.

 

“Your packages are waiting for you by the front door. Tommy, I know you have other plans for today so I’ll let you all go. Now Bryan, I want you to bring Jose back in a week. I’ll make an exception for Jose because he is sick, so you won’t need to bring Hunter for his scheduled visits,” Al told them.

 

“Thanks Al, I really appreciate it. I know how protective you are of your security and the trust you are showing us by letting Jose and I to come visit you alone in the future,” Bryan said.

 

Unlike Tommy, he now understood why Al didn’t want the others to meet him. Al had explained to both of them that after reviewing some of their movies and literature, he saw a disturbing trend. There were a number of them that revolved around a plot where an intelligent computer tries to take over and kill all of humanity. Al didn’t want to take a chance of other people learning of his existence and thinking he might want to kill humanity. With humanity propensity for killing things they don’t understand or fear before learning the whole truth, Bryan couldn’t blame Al for wanting to keep his secret. He knew Tommy didn’t agree and thought everyone would accept Al for who he was. Bryan thought this was very nice and noble of Tommy but he honestly didn’t think everyone else would follow Tommy’s example.

 

Hunter climbed around Tommy to be hanging on his back, and from there directed them back to the elevator. As they made it back to the front lobby, they saw a few packages piled by the door. Tommy saw a bunch of corn on the cob, about a half dozen packages of diapers for Jose, and Jose’s medicine along with directions on how to administer it. They picked up their new supplies and carried them back to the car. Once everything was packed, they said goodbye to Al and headed out. Bryan decided to sit in the back so that he could continue to comfort Jose who was still having a difficult time accepting what he had learned. Tommy drove as he thought about Hunter. The boy’s behavior was worrisome. He was still calling Tommy ‘master’ and at times, he seemed even more afraid than when he first came to Tommy. He was feeling more and more guilty about letting Hunter spend the night with Shawn. He was hoping that Jon and Shawn would be able to handle the boy tonight while he went out with Kyle. That thought caused him to hope that Kyle still wanted to go out with him. He hoped he did, but with how Kyle could change on a moments notice, he wasn’t too sure about that. As he was driving back home, he reached over and took a hold of Hunter’s hand. He did this because the boy looked like he was about to cry for some reason. Tommy was worried about Hunter, something was very wrong with him but he didn’t know what it was yet. It was giving him second thoughts about leaving Hunter alone but he really wanted to fix his problems with Kyle. He didn’t know what the right thing to do was anymore, but he did know what he wanted to do.

 

When Tommy got home, he said goodbye to Jose and Bryan as they climbed into Bryan’s car and drove back home. Tommy and Hunter went inside and found Shawn cleaning the game room with Caleb. Tommy dropped Hunter off with them, got a quick hug from Shawn, and went to find his brother. He knocked on his brother’s door and waited for someone to answer it. A few seconds later the door opened and Luke was standing there.

 

“Hey Luker, is Kyle around?”

 

“He’s a little tied up right now can it wait?” asked Luke smiling mischievously.

 

“It’s kinda important. Can you get him for me please?”

 

“Okay Tommy, he’s lying on his bed, come on in. I’ll go get him,” Luke said.

 

“Thanks,” said Tommy as he walked in and waited by the front door.

 

A few minutes later, Kyle came walking out rubbing his wrists and looked at Tommy.

 

“You wanted to see me bro?” Kyle said a little irritated.

 

“Yeah, I want to talk to you in private if you don’t mind.”

 

“Sure, give me a second,” Kyle said resignedly.

 

Kyle headed for his bedroom where Luke was and closed his door. Then he turned around and walked back towards his brother. He walked over to the far corner of the outer room that they were in and Tommy followed.

 

“Is this good enough?” asked Kyle.

 

“I supposed it will do,” replied Tommy. “Can you fix your zipper first,” Tommy said looking away noticing his brother wasn’t wearing any underwear.

 

“Oh, sorry,” said Kyle turning a little red in the face. “Okay better now?”

 

“Yeah, thanks,” said Tommy.

 

“So what do you need to talk to me about?”

 

“I wanted to talk about us. How we have been acting towards one another. Right now, I wanted to make sure you still wanted to go out with me so we could talk about all that,” said Tommy worried about Kyle’s answer.

 

Kyle sighed and thought of his dream. He knew this needed to be done but he was still upset about it.

 

“It’s gonna be just you and me, right?”

 

“Yep, just you and me,” said Tommy worried about how Hunter would do without him.

 

“Okay then, I’m still ready to go. I packed a few things in my backpack that I would need if we really did this, just in case. I need a few things though. So can we stop at one of the stores before we head out?”

 

“Sure Kyle, anything you need we will get for you. I just need to pack a few things myself and have a little family meeting before we go,” said Tommy happily.

 

“Anything else you wanted to talk to me right now?”

 

“One other thing, I’m sorry it took so long over at Al’s. I wanted to get back to you sooner but it took a lot longer than I thought it would,” said Tommy apologetically.

 

“It’s okay TJ. How is Jose?” asked Kyle.

 

“That’s part of what I want to talk to everyone about.”

 

“That doesn’t sound good,” said Kyle

 

“It’s not good Ky. He has cancer, it’s treatable but it’s going to be very difficult on him for the next couple of months. He also has some nerve damage, which was causing his accidents. Because of the treatment, he’s gonna be stuck in diapers until it’s over and he’s gonna be using them for everything.”

 

“That sucks, how is he taking it?”

 

“About how you would expect, he’s not doing too good but Bryan is going to keep an eye on him.”

 

“I’ll do what I can for him. I know you are going to tell the others to be nice to him because of this, so I’ll help you out by keeping an ear open for anyone who isn’t.”

 

“Thanks Kyle, I really appreciate your help. Can you go round up everyone into the living room while I have a quick chat with Billy,” said Tommy.

 

“What’s up with Billy?”

 

“It’s not good. I just need to talk to him though,” Tommy said grimly.

 

“Okay, I understand you want to keep that private so I guess I can gather up the troops for you,” said Kyle.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Luke! Put your clothes back on we have a meeting to go to,” Kyle said loudly making his brother blush. Kyle laughed as his brother quickly exited the room.

 

 

 

Over with Bryan and Kate…

 

 

 

As Bryan and Jose entered the house, they heard a commotion going on. They both knew what it was, so Bryan quickly went over to it as Jose followed him.

 

“Jesus Christ! What the hell, another glass! Whose glass is this!” screamed Kate at the boys in their game room. When no one said anything she said, “I have told you boys to make sure you pick up after yourselves. I am sick and tired of picking up after you boys constantly. All I ask is that you pick up your dishes and put them in the kitchen. I’ll take care of them from there, is that too much to ask! I don’t think so. Ryan, you didn’t do your lessons today! Now get your butt upstairs and do them before I smack it!” ranted Kate.

 

“Hi Kate, how’s your day been,” Bryan said bracing himself for the onslaught.

 

“How’s my day been?! Are you deaf! I have been spending it cleaning up the entire house. As soon as I clean up one area, one of these monsters goes and messes it up again! Here I am working myself sick, while you go gallivanting around. Where the hell have you been! And why didn’t you give Joel a bath like I told you this morning! I asked you one thing this morning Bryan and you couldn’t even do that. All you had to do was wash Joel. Instead you passed him off to Matt to look after, what type of Father are you?!” fumed Kate.

 

“If you remember Honey, I couldn’t wash Joel because you were bathing Austin and Chase. He’s getting a little big to wash up in the sink anymore,” Bryan said reasonably, as he casually waved the other boys out of the firing line.

 

The boys began to inch their way out of the room now that Kate’s entire attention was on Bryan. Her behavior wasn’t surprising to any of them by now. Bryan had explained how her pregnancy was causing this and it wasn’t really her. They understood this. They didn’t like it, but understood it. They did like Kate’s apologies, as she always gave them one once she was calmed down and back to her normal loving self. She always made something special for them or did something special with them to try to show how sorry she was for going off on them like that.

 

“Don’t give me that, where the hell have you been!” said Kate as some of the steam was lost on her tirade.

 

“I took Jose to see Al, like you told me too,” Bryan said calmly.

 

“Oh…, I’m sorry. Jose, how are you?” asked Kate once again surprising everyone there on how fast she could change moods.

 

“I’ll tell you in a little bit. Jose why don’t you go lie down you look tired. You’ve had a very rough day,” Bryan said kindly to the boy who was still hiding behind him. “I’ll bring your medicine up to you in a little bit.”

 

Bryan watched the sad little boy head up to his room, as he beckoned to Kate to follow him into their room so they could have some privacy. The few boys who saw this were very curious and concerned for Jose, as if it was good news Bryan would have said something in front of them.

 

“What is it Bryan?” asked Kate full of concern once they were alone in their room.

 

“It’s bad Kate. He’s not going to die thankfully but it’s very bad. Al is going to do everything he can to make Jose better but it’s going to take some time,” Bryan said sadly.

 

“What’s wrong Bryan, what’s wrong with my boy?” asked Kate beginning to panic.

 

“He has cancer,” Bryan said softly.

 

“Oh dear God!” exclaimed Kate collapsing onto the bed in shock.

 

“He’s going to be okay Kate. It’s not going to be easy but he will pull through this. That’s not the only problem Al found though,” Bryan said sitting next to her and holding her.

 

“What else is wrong with my baby?” asked Kate on the verge of tears.

 

“He has some nerve damage which was causing his accidents. Al gave us three medicines which should fix him up but it will take a few months probably. If the medicine doesn’t fix him completely then Tom is going to have Hunter do his thing and fix Jose up as good as new,” Bryan said comfortingly hugging Kate.

 

“Why doesn’t Hunter do that now?” asked Kate clearly devastated by the news about Jose.

 

“That little boy has gone through enough without us adding to it. If Al’s treatment fails then he will but we don’t need to hurt him if we can prevent it,” Bryan said brushing the tears off her cheek.

 

“You are right, I just feel bad for Jose,” Kate said sadly.

 

“It gets worse,” Bryan said as gently as he could.

 

“Is something else wrong with him?”

 

“No, but the treatment is going to be very difficult on him.”

 

“How so?” asked Kate.

 

“Because he basically is going to have to be put in diapers fulltime, and he is going to use them for everything. There is something about the nerve medicine that as it heals him, it prevents him from having any control. The cancer meds are going to make him have no control of his bowels too. Al mentioned that we are going to have to potty train him again once it’s all over.”

 

“That’s terrible. At least he will be able to clean himself up on his own otherwise that would be horrible for Jose.”

 

“I’m afraid he won’t be able to do that either,” Bryan said sadly.

 

“Why not?” asked Kate confused.

 

“The meds he will be taking will cause him to get weak and uncoordinated. We are going to have to change his diapers, just like we do with Joel. He’s also probably going to have a difficult time eating, so one of us might have to feed him too. We are probably going to have to give him some of Joel’s sippy cups because of this. The bottles would probably be better, but I think if we did that, it would humiliate him even more and we don’t want to do that. He’s going to have a hard enough time accepting all this as it is.”

 

“Oh Bryan, this is horrendous. We are going to have to take excellent care of him and keep a very watchful eye out for any of the other boys who might try to tease him because of this.”

 

“I know Kate. Tom knows about what’s going on with Jose and he will tell his boys and make sure they don’t tease him, but we are still going to have to keep a very close eye on him. I don’t want him to get depressed and do something stupid because of this. I think he will be okay if we look after him and keep reminding him it will only be for a couple months and then he will be healthy again.”

 

“You’re right Bryan. I know my mood swings very easily now but if I ever start yelling at him I want you to immediately stop me. I don’t care what you have to do you stop me. He has enough to deal with. He doesn’t need a crazy lady on top of everything else.”

 

“I’ll try my best to keep you from yelling too much at the kids Honey. He has three medicines we have to give him. The easiest one is a pill we need to give him twice a day. Then there is a liquid we need to make sure he drinks. The problem with it is that we have to dilute it in water first. This means he has to drink an extra gallon of medicated water throughout the day on top of his regular liquids or he will get dehydrated. The worst is the suppository. Hunter showed me how to give it to him and I’ll show you. When we go to change his diaper in the morning, we need to give it to him. I know this is going to be a lot of work for us, but we have to do it for him.”

 

“I know Bryan. I’m not sure how much I will be able to help you. With the problems I’m having, I just don’t know how much more I can do,” Kate said worriedly.

 

“Don’t worry about it Honey. I’ll take care of it. I know you need your rest. If it gets too much for me, I’ll ask Matt or Ben to lend a hand. I think they will help. Out of all the boys, they seem the best with feeding and cleaning Joel and unfortunately, Jose is going to need much the same care as Joel does.”

 

“You’re right Bryan. I’m sorry for yelling at you. Thanks again for getting my attention away from the boys. I hope I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself this time.”

 

“Your welcome Kate and you know they understand that when you get like that it’s not the real you. It’s just the pregnancy causing it. Let’s go up and check on Jose. I need to give him his pills and start on the other medicine,” Bryan said.

 

“Sounds good,” Kate said getting up with Bryan. “I’ll grab one of the new diapers for him and put it on him. We don’t want him to have an accident in the pull-up. Those don’t hold very much.”

 

Kate threw some stuff into a bag and followed him to the kitchen. Bryan began to fill a couple pitchers with Jose’s liquid medicine. Bryan then filled a large glass with it and carried it up to Jose’s room. They both walked in finding Jose lying on his bed with his back to the door.

 

“Here’s your meds Jose, I need you to take them please,” said Bryan kindly.

 

Jose slowly got up to sit on his bed and took the pill and drink. A quick swallow later, and the pill was gone.

 

“I need you to drink the rest. It’s your other medicine. I would like you to try to drink at least half a gallon of it today. Tomorrow you can start to drink a whole gallon of it every day. We want to make sure you get enough medicine so that it can work,” Bryan said tenderly.

 

“Okay,” said Jose sadly drinking the rest of the water.

 

“I’m so sorry this is happening to you Jose, but try to remember you will get better. This is just temporary,” said Kate kindly sitting next to him on the bed.

 

“I know, but why me,” whined Jose.

 

“I don’t know honey, but we are going to do everything we can to make this as easy for you as we can. I know it’s going to be really hard on you, but we are here for you,” Kate said hugging the very emotional boy.

 

“Thanks Kate and you too Bryan,” whispered Jose.

 

“Jose, I’m very sorry but I have to put you into your diaper. You don’t want to have an accident in the pull-up. You know they don’t hold very much,” Kate said gently.

 

“Okay but can it just be you who does it?” whimpered Jose.

 

“I’ll do it as much as I can but Bryan is probably going to have to help out too,” Kate said kindly.

 

“Okay,” said Jose accepting that. “Does Bryan have to be here for it this time?”

 

“No honey,” Kate murmured to him hugging him again. “Bryan can you tell the others about this so they all know not to say anything mean. Make sure they understand what’s happening to him, and what will happen to them if they do.”

 

“I’ll go do that and leave you two alone,” Bryan said as he left them and closed the door behind them.

 

Once they were alone, Jose pulled off his pants, lied down on his bed for Kate, closed his eyes, and waited. Kate gently ripped the side of his pull-up and pulled the front down. Seeing that he had wet this pull-up already, she took some wipes and cleaned him up. She easily lifted his legs and put the larger diaper under him. Setting his legs back down and spreading them wide, she then put some oil on him and rubbed it in. Jose blushed as his worst fear happened.

 

“Jose, there is no reason for you to be embarrassed about that. Joel almost always has an erection when I change him. You might not remember, but you did too when I did this for you at the mall. You know that most of the other boys do too when I wash them. There is nothing to be embarrassed about it, it’s normal. Look at it this way, at least that part of you is working fine,” Kate whispered to the boy doing her best to make him feel better.

 

“I guess,” said a very tired Jose.

 

Kate didn’t pay any more attention to it though as she just kept at it. She was glad that he didn’t have any hair yet as that might have had to be shaved off because of the mess it might make with the oil and powder. Once she finished pulling the diaper up and taping it closed, she helped him sit up and gave him a big hug.

 

“It wasn’t that bad now was it?” asked Kate gently.

 

“No, not if you do it. It’s not that bad, since you did it before at the mall. I don’t want anyone else to do it though,” said a very emotional Jose.

 

“I know honey, and I promise I will do everything I can to be the one who does it for you, but sometimes Bryan might have to. I’ll try but I can’t promise that only I will be doing it,” Kate said.

 

“I understand. I’m kinda tired so I’m gonna rest now.”

 

“That’s fine honey, you rest. I just want to sit here for a while. If you don’t mind,” said Kate.

 

“Sure, if you want,” said Jose yawning.

 

Kate just sat there watching Jose fall asleep. Once he was asleep, she pulled a blanket up over him and tucked it in around him. She then gave him a little kiss and sat back to watch him.

 

 

 

Back to Tommy’s house…

 

 

 

Tommy went to the game room and found Billy playing with Joey.

 

“Billy, I need to talk to you in private. It’s important,” Tommy said.

 

“I didn’t do it,” Billy said immediately.

 

“You didn’t do what Billy,” asked Tommy suspiciously.

 

“Uh, nothing, whatever you think I did, I didn’t do,” Billy said quickly making Joey giggle.

 

Tommy saw the look Billy exchanged with Joey and suspected they had done something but finding out exactly what would have to wait.

 

“Just come with me Billy and we’ll talk,” Tommy said finally.

 

The boys paused their game, as Billy got up and followed Tommy to his room. Tommy saw the look that passed between the two of them and now knew for certain they were up to something.

 

“I don’t know what you did or what your hiding Billy, but it will probably go easier on you if you just tell me before I find out on my own,” Tommy began as they both sat down in his room.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Tommy,” said a very guilty looking Billy.

 

“Okay if that’s how you want to play it. I actually wanted to talk to you about what you did to Hunter right before he left,” Tommy said.

 

“You already punished me for that,” Billy whined.

 

“I know but I have learned some new things.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Because of what you made Hunter do, you hurt him a lot. You understand that right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What I didn’t know was that because of his being in so much pain, when he went on his mission for Al a number of other people were injured or possibly killed because of it.”

 

“What do you mean?” asked Billy confused.

 

“Hunter hurt some people because he was hurting himself.”

 

“Well if he hurt them why are you blaming me?”

 

“I’m blaming you because you’re responsible for it.”

 

“How can I be responsible for what Hunter does? If he hurt some people then you should punish him.”

 

“Don’t you get it Billy? He hurt them because of what you did! If you hadn’t forced him to heal your scars, none of that would have happened. He’s not like us, he can’t be held as responsible for his actions as we should be.”

 

“Why not! He’s almost as old as I am,” Billy complained.

 

“He might be almost as old as you but he’s not nearly as socially mature as you should be. He’s easily the strongest and most intelligent one around here but he has never been taught the difference between right and wrong like you have. I have been trying to work on that with him but it’s difficult to get past all his conditioning. I can’t hold him responsible for what he does like I can do to you or the rest. In this respect, he is like Joel. He just doesn’t know any better.”

 

“Well what are you going to do to me now?” asked a defeated Billy.

 

“Nothing,” replied Tommy.

 

“Really, nothing?” asked a shocked Billy.

 

“Yep, all I’m going to do is ask you to think about what you did and how not only did it hurt Hunter but caused a number of other people to get hurt. You caused this. You’re responsible because you set this in motion. I’m gonna go out for the night to try to fix things with my brother. While I’m gone, I want you to think about all that and decide if you deserve any more punishment. If you can honestly tell yourself that you don’t deserve any more punishment for this then it’s all over. On the other hand, if you think you do deserve to be punished more, then I want you to think about what would be an appropriate punishment. We’ll talk about what you decide once I get back.”

 

“Okay Tommy,” Billy said. Before he left the room, he turned back to Tommy and said, “I really do hope your outing with Kyle works out.”

 

“Thanks Bill,” Tommy said before collapsing onto his bed exhausted from having to deal with all this.

 

Tommy finally got up and ran around his room. He was quickly grabbing things and stuffing them into a bag. After a few minutes, Jon entered his room with Shawn and Hunter trailing behind him.

 

“Everybody’s waiting downstairs for you TJ,” Jon said.

 

“Thanks, I can finish this later. Let’s go,” Tommy said.

 

All of them headed down to the living room, where Tommy saw that everyone else was gathered. Once everyone had quieted down, he began. He told them about Jose and his illness. He stressed how they would be in extreme trouble if anyone of them made fun of him because of this. It didn’t matter who it was, if anyone made fun of Jose, they would be punished more than anyone else had since Tommy was put in charge. He wasn’t fooling around on this one. It was important to Tommy that all of his boys understood that they were to be nice to Jose during his illness and help him out whenever possible. It was going to be difficult enough for Jose without any idiot making fun of him.

 

While Tommy was telling them this, he was glancing over at Shawn and Hunter. Shawn was comforting and whispering to Hunter, who was obviously having some issues.

 

Tommy then told them that he was going out with Kyle and that they all needed to look after each other a little more until he got back. Most of them were surprised that the two of them were going out alone.

 

“You are going to bring Kyle back, right Tommy?” wisecracked Zach getting a few laughs from some of the others.

 

“Just keep in mind that Kyle and I won’t be around so Jon’s nominally in charge. You guys listen to him,” Tommy said ignoring Zach.

 

“TJ,” said Shawn hesitantly holding Hunter.

 

“Just a sec Shawn,” Tommy replied.

 

“I don’t think it can wait,” said Shawn urgently, as everyone was now staring at Hunter who was sobbing into Shawn’s shirt.

 

“What’s wrong now?!” Tommy said harshly forgetting himself a little.

 

“Be nice TJ! You’re frightening him even more,” Shawn said doing his best to protect Hunter.

 

“I’m sorry Hunter,” Tommy said going over to the troubled boy. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Fighting…, outside…, front…,” mumbled Hunter.

 

“What?” asked Tommy not sure he heard the boy right.

 

“Someone’s outside in the front and they are fighting TJ,” Shawn said. “And it’s frightening him, really bad. You better go do something fast.”

 

“Shit!” exclaimed Tommy as he ran out of the living room with most of the boys following him.

 

Tommy burst out the front door as he saw Duane and Mike punching one another. It was clear to Tommy that Duane wasn’t really fighting but just having fun with Mike who was trying his best to hit him.

 

“What the hell is going on out here!” yelled Tommy.

 

Unfortunately, Tommy’s shout distracted Duane enough that his blocking Mike’s punch actually hit Mike. Mike suddenly grabbed his eye after being hit. As Mike was a little off balance now, Duane just gave him a shove and Mike fell to the ground. Duane stepped away from Mike and began to laugh. Ryan and Todd went to Mike to see if he was okay as Mike was beginning to get up to go after Duane again.

 

Tommy could hear Hunter lose it from hearing Mike be hit. Thankfully, he saw Jon and Kyle immediately run back inside to try to help Shawn deal with him. Right now, Tommy needed to deal with this, and then he could take care of Hunter.

 

“Stop it! Stop this right now!” yelled Tommy getting between them. “Now what started this?”

 

“I don’t know Tommy-boy. We were just talking and he started swinging. It was kind of funny. He’s a pathetic fighter. Luckily for him, I didn’t take it seriously. It was just an accident that I hit him. I’m sure he’s fine, and if not he deserves whatever happens as he started it,” Duane said in that irritating superior tone of voice that always put Tommy’s teeth on edge.

 

“Mike, what happened?” asked Tommy.

 

“We were telling them about Jose and how everyone needs to be nice to him because of his cancer and he goes and starts calling Jose bad names. It pissed me off, so I took a swing at him,” Mike said fiercely.

 

“Is that true?” asked Tommy to Duane.

 

“Oh come on Tommy-boy, I was just having a little fun. You have to admit a lot of the kids here have problems. I mean just take Jose, the little baby who pisses his pants all the time. He should be called diaperboy from now on. Especially, now that he is going to be shitting his pants too,” laughed Duane. “Then there is that weird kid in your house. Hunter the weirdo crybaby or maybe he should be called the little baby friadycat. He’s even more pathetic than diaperboy, if that’s possible. I mean listen to him screech,” Duane said.

 

Tommy just saw red. He clenched his fist and let it fly. He felt it hit Duane in the face, along with a very satisfying crunch as he broke his nose.

 

“If you ever call Hunter something like that again, I’ll do a lot more than bloody your nose. You have NO idea what Hunter has had to live through, so next time you say anything bad about him you had better think twice. If you ever say anything mean to Jose I’ll beat your ass too,” Tommy said through clenched teeth.

 

“Davie, did you see what he just did?” whined Duane lying on the ground.

 

“Yeah, and you deserved it. Even I’m not so blind that I didn’t see how much that little guy means to Tom. You’re just lucky Kate wasn’t here or she probably would have beaten the crap out of you too for what you said about Jose. Duane, with how you have been acting, you better just stay away from me too,” Dave said.

 

“But Davie?” said a very shocked Duane.

 

“Just go home Duane. We will talk about this later, after I have a chance to think about what I want our relationship to be from here on out,” Dave said.

 

They all stood there and watched Duane and his bloody nose, walk back up the hill to the house they were living in.

 

“I’m sorry about all that. I’ll talk to him and make sure he knows better than to say anything like that again. You don’t need to worry. He won’t be mean to Jose or anyone else. If he plans to stay here that is,” Dave said sadly.

 

“Tommy! We need you!” shouted Kyle from the front door with a hint of hysteria in his voice.

 

Tommy immediately turned and ran back inside following his brother back to the living room. He could clearly hear Hunter’s screams and Shawn’s voice attempting to calm him down. When he got to the living room, he saw Hunter huddled into a tight ball crying uncontrollably in a corner as Shawn, Jon, and Kyle were around him trying to get him to stop crying. Tommy went over to them and just reached down and picked up the terrorized boy. Without a word, he carried him out of the room and upstairs to his room. He sat with Hunter in his chair and said soothing words to Hunter who seemed, for the moment, to be beyond even his ability to calm down. After a few minutes, Hunter finally began to calm down to Tommy’s words and his gently holding the boy. Kyle, Jon, and Shawn had followed Tommy so that they might help him, but Tommy didn’t need their help. He surprised them all in his ability to calm the hysterical child down. Tommy just lovingly held the boy and thought of his brother and the other boys that wouldn’t be around if not for Hunter. He thought about how he might not be around to enjoy the fun times with all the boys, if not for the terrified boy in his lap. It was these thoughts that allowed Tommy to put up with Hunter’s problems. It was obvious to everyone there, that those problems had gotten much worse.

 

“Feel better now Angel,” Tommy said gently after the boy had stopped crying.

 

“Yes M…, Sir,” Hunter said holding onto Tommy and nuzzling his head into his chest.

 

“Good boy, just relax Angel,” Tommy said lovingly.

 

“I’m sorry Sir,” said Hunter sadly knowing that his troubles were causing problems for the other boys.

 

“It’s alright Angel, you’re gonna be just fine,” Tommy murmured to the frightened boy.

 

Tommy felt Hunter finally relax in his lap, as Hunter blocked out all other thoughts or sounds except for Tommy’s voice. Hunter at last felt safe again in Tommy’s arms. He had missed this feeling of safety and being cared about so much during his long mission. He had not been able to get it the previous night he spent with Kyle and Shawn, even his nap he didn’t get it, as he was too afraid of his dreams to feel it. He was able to get a little from Tommy over at Al’s but it wasn’t enough. He relaxed and calmed himself down listening intently to the steady beat of Tommy’s heart. It was as if the beat was telling him: An-gel, re-lax, calm down, your safe, I’m here, love you. Even Tommy’s breathing was a comfort to Hunter. The steady in and out just reinforced the message he was hearing from Tommy’s heart. Hunter wrapped himself in the comfort and feeling of safety that only Tommy could give him, to banish his fears and bad memories, at least for the moment. If he was more experienced with it or thought himself worthy of it, he would have felt the love Tommy had for him too.

 

After about ten minutes of Tommy gently holding Hunter, he put the boy down in front of him.

 

“You okay now?” asked Tommy kindly.

 

“Yes Sir.”

 

“That’s my Angel,” Tommy told him smiling.

 

“You really okay? I was really worried about you,” Shawn said.

 

“I’m sorry Shawn, but I’m okay now.”

 

“What happened?” asked Jon curiously.

 

“The fight scared me. With the memories that were brought up earlier today by taking care of Jose, it was just too much. I’m very sorry for falling apart on you like that Sir.”

 

“Don’t worry about it Angel. You have given me so much,” said Tommy smiling at his brother, “it’s the least I can do to try to make you feel better.”

 

“TJ, can I take Hunter into my room and play with him?” asked Shawn.

 

“Hunter, would you like to go play with Shawn? You don’t have to if you don’t want to. If you don’t feel safe you can stay with me for a little while longer,” Tommy said.

 

“I…I…I will go play with Shawn,” Hunter replied softly.

 

He didn’t want to but he just couldn’t help himself from saying that. He knew how much Shawn wanted to spend time with him but while he cared a great deal for Shawn, Shawn couldn’t make him feel as safe as Tommy could. He knew Tommy was going to leave him soon, as he was going camping with Kyle. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do once Tommy left, but he hoped he would be okay with Shawn.

 

Tommy, Jon, and Kyle watched the two younger boys leave.

 

“Jon, can I talk to my brother in private for a bit?” asked Kyle.

 

“Sure Kyle. I’ll go help out with lunch. I think Ben was going to start it after the meeting,” Jon said as he too left. Before he left, he mouthed ‘good luck’ to Tommy without Kyle seeing.

 

Once the two brothers were alone, Tommy turned on the noise-canceling machine so they could really talk in private.

 

“What is it Kyle?” asked Tommy apprehensively.

 

“If we are going…we gotta take him,” Kyle said resignedly.

 

“What?”

 

“If we are going to go camping today, like we planned, then we have to take Hunter with,” Kyle said unenthusiastically.

 

“We can leave him here Kyle. Jon and Shawn will look after him.”

 

“No TJ, if he has another meltdown like that, they won’t be able to help him. You are the only one who can calm him down when he gets like that. We can’t leave him while he’s like this. Besides, if we go out you are just going to be worrying about him anyway,” Kyle said with a sigh.

 

“You’re probably right Ky,” Tommy said finally.

 

“I know I’m right,” Kyle responded.

 

“Yes you are. How’d you get so smart?” teased Tommy.

 

“Lucky I guess, cause I certainly didn’t learn it from you,” Kyle teased back.

 

“Are you sure you want Hunter to come with us? I’ll leave him behind for you, if you want,” said Tommy being serious once again.

 

“No I don’t want him to come with, but Mom would yell at me if I did the selfish thing. So we are taking him with and that’s final,” Kyle said not very happy about it.

 

“Okay Kyle, if that’s what you want.”

 

“It’s not what I want, but it’s what we have to do. Unless you don’t want to go out anymore,” said Kyle.

 

“I want to go,” Tommy said quickly. He didn’t want his brother to get the idea that he didn’t want to go with him.

 

“Good cause we have some serious stuff to talk about alone,” Kyle said.

 

“I know. I’ll keep Hunter occupied so he won’t be a problem Kyle. I’ll find stuff for him to do while we talk, I promise. That way we can talk in private or as private as we are likely to get.”

 

“TJ, I’m not too concerned about Hunter being there when we talk. It’s not like he will be able to tell anyone about what we say as long as you tell him to keep his mouth shut about it. Out of everyone in this house, he’s the only one I would trust to keep our secrets. He would never knowingly betray them if you told him to keep them a secret.”

 

“You’re right about that,” Tommy sighed.

 

“Of course I’m right, I’m always right. You should be used to that by now,” Kyle joked trying to put a good face on this.

 

“Yep, let’s finish getting our stuff together and then we can head out.”

 

“I already have my bag packed,” Kyle told him.

 

“Good then you can throw some of Hunter’s clothes in my bag while I gather up the rest of my stuff I want to take.”

 

“Sure thing TJ,” Kyle said.

 

They were quiet for a minute or two while they quickly packed up some stuff. Once they were done, they headed down to the kitchen to grab some food for their trip. They saw Ben in there finishing getting lunch ready for the boys and Jon packing a cooler. Jon caught Tommy’s eye and wordlessly asked how it went. Tommy gave him a big smile telling Jon that he was still going out with Kyle.

 

“I made some lunch and dinner for you guys. I hope it’s enough,” Jon said as soon as they entered.

 

“Thanks Jon, that was really nice of you,” Kyle said.

 

“How much did you make?” asked Tommy eyeing the two coolers that were by Jon.

 

“A dozen sandwiches for lunch, a dozen eggs, and some steaks for dinner. I know you guys are taking your fishing poles, but just in case you don’t catch anything you can eat the steaks. What’s more, there is a bag of fruits and veggies for you in there too. I also put a gallon of milk and a gallon of lemonade in a separate cooler for you guys,” Jon said smiling.

 

“Why so much, you know it’s just going to be for the day, right?” asked Tommy.

 

“You’re taking Hunter with aren’t you?” asked Jon.

 

“Yeah, but how did you know?” asked Tommy startled.

 

“I know how much you wanted it to be just the two of you TJ, but I was pretty sure Kyle wouldn’t let you leave Hunter here after seeing him fall apart like he did. Obviously, I was right,” Jon said satisfied with himself.

 

“I’m surrounded by very smart boys. Thank you Jon, thank you very much,” Tommy said smiling as he went over and hugged him.

 

“You’re welcome TJ,” Jon said smiling back enjoying his hug.

 

“We better go grab Hunter and head out. We still need to stop at the store don’t forget,” Kyle said.

 

“I haven’t,” said Tommy prolonging his hug with Jon. “I’ll go get Hunter then since we don’t have to worry about food now.”

 

“Good luck with that Tommy. Shawn is not going to be happy about that. I know he was looking forward to spending another night with Hunter,” Jon said.

 

“I know, but there isn’t much I can do about it,” Tommy sighed.

 

“Have you told him Hunter is heading out again once you guys get back?” asked Jon.

 

“Nope, I have been holding off on that. I didn’t want to have to deal with him throwing a tantrum or something.”

 

“I can understand that TJ, but you better tell him. He’s probably not going to take it well but it will be a lot worse if you don’t tell him,” Kyle said.

 

“You’re right bro, I’ll go deal with that if you can go load up the truck,” Tommy said.

 

“No problem,” Kyle said as he picked up one of the coolers Jon had filled for them.

 

Tommy went upstairs and braced himself for Shawn’s reaction before he opened the door. He walked in seeing Shawn sitting on his bed talking to a frightened Hunter.

 

Tommy thought to himself, ‘I guess Kyle was right. It seemed that Hunter wasn’t going to make it without him, unfortunately.’ He closed his eyes and mentally sighed. It was tiring dealing with Hunter’s problems but he loved the little boy, so he accepted them. He hoped that they were just really bad today because he hadn’t really slept in weeks. He doubted that was all of it though. It couldn’t be easy for Hunter to go out and have practically every person he saw want to kill him. That had to take a toll on the boy. He might have been trained as a killer, but in the end, he was still just a young boy.

 

“Shawn, I changed my mind. I’m going to take Hunter with,” Tommy said.

 

“Okay TJ. I can play with him tomorrow when you guys get back,” said Shawn a little disappointed.

 

“I’m sorry Shawn, but once we get back I have to take him back over to Al’s. He has some work for Al that needs to be done.”

 

“But he just got back. Can’t Al wait a few days?” whined Shawn.

 

“I know he just got back and I’m not happy about it either, but he has to go back to Al tomorrow.”

 

“That’s not fair! He just gets here and tomorrow he has to go! You’re taking him tonight, that’s just not fair! I want him to stay with me!” cried Shawn.

 

“Shawn, he’s not a toy. He’s a person and you shouldn’t talk about him like that. He’s having some problems right now. I left him with you last night. I’m not going to do that tonight. He’s coming with me and that’s it. I know you don’t like it and I’m sorry, but I think he will do better with me tonight instead of you.”

 

“It’s still not fair,” said Shawn petulantly.

 

“Life isn’t fair Cutie. I am sorry about this. Come on Hunter let’s go. Kyle is waiting.”

 

“Yes Sir,” Hunter said getting up from Shawn’s bed and walking over to Tommy carrying Lion with him.

 

Shawn got up, ran over to them, and gave Hunter a hug and kiss.

 

“You take good care of him TJ, okay?”

 

“Don’t worry Shawn, I will,” said Tommy a little jealous that Hunter got a hug and kiss from Shawn and he didn’t.

 

“And Hunter, you look after my TJ,” said Shawn giving him one last hug.

 

“Yes Shawn.”

 

“You didn’t think I forgot you did you?” asked Shawn mischievously as he went over to Tommy and gave him a hug and kiss too.

 

“I love you Cutie. You be good for Jon.”

 

“I will. Since you are taking Hunter and Kyle, I think I’ll go see if Austin and Chase want to do something.”

 

“You have fun with them Shawnee,” Tommy said as they all left Shawn’s room.

 

Tommy found Jon waiting for them downstairs.

 

“We are going to head out Jon. Keep a good eye on all the kids for me,” Tommy said as he gave his lover a big hug and kiss. “You know if you have any problems, Ben is here too.”

 

“I will and I know TJ. I hope this works out for you and Kyle,” Jon said.

 

“I’m sure it will. It might be a little difficult but we will work it out,” Tommy said assuredly.

 

“You guys have fun then, and Hunter, keep them safe,” Jon said.

 

“I will sir,” Hunter said seriously.

 

Tommy took Hunter with him, as he made one last check of his room. Once he made sure he didn’t forget something, he headed downstairs to get his brother. He was extremely nervous about doing or saying the wrong thing to his brother right now. Because of that, he was still walking on eggshells. Needless to say, his surprise over Kyle’s wanting to let Hunter go with them was still fresh in his mind. As he approached Kyle’s room, he saw the door was open.

 

“Kyle, we’re ready!” he yelled outside the door from the hallway.

 

“Be right out TJ,” Kyle yelled back out.

 

This brought Shawn running out to them to say good-bye one last time.

 

“I’m gonna miss you and Hunter tonight TJ,” he said gloomily as he approached them.

 

“I know Cutie, but you also know how important it is that I work things out with Kyle.”

 

“Yeah, I know. I sure wish Hunter was staying here though.”

 

“Sorry bud, I can’t let him stay. There is just too much going on in his life right now for him to be without me tonight.”

 

“It’s okay TJ, I understand,” said Shawn as he gave Tommy another good-bye hug and then turned to Hunter for an even bigger good-bye hug.

 

“I’m gonna miss you Hunter,” said Shawn sadly as Kyle finally exited his room.

 

“I’ll miss you too Shawn-sir,” said Hunter as he hugged Shawn.

 

They gave each other a kiss on the lips, as Tommy and Kyle watched them. Kyle looked at his brother and broke off half a smile, more out of embarrassment.

 

Tommy cleared his throat. “Okay, we better get going,” he said trying to end the little bit of awkwardness that suddenly took over the entranceway.

 

Tommy turned and opened the door as a hint that it was time to go. Hunter broke the embrace he had with Shawn and turned to leave. The three of them headed out to the truck as Shawn stood at the front door watching his best friend, his protector, and his boyfriend go without him. Shawn watched as they waved to him and then as Tommy drove down the driveway to the street. After they took off down the hill in the truck, Shawn headed up to his room with tears in his eyes and closed his door. He missed Hunter the past few weeks and the little time he got to spend with him since he got back, wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy his needs. He understood that Hunter needed to be with Tommy right now, but somehow that still wasn’t enough.

 

As Tommy headed away from the house, the truck was quiet for a few minutes. Finally Hunter spoke.

 

“Sir, I wish the Shawn-sir could have come with us.”

 

“I know Hunter, I do too, but this is something important that has to be done without him. I was going to leave you home too, but right now I think it’s best if you are with me for today.”

 

“Yes sir, I understand,” he replied with actual sadness in his voice.

 

Hunter suspected Tommy was only bringing him because Kyle was making him. He knew Tommy really didn’t want him along as he wanted to try to patch things up with his brother alone. If he was right in his suspicions, then Kyle was only doing this because of his problems. He didn’t want to be a problem to them but he just couldn’t help himself.

 

Tommy first headed off in the truck to his father’s favorite camping store. When they got there, he pulled up to the front door.

 

“Hunter, would you please go make sure the store is safe?” asked Tommy.

 

“Yes Sir,” Hunter replied as he got out of the truck.

 

Tommy and Kyle watched Hunter quickly run into the store and waited a minute for him to say if it was safe. They saw Hunter wave them in, so they got out and walked in.

 

“Okay, let’s quickly grab what we need and get out of here,” Tommy said.

 

Tommy and Kyle then hastily grabbed the few things they needed and with Hunter trailing behind them, they climbed back into the truck. Tommy then drove them back up to the hill and headed to the back road. As Tommy drove up the back road of the mountain they lived on, Kyle spoke up.

 

“TJ isn’t that road the way?” pointing away from where Tommy was driving.

 

“No Kyle, that one goes down to the parkway. It’s the other way down from the mountain. We need to take this road a few miles to where Mom and Dad used to take Becky and us when we went away camping on weekends. Remember?”

 

“Yeah, now I do. I guess with everything that’s been going on lately the way there kinda slipped my mind,” he said thinking about the comet, his parents, and Becky. At least he kind of got some time with his Mom, but he still missed his father and his sister a whole lot.

 

As Tommy drove down the road and got closer to the camping area, it went from paved to dirt and became quite a bit bumpy.

 

“Now I remember it,” said Kyle as he bounced around his seat a little while at the same time Hunter sat motionless in his seat.

 

Tommy wondered why Hunter wasn’t bouncing around as they were. It was a little strange, both he and Kyle were bouncing around but Hunter seemed to be glued to his seat as he calmly looked out the window.

 

“Yeah, I figured you might once we hit the bad part. At least it hasn’t changed like everything else around us,” Tommy said hinting slightly at his feelings for what has happened the last few months without clearly saying anything out of fear that Kyle could get upset.

 

“Yeah, some things never change,” replied Kyle.

 

They drove the rest of the way in silence with the tires on the road the only noise to be heard until they arrived at the spot.

 

“Okay, here we are,” said Tommy more to let Hunter know then Kyle.

 

He turned off the truck and all three of them started to unpack it, each taking as much as possible so they could make it in one trip. With arms, hands, and shoulders full of gear Kyle and Hunter followed Tommy through the thickening brush to the camping area where his parents had led him so many times before.

 

“We’re here,” he said gently dropping his stuff in front of him.

 

Kyle and Hunter did the same.

 

“Okay, let’s set up the tent and start a fire. Then we can either take a walk or go for a dip,” said Kyle as it suddenly appeared as if he wanted to get things going.

 

“I think a dip is out of the question for me Kyle. That water is probably freezing and I personally don’t need a chill or any shrinkage,” chuckled Tommy. “Maybe Hunter might want to go in but I’ll pass for now.”

 

“I guess you are right. I didn’t think about the water temperature,” smirked Kyle.

 

Hunter started to help Kyle set up the large tent they brought along so all three of them could sleep together. At the same time, Tommy collected some rocks and then some dry pieces of wood. He used the rocks to build-up the outline for the fire that would keep them warm tonight. The days were warmer but the nights still had a decent chill to them, especially out where they were. About thirty minutes later, Tommy had a roaring fire going and so he went to help Kyle and Hunter put the finishing touches on the tent.

 

The grey tent stood about six feet high and at least nine feet wide. The door was a flap that zipped closed and would keep them comfortable if the weather changed too much over night.

 

“It looks like everything is set up. Kyle how about we go over to the pier and do some fishing?”

 

“I guess I could go for that. What about Hunter?” Kyle replied.

 

“Sir if its okay I’d like to go swimming for a bit,” Hunter chimed in.

 

“The water is really cold Hunter, are you sure you want that?” asked Kyle.

 

“Cold doesn’t bother me Kyle-sir. So yes, I really would like to see what kind of fish there are in this lake.” He looked at Tommy, “Is it okay Master?”

 

“Sure Hunter. As soon as we get our fishing gear and head over to the pier you can dive in from it if you like.”

 

“That would be nice, thank you Sir,” Hunter said happily.

 

Tommy and Kyle went over to the tent to grab their poles, which were leaning up against it. Tommy grabbed Kyle’s before he could and handed it to him.

 

“Remember last May when we did this?” Tommy asked his brother.

 

“Yeah I do. It was great. Dad caught that huge bass and Mom…” his voice trailed off. “Mom…” he tried again but couldn’t get the words out.

 

Tommy looked at his brother and wondered why he couldn’t finish the sentence.

 

“Are you okay Kyle?”

 

“Yeah, I was just thinking about Mom. TJ we gotta talk.”

 

“I know Ky. As soon as we get to the pier and Hunter jumps in we can, okay?”

 

He shook his head yes fearing anything else he said would make his voice break up.

 

“Let’s go Hunter,” Tommy yelled over to him as they started walking.

 

They walked about 300 yards to the pier and got their lines ready to cast into the lake. Hunter immediately stripped off all his clothes and jumped in as both boys watched him. Hunter’s dive amazed the brothers. It was as if a knife had sliced into the water from Hunter’s dive.

 

“He really doesn’t care who is around when he undresses does he?” asked a somewhat more composed Kyle now.

 

“Nope, he could care less who sees him naked or dressed. I think modesty is an alien concept to him,” Tommy said smiling.

 

Kyle just shook his head and cast his line in the water. Tommy followed and then both boys sat on the end of the pier together. Tommy waited for Kyle to say something. He sensed Kyle wanted to go first, so he just waited for his brother to start.

 

“TJ,” Kyle paused. “You remember when you got shot and Trevor came to talk to you?”

 

“Which time?”

 

“You mean there was more than one?”

 

“Yeah, I didn’t say anything the second time as I thought you guys might think I was losing it, but I remember, why?”

 

“Well I actually thought you were crazy after Shawn brought me upstairs and you told us both that Trevor talked to you. Now any doubts I had are gone bro.”

 

“Why? What happened Kyle? Did he talk to you too?”

 

Kyle smirked, “No silly. Mom did,” he said as nonchalantly as possible.

 

Tommy’s mouth opened but nothing came out.

 

“Mom?” he finally yelled out stunned.

 

 Kyle shook his head yes.

 

“When did this happen?”

 

“Last night,” replied Kyle quietly as if it was a common occurrence.

 

Tommy thought for a moment and realized that Hunter was with both of them for their visitations. He wondered if that meant something, but then discarded the idea, as he hadn’t even found Hunter when Trevor came to him the first time.

 

“What did she say? Is she all right? Is Dad with her? Oh my God, Kyle do they know about us? Sure, they know. They don’t hate us do they??”

 

“TJ shut up and I will tell you! Geeze!”

 

“Sorry. Mom? Wow!”

 

“Look... yes they know, Mom told me a lot of things and they are watching over us. Basically, they are okay with things and Mom is so proud of you for how you are handling things, including me. Well…they weren’t too proud in the beginning but they are now.”

 

Kyle was a rollercoaster of emotions right then, and he then suddenly gave out a very sad sounding sigh after he finished his last comment. He bowed his head and got really quiet. Tommy sat there in silence waiting for him to say something. Thankfully, the fish weren’t biting right now or both poles would have gone in the water. Hunter was out in the frigid water about 40 yards from them, but right now, neither of them was paying any attention to him.

 

“It’s okay Kyle, take your time.”

 

He looked up at Tommy. Tears were forming in his eyes already.

 

“TJ… Mom came to me because she was mad in a way. She came to me because I…because I was being such a dick to you. She told me lots of things and after she was done, I felt horrible and at the same time great. I was totally messed up. I was so happy to see her and feel her surround me. You remember how she smelled, kinda like cookies and fresh cut flowers, I just felt so special. At the same time, she only showed up because she was tired of watching me treat you like dirt.”

 

A tear rolled down his cheek. He quickly wiped it away.

 

“She told me you have been trying so hard to get me back. You didn’t punish me on purpose and that I was being a total ass about all this. This isn’t how we get along TJ. You know as well as I do that all our lives everyone who knew us always commented on how good we got along as brothers. I screwed that up. It took Mom for me to see that and now…” he lowered his head and started to cry.

 

Tommy scooted over next to him and put his arm around his baby brother. He pulled his brother to him and held him tightly. For the next few minutes, neither said a word as the tears flowed from both boys. Tommy held his brother tightly as they just let the moment happen. Both boys felt a presence inside themselves and they knew their mother and father was close by, but neither said anything. They just accepted it. Finally, Tommy let go of Kyle, brought his hand to his brother’s chin, and lifted it.

 

“It’s okay Kyle. I forgive you.”

 

“I’m sorry TJ,” Kyle said hugging him tightly.

 

“I’m sorry too Kyle. Sorry I had to punish you.”

 

“NO! You shouldn’t be sorry for that. I know that now. That was my fault and I deserved everything I got for being so stupid and ignorant. I didn’t respect the room TJ. I didn’t respect Hunter or Luke, and most of all I didn’t respect you. I thought I could get away with anything because you were my big brother and that you would never punish me no matter what. Boy was I wrong!”

 

Both boys were now sitting back in their original spots and talking as calmly as possible.

 

“Not everyone was lucky enough to find a family member alive after the comet hit TJ. I was one of the lucky ones and I took advantage of it. I took advantage of us. I took advantage of what we…what we had as brothers. Mom showed me that. She told me things and made me realize that you didn’t enjoy punishing me. You did it because you had to. I know that now,” he said wiping the next round of tears from his face.

 

“It’s okay Kyle. I never stopped trying to fix it.”

 

“I do love you very much and I know how the others feel. I understand even more now than before how hurt and lost most of them feel because they don’t have any family around. Some got lucky. I am one of them. I am lucky because I still have you.”

 

Kyle’s admission made a few more tears roll down his face. Once again, he quickly wiped them away. Kyle went on over the next few minutes and told TJ about everything else their Mom told him and how lucky he felt about getting some time with her. He told him about their Dad too, and how much he wished he could have been there with Mom. They just sat there for a few more minutes in silence.

 

“Kyle, what was it that upset you so much? Was it because I was the one punishing you? Was it the punishment? I mean, something about this must have really upset you and I just don’t know what I did that was so wrong.”

 

“You didn’t do anything wrong. I was the one who did something wrong. You were right to punish me. I just had a fit because it was you who was punishing me, and how you punished me.”

 

“Since I’m in charge, I’m not sure what I can do to not be the one who punishes you. I mean I can probably get DJ or one of the others to punish you in the future, but it will still be me who decides if you did something that deserved it.”

 

“No, I don’t want DJ to punish me. I just don’t like you doing it either. You never punished me before and I went a little overboard with my tantrum. If I screw up, I know you have to decide what to do about it. I think I would rather have you give me my punishment than one of the others. I just don’t like it. I’ll try not to have such a big tantrum next time though,” sniffled Kyle trying to give a smile but failing.

 

“I hope there won’t be a next time.”

 

“Me too but I’ll probably screw up eventually. You are going to have to deal with it, and I’ll just have to accept it when it happens,” he said sadly.

 

“Okay, but what was so bad about my grounding you? Mom and Dad have grounded you for longer for a lot less.”

 

“I know. Mom actually said, she and Dad would have spanked me and grounded me for what I did.”

 

“Then what was so bad?”

 

“You humiliated me by grounding me. At least that’s how I felt.”

 

“I humiliated you?”

 

“Yeah, being grounded made it obvious to everyone that I did something wrong, and needed to be punished like a little kid. I really thought I would lose my authority in the house because of that. I mean, I didn’t think the others would listen to me anymore. I kinda like being in charge sorta, and thought I would lose that because the others wouldn’t respect me anymore. I can’t stand being humiliated, and they wouldn’t respect me because I was so publicly humiliated. To me, it’s the worst thing you could have done. That’s why it pissed me off so much.”

 

“You thought you would lose your position in the house because you were humiliated?”

 

“Yes, I thought it would come out what Luke and I have been doing. That would have been so humiliating. It’s bad enough that you know what we were doing. I don’t think I could have lived with it, if everyone knew.”

 

“I’m sorry Kyle, I didn’t know,” Tommy said sadly.

 

“It’s not your fault you didn’t know. I wouldn’t talk to you because I felt so humiliated. Every time you came to me to try to fix things, it was like I was reliving that humiliation over and over again. I know now, if I had told you about this we could have fixed it a long time ago,” said Kyle as he suddenly broke down and began crying.

 

Tommy put his arm around his brother again and did what he could to comfort him.

 

“I’m sorry TJ,” sobbed Kyle. “I didn’t mean for things to get like this.”

 

“It’s okay Kyle. I forgive you and I hope you can forgive me. I would never have punished you like that if I knew. I didn’t want to humiliate you. I’m sorry.”

 

“Thanks TJ and I forgive you too,” said a very emotional Kyle. “I’m mainly to blame though. I understand that now. Mom helped me see what I was doing. I deserved to be punished. Maybe next time, you can think of something that won’t humiliate me so much though.”

 

“I hope it won’t come to that, but if it does, I’ll definitely think of some punishment that won’t humiliate you,” Tommy said tenderly.

 

They quietly talked together for a while longer. Finally, they were all talked out and the problems were over with, at least for now. Not a minute too soon as first Kyle’s pole flew into the lake and then like magic Tommy’s followed. Both boys looked out and saw Hunter wading in the water about fifteen feet from them. He had both of their poles in his hands.

 

“Sorry Sir. I held the fish away as long as I could but they wouldn’t stay away from your lines any longer.”

 

Both Tommy and Kyle started to laugh at what Hunter said to them. Hunter then swam over and handed both boys their poles back.

 

“Sir, are you the young sir going to fish now, or do you need more time alone?”

 

“I think we are fine now Hunter,” Tommy told him. He looked at Kyle, “We are fine right?”

 

Kyle smiled, “Better than ever TJ!”

 

They both cast out their lines after that and Hunter took off to go back to swimming. Tommy and Kyle sat inches apart for the next half hour enjoying each other’s company and just having a blast catching several fish. Actually, Kyle was the one to catch the fish, as Tommy was having no luck with them. They were done for now and Tommy called out to Hunter to get out of the water. He swam in and quickly came ashore. Tommy wrapped a towel around the boy and helped to dry him off as Kyle stood and watched. After that, Tommy helped Hunter get dressed, and the three of them headed back to the campsite for some of the lunch that Jon had packed for them.

 

Lunch tasted better than ever, and before long, they were done eating. Hunter was a mess as usual after eating but Tommy didn’t mind this time. The three of them then headed over to the edge of the pond to gut and clean the four fish that they caught before. The afternoon was getting on and Hunter asked both of them if they would join him for a swim.

 

“I don’t think so Hunter, that water is too cold for me,” said Tommy.

 

“Well, I am feeling really good about things right now, so I think I am gonna give it a try,” said a brave Kyle.

 

“Be my guest but you’re nuts,” Tommy said back to his brother. What he thought was actually, ‘It’s your nuts.’

 

“Come on Hunter. Let’s show him how wrong he is!” Kyle said pulling at Hunters arm.

 

As Tommy watched, Kyle and Hunter ran down to the pier. Hunter stripped off his clothes once again and jumped in. To his surprise, Kyle stripped naked and jumped in after Hunter. Tommy shook his head in disbelief, grabbed a few towels, and headed over to the pier fearing Kyle wouldn’t last two minutes in the frigid water. He got there and both Kyle and Hunter surfaced and looked up at him.

 

“Come on in bro, sure it’s cold but only for a minute, I got used to it real fast.”

 

“Your nuts! That water has to be 50 degrees at best!”

 

“So what! We are both in, come on, ya chicken?” squawked Kyle egging on his brother.

 

“Come on Sir. The water isn’t that bad,” Hunter said to him.

 

“Hunter, what’s bad to you is very different to what’s bad for us,” Tommy said. Kyle kept making squawking noises until Tommy said, “Oh what the hell,” he was outnumbered.

 

As both boys swam in the cold water, he too striped down to nothing and jumped in. As he surfaced, Kyle and Hunter were next to him.

 

“Jesus fucking Christ! You two are crazy. This water is freezing!” he said as his teeth began to chatter.

 

“Ya know TJ, you might be right, but at least I got to see my big brother strip totally bare-assed naked and jump in. There isn’t anything to compare to that!” Kyle said laughing.

 

Tommy reached out and dunked Kyle. He tried to reach Hunter but he was too far away. Finally, Kyle came back up and his lips were starting to turn blue.

 

“Look Ky, your lips are turning blue and I think my balls just crawled back up inside me. I gotta get out, it’s just too damn cold. I tried, honest, but it’s just too much for me. You’re definitely the bigger man if you stay in! Stupider, but bigger,” joked Tommy.

 

“No TJ, you are right. I think my balls just froze off. I felt my sac and can’t feel them. They must be hiding pretty high up inside me. At least I hope so. I just wanted to try and get you in, but I really have to get out too. I don’t know how Hunter does it, but come on I’ll race you to the shoreline.”

 

“He explained it to me once, something about his healing faster than the cold can hurt him and being trained not to pay attention to it.”

 

Both boys then rushed to the edge of the lake and quickly got out. Neither one caring at the moment that they were naked together as they both ran for the towels that Tommy thankfully left on the pier. Tommy couldn’t help but notice that his brother didn’t have any pubic hair anymore. He figured it had something to do with the games he was playing with Luke but he wasn’t about to ask. They both grabbed a towel and wrapped it around their waists and then each grabbed one of the two remaining towels and draped it around their shoulders.

 

“Damn that was freaking crazy to do!” said Tommy. “I don’t think I will ever get my balls to come back out of me!” he added making Kyle laugh.

 

“Your balls? Shit, I had a dick before I jumped in. I think it’s gone or maybe it shrunk down to the size of Shawn’s dick!”

 

Tommy laughed at his brothers comment knowing all too well how well endowed his brother was. After what they both went through together a little bit ago, being naked in front of his younger brother really didn’t matter anymore. He was just happy to be with him! Size just wasn’t open for discussion as it was still a sore point that his younger brother was bigger than he was. They left Hunter to enjoy the water but before they walked away, Hunter jumped about seven feet out of the water with a fish in his mouth and both of them lost it laughing at him. Tommy wrapped his arm around his brother as they both quickly headed back to the fire carrying their clothes in hand to warm up.

 

As they both warmed up and dried off at the campsite, things got back to ‘normal’. They both dressed, out of each other’s sight. After that, Tommy went to call Hunter out of the lake. He once again dried Hunter off and was about to help him get dressed.

 

“Sir, do I have to get dressed. I don’t like clothes,” said Hunter timidly.

 

Tommy thought about if for a minute, then thought about the condition of Hunter’s clothes after lunch, before he finally said, “I guess not Hunter. You can run around naked if you want to, for now at least. If you do get cold or anything, I do want you to get dressed. Okay?”

 

“Yes Sir,” replied Hunter happily now that he didn’t have to wear any clothes.

 

Then they headed over to the fire to all sit together. Kyle was a little surprised to see Hunter walking around their camp naked but didn’t say anything about it. All three boys enjoyed each other’s company as the day got on. Hunter sat in Tommy’s lap as much as he could, but when he wasn’t in Tommy’s lap, he was sitting right next to him. Kyle was sitting only about a foot away from Tommy as all of them enjoyed being together.

 

Hunter went off to look around, after some urging from Tommy, and left him alone with his brother for a bit. Tommy once more moved close to Kyle and put his arm around his brother.

 

“I am so glad we did this Ky. It’s good to have you back in my life again.”

 

He leaned in, gave his brother a kiss on his cheek, then pulled his head down, and kissed the top of it.

 

“I feel the same TJ,” Kyle replied.

 

“Hey, let’s make some of the fish and have a good dinner.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” replied Kyle smiling at his brother.

 

As the day was drawing to an end and the sun grew lower in the sky they started to make dinner. Hunter came back shortly before dinner was ready and they all sat around the fire eating fish, a can of beans that Tommy opened, along with the other food Jon supplied. Tommy had Hunter jump in the lake to clean up after dinner and helped him dry off again. After a little more begging from Hunter, Tommy let him run around naked once more. Shortly after that, dark settled in and after a totally exhausting day, they decided to turn in early. They went in the tent and played a few rounds of cards and then finally all three laid down together. Tommy was in a sleeping bag in the middle. Hunter was on one side in his own sleeping bag, and Kyle on the other side the same way. Tommy couldn’t have been any happier right now. He was very thankful that the feud with his brother was over.

 

They tried to go to sleep and it worked for about an hour until Hunter finally tried to sleep on his own. He was holding his Master’s hand but that didn’t last. It wasn’t long before he was crying and thrashing around waking both of the brothers. Tommy held the frightened boy as he calmed down.

 

“It’s okay Angel, you’re safe. I’m right here,” Tommy told Hunter as comfortingly as he could.

 

Once Hunter was calmed down again, Tommy had him climb back into his sleeping bag to go back to sleep. He didn’t want to let Hunter sleep in his sleeping bag, as he thought his brother might think it strange. Tommy did hold Hunter’s hand again, but it wasn’t long before Hunter was crying again and in Tommy’s comforting arms.

 

“TJ, do you do this every night with him?” asked a very concerned Kyle.

 

“Not every night, but probably most nights,” Tommy said with a sigh.

 

“I’m sorry Master,” mumbled Hunter piteously.

 

“It’s alright Angel. You can’t help it.”

 

“I didn’t realize it was that bad. What do you normally do to help him out?”

 

“If I hold him, then he can sleep but as soon as I’m no longer touching him, his nightmares get really bad.”

 

“Well you better put him in your bag then.”

 

“That’s a good idea Kyle,” Tommy said as he let a naked Hunter climb into his sleeping bag along with Lion.

 

“Why didn’t you do that to begin with?” asked Kyle curiously.

 

“I thought it might look bad,” said Tommy embarrassed.

 

“TJ, I know what you do with Shawn. I know you don’t do anything with Shawn that he doesn’t want you to do. I know you would never force yourself on any of the boys. It doesn’t matter to me if he sleeps in your sleeping bag. I know you would never hurt him.”

 

“Thanks Kyle,” Tommy said hoping he would always be able to live up to that.

 

He thought about what his brother said, and knew that right after the comet he did some of those things, and was very ashamed of himself for what he did. That shame just strengthened his resolve to NEVER EVER let something like that happen again. Tommy had a little difficulty getting to sleep because of his feeling of shame but eventually, sleep got the better of him. He slept peacefully with Hunter curled up in his arms and his brother softly snoring next to him.

 

 

 

To be continued…