Chapter 296: Confronting Mama
The car ride had been astoundingly nauseating.
Dominic didn't know how he'd survived it, though Lionel had been driving very slow. He'd had to close his eyes for ten minutes after he arrived, and this was not an easy task with a baby leaping in your lap and covering your face in kisses. But he'd managed it all the same, and was finally settled in his wheelchair on the porch with his brother, nephew, and lover. Toni unfortunately was working, but he hoped he'd see her when she got off. For now, he was busily watching Lionel and Shane talk to one another like it was an incredibly interesting conversation, mostly one-sided as it was.
Graham was surprisingly grumpy. "No' that I don't like seeing you, brother, but are ye sure ye wan' be facin' that bat this soon?" he asked concernedly. Dominic didn't look well to him, but Graham knew himself well enough to know that it was the wheelchair, which Dominic didn't at all belong in, and the skinny paleness that had replaced the well-rounded color that usually lived in his brother's cheeks.
"Yep," Dominic said, for what felt like the ninth time, as he gently stroked Arnie's head on his knee. The dog had always liked him for some reason, and he smiled down at it as he gently scratched behind his ears. Arnie was the only dog, aside from Clark's puppies, who didn't bother him in the least, and he enjoyed the company as he looked up at his brother, of whom he hadn't been able to speak to barely at all in the last few weeks. "Gran's been making noises about going home this weekend. I want our dear old mother to go with her."
Graham nearly choked on his Guinness at that, spewing it over himself and the porch railing. "Ye canna be serious!"
Dominic just arched a blond brow.
"You are. God A'mighty, yer serious." Graham took another drink of his beer, and only choked a little on it, coughing once as it went down. "I'll no' cry to see her gone, that's for sure." He was proud of the fact that most of the thick brogue had disappeared over the last week or so, and he was working hard to keep it disappeared.
Dominic had noticed it too, but he hadn't said a word about it. He wasn't sure if it made him happy, or really, really sad over it. "It's time she goes back to the homeland, finds a boyfriend, and dies in peace. I don't want her here disrupting our family any more, Graham--she can be a long distance granny, just like our Gran is, and she manages it all the same." Dominic's voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Aye, she can. And Gran doesna do a half bad job o'it, seein' as we're all scared out o'our wits about her." He peered at his brother over the top of the bottle. "And what have ye thought to do with our little pink skittle, as ye call 'er?"
"She's eighteen. She doesn't need guardianship. But I will be, regardless." He hadn't mentioned it to Lionel, but Dominic was sure his husband wouldn't mind. "I'll take care of her until she's on her feet, with college and whatever else she needs."
"Ye don' think Mama will let 'er go tha' easy, do ye, Morgan?"
"Oh, I think she will."
Graham coughed up another noseful of Guinness. "Morgan Senatori, what d'ye have up your sleeve?"
"Nothing. Is there a room she and I can talk in? I'd rather not give your neighbors an earful, because if I'm not mistaken, that's her car driving up now."
"Nothing, he says, like he thinks the brother that raised him dunna know." He grunted. "Aye, you can use any o'the rooms downstairs. We're far enoug' out that if ye raise the roof a bit, nobody'll mind."
Dominic nodded, carefully. Yes. It was his mothers car, and she was behind the wheel. He felt oddly sick inside and yet... calm. So calm. He carefully stroked Arnie's ears gently, then the top of his head between his eyes, which made them roll back in the glorious feeling.
Lionel had said nothing as he played with Shaney, but at that, he looked up at his lover. "Dominic... you do know that you can call on us if necessary, to end the disagreement for you. I don't want you to overextend yourself after your first therapy session today." He deliberately made no mention or notice of Rosalyn's presence as she came up the drive.
Rosalyn stopped short when she saw who was sitting on the front porch. Her hand went to her mouth, and the few little shopping bags she had hit the ground as she gave a little gasp and hurried towards him. "Morgan!"
"I love you very dearly, Lionel, but I don't need you to put an end to anything for me. I can handle it." Dominic said, kindly but calmly, as he straightened the slightest bit.
"The offer still stands," Lionel murmured softly.
Graham got up and glared at his mother, blocking her from coming up the steps. "Upset him, and I'm throwin' ye out on yer arse, Mama."
Dominic didn't say anything. His mother, standing there all in a tizzy, and this was the moment of truth. Dominic pet Arnold down from his lap and straightened as much as he could using his one good hand. "Hello, mother."
"Morgan, Morgan, I'm so glad to see you!" She bustled up the steps, pushing her eldest son out of the way as she flung her arms around Dominic and hugged him.
Dominic didn't make a move to touch her. At all. He was very cold and stiff until she let him go, and without another word, grasped the stick on the chair, moved it, and rolled into the house.
Rosalyn blinked at the two men on the porch, after straightening up from the unresponsive hug. "Aren't you goin' in with him?"
Lionel opened his mouth, but Graham intervened, putting his hand on Lionel's shoulder and squeezing a firm shut up. "Nay, Morgan wants t'talk to ye himself, and we're respectin' that."
Rosalyn blinked again and nodded, following Dominic into the house and hurrying to catch up to his wheelchair.
Dominic drove in his automatic wheelchair all the way to one of the back rooms...Graham's study, and pushed it open with his good hand before driving in and turning, waiting for his mother and resting his hand again.
Rosalyn bustled into the room behind him, fussing immediately as she came in, picking up one of the afghans from the overstuffed chair and tucking it in round Morgan's legs. "Don't know what that little boy was thinking, bringing you out like this," she clucked.
"Don't… touch me," Dominic grit out, shoving her away and using the joystick to back up a little. "Do not touch me again."
Rosalyn fell back a step, looking at her son with amazement and shock. "Morgan, I'm your mother!"
"And a bloody shame it is to." Dominic looked up at her. "I wanted to ask you this, before I put into movement what I plan to have happen, but why, mama? Why did you do it?"
She looked earnestly into his eyes. "Do what?"
Do what. Dominic felt bile churn in his gut, and his teeth clenched. "Tried to have the plugs removed from the machines keeping me alive."
"Because I thought that's what you wanted!" Her hands fluttered as she wrung them. "I remembered you'd signed that so many years ago, and I knew that my little boy wouldn't want to live like that, dead to everything except the machines that kept you breathing! I knew you'd not want to stay livin' like that."
God, give him strength. "Lionel, and my step son, told me you went out of your way to find this paperwork, paperwork I signed twenty years ago, in another life, in another situation." He looked up at her, calmly. "If it had been Riley in my place, mama, or Lindy, would you have done it, with their babes left to grieve?"
"I didna' go out o'the way! I knew where the papers were, they were so old, but I knew where they were, in the boxes of things I brought from the homeland!" More handwringing. "And aye, if I'd known their wishes like I'd known yers, I'd've done the same for them to see them carried out as I did for you."
"Tell me the truth." So calm, so deadly calm. "If it had been Riley in that bed, with his seven children crying for their daddy around his bed, would you have sought out the papers that would have taken him away from them?"
"Yes," she cried out again. "If I'd known that's what he wanted! You didna tell me ye didn't want the papers anymore, how was I to know different?"
Dominic went on as if he hadn't heard her, his voice rising. "If Marie was sobbing over his bedside, with his newborn daughter screaming in her arms, would. You. Have. Sought. The papers."
"If I'd known about them, aye!"
His voice rose, all over again, because he knew she was lying, and he roared, "IF YOU KNEW HE WAS LEAVING SEVEN CHILDREN BEHIND, WOULD YOU HAVE KILLED HIM?!"
"I WOULDNA KILL ANY O'MY BAIRNS!" she bellowed back.
"I didn't think so." He tipped his head. "Why then, mother, did you specifically go looking for the paperwork you knew would kill me? Why? Graham and Riley both signed the exact same papers as I did--we three went the same day and got it done together, with Gideon, in case anything should ever happen to us, everything we had would go to our family. So why, mother, why did you go looking for these papers, twenty years old, when I was a different man and didn't have a precious baby girl on the way? Why did you seek these papers that you knew would end my life in a fit of unspeakable suffering, and leave my daughter without a father?"
"I didna know about the others! I only knew about yers, cause I signed it too, and I never knew nothin' to say you wanted anythin' different. So I got out the papers and I made sure what ye wanted was carried out!"
"Fully knowing that I would die."
"It wasna my decision! Twas yers, and I was carryin' it out!"
"Oh, no mama. It was your decision," Dominic said, quietly and serenely. "You could have pretended those papers didn't exist. You could have waited, to see if I'd get better. Which I did, as you can see. Which leads me to my next question--I have yet to see my daughter, and already I would lay down my life for her. Explain to me why this isn't the case between you and me. Explain to me what I did to shame you as I must have done, mama."
"Y'were sick for months a'fore I looked, Morgan! Ye weren't gettin' better, an' I knew you wouldn' want t'be lingerin' on like that! You haven't shamed me, Morgan, and I would do anythin' for ye, includin' carryin' out yer wishes to die wi'the dignity that little boy woulda taken away from ye!"
"What Da' must think of you," Dominic said, softly. "The shame he must feel. Didn't he always teach us, mama, to have faith? No matter how hard the times, to always have faith, and things would turn out alright? My step son, and my husband, and my brother had faith in me, and I pulled through. I'm alive before you today. I will get well--I will walk on my own two feet again someday, and I will be a good father. I will live, despite the fact that you nearly robbed me of the chance to finally be happy. I signed the paperwork twenty years ago. Twenty years ago. I can certainly say, the woman you were twenty years ago is not the one standing before me today. The same can be sad for me--I am not the man I once was. I have never, in all of my life, felt more violated than I do right now."
"Ye wan' t'talk of faith, Morgan? Try havin' faith when the child o'yer body is lyin' in a hospital bed, wastin' away more ever' day, seein' the life and the flush go outta his face until he's nothin' but a corpse that hasna stopped breathin' yet. Ye tell me how t'have faith in the face o'that. I'll no' apologize for carryin' out yer wishes, Morgan, no matter how ye try'n villify me."
"Faith is believing in me. I've never failed a single thing I've ever done. I came to America, alone, I started a life, alone, I married someone I love very much, alone. It was my husband's choice, mama. Not yours."
"Nay, t'wasna that little boy's choice. Twas yers, and ye made it, and ye dinna tell me diff'rent all these years, an' I did what I thought was best fer ye."
"Is it because I'm not quite up to your standard, mama?" Dominic tipped his head calmly. "As you told me, if it had been Riley, you wouldn't have done it. Why is it different with me? Why was the choice not given to my husband, but as I know you better than anyone else, you would have given it to Marie. Tell me why."
"That little boy doesna know what is th'best fer you. Your family knows that, Morgan, yer kith and yer kin, and he isna. Aye, I'd've let Marie choose fer Riley, but ye've got nobody else for ye!"
It was almost like a slap across the face, to be debased completely in his mothers eyes. "You're the one person who should have believed in me. And you didn't. You hate him, don't you? My partner, my lover?"
"I dinna care one way or t'other aboot tha' little boy! I only care aboot ye!"
"This has everything to do with, as you say, that little boy. Because that little boy is the man I've devoted my life to, and the man I'm having children with. Just because there isn't any paper saying we're officially married doesn't mean we aren't, mama."
"He's no' part o'yer family, Morgan! He isna!"
Dominic went very, very quiet. He knew, deeply, that that phrase in itself had cinched everything he had tried to explain to her. "Mama, do you love me?"
"Aye, my Morgan, ye know that I do," she said, just as quietly.
"Do you trust my judgment in others?"
"No' when it comes t'yer romantic choices," she said, her hands on her hips. "Ye've yet t'make one that be good for ye. Otherwise, aye. Yer th' best judge o'character I know."
Dominic didn't know why he was asking these things… only knowing that if possible, he'd never talk to this woman again. Despite that, he asked it anyway, not letting himself get depressed, as fiercely as he could. "Why do you hate him? Is it because he's a man?"
She rolled her eyes at him. "He's done nothin' to ye but make ye miserable alla the time ye workin' fer him, and now that yer doin' these things together, he up and promotes ye and is kissin up t'ye slicker'n shite. And ye canna see it fer bein' so head over arse for him."
"Lionel didn't make my life miserable, mama. Something else made me miserable, which I'm sure if I know my family at all, you already know about. He's the first person to make me happy. He keeps me from going over the edge, mama. Why can't you see that? Do you hate my daughter too, because she's ours?"
"I've no idea what yer talkin' about. And no, I dunna hate sweet Aurora, she's to be my gran'baby. Canna figure fer the life o'me why ye had to have a nigger carryin' her fer ye, but t'was yer decision and I'll say no more on't."
Dominic nearly wretched when he heard his mother, and had to turn his face away, eyes closed to restrain himself. He stayed silent, reigning in his emotions and himself, and after several deep, long breaths, looked up and spoke evenly. "Mama, on Saturday when Gran goes back to the homeland, I want you to go with her."
"Ye canna be serious!"
"Lionel's already chartered the Luthor jet. Your things will be packed for you, if you so chose. Your temporary Green Card for the United States is going out on Friday, and you have a twenty four hour grace period to get out of the country. I've already gotten Shayla citizenship, and I have filed paperwork to be her temporary guardian until she turns twenty one, so she'll stay with me."
Rosalyn's face turned purple, then white. "Ye canna expec' me t'leave all m'family here, an' no'be here for my Shayla!"
"Yes, I can. Shayla has me, and she has Lionel, and Lex. She also has her best friend here, her boyfriend, and her college, which I've already set up a trust fund for. Her life, and her family, is here. However, yours is not. I've already spoken to Gran about it, and she's more than willing to take you in until you find your own house. You'll find that you are not welcome at the cottage, and the locks have all been changed, so please don't try and stay there." Dominic said, easily, carefully, slowly. "Leave, and consider it payment."
"Now ye listen t'me, little Morgan Senatori. I'm no' one o'yer flunkies to be told about where I'm to go and what I'm to do. Ye canna tell me to leave if I don' want, and ye'll no tell me what to do. S'ye can roll yer temper righ' back down, an' apologize fer talkin' to yer mother like that!"
At those words, Dominic's carefully guarded temper exploded. "You nearly killed me, you vicious, disgusting bitch, you homophobic, degrading slut. You nearly HAD ME KILLED, you nearly TOOK MY LIFE AWAY FROM ME, you nearly took my daughter's father from her BECAUSE YOU HATE WHO I AM!" he roared, so loudly that he was sure the frames shook. "You can't STAND the fact that I'm gay, you can't STAND the fact that I'm no longer happy, you can't STAND the fact that I'M NOT LIKE MY FATHER! You can't stand that out of all your little babies, I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO FAILED!" He jerked forward, trying to shove her away, though he couldn't move much, and if he hadn't been wearing the belts he'd have fallen out of his chair. "YOU WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED RILEY! You WOULDN'T HAVE KILLED LINDY! You just fucking told me you wouldn't have, you just TOLD me. You don't respect ME, my FAMILY, my HUSBAND, or anything or ANYONE I treasure. I want you OUT, I want you GONE. I HATE YOU!"
Out on the porch, Lionel shot to his feet, almost dropping Shane as he did, and Graham moved fast, catching baby and restraining the angry man all in one move.
"Get out of my way," Lionel hissed.
"I dinna think so, Li'nel. Morgan tol'ye he could take care o'it, and we're goin' t'let him until he calls fer us t'help, aye?" Graham's arm was like a steel bar across Lionel's chest. "Take yer seat, and calm down."
Rosalyn slunk back from the explosion, her face gone the color of chalk as Dominic ranted those horrible things to her. She couldn't believe her son was screaming these obscenities and accusations at her, and each one pierced her heart. Rosalyn clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a little sob, then ran past Dominic, up the staircase to her bedroom.
As soon as she turned and ran Dominic buried his face in his hand and let his head fall forward as much as he could, grasping his hair as his fury and his horror shook through them, because he'd meant every single word. He'd meant it, and he'd just said it to his mother. He felt sick with dread and sadness, and he immediately crossed himself and looked upward. "Lord, please don't be upset with me."
But he couldn't say he was sorry, because every single thing was true. Dominic knew his mother was disappointed with him, knew she felt he was a failure, couldn't look past it, couldn't see him as a man, because of who he was. He had struggled so hard to find that person, he had been through so much to find out who he was, and he'd be damned if he'd lose it for anyone, even the woman he loved so much.
He would not lose himself. He would not give up everything he'd become, and he would not back down.
He grasped the stick on the chair, turned, and maneuvered out of the door, after three tries, and got out. He rolled down the hall and then moved to the open front door. "She's upstairs, Graham."
Graham was sitting calmly in his rocking chair, ankle crossed over knee as he rocked. "Aye, we heard."
Lionel was seething, and he rose carefully, putting Shane in the chair he'd been sitting in as he vacated, and went over to his lover. "Dominic?"
Dominic rose a hand. "Not right now." Instead, he reached out for Shane, who happily clambered up into his lap, and he cradled the little blond baby close to him, setting his cheek on the downy soft hair as the baby hugged him. He held the baby close with his good hand, not minding that Shane was touching and tugging on the limp one, and just held him close as he calmed.
Lionel settled back cautiously into his own seat, now that the baby had vacated it as well, and he watched his lover out of the corner of his eye as he started to rock in the rocking chair.
Graham just kept rocking. "Between me'n that Fordman boy, we've got nearly ever' air-conditioning system in Smallville runnin' good. Shouldn't be much longer 'fore they're callin' us to check the heatin' systems," he said casually, staring out at the trees. "Figure around Thanksgivin' or so, that'll be th'time they start callin'."
"It gets cold by October, unless there's an Indian summer," Dominic murmured in Shaney's head.
Shane didn't know why his unca got to ride around in his own stroller, because he wasn't allowed to have a stroller anymore, cause his mama and his daddy were makin' him walk everywhere. It sucked. But his unca wasn't like before, he didn't have a fuzzy face, but Shaney didn't care! He snuggled up anyway, and played with the fingers on the warm and cozy blankey on his unca's leggies.
"Hard t'realize, been here a year come Christmas," Graham said with another sigh. "Didna think when we came t'see ye last Christmas that we'd still be 'round for this'n," he added with a grin. "Goes t'show ye what kind of a magnet ye are, Morgan."
Dominic pressed his lips into Shaney's head, to kiss him and hide the trembling in his lips. He didn't speak, kissing his nephew again and smiling down at him. "You know, my lad, I think your Uncle Mufasa has a present for you. If I remember correctly, I think he put something large and wrapped with a big red bow in the back seat of the car. Would you like it?"
Shaney heard "present" and "bow" and squealed on top of his lungs, clapping his hands with delight. "Pesen!"
"I take that to be a yes," Lionel said dryly. "However, you might want to turn those pretty baby eyes onto your father, and see if he knows the meanings of the words, some assembly required." But he rose from the chair, and strode purposefully towards the car, and with only a little difficulty, pulled out the package.
"Ach, but how much assembly, is the question." He snagged his son before Shaney could go toppling off the steps after his uncle in law. "And will ye be worth it?"
It was as wide as his arms, and nearly half as tall, but fairly light, all things said, and he carried it easily over to the steps. "Here you are, my good young man."
Shaney exploded with squeals all over again, clapping and stomping his tiny tennis shoed feet as his Unca Bestest Friend put the BIG box down. He did a little butt wriggle and beamed proudly at his Unca before falling to his knees and tearing at the pretty paper. he took the bow off first, and stuck it on his hair, cause it was a good place for it, before he ripped the paper off.
It was a box.
With some kids on it.
He stared at it, puzzled.
Lionel laughed softly, first at the bow on Shane's hair, and then at the puzzled look. "Oh, but you have to look at what the kids are doing," Lionel pointed out. "See? Going down the slide, playing on the swing?" He tore open the end of the box and let the pieces slide out onto the porch, so that Shane could get the idea.
"Ach, Li'nel. You're goin' to turn him into a brat of the worst ken." Graham creaked down to his knees. "Let me see those instructions, Shaney," he said, grabbing for the papers that Shane had just picked up and was shaking.
Shane screamed. Screamed! A JUNGLEH GYM! Like at the PARK! He clapped his hands before throwing them around his bestest friends legs, hugging him so hard and tight and snuggly!!!! "PARK! PARK!" he cried, absolutely overjoyed.
Lionel rubbed his ear with one hand as Shane screeched into it, and hugged him tightly with the other arm. "Yes, Shane, your very own playground, just like at the park."
Behind them, Dominic smiled, but it was a quiet kind of smile. He looked toward the house, where he knew his mother was crying, and guilt settled like a vacuum in his belly. He didn't know if he'd done the right thing, and now his eyes were aching, and he was exhausted.
Graham gave Lionel a swift kick to the shin, under the pretense of stretching out and sorting the pieces of the play equipment. "Aye, I'm goin' to put this together; shouldna be too much trouble; would you like to help your Da', Shaney boy?"
Lionel almost swore at Graham but stopped himself a moment before because of the baby. "Dominic? Would you like to go home now?" he asked softly, seeing the tiredness and exhaustion.
Dominic looked up, silently, looking at his lover look at him, and just blinked a little. "Hmm? Oh...yes." He swallowed. "Please. You don't mind, Graham?"
"No' a bit. Thanks to Li'nel, I'm goin' t'be busy meself fer the rest o'the af'ernoon anyway." His knees creaked as he pulled himself up, and dusted off the seat of his jeans. "I'll make sure she's all packed'n ready tae go, if ye'll have her picked up i'the morning."
Dominic nearly gnawed through his lip at that. "Did I do the right thing?"
Graham nodded, a smile under his beard. "Aye, ye did. Ri's been dyin' to pop her one, e'en though she be our Mama, an' I know I'll not cry t'see her gone, and I dinna think Shayla'll bee to upset either."
"I don't want her to hate me." Dominic said in a very little voice.
"I don' think she hates ye, laddie. No' at all. She just... doesna understand her children." Graham came over and sat down beside Dominic's wheelchair.
"If you heard some of the things she said.." he trailed off, and rubbed his face with his good hand. "God help me, I still love her, Graham. Tell me, counsel me. What should I do?"
Lionel picked Shane up from the middle of the unassembled toy. "Come, young man, let's you and I go and find that tire swing and have a few rounds, shall we?"
Graham just waited until Lionel was gone. "If ye ever tell the barstid this, I'll deny ever' word of it, but Li'nel's a good man, Morgan. It wasna him that made ye choose, and ye canna blame him fer it. It's our own dear Mama that did that. You did the right thing, tellin' her to leave. Don't any of us wan' her round right now, an' with the baby coming soon, Toni doesna need the stress of it either. Tis past time for Mama to go."
The hot wash of emotion stung the back of his throat and the backs of his eyes, making him look away. His fingers fisted tightly and he banged them on the side of the wheel chair, as he grit out between clenched teeth, "I want to hate her. I want to hate her so much. I want to tell her I don't ever want to see her again."
"And ye dinna hafta, if you don' wanna," Graham said quietly. "I don' think any o'us can ever forgive her fer tryin' to take ye away."
"She told me that if it had been Riley, she wouldn't have, because of the babies. She would have given Marie the choice. God, dammit, why wouldn't she give that same choice to Lionel? Why, Graham?"
Graham shrugged a massive shoulder. "I dunna have the answer to that, Morgan. If I did, I'd retire early and live off m'brain. But ye know she dunna like him, has never, has never come to accept him the way the rest o'us has."
"Its because I'm gay, Graham. She hates him because she's told herself she can't hate me--she's disappointed in me, and thinks I've failed her. I know it. She thought the same of Da, when he died."
Graham gave a short, sad nod of his head. "Aye, and I think there ye have it to rights, as far as hatin' Li'nel goes. But I don' think she's disappointed in ye, or hates ye. She just doesn't know how to accept that yer different than the rest o'us."
Dominic gave a choked sound at that, and his fingers dug in the blankets to knot in a tight handful as he clenched out, "I don't know why it hurts so much. I just want her to love me as I am. She almost killed me because she hates what I am, Graham."
"Aye, I know." And he didn't have any words to comfort, or excuse, with. "I think she does love ye, in her own... very strange and odd ways. Yer her son, Morgan. A'course she loves ye, and she always will."
"A mother doesn't do this to her son. Graham, I have yet to meet my daughter, and already I would die for her. I would die for her. How... how could my own mother.." He closed his eyes as he fought for calm. "I need to go home."
"Aye, ye do. Ye need t'rest. Ye'll be able to think it clearer after a bit of sleep, and a bite of somethin' for dinner." He got back to his feet. "LI'NEL! GET YER SKINNY ARSE OVER 'ERE AN' HELP ME WI'THE RAMP!" he bellowed.
Dominic didn't think he could eat, but he didn't bother to say that, as Graham bellowed across the yard. He swallowed, hard, and struggled for his emotions as he straightened up in his chair and let go of the blanket on his legs. His fingers were white from gripping them, and he sighed, quietly, as he rubbed his eyes a little. "I see your Senatori lungs are still in working order.
Lionel came around the corner, carrying Shane against his shoulder. "Don't worry, my young friend. Your father will have your new playground put together in no time at all for you to play on." He glared at Graham. "You do not have to yell; I am in the same county as you are, and contrary to what my age might make you think, I am not deaf."
Graham just snorted at that. "Aye, yer deaf as a post when it suits ye to be." He nodded at the van that Lionel had driven over. "Bring 'er over, and I'll make sure he gets in safe and belted in tightly."
"Doddering old geezer," Dominic murmured, affectionately, even as he gently tugged on one of Shaney's shoelaces from his spot in Lionel's arms, smiling up at his nephew, even if it felt hollow. "I think its time for us to go home."
"Aye, Morgan, tis never a good thing to insult the man who's to be drivin' you home," Graham teased, reaching out and taking his son. "Into the house with you, Shaney, then you can come out and say goodbye to your uncle Morgan in a few minutes."
Lionel looked carefully at his lover, gauging how tired he was. "Yes... I think it is too. When we get home, I want you to go straight to bed, all right? Dinner will be delayed an hour until you wake up, and then straight to a hot tub with you."
The thought was exquisite. A hot bath, preferably with his lover. His muscles all hurt from the hard workout he'd had and the bellowing rage he'd done with his mother, and he needed to rest. This excursion had sapped what was left of the little strength he had. "Mmm. That sounds nice."
"Then that is our plan." Lionel leaned over and kissed his lover gently. "I'll be right back with the van."
"Mmm." Dominic accepted the gentle kiss, lifting his face up to it and then watching as Lionel went down the walk for the car. "I love him more than life itself." Dominic murmured, to his brother. "Loving him can't be wrong."
Graham just gave a little smile, and let his hand rest on his brother's shoulder. "It isn't wrong," he said. "Just took a bit of gettin' used to, that's all. He's no' half bad, if ye can stand the sarcasm." A quiet pause. "And he loves ye, Morgan. There's no' a thing wrong wi'that."
Dominic met Graham's eyes, then. "He loves me. And I love him so much I can't take it sometimes. I love him so, so much. So much. I know its right, even when other people can't take it, because I know it. I know it inside of me."
Graham gave him a little smile. "Then ye dunna need to ask me if what yer doin' is right. If it'll help ye to be happy like this? Then it's right."
"Graham… I never said I was sorry. About Toni." Dominic shifted, slightly. "I know the only reason you're even talking to me now is because I was hurt. So, for what its worth, and tisn't worth much, I'm sorry."
"Nay," Graham said firmly, glaring at his brother. "I'm talkin' to ye now because I missed ye. I missed ye more'n I'm capable of tellin' ye." His voice was a little gruff, then. "Felt like I was missin' me arm." Hard little swallow. "I was tryin' t'tell ye that afore the weddin', but ye fell before I could. Ye fell because I was distractin' you, talkin' to you about the bottle of whiskey I'd put by fer us, and ye fell cause you were talkin' to me insteada watchin' yer feet."
Dominic's eyebrows knit, tightly. "I don't remember anything about it. I don't remember anything after waking up with Lionel, actually. Everything else is a blur." He looked up, though. "I don't blame you, Graham, and you shouldn't blame yourself either. T'was an accident, nothing more." He reached up and took his brothers arm, tugging until he could wrap his good arm around his neck and hug him tightly, Shaney and all.
Graham returned the hug tightly, squeezing his brother carefully as he shifted Shane out of the way, just a little, and hugged even harder. "I missed ye, Morgan."
"If I was aware of myself, I would have missed you too," Dominic said, quietly, into the flannel of his brother's shirt, before letting go. "Lex told me you sat with me a lot. I appreciate it."
"Aye, I did. Spelled Li'nel whene'er I could, cause I wanted to be wi'ye."
He smiled softly at that, and looked up as his lover drove the van toward them. "He and I had a rough night. Some misunderstandings," He waved it away. "Anyway, come and see me sometime this week? I need a break from the monotony."
Graham nodded. "Aye, I will. Shaney and Toni and I, the three o'us, should be enough to break up anybody's playhouse." A little snicker. "Relievin' your boredom should be a piece o'cake."
"Alright. Let me know how it goes with mama, alright? if you need me to come over, I will."
Graham nodded again, then looked up towards the window to her room, where the drapes were closed shut. "I don' think we'll be havin' any more trouble out o'Mama."
"Tell her... tell her I'm sorry. And that I love her. And that I'll call her."
"I'll tell her." Graham squeezed Dominic's shoulder gently, then put his son down. "Go on, Shaney. Into the house, like I said, and you can come back out in a minute." He didn't want Shane smushed by the moving ramp.
Lionel backed the van up expertly to the edge of the porch, like he'd been doing it his entire life. Eddie's tutoring on the driving had done wonders, and Lionel pressed the button in the front that caused the ramp hydraulics to start, and the metal ramp to lower to the top step of Graham's porch.
-fin-