Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Paradise Post #14-A


Notes: I have rewritten the second half of this twice, and it’s still not quite right.  I don’t want to give you crap, so this is the first half.  I’m still beating—I mean, caressing the second half into submission.  I’ll try to post it before another week goes by, though.

 

Title: Paradise

 

Part Fourteen-A: So Close, Yet…

 

 

***

 

It was the speed of it all that surprised Jonah the most.

In retrospect he knew he shouldn’t have been so surprised.  Garrett was capable of incredible efficiency when he wanted to be, and he had to learn it somewhere.  Apparently his role model was his father, and where Garrett was good, Miles was absolutely astonishing.  Jonah woke up alone (again) and went to check on Cody, who was happily ensconced on his bed with Garrett watching a projection of the latest Space Rangers movie.  Apparently they were fighting giant mutant frogs in a swamp ruled by a wicked sorceress.  Well, someone had to do it.

“Hey, guys.”

“Daddy!”  Cody turned happily and held up his arms.  He’d been a little more clingy since the bug incident, which didn’t bother Jonah at all.  Jonah sat down next to them and pulled Cody into his arms while Garrett turned off the movie.  Cody was warm in his embrace, but when he took Garrett’s hand it was so cold it shocked him.  “You been sittin’ in ice water, darlin’?” Jonah asked, only kind of joking at this point.

“I’m fine,” Garrett said with a smile.  “Maybe it’s lack of sleep.”

“I noticed that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.”  There was something anxious in Garrett’s demeanor and Jonah wanted to dig deeper, but Cody was demanding his attention. 

“Daddy, I had fish for breakfast.”

“What?”  He stared over at Garrett.  “How’d he get fish?  How’d you get him to eat fish?”

“They were Taiyaki, pancakes cooked in the shape of fish, filled with red bean paste,” Garrett clarified.  “Claudia has a special pan to make them with, they’re a favorite where she’s from.  We colored in the gills and scales with blue whipped cream.”

“Sounds like a pretty good breakfast,” Jonah said as he pictured it.

“The red was like guts,” Cody said gleefully.  “And I pretended to be a shark when I ate it.”

“It was a good but messy breakfast,” Garrett added.  “It required copious use of cleansing facecloths to recover from.”

“Yeah?  Did you pretend to be a shark when you ate yours too?”

“Garrett didn’t have any,” Cody told him.  “He said he wasn’t hungry.”

Jonah looked up at his fiancé.  “Did you already eat?”

“Not long ago.”

“What does that mean?” Jonah asked, but Garrett just shrugged.  “Maybe that’s why you’re so peeked now.  You’ve gotta eat, darlin’.”

“I’m fine.  I’ll eat a big lunch, I promise,” Garrett said with a dismissive wave.  “So, I talked to my dad this morning about the situation.”

Jonah frowned.  “Don’t you think that’s the sort of thing we should have done together?”

“You were sleeping.  You were tired, sweetheart.  I just wanted to get the ball rolling, and my father is the last person who would judge.”  Garrett looked a little worried.  “You’re not mad, are you?”

“Ma—no, I’m not mad,” Jonah said, and he really wasn’t.  It was only, “I just don’t want you to take on too much of the responsibility for this.  It’s something we should deal with as a team.  You said it yourself, this is us, right?  I know I don’t want to do it alone, s’why I told you about this mess.”

“Oh.”  Garrett still looked worried.  Jonah leaned across the bed and pulled him into a kiss.  Garrett’s lips were soft and yielding, and it made Jonah want to take him back to the bed he’d been avoiding, but then Cody made a very pointed “ugh” sound.  They pulled apart and looked down at Cody, who rolled his eyes.

“Can I get up now?” he asked.  “The doctor said I could get up today.  My fever is totally gone.”

“I don’t think that should be a problem,” Jonah said.  Cody crawled out of his lap and bounded toward the door.  Jonah watched him go, then turned back to Garrett.  “So what did your dad say?”

“He’s preparing to offer Drifters an economic incentive to do business legally on Paradise.  He’s got the framework set up already, it’s something he’s been thinking of for some time.  He’s got an appointment to talk to Kilroy Dechiara later today.  He’s also got a family practice lawyer on staff who’s collecting information that can help us once Kilroy and Jack break ways.  Which they will, once my father is through with Kilroy.”

“That’s…wow.”  That was a lot of doing in a few short hours.  Jonah felt kind of superfluous.  “What does he need us to do?”

“Be prepared to talk to Gunny—the gunnery sergeant, Fred Bowman, he’s our lawyer—and prepare yourself to deal with Jack once he gets here.”  Garrett tilted his head.  “Are you worried?  You look worried.”

“About Jack?”  Jonah leaned against the head of the bed and shut his eyes for a moment.  “I always worried about Jack.  That hasn’t changed.  It’s hard because, while he hasn’t been a part of Cody’s life, he has…he’s a part of him, you know?  He’s in Cody’s blood, he’s part of his DNA.  He’s half of my boy.  And I love every part of Cody.”

“You feel guilty.”  Jonah nodded.  Garrett sidled a little closer and leaned his forehead against Jonah’s.  “You have a soft spot for him, and it bothers you.  Of course you have a soft spot, he’s your son’s other biological father.  But that doesn’t mean he has a right, legal or moral, to jam himself into your life now, yours or Cody’s.  And he’s being an absolute bastard about it.”

“True.”  Jonah opened his eyes and looked at Garrett.  Their faces were only a few inches apart, close enough that Jonah could almost count the pale silver flecks in Jonah’s irises.  “I love you, darlin’.  You’re the best man I know.”

Garrett smiled weakly.  “I’m not so great.”

“Of course you are.”

Garrett shook his head, then drew in a deep breath.  “There’s something I have to tell you.”

“What?”  Jonah stroked his fingers along the side of Garrett’s face.  Garrett turned his head and kissed the trailing fingertips, but he looked tense.  “What, baby?”  Garrett looked at him in silence for a long moment, then opened his mouth.

“Daddy!  Garrett!”

The stillness of the moment shattered.  They both turned to look at Cody.  “What is it, bucko?”

“Grandpa needs you in his office, he says Mr. Dechiara is coming and he wants you guys to be there for the meeting, and there’s stuff you need to know first.”

“Tell him we’ll be right there, please,” Garrett said, pushing himself into an upright position.  Cody nodded and ran off, and Garrett sighed.  “I guess we’d better get a move on.”

“No, darlin’, tell me what you were gonna say.”  Whatever it was, it was clearly eating at Garrett.  “Just tell me fast, get it out.”

“It’s not the sort of thing that can really be told fast,” Garrett said wryly.  “But don’t worry about it.  I’ll tell you as soon as we can take a break.  I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

“Good.”  He smirked, trying to lighten the mood.  “Sometimes I need a firm hand.”

Jonah nipped at his chin.  “We’ll see later just how firm a hand you can take, baby.”

“Dad!  Garrett!”  Cody was back at the door, but this time he had his hands dramatically clapped over his ears.  “Gross!  Come on!”  He ran away again, and this time his fathers followed.

***
 
 
Mmm, fishy delishy...

11 comments:

  1. I worry about Garrett because I have this really bad feeling that when he crashes it's going to be messy and at the worst possible moment.

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    1. That's very possible. Even likely, I would say.

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  2. this is slow maddening torture...if you don't hurry up with the next part will cover you in bean paste and feed you to cody!

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    1. Ooh, sugahhuney! Tell me more about your plans for this red bean paste!

      :)

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  3. Found your stories on literotica years ago its one of my faves little dd i know you snuck off somewhere else to write more! So happy I found the rest of there, but damn write faster and don't ever stop! They can never get boring!

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  4. Oh and don't tempt me with the bean paste!

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  5. Love the fish. Garrett is so going to crash. I just hope Jonah will be able to help pick up the pieces.

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    1. I think they look so tasty:) And Garrett, hmm...yes, some strange times are ahead for him and Jonah.

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  6. Mmm was thinking! when garret told jonah he needed a firm hand, do you think jonah might spank him for planting the bug and maybe for negelecting his health? I know i got a perverted mind lol

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    1. Spanking! Well, anything is possible, although that isn't quite their dynamic at this point. Still, steps will have to be taken, won't they.

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  7. well was thinking, garret represent the new way everythign technological, while jonah sort of the old way, with have a natural son and being from the gypsy clan, he might veiw thngs a bit more old fashion. I know he loved garrett to death and he already had alot of bad experince in his life and already facing losing cody much sooner that he thought possible from his life,, it would kill him to lose garret after learnng to trust and letting somone else into his life again. So i know seeing garret at his possible worst, specially, i think part of him would feel anger at garret for not trusting him enough to tell him about his past, about garret letting his health lapse putting everythign else before it, for not letting giving jonah a chance to take care of him. I don't think he would be mad about the bug so much. I doubt jonah would ever leave garret no matter how pissed off he is lol but he might be tempted to strangle him once he gets over his losing garret scare. Then there is cody, depending on the kind of episode garret has, would cody be around wout it endanger him, would garret be in a frame of mind to know not to hurt cody, will cody be afriad of garret, will jonah have to consdier his son safety over his love of garret? but what if its not a psyhotic episode what if garret collasp, near death, im a situation where help is not readily available, what if cody is the only one around, can cody handle it, how would cody feel seeing his father in such a state?

    Dammit you need to write faster!

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