Blake and I asked Dave and Sue a few more questions then went straight across the street to talk to Dan and Lisa, we needed to find out more about Isaac being adapted, this certainly could be a motive in his disappearance.
A tired Dan answered the door, “detectives, is there any news?”
I shook my head, “no, I’m sorry, but we do have a new lead to follow.”
Lisa joined us as Dan led us to the living room, she asked, “what is it detective, what new lead?”
I said, “Sue and Dave just told us that Isaac is adapted, can you tell us about that?”
Dan said, “I’m sorry, but I didn’t think that it was important, Lisa and I don’t even think of Isaac as being adopted anymore, he is our son detective.”
Blake said, “we understand that Dan, but we have to consider that the biological parents may have wanted Isaac back.”
Lisa’s eyes went wide, “do you think they would do that?”
I said, “we have to look at every angle, what can you tell us about the adoption?”
Dan said, “there really isn’t much to tell, we had been on a waiting list with a private agency for a little over a year. We knew we were getting close to the top of the list, but we were still surprised when we got the phone call. The agency told us that the mother was still in college and she, and the father were not married. They told the agency that they weren’t ready to be parents and thought that giving up the baby was the best for all involved.”
I asked, “did you ever meet the parents?”
Dan shook his head, “no, it was a closed adoption, the mother didn’t want to know who adopted the baby and didn’t want us to know who she was. The agency told us that Isaac came from healthy parents and neither the mother nor father used drugs. They always make that clear, so the new parents knew they weren’t getting a drug addicted baby. We fell in love with Issac from the moment that we saw him. God, it’s been 4 years detective, do you really think they would come back for Isaac?”
I said, “I’m not sure, but like I said, we have to follow every lead. So was the adoption closed for both sides, does the mother know who you are?”
Lisa said, “from what we were told, neither side knew who the other was.”
I asked, “can you tell us the name of the adoption agency?”
Dan nodded, “it was St. Francis’s Family Services, we were referred to them by our church.”
Blake asked, “do you know what hospital Isaac was born at?”
Lisa said, “we picked him up at St. Joeseph’s Hospital. That’s where we met our social worker and signed all the final papers for the adoption.”
I asked, “did you ever go to the St Francis office?”
Dan relied, “yes, we always met at their office until the day, we got Isaac.”
Blake and I wrapped up our final questions and got into my car, Blake asked, “you want to go to the St Francis office or the hospital first?”
I gave Blake the business card that the Grove’s had given us for the adoption agency and said, “call and see if Donna Hogan will see us, and I’ll call Lucas and have him connect me with the hospital records office to see if they will see us too.”
I called Lucas, I could hear he was still a bit upset from his dream, I told him what I was looking for and he gave the name and number of Cal Potter, the head of the records department.
Before I ended the call, I asked, “are you doing, ok?”
He sighed, “yeah, I’ll be fine Drake, you know how I get when I have that dream.”
I said, “yes, I do. Just remember, I love you.”
I could feel him smile, “thank you, I love you too.”
I called Cal Potter, and he could meet us anytime, Blake ended his call and said Mrs. Hogan won’t be in for another hour, so we decided to go the hospital first.
***
Lucas Flashback.
Hearing Drake tell me he loved me, always helped me work through my feelings after my Jace dreams. Just like Travis helped me when Jace died.
Travis put his arm around me as we walked back to my car at the cemetery. He asked, “how are you doing Lucas?”
I shrugged as I wiped a tear away, God, you would think I would be out of tears by now. I said, “life sucks right now Trav.”
He said, “I know bud, I wish I could do something to help.”
I gave him a weak smile, “thanks, I just appreciate you being here for me, just like you always have been.”
He nodded, “you would do the same for me.”
I sighed, “I hope I never have to.”
True to his word, Travis was there for me for the next few weeks, so were Emily, Drew and Erica. They listened to me reminisce about Jace until Travis finally reminded me that Jace wanted me to move on.
He said, “I know you love and miss him, but you know you can’t keep this up.”
I nodded, “yeah, I know, but how do I move on?”
Travis shrugged, “I’m not sure Lucas, I have never been through anything like this either. Look, it’s good to remember Jace and the good times, but I think you need to find something else to focus on. I’m sure Jace would want you to think of him and smile, not cry.”
I sighed, “my dad is telling me the same thing.”
He said, “hey, what about college, we are leaving in less than two months. You still need to decide what you want to study, how about we see if we can figure that out for you?”
I asked, “how do we do that? How did you know what you liked so young?”
He shook his head, “I don’t know, I have always liked fixing things, you know that. What do you like to do? I mean, I know you like to read and learn new things, I think you would make a great teacher, you always helped me when we studied together.”
I chuckled, “yeah, I don’t think I want to deal with a bunch of moody teenagers.”
Travis asked, “didn’t you and Jace ever talk about this?”
I nodded, “yes, of course, He wanted to be an engineer, but I hadn’t narrowed my path down yet. Maybe I could check out the engineering program out at the University.”
He said, “that was Jace’s dream Lucas, not yours.”
I sighed, “I know.”
Over the next few weeks, the five of us would get together and I was starting to go a little bit longer between my thoughts of Jace. Travis was right, the memories were all the good ones and not of the last few months, when he was sick. Mom and dad were happy that I was in a better mood, and we were having a lot of conversations on what I was going to study in college. After one of our talks, I was on the university’s website looking at their programs again, hoping something would catch my eye. Finally, something did. I took my laptop and ran into the living room.
I said, “mom, dad, I think I have figured it out.”
Dad set his newspaper down as I showed him the screen and mom looked up from her needlepoint.
He asked, “what is it, Lucas?”
I pointed to the screen, “right there, hematology.”
Mom asked, “what is that?”
Dad read, “hematology is the study of blood and its related disorders.” He looked up at me, “are you sure?”
I nodded, “yes, maybe I can figure out a cure for what Jace had so no one else ever has to go through what he did.”
Mom said, “you know we will always support you, but don’t set your expectations too high.”
Dad added, “your mom is right, if a cure was easy, it would have been discovered already. Be sure you really want to do this, don’t just do it to because of your grief.”
I did a lot of research and had many more talks with mom and dad and by the time I moved into the dorm, I knew I was doing what I wanted. Part of me wanted to do it for Jace, but I really did find the subject fascinating. By the time I got into my second year of school and was taking classes in my field, I knew I had made the right choice.
It was in one of those classes that I met Brody Cavanaugh. The first thing that I noticed about him was his ass, as I followed him into the lecture hall. It had been almost two years since Jace died and I was finally starting to look at other guys. His ass was just as nice as Jace’s and when he turned so that I could see his face, I nearly gasped. Maybe I was looking too hard, but he even resembled Jace. He didn’t exactly look like Jace, but he had similar eyes and jaw line. He smiled when he saw me staring at him, I blushed and quickly took a seat. After about a week of us checking each other out during class, he finally worked up the nerve to ask me to join him for lunch in the student union.
We got our trays and found a table near the back of the room. He smiled as we sat down, “so Lucas Mills, tell me about yourself.”
I shrugged, “there’s really not much to tell, I’m just boring guy in my second year. What about you?”
He chuckled, “I guess about the same as you, I’m in the pre-med program.”
I said, “wow, you want to be a doctor, impressive.”
He nodded, “yep, I have wanted to be a doctor ever since I dissected that frog in Biology class in tenth grade. What made you decide to study hematology?”
I told him about Jace, and for the first time, I got through it without breaking down.
He said, “wow, he must have someone special to you.”
I said, “he was.”
We talked until we needed to go to our next class, and for the rest of the week, we ate lunch together every day. Brody was so easy to talk to and I found myself telling him things that I had only ever told Jace and Travis. He was telling me a lot of personal things as well. By Friday, I worked up the courage to ask him out for a date, I was relieved when he accepted, we were going out for dinner on Saturday night.
I was a bundle of nerves as I got ready for our date, I sighed as I looked at myself in the mirror. I talked to Jace, “ok Jace, you told me to move on, I hope you like Brody, because I think I do. I know he isn’t you, but I want to see where things go. I love and miss you and know you want me to be happy.”
I met Brody at the restaurant, and we had a great time, I couldn’t stop looking into those eyes all night. There was never an awkward silence and after we ate, we shared a nice kiss before we got in our cars and drove home. He sent me a text message as I was getting into bed, “had I great time, hope you did too.”
I replied, “yes I did, would love to go out with you again.”
He texted back, “I would love that too, I’ll call you tomorrow.”
From that point on, we saw or called each other every day, we studied together, ate together and went on dates every weekend. We had been seeing each other for a little over a month, Brody was at my place, we were studying for a test.
When we were done, he leaned in for a kiss. We had made out before, but that is as far as we had gone. I appreciated that Brody let me take the lead and not push being physical too soon.
Brody broke our kiss and smiled, “I guess I better head home.”
I took his hand and pulled him in for another kiss, I said, “you don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.”
He asked, “are you sure?”
I nodded, “yes, I’m sure.”
I led him to my bed and resumed kissing, we were soon pulling each other’s clothes off. I took a minute to admire his naked body, his muscular chest had a light coat of hair surrounding two quarter size nipples, standing proud through the fur. I ran my hand down Brody’s flat toned stomach until I reached his already hard cock. It was about 7 thick inches with a large purple mushroom head. I gave him a couple strokes as a drop of precum escaped the slit, I greedily licked it up. Brody let out a deep breath as I took his dick into my mouth and began to suck. He ran his hands through my hair as I bobbed up and down. It didn’t take long for me to remember how to give a blow job and Brody sure seemed to be enjoying it too. After a few minutes, Brody moaned and pushed me off his cock, he said, “shit Lucas, you are going to make me cum, let me have a taste of your meat.”
I rolled onto my back and Brody got between my legs and inhaled my manhood. He ran his tongue under my foreskin, then took my entire length down his throat as he fondled my cum-filled nuts. I spread my legs when I felt him run a finger across the crack of my ass. Brody kissed my nuts and then moved down to my now exposed pucker. He darted his tongue in and out, leaving his slobber in and around my hole. I was soon begging him to fuck me, Brody came up for a kiss as he rubbed the head of his cock along my crack, leaving a trail of precum. We continued kissing as Brody slowly impaled me, his pole filling me completely. He was soon thrusting in and out and I was meeting every thrust with one of my own. I felt the cum start to churn in my balls, I gave my engorged dick a few strokes and it spit out a huge load of creamy white seed. My juice filled my belly button and ran down my sides onto the sheets. Brody smiled down at me as he let out one last grunt and flooded my guts with his warm baby makers. We kissed until his spasms stopped and his deflating manhood slipped from my cum-filled hole.
After we cleaned up, I invited Brody to spend the night, we held each other as we drifted off to sleep. I dreamt that Jace came to see to me, he gave me his approval. The next morning, for the first time since I lost Jace, I felt at peace and knew I could enjoy my time with Brody and still love Jace.
I called Travis the next day and told him all about Brody, he said, “Lucas, I am so happy for you, I am glad to hear that excitement in your voice again, I am really proud of you.”
I said, “thanks Travis, I can’t wait for you and Emily to meet him.”
I also called my parents and told them I was seeing someone, they were just as happy for me as Travis was.
Mom said, “you know you can bring him home with you, we would love to meet him.”
I said, “yeah, Travis wants to meet him too.”
Mom said, “why don’t you bring him here on Saturday night for dinner, Heather will be home, and you can call Travis and invite him and Emily too.”
I called Brody and asked if he was up for meeting my family, he agreed, and I quickly called Travis and mom back and set everything up. I was excited for everyone to meet Brody and mom told me that my sister, Heather, was bringing her new boyfriend Joe as well.
Mom pulled out all the stops, she was an amazing cook and there was a huge dish of fettuccini alfredo, salad and garlic bread. I think Brody and Joe were a little overwhelmed, Travis and Emily were so much like family, they already knew how my family interacted, and they always joined in the teasing and talking. Everyone seemed to get along and I was glad that Brody liked my family. I really liked Joe too, he seemed like a great guy and Heather was certainly smitten with him.
Once we finished with dinner, Heather and I went to the kitchen to get the desert, I said, “I really like Joe, sis.”
She smiled, “thanks, so do I. I think he may be the one.”
I smiled back, “good for you, I’m happy for you.”
She asked, “so, how do you feel about Brody?”
I shrugged, “I like being with him, I’m not sure if I am at the he’s the one stage yet, but it’s been good so far. What do you think of him?”
She picked up the plates and turned toward the dining room, “if you are happy, then I am happy for you.”
I followed her into the dining room with the cake mom had made, a little disappointed in her comment, I wasn’t sure how to take her luke-warm assessment of Brody.
We finished eating and were getting ready to leave, mom of course had dished up some leftovers for each of us to take home. As we headed for the door, she said, “don’t forget your food, it’s in the fridge.”
Dad said, “come on Lucas, I’ll help you get it.”
Once we were in the kitchen, dad opened the fridge door to retrieve the three containers. I asked, “so what do you think of Brody?”
He smiled, “he seems nice, I just want him to treat you right.”
I paused, “what do you mean?”
He sighed, “oh nothing, I just want you to be happy.”
I was concerned that my family didn’t like Brody, was I missing something? The next day when I called Travis, he had a similar response. I just knew once they got to know him better, they would all like Brody. Over the next two years, things really didn’t change. Brody and I were getting along great, and while my family didn’t say anything, it was clear they weren’t Brody’s biggest fans.
They couldn’t tell me a specific reason why they didn’t like him, they would just say, “we love you and if you’re happy, that’s all that matters.” Brody never asked about it, and I didn’t bring it up either, but the longer we were together the more it bothered me.
As I was getting ready to graduate, I was starting to think about what was next for Brody and me. I knew he was going to go to medical school, and I was going to look for a job. I knew we probably needed to have a talk about our future. Last semester, Brody moved into an apartment, while I stayed in the dorms. I thought that he was maybe thinking about asking me to move in with him once I found a job.
I drove to his place and knocked on his door, I brought a pizza, I figured we could eat and talk things over.
He answered the door, he looked a little surprised, “Lucas, what are you doing here?”
I smiled as I held up the pizza, “I thought we should talk, I brought dinner.”
He said, “oh, ok, yeah come on in.”
I asked, “did you have other plans, I mean, we can do this later.”
Brody gave me a kiss, “no, it’s fine, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to sound like that, of course we can talk.”
Brody grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge as I opened the pizza box, and we sat at his table.
I said, “I just thought we should talk about what comes after graduation.”
He asked, “what do you mean?”
I shrugged, “I was thinking about us, do you think you might want me to move in with you?”
He looked a little panicked, “well, I guess I hadn’t really thought about that. Is that something you want to do?”
I said, “I will have to find a place to live once I find a job, but it sounds like you maybe don’t want me to move in with you.”
Brody sighed, “no it’s not that I don’t want you to move in, but with med school and…”
Before he could say anything more, the door to the apartment opened and a guy walked in and gave Brody a kiss.
He said, “hey babe, I didn’t know we were having company.”
Brody said, “Jake, this is Lucas.”
Jake held out his hand and smiled, “hi Lucas, are you a friend of Brody’s?”
I looked at Brody as his face was turning bright red, I didn’t shake Jake’s hand. I stood and said, “no, I guess not.” I immediately turned and left.
***
I walked into Lucas’s lab to see him staring off into space, I asked, “what are thinking about?”
He snapped back to reality and smiled, “just how lucky I am to have you in my life.” He wrapped me in a hug and gave me a kiss.
I kissed him back, “I am the lucky one.”
He asked, “so what brings you to the hospital?"
I said, “Blake and I are meeting with Cal, I wanted to see if you would like to go to lunch when we are done.”
He grinned, “I would love to. Come get me when you are finished.
To be continued…
