Fixing the Mistakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fixing the Mistakes
by jhourdhaun

"You did WHAT!" Stephen Connor yelled across the phone line. "What the fuck were you thinking? How could you do that to Gil?"

Frank Powell had been rudely awakened by his lover's yelling and now that he was more aware, he was curious to see what his brother-in-law had done.

"I don't care if she needed this to stay in the country. I don't care if Gil said it was okay and that Tina knows the score. You MARRIED her! That does not instill confidence in your relationship with Gil."

That caused Frank to sit up straight in the bed, "He what?! Has your brother lost his mind?"

Stephen motioned for him to quiet down as he continued his conversation. "Do you realise how long you have to keep up this pretense? The feds are buckling down on this kind of thing. This is not going to be easy to work with." He ran his hands through his hair and looked over at his spouse, mouthing the words, 'My brother is an IDIOT!' "Just tell me you did it at one of those all-night chapels." Stephen nodded. "Good. We can work with that. I'll call Connie and have her set the paperwork up for an anullment. We'll pull a Britney and say you were drunk or something and weren't really thinking. We'll get her to work out some other way to keep Tina in the country that DOES NOT involve you setting up house with her and destroying the best thing that ever happened to you."

As Stephen continued to rant, Frank figured this was his cue to start planning. He reached over and grabbed his cell phone, speed-dialling his boss. "Hey, Kate? Sorry to call so early, but Stephen has a family emergency concerning Warrick and we were wondering if you could spare us for a few days." He waited for her response. "We're hoping it's notan effect from the virus, but I'm sure Stephen will want to check every possibility. You know how he is about his little brother." There was another pause. "Yeah, it would seem that he threw out all of his common sense and married one of his friends to keep her in the country." Frank suddenly jerked the phone from his ear as a prolongued, "What?!" shrieked through the line. "Strangely enough, that was Stephen's response as well." He frowned. "I know new strains of stuff can sometimes scramble circuits, so I'm kind of hoping that's what's going on for everyone's sake. If it's not, well... you and Stephen might both be getting your wish of Warrick moving here and joining up, unfortunately sans Gil." Frank nodded and smiled. "Yeah, If this isn't an effect, I'll kick Rick's ass for you." Another nod. "Okay and thanks for the time." His smile transformed into a smirk. "Tell Nat I said hi and make this early morning interruption up to her in such a way that she won't mind having to take on Stephen's duties for the next few days." Without waiting for a response, he quickly disconnected, chuckling to himself.

"Ricky, I know you're a grown man, but this was stupid! You have no idea what you've set yourself up for and that alone makes me think that something's not right. When your temper's not engaged, you tend to think everything through from beginning to end, taking into account every detail and scenario that could happen. This is not like you!"

Frank listened for a bit more before getting out of bed and heading for their study. Once there, he grabbed his laptop and headed back. Before returning to his and Stephen's room, he stopped in to check on his oldest two girls - Corey and Tesha - in their room, the baby - Maddison - in the nursery and Jack in his. Once satisfied that their children haven't been disturbed, he made it back to the master suite and resumed his seat, starting up his laptop. While it was loading, he made a couple of more calls.

"How is Gil handling all of this... honestly?" Stephen was still discussing things with his sibling. "And you don't find the fact that you guys haven't spoken in two days a problem considering that you LIVE together?" Frank could tell it was taking everything in his spouse not to lose control. "Oh, he's been sleeping in one of the guest rooms." Oh boy. That didn't sound good. "What do you think about that?" Stephen obviously didn't like the answer. "Okay, listen up. I want you to stick close to the house. I don't want you coming into contact with anyone other than Nick or Gil. I'm going to call them and give them a head's up. While you're waiting, I want you to pack a bag with a couple of sets of pajamas..." He paused and rolled his eyes. "I know you don't normally wear them, but I do know you have them. Pack some of them and your toiletries and wait for either Gil or Nick to show. One or both of them will probably keep you company until Frank and I arrive. Once we're there, we'll get you checked into the hospital for a few tests. You understand all of that?" Stephen nodded as he listened. "Okay. Good. I'm gonna get off the phone now and make some calls and arrangements. I promise I'll be there as soon as I can and we'll take care of this, Baby Brother." He was just getting ready to say his goodbyes when it looked like something occurred to him. "Rick, under NO circumstances are you to let Tina in, okay?" Another nod. "Good. I'll see you in bit."

As Stephen disconnected his call, Frank snaked a hand over to his lover's and squeezed. "You think this is a leftover from the virus."

Stephen took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, I do. He's not thinking straight and he got so confused when I was talking to him on the phone. At one point, he even thought he married Gil and not Tina." He raked his hand through his already dishevelled hair. "He knew something was wrong with Gil sleeping elsewhere, but he couldn't figure out what. Dammit! I should have expected this."

"How? Who made you God and all-knowing?" Frank placed his laptop on the nightstand and then leaned over to embrace his love. "This was totally unexpected and you had no control of it. You need to take a step back and accept that."

"I know," Stephen replied as he got comfortable within the embrace. "I just ... feel so helpless. It's times like these that it sucks to be a doctor because I know everything that this could be and that scares the shit out of me."

"I know, babe. And that's why I'm here to help you keep the fears at bay and keep you focused on fixing the problem."

Stephen lifted his head and kissed Frank. "Thank God for that." He took a deep breath and pulled away. "Okay. I need to call Kate and arrange for some time off for us, make some arrangements about the kids, call Nick and Gil, get us a flight and contact Desert Palms and Rick's doctor about preparing for him."

"Kate gave us a week and pending the results, possibly more. My mom's gonna come stay for a few days with the kids and if it looks like it might be longer, Kim says she will. I have us an 11:00 am flight out of Dulles which means we need to get our asses moving if we want to get things ready and spend some time with the kids before we go. Miles has promised to have the literature waiting for us at Desert and he, Eva, Kate and Nat are sending positive vibes." Frank grinned. "Knowing how you like to be in control in medical matters, I left you to call Gil, Nick, Dr. Gruehler and the hospital."

For several minutes, all Stephen could do was just stare at his spouse. Finally, he shook his head and grinned. "You are simply amazing. Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell me you love me on the MARC in, shocking all of the Right-Wingers and we'll call it even."

"I'll do you one better. I'll kiss you, profess my undying love and hopes to get married and then start up a conversation about our kids and the possibility of having more so that we can promote the gay agenda to future generations."

Frank couldn't stop laughing. "I do love how that evil and devious mind of yours works." Pulling Stephen towards the master bath, Frank added. "Politics aside, we better hurry. It's time for us to go save that brother of yours from the mess he's found himself in."

The End...

 

Dr. Stephen Connor and Frank Powell

Relativity

. Meeting the Family by jhourdhaun

. Family Vacation by jhourdhaun

. Heart and Soul: What If... by jhourdhaun

. Finding Warrick by jhourdhaun

. Fixing the Mistakes by jhourdhaun

. To Hell and Back: Relativity Timeline by jhourdhaun

Out Of Sync, Prologue by jhourdhaun