Adult-FanFiction.org : Celebrity

Last Swim	By : jai Category: Individual Celebrities > Athlete/Sports Misc Views: 8134 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the people written about in this fanfiction. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 19
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- 21
December 27, 2005 Ann Arbor, MI

Ian stood outside the door to the kitchen and waited for Michael to be ready to go in. He didn’t know what Michael was planning to do but he was going to follow his lead.

“I think I’m ready.” Michael straightened his shoulders and was tempted to try to smile but didn’t think he could fake it well enough. He grabbed the knob and pushed the door open to find all the parents gathered in the kitchen playing cards.

“Michael, Ian! You’re back.”

“Hey all.” Michael took of his coat and grabbed Ian’s. “Let me just go hang these up.”

Ian gave him a look and leaned in to whisper, “If you’re not back here in five minutes, I’ll assume plan A.”

“What’s plan A?”

“Strategic regrouping.”

Michael nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Ian to face the older generation alone.

“Something smells good.”

“We made tacos with Spanish rice, for a change of pace. We hope you don’t mind but we didn’t wait dinner for you. Would you like me to make you both a plate?” Margaret asked before playing a card that made the rest of the table groan.

“No, I don’t mind and don’t get up. What are you playing?” Ian looked over the table noticing the piles of change in front of each player and in the middle of the table.

“It’s called Pitch. Sort of like bridge but less complicated to learn.” Fred explained.

“Gambling? Fred, I’m shocked.” Ian’s cell phone rang and he took out, curious to see who was calling. When Michael’s cell phone number came up on the display, he wandered over across the kitchen and casually answered.

“Hello?”

“I don’t want to come back in there.”

“I see.”

“Can we go with plan B?”

“Which is?”

“Me hiding in our room for the rest of the time they’re here, you being the best boyfriend in the world and bringing me sustenance.”

“Well I agree with the second part but we’ll have to work on the beginning.”

“I just can’t.”

“And I’m not saying you have to.”

“Will you bring me food?”

“More or less?”

“More.”

“Okay, in the usual place?”

“Yes. Is it something I can eat in the bathtub?”

“Probably not.”

“Damn.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll manage.”

“You think I should just tell them?”

“Not necessarily. You have to consider the timing.”

“You know, you’re really good at this.”

“What?”

“Being sneaky on the phone.”

“You should know.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I’ll tell you later, I’ve got to go now.”

“Okay, see you in a minute.” They both hung up and Ian realized his father was looking at him suspiciously. Ian put his phone away and pulled down two plates.

“Ian, the fixings are in the fridge and the shells are in the oven.”

“Thanks.” Ian got everything out and assembled eight tacos, four to a plate along with some of the rice. He took two bottles of Sprite out of the fridge and then put everything away while getting out two forks and some napkins. Not sure of how much of the taco sauce Michael wanted, he kept that bottle out. Now for the hard part. He walked over to the table and avoiding his dad’s eyes, cleared his throat.

“Did you find everything?” Jackie asked.

“Yes. Um. Well. Something’s come up and we need a little time to process.” He rushed on as they all looked at him with growing apprehension. “It’s nothing life threatening or dangerous. We’ll tell you all about it once we’ve had some time to talk it over.”

“Is something wrong? Did Michael get hurt? Where is he?” Debbie said, getting ready to stand up.

“Debbie, it’s nothing like that. Michael’s fine, just a little shaky. It wasn’t an accident, he’s not hurt.”

“Ian if it’s nothing serious, why isn’t he down here?”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t serious, he just wants think about it before he talks to you and he will talk to you.”

Fred stood, “Michael knows he can talk to us about anything. What’s the problem?”

“Dad, wait!” Michael stood in the doorway. “Ian, I’m sorry. I should never have put you in this position. Mom, dad there is something I want to talk to you about but I just didn’t know how to. I didn’t even know I had what it was until just a little while ago.”

Ryan, Margaret, Jackie and Ken all began to stand up, to give them some privacy when Michael waved them back down. “You’re all going to hear about this anyway so you might as well stay. Please, I don’t mind.”

“Love, you can’t do this standing up. Let me get you a chair from the dining room.”

“Thanks. I really am sorry you know and I do have to say it this time, I shouldn’t have tried to make you run interference for me.”

“Then I accept your apology. Why don’t you grab one of those Sprites and put our plates in the oven. You need to eat but probably not right now.”

“That’s for sure.” Michael rubbed his stomach and grimaced.

Ian returned quickly with two chairs and sat them beside each other, leaving the parents to rearrange themselves around the table. Michael sat down with his soda and handed the other one to Ian before taking Ian’s hand in his.

“Okay, this is what happened. Please just let me tell you and we can talk about when I’m done. Ian and I were talking earlier. Mom I noticed how nervous you were earlier on the way to the airport and after Ian asked me if I thought you and Ryan were going to get married, I sort of freaked out. No, don’t get upset. I wasn’t freaking out because of that.

“I don’t know if you guys are or aren’t heading in that direction and I’m still a little leery for other reasons but I’d like to shelve it and move on. Ian dug a little further because he knows me and it didn’t make sense that I’d be okay about you dating and be all weird on the marriage thing.

“So he asked me about when you and Jackie got married. I told him about the crab feast reception thing you threw and then I remembered something that happened while I was there. There was a girl, I think her name was Claudia and I think she said she was Jackie’s cousin but I’m not sure and I’m certainly not blaming Jackie for what happened either.”

Michael took a swallow of his drink and continued before anyone could ask the questions he could see them forming.

“She was my age, maybe a couple of years older and she made me really uncomfortable. Ian asked me what would have happened if I’d acted towards her the way she acted towards me and you would have nailed my ass to the ground, dad. It was really inappropriate but no one seemed to notice and I just didn’t know how to deal with it. That’s why I left early.

“What really is bothering me though is that I just didn’t remember it. I remember feeling sick to my stomach that day and going home early but nothing else. I felt sick today just remembering it. And I’m really uneasy with the fact that I’ve sort of let that incident effect certain parts of my life.”

Michael took another swallow and put the cap back on the bottle. “That’s it. That’s all. You can talk now.”

There was silence for a minute and Fred coughed, clearing his throat. “What did she do that was so inappropriate?”

“It first it wasn’t so bad, I thought we were just flirting and I was trying to be nice but then she got touchy-feely. I was worried that maybe she thought I was leading her on or playing hard to get so I tried to walk away and she followed me around, talking about having sex on the picnic table in front of everyone. It was…” Michael went silent, looking down at and and Ian’s hands.

“What do you mean by touchy-feely?” Debbie asked.

“Trying to hug me, trying to get me to kiss her, putting her arms around me, hanging on me. Nothing below the waist after she patted my butt, I kept grabbing her hands and trying to push her away. I finally ducked into the house and found a bathroom, she knocked on the door a few times but I locked the door and after I threw up, I climbed out the window.”

“Michael, I don’t have a cousin named Cla. Wh. What did she look like?”

“She was about five six, maybe five eight. She had blonde hair but it was a dye job; I could see the roots but she used a lot of hairspray and too much make up on; she kind of sounded like she was from Essex or Dundalk. She said she went to North Harford or maybe she was just wearing a T-shirt from there. Her brother was taller but really sleazy looking, I think his name was Norton, maybe Nelson.” Michael suddenly went pale and bent forward and began muttering. “Oh crap. Oh crap.”

Michael clapped his hand over his mouth and ran into the powder room, Ian hot on his heels. Michael crashed through the door and fell to his knees, emptying the contents of his stomach into the toilet. He was crying as he retched, shaking in terror and shock. Ian slid in behind him and tried to give him support, both physically and emotionally. Debbie, Fred and the rest of their guests were crowded in the doorway.

Stomemptempty, Michael clutched at the seat of the toilet and began rocking back and forth.

“Debbie, would you wet that washcloth and hand it to me?”

Debbie hurried to obey and Ian placed the cool cloth on the of of Michael’s neck.

“Ian, shall we call for a doctor?” Ken asked.

“Dad, there’s a number on the message board by the phone under the name Walter Drayer. Would you please call it, tell them it’s an emergency and we need Walter to call as soon as possible. Stay by the phone and bring it in here when he rings back.” Ian manhandled his lover until Michael was in his lap, Ian wedged into the corner.

Everyone else stood silently, unsure of what to do as Ian murmured into Michael’s ear, telling him it was going to be okay. Ken came back and passed the phone forward. “Ian, its Walter.”

Ian took the phone. “Walter, its Ian. Can you come right away? I’m not sure and I don’t want to get into it on this phone. Yes, thank you. Someone will meet you at the door.” Ian clicked the phone off and put it aside.

“Ian?”

“Yes, love.”

“Will you call Frank?”

Ian didn’t question the seemingly odd request; he just picked up the phone and dialed. “Hello, this is Ian Thorpe. Is Agent Morris on duty or is there a way I can contact him? Thank you, yes I’ll hold.” Ian looked up and noticed everyone still at the door. “Would you mind pulling the door closed a bit? Let’s give Michael a chance to get himself together.”

Fred leaned forward and did as Ian said, shepherding everyone else into the kitchen. Ian could hear them talking down the hall but at least they were being quiet. In a less than a minute, the familiar voice of the federal agent was on the line.

“Ian?”

“Hi Frank. Sorry to call so late but Michael wanted me to call you.”

“I was still in the office. What’s up?”

“Hang on.” Ian covered the mouthpiece and looked down at Michael. “Do you want to talk to him or shall I ask him to come out?”

“No, I’ll talk to him.” Michael’s voice was shaky but clear. Ian handed him the phone and put his arm around Michael’s waist.

“Hi Frank. No, I was a little sick earlier. Um, Frank I think I lied to you about Cathy and Nathan Shearer.” Ian froze, although he’d been half expecting this. “No, not intentionally. When you asked me if I knew them. I guess I just didn’t want to remember. No, it was back when I was sixteen, at my dad’s house.” Michael was silent for a few moments. “Okay. Yeah, Ian’s here and so are our parents. Ian already called Walter because I kind of freaked out a few times today. Uh-huh. Okay. See you in a while.” Michael turned off the phone and handed it to Ian.

“Do you want to go lay down until they get here, Michael?”

“Yeah, on the couch. Um, are we stuck here?”

“No, just reach up, grab the towel bar and I’ll give you a push.”

Michael looked up at the rather flimsy looking towel bar. “This has all the makings of a bizarre household accident. ‘Man crushed to death by male lover, shoddy towel rack to blame.’”

“Just make sure you mourn me properly. Up you go.” Michael pulled as Ian pushed and soon they were both standing in the small space. Ian opened the medicine cabinet and removed a bottle of mouthwash, handing it to Michael.

“Thanks.” Michael swished his mouth out while Ian kept a steadying hand on his waist. “I’m kind of having a bad day here.” Michael turned and clung to Ian, feeling Ian’s arms enfold him.

“We both knew this was coming or something like it. You’ve talked to Walter enough to know that.” Ian kissed Michael’s temple and rubbed a hand up and down along his back.

“Yeah, I just wish there was some kind of machine that would have sucked it out of my brain instead of waiting around for it.”

“Me too, love but now that thtubbtubborn brain of yours has finally let you remember we can work on making it better.”

Michael sighed and snuggled in s ars arms. “I hope so.”

“Come on.”

Michael allowed Ian to lead him out into the living room and onto the couch. “You know, I feel sort of hungry now. I didn’t believe you guys when you told me I’d feel better afterwards but I’m thinking about her and my stomach doesn’t hurt.”

“That’s an improvement. What do you feel like eating?” Ian took the blanket off the back of the couch and spread it over Michael.

“Don’t we have white chocolate truffle ice cream in the backthe the garage freezer, hidden in an empty succotash bag?”

Ian could see the glint of Michael’s eyes through his lashes. “You found my secret stash?”

“We both hate succotash.”

“Ah, should have thought of that. All right, I’ll share but just this once.” Ian patted Michael’s shoulder and went into the kitchen to find the parental types all clustered around the table.

“He’s feeling better but please don’t go in there and jump all over him. Walter, our therapist, will be over soon and Frank Norris is also on his way. Let’s wait for them to get here so we only have to explain it once.” Ian went into the garage to retrieve the requested ice cream and came back to the kitchen.

“Ian, you two didn’t tell us everything did you?” Ken asked quietly.

“No, we didn’t and we had our reasons.”

“Why didn’t Michael tell us he was seeing a therapist?” Debbie clutched her coffee cup and didn’t look up.

“We’ve both been seeing Walter since September. It’s not something we’re ashamed of but we weren’t ready to talk about it with you.” Ian held up his hand to forestall any comments. “Once we told you, could you have resisted asking why?”

Fred nodded his head slowly. “I see your point. So what happens next?”

“I don’t know, we’ll have to see what Frank and Walter say.” Ian got a spoon out and made two cups of coffee, heavy on the sugar and cream, and took them out to the living room. Michael raised up to allow Ian to sit down and took tup oup of coffee.

“I hate coffee.” He made a face and took a sip.

“I know but you need to warm up a little before the ice cream.” Ian sipped his own coffee, placing the ice cream and spoon on the coffee table. It would probably leave a mark but Ian didn’t care at the moment.

Michael was happily ensconced with his head on Ian’s lap, Ian feeding him bites of ice cream when the doorbell rang. Before either Michael or Ian could move, Debbie came through and opened the door.

“Hello?” She looked up at the tall attractive black man, dressed in a sharp suit, three people standing behind him.

“Hello, you must be Michael’s mother. I’m Frank Morris, we’ve spoken on the phone.

“I recognize your voice, please come in.”

“Thank you. This Sharon Morrissey, the prosecutor handling the case, Doctor Walter Drayer and Dr. Charles Stern.

“Hello, welcome.” Debbie showed them in and Walter quickly moved to sit catty corner to Ian Mic Michael, pulling out a small note pad. Frank ushered Debbie, Sharon and Charles into the kitchen to have a word with the people standing anxiously in the doorway.

“Well. How do you feel, Michael?”

“Pretty good actually.”

“Do you want to move this into a more private room or are we doing this here?”

“Here I guess, no use in trying to hide anything now.”

Walter made a note and pursed his lips. Before he could comment, Michael sighed. “Okay, I wasn’t hiding it.”

“That’s better. Are you comfortable there or do you want to rearrange yourself?”

“I guess I should sit up and stop making Ian feed me, huh?”

“If that’s where you’re comfortable, I see no reason for you to move.”

“You always say that, Walter.” Michael remarked, remembering the day he’d met Walter.

~~~~
October 2, 2005 Ann Arbor, MI

Michael tried to relax as Matt rubbed him down. He’d already gotten yet another lecture regarding his weight loss from Bob and Anne. Only the fact that he’d already agreed to seek ‘professional help’ had saved him.

He hated feeling this way, like he couldn’t control his own mind and body. He was trying to eat but nothing tasted right. He hadn’t slept through the night for several weeks and even Ian had a hard time cheering him up.

Once he’d realized that his problems were affecting his relationship with Ian; that Ian was having problems too he knew he didn’t have a choice. Ian was too important to him and trying to ride it out obviously wasn’t working.

“Michael?”

Michael looked up to see Ian, fully dressed, standing next to him. “Hey babe.”

Ian looked at Matt. “Are you done with him?”

Matt nodded and grinned. “Yeah, I guess I’ll give him back to you now.”

Ian growled, half heartedly. “Hands off my man, Matt. I’ll tell your wife.”

“Oh, the horror.” Matt threw up his hands while Ian helped Michael to his feet. “See you guys later.” Matt strolled out to find a cup of coffee.

“Am I running late?” Michael asked as they followed Matt out, branching off to the changing room.

“No, I’m just nervous.” Ian confessed, noticing that the room was empty.

“Me too. I feel like this guy is going to take one look at me and send me to the loony bin.” Michael stripped down and stepped into the shower. Ian picked up a towel and leaned against the doorway.

“I’d insist on going with you, you know.”

Michael smiled. “Aw, that’s sweet. Weird but sweet.”

Once Michael was dressed, they walked out to the car and Michael drove them to an office over at the Medical Center. The directions they’d been given had been very precise and after finding their way through the maze of corridors, they stood in front of the door of Dr. Drayer’s offices.

Michael took a deep breath and opened the door, finding a small brightly furnished room empty of people except for the receptionist sitting behind a glass wall. Ian strode forward, catching Michael’s hand as he passed him.

The receptionist smiled at them as she stood and opened the glass slider. “Hi, you must but Ian and Michael. Walter is running a little late but if you’ll come with me, you can wait down here.”

She led them into what apparently was a child’s playroom. There were several small tables and plenty of toys scattered around with a big mural of the ocean on the walls. She pulled over two big bean bags to one of the tables. “Sorry about this. Walter is usually very punctual but his computer crashed this morning and tech support is in his office.”

“No problem, this is fine.” Ian assured her as they both sat down.

She left, closing the door behind her and it didn’t take long for Ian to begin poking at the Lincoln Log pieces on the table.

“These are pretty comfortable, aren’t they?” Michael had scrunched down into the chair to stare at the ceiling. “What are you doing?”

“Building a fort.”

“Now I know what to get you for your birthday.” Michael yawned and wiggled a little, closing his eyes.

“I’d prefer Lego building blocks although I could always just have mum ship mine to me.” Ian stacked another log along one of the walls of his fort before he looked over at Michael, who had fallen asleep.

The door of the room opened softly and a short, well groomed man leaned in and motioned to Ian who cautiously got up and snuck from the room.

“Hi Ian.”

“Hi Walter, do you want me to wake him up?”

“No since he’s having problems sleeping, he probably could use a little shut eye. I wanted to talk to you first anyway. If you’d like, we can sit in the observation room so we make sure he’s okay.” Walter indicated the open door nearby. Ian nodded and walked into the small room with a window into the play space. They both sat down and Walter pulled out a small blank note pad.

“Ian, I’ve had a chance to look over the papers you filled out for me the other day. Has your sleep pattern altered or are you feeling any different?”

“No, I’m still having problems waking up in the mornings and I still feel wired most of the day.”

“So when you get into bed, do you fall asleep right away or does it take a while?”

“It takes a while.”

“Everything else is pretty much as you indicated on the questionnaires?”

“Yes, I guess. Maybe Michael’s been eating a bit more but it’s hard to tell.”

“Ian, we’re not talking a Mic Michaelht nht now. What about you?”

“But it’s about both of us.”

Walter sat back and put his pen down. “Is Michael incapable of taking care of himself?”

“No, most of the time we take care of each other but not right now. There’s something wrong with him and I don’t know how to help him.”

“After you testified in Sydney about the woman who was stalking you; did you see a therapist or a psychologist?”

“No. Why are you bringing this up?”

“Because I think part of your difficulty now is tied to what happened then.” The therapist tucked away his notepad and leaned back in his chair.

“So, I’ve been crazy all this time?”

Walter smiled, “I don’t use the word crazy unless you’d like to talk about your training schedules. Ian, there’s nothing mentally wrong with you. You have a tremendous capacity for mental discipline; to shut out distractions. That capacity has its limits, just like a pool does and right now, you’ve got some water spilling over the edges. Frankly, we wouldn’t need to be here today if Cathy Shearer hadn’t tried to kill you.”

“She tried to kill both of us.”

“But she was focused on eliminating you. Isn’t that what you were worried about with Taylor? Ah, you flinched when I said her name. Why?”

“I don’t like to say or hear her name.”

“And I can understand why. She was quite a piece of work, wasn’t she?”

“I hate her for what she did, for making me have to sit there and listen to her.”

“I don’t blame you for that, few people would.”

“I hate Cathy too, for what she’s doing to Michael.”

“What about you?”

“She wouldn’t have even bothered with me if it weren’t for Michael.”

“Do you blame Michael for that?”

Ian was horrified. “No, of course I don’t. He didn’t have anything with it, it wasn’t his fault.”

“Just like what happened wasn’t your fault.”

“But-”

“No. Say it for me: ‘It wasn’t my fault.’”

“It wasn’t my fault.”

“There, now we’ll keep working on that until you actually believe it. You’re not some kind of stalker magnet, you know. Before Michael wakes up, there is something I’d like to discuss with you.”

“Okay.”

“Why do you think he can’t remember attending his father’s wedding reception?”

“Because he didn’t.” Ian said instantly.

“According the notes Bob provided, Michael wasn’t training that afternoon because he was at his father’s and came home sick. According to Nathan Shearer, he and Cathy both crashed the party and that’s where Cathy met Michael.”

“But Michael says he wasn’t there. Maybe he decided to goof off, no. Michael wouldn’t have lied to Bob about it.”

“So either Nathan’s lying, which is always possible or Michael’s lying, which would be unlike him or he’s telling the truth as he sees it. You know they got a search warrant for Cathy’s storage locker in Baltimore. She has several years’ worth of pictures, so she’s been obsessed with him a lot longer than the FBI previously thought.”

“You think Michael’s suppressing the memory?”

“He’s blocking it out, not suppressing it but that’s hardly surprising, he’s a very stubborn person isn’t he?”

“You don’t have to tell me that. So what are you going to do about this?”

“It’s more like what we’re going to do. Come on, I think he’s waking up and he’ll feel better if you’re there.”

“You aren’t going to talk to him alone?”

“I might eventually but you’re going to be an integral part of his therapy. I’ll explain it in a minute.”

Walter opened the door and let Ian enter first. Ian immediately went over and pulled a bean bag chair next to Michael’s.

“Hey love. Are you ready to wake up now?”

“Yeah. How long was I out? The doctor didn’t hypnotize me or something, did he?”

“No, love. He and I were in the next room talking but we’re both back now. Are you ready to talk to the doctor?” Ian nodded over to where Walter had taken a seat on another bean bag, several feet away from them.

“Yeah, okay.” Michael lifted his head and sat up straight. “Hi, Doctor Draye“
“Hi Michael. Did you sleep well?”

Michael shrugged, “I guess.”

“Would you like to move into my office or are you comfortable here?”

“Your office I guess if that’s where you want to go.”

“No, Michael. Are you comfortable here?”

“Yeah. I like this chair.”

“Then I see no reason for us to move. Now, do you mind if Ian sits in on this?”

“No, I’d just tell him everything anyway.” Michael looked at Ian and they took each other’s hands.

“Okay, so let’s start with the fact that you’re losing weight. Do you just not feel like eating or are you throwing up what you eat?”

“I haven’t thrown up since August. I just feel queasy all the time and nothing tastes right.”

“And what about your sleep patterns, any changes since you filled out the questionnaire?”

“No, I’m still waking up in the middle of the night.”

“Just waking up once or waking up several times?”

“Both. Some nights just once, other nights every hour.”

“What do you do when you wake up? Do you stay in bed until you fall asleep or do you get up?”

“It depends. Sometimes I go right back to sleep but other times I get up.”

“What do you do when you get up?”

“I don’t know. I try to be quiet because Ian’s asleep so I don’t watch TV or anything.”

“Do you check your doors? Make sure the alarm’s on?”

“Well, yeah. Before I come back upstairs, it’s just a habit.”

“Michael, if you’re getting up several times at night and you’ve already checked once; why are you checking it again?”

“So she won’t get Ian.” Michael froze. “Oh.”

“How many times have you stopped yourself from calling Frank to make sure Cathy’s still locked up?”

Michael fidgeted for a moment and picked at his fingernail. “Every time I wake up in the middle of the night.”

Walter pulled out his notepad, flipped it open and ripped out one of the pages. “Michael, this is the number of the officer on duty at Cathy’s facility. I’ve already spoken to them and you’re welcome to call any night and they’ll check and make sure she’s there.” Walter extended the page and Michael snatched it up.

“How did you know?”

“You’re not sleeping through the night and you’re listless during the day. Ian’s sleeping too much at night and almost hyper during the day. Basically one of you is alert while the other is at rest because you’re trying to keep each other safe. It’s not a typical reaction but it isn’t that strange when you take into account how close you two are.”

“So how do we stop it?”

“I think now that both of you are aware of it, you’ll be able to phase yourselves out of it by yourselves.”

“It will be that easy?” Michael asked skeptically.

“I didn’t say anything about easy and we might need revisit this if nothing changes over the next couple of weeks but sometimes it’s just a matter of pointing out the pattern.”

“So is that the same thing about our weight. I’m losing, he’s gaining?”

“No, that’s another can of worms entirely. Ian’s eating more because that’s how he reacts to stress and he’s definitely stressed. Michael, do you think Ian’s some kind of stalker magnet?”

“What! Don’t you say that. This wasn’t his fault.” Michael struggled to get up suddenly furious at Walter.

“Michael, stop. Wait a minute. I’m only repeating what someone else said.”

“Well who the hell was it? What the hell do they know?” Michael almost made it to his knees and tried to get up but Ian’s hand restrained him.

“Michael, Michael! I was the one who said it. “Wh “What? Why?” Michael turned to Ian. “You can’t think this is your fault, she tried to kill you because of me.”

“But she wouldn’t have tried to kill you if I hadn’t have moved in.”

“Stop it. You moved in because you knew how much I missed you.”

“No, I moved in because I couldn’t stand living half a world away from you.” Ian stood up and put his hands on his waist.

“You only got involved with me because I pushed you to admit we were dating.” Michael also stood up and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Oh, yes. I’m the one who told you to call me. Clearly I had no intention of getting involved with you.”

“You didn’t even want to have sex with me that night, you weren’t even going to ie mee me.”

“Grant invited you because he was tired of me making googly eyes at you from across the room!” Ian clapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes wide. Michael stepped back.

“You were making googly eyes at me?”

“I wasn’t.”

“Then why did Grant say you were?”

“Because he’s a raving lunatic.”

“Gentlemen, I think we’ve gotten off track here.” Walter said from his chair, clearly amused. “I’m sure you’ll take up this conversation later but for now, can we all agree that the only person who is at fault here is Cathy?”

Michael and Ian looked at each other for a moment. “Ian, this wasn’t your fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault either.” Michael didn’t answer until Ian reached out and raised Michael’s chin. “Michael, was it my fault that that woman, Taylor Martin,” Ian struggled a bit on the name but got it out, “was following me?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t the same thing apply here?” Ian used his hand to nod Michael’s head up and down, causing Michael to laugh just a little.

“Okay. Yes.” Michael knocked Ian’s hand away and leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry it happened, right?”

“Right.” Ian pulled Michael to him and was about to kiss him when Walter cleared his throat. “Oh, right.” Ian stole a quick kiss and they separated to take their seats again.

“Okay, now on to the tough stuff. There are some other issues you’re going to need to work on. Ian, when’s the last time you drove your car?”

“Huh?” Michael looked between Ian and Walter.

“Ah, last week I guess.” It was Ian’s turn to fidget.

“Try again.” Walter said as he made a note.

“Okay, so I haven’t driven since early September.”

Michael thought about it for a minute. “You’ve been riding in with me.”

“So Ian?”

Ian sighed. “Maybe I was afraid I’d start finding notes on my car again?”

“Maybe?”

“Oh, all right. I kept going out to check the car every time I drove it, expecting to see a note."
“Okay. As long as you’re aware that’s why you’re doing it.” Walter said mildly while making another note.

“Wait a minute. Aren’t you going to tell me to drive the car?”

“No, because you’re a very motivated person and you hate to lose. In a couple of days, you’ll go out and force yourself to drive and eventually you’ll stop checking the car. Again, once you’re aware of the pattern, you’ll figure out a way to change it.”

“The same goes for you too, Michael. Not you you aren’t driving but let’s discuss your food issues. How many times a day to you think about Cathy and do you always rub your stomach like that when you do?”

Michael looked down at his hand which resting on his stomach. “I try not to think about her.”

“But that’s not working is it?”

“No.” Michael shook his head.

“Do you think about her a lot?”

“I don’t know. I don’t keep track.”

“Take a guess.”

Michael hitched his shoulders and shook his head again. “A couple of times an hour.”

“And are you not eating because you think you’ll throw up again?”

“It makes my stomach hurt.”

“So what do you think will help?”

“For me to stop thinking about her.”

“What would help you stop?”

“I don’t know.”

Walter nodded. “Michael, do you know why she scares you so much?”

“Because she tried to kill us.”

“You don’t think you’re safe? She’s in jail and there’s a very strong case against her.”

“People get away with crimes every day, she could get out tomorrow because of a technicality.”

“That could happen but wouldn’t you know about it and take precautions?”

“What kind of precautions? She’s evil, we could run away but she’d find us. We could hire bodyguards but they aren’t around all the time. We could move across the fucking country and she’d just follow me. She doesn’t care if I don’t want her, if I don’t want her touching me, she doesn’t fucking care!” Michael was back on his feet, trembling uncontrollably and shouting at Walter.

Walter glanced at Ian to see the dawning comprehension on the other man’s face before saying calmly, “I know Michael. Ian knows too.”

Ian nodded and rose, taking Michael in his arms. “I’ve got you. Just hold on.”

“Ian, something’s really wrong with me. I know she can’t get out but why do I think she’s out there waiting for me?”
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Last Swim