Leaps of Faith (6/9)
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Chapter 6
Kevin checked his watch. Scotty should be there any moment for their meeting. He exhaled quickly, trying to calm himself. There was a quick knock, but before Kevin could even stand, the doorknob turned and Scotty walked in. Kevin stared at him in surprise.
“Hi,” Scotty said. When Kevin didn’t respond, Scotty nervously shifted. “What?”
Kevin shook his head, standing. “Nothing. You just...you came in without - ”
“Oh!” Scotty said in realization. He turned briefly towards the door, then faced Kevin again. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No,” Kevin said, shaking his head and smiling widely. “That’s definitely OK.”
They had met several times since Scotty apprehensively asked what would happen if...nothing worked. At the end of that day, they both agreed that that was the worst-case scenario and neither one of them believed yet that they were there. In a way, it had almost been a turning point. They hadn’t even raised their voices at each other at all during their last two meetings. Instead, they were now almost exclusively focused on just talking. It was raw and very emotional, and both of them had actually broken down in tears more than once. But it was much more productive and open than any of the yelling or screaming had been.
Scotty took a better look at Kevin and then smiled in slight confusion. “You have your coat on. Do you have to go somewhere?”
Kevin grinned, shaking his head. “No. I just had an idea,” he explained as he stepped closer to Scotty.
“What?” Scotty asked cautiously.
Kevin took one more step and stopped just in front of Scotty. “We need to get out of this loft. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about enough of these walls closing in on us.” Scotty continued to stare at him questioningly. Kevin picked up his hand hesitantly, almost waiting for Scotty to pull back and scold him for premature touching. “We’ve been working so hard at some pretty heavy things, and we’ve forgotten to concentrate on some of the basics.”
“Like what?”
“Like,” Kevin grinned, “having fun and - and holding hands and, you know, seeing each other in the sunlight. I suggest that today, we take a break,” Kevin gestured sharply in emphasis. “Just hang out and, I don’t know, go for a walk or a picnic or something.”
Scotty grinned happily, then he nodded. “OK.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a date.”
***
“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Scotty asked suddenly, looking up from the newspaper ads. “There’s a sale on steaks that ends tonight. I could pick some up, a few - ”
Kevin interrupted with a shake of his head. “None for me, thanks. I’ve got a dinner tonight with Robert and Kitty and some campaign sponsors.”
Scotty looked back at the newspaper, feeling rather disappointed. “Oh,” he said softly. “You didn’t mention it.”
“Didn’t I?” Kevin asked, standing up and walking over to the desk. “Thought I did. Just some big-roller couples.”
Scotty furrowed his brow quickly. “No, you didn’t say anything.”
“You’re OK with Amy tonight, right?”
“Yeah,” Scotty said with a nod. “But if it’s couples, we can get a sitter or your mom…”
Kevin shook his head. “No, that’s OK.”
“You don’t want me there,” Scotty realized, tilting his head to the side.
Kevin sighed as he sat back down on the couch. “It’s just these people…they’re a little conservative.”
Scotty nodded in annoyed understanding. “And they might not write a check if they have to eat dinner with a couple of - ”
“Scotty, come on. It’s not like that.”
“It’s not?”
Kevin didn’t answer.
Scotty stood up. He walked into the bedroom to check on a sleeping Amy. “Have fun at dinner,” he called over his shoulder.
***
Kevin scrolled through the calendar on his PDA while he waited for Scotty. He had carried Amy directly into the loft without even knocking. When they first arrived, she was screaming and crying due to being rudely awakened from her car-nap, but he could hear that she quickly calmed down and assumed she fell asleep again almost immediately. Scotty walked back into the living room, pushing his sleeves up past his elbows.
“Hi,” he said.
“Mmm,” Kevin replied, still staring at his calendar. Then he quickly shook his head, looking up. “Hi, how are you?”
Scotty smiled, slightly amused, as he sat down next to Kevin. “I’m good. What’s up?”
“Oh…our meeting this week. Are we still thinking Tuesday?”
“Yeah, if that works,” Scotty responded.
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek, turning back to the device. “Uh…Robert scheduled a press conference for that afternoon…” Kevin said trailing off. He paused for a moment before adding, “It’s OK. He certainly can manage on his own.”
Scotty shook his head. “If you have to be there, that’s fine. We can reschedule.” He leaned over Kevin’s shoulder, reading the calendar as well. “You’re free Thursday, it looks like. I work the afternoon shift that day, so I should be done by six or so.”
Kevin turned to face Scotty. “Really?” he asked in surprise. “That’s OK?”
Scotty grinned. “Yes,” he answered laughing. “What did you think?”
“I don’t know…I just…”
Scotty reached out and pulled Kevin into a kiss, snickering out of the corners of his mouth. Kevin pulled back almost immediately, staring at him in surprise before giving him a soft smile.
“I can never tell what’s wrong or right anymore,” Kevin murmured. “But I think that’s a good response.”
Scotty smiled. “Gotta keep you on your toes.”
Kevin laughed, and Scotty turned serious. “No, it’s not - it’s not like I expect you to drop everything for me and my schedule and what I want. I’m sorry if I made you think it was either-or. I know sometimes you have emergencies and unexpected - I just need to know that you would say no once in a while, if I needed you to.”
Kevin nodded. “OK,” he said.
They stared at each other for a beat longer, still close enough to feel each other’s breath on their faces. Scotty lowered his gaze, just barely glancing at Kevin’s lips, and Kevin smiled.
“You have to go to work,” he reminded Scotty softly.
Scotty inhaled. “Yeah,” he replied in a near-whisper. “Maybe on Thursday, we can work on some more basics.”
“You don’t think it’s time to get back to the more serious stuff?” Kevin asked quietly.
Scotty shrugged. “Some pretty serious basics,” he clarified, leaning in a fraction more.
Kevin smiled. “That doesn’t really make much sense.”
“Shut up and k - ” Scotty’s response was cut short as Kevin closed the distance between them, drawing Scotty into the first real kiss they shared in what felt like ages.
Things turned heated rather quickly, and Kevin soon found himself blindly reaching over to the coffee table to put his PDA down as he pushed Scotty to his back. Scotty let out a small moan and clutched tightly at his shirt, and Kevin feared he’d simply crumble from happiness and pent-up arousal. He deepened their kiss, caressing Scotty’s tongue with his own and wrapping his arms around Scotty’s shoulders to pull him close to his body.
And then Kevin pulled back, panting as he sat up straight. “You have to go to work,” he repeated.
When there was no response, he risked a glance in Scotty’s direction. He smiled as he saw his husband, unmoving except for the quick rise and fall of his chest as he fought for breath. His hands were still in the air where they had remained after Kevin pulled away from his embrace. His lips were moist and swollen and red, begging to be kissed; it was all Kevin could do to stay sitting, to not lower himself onto Scotty again and accept the unspoken invitation.
Finally Scotty opened his eyes and sat up. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Yeah.”
He stood, and Kevin followed him to the front door.
“Have a nice weekend,” Kevin said quietly.
Scotty smiled at him softly. “See you on Sunday.”
There was a long pause while they stared at each other before Scotty quickly turned away and hurried through the door. Kevin turned slightly, collapsing against the door with a short and happy laugh.
***
“Hey, I’m home,” Kevin said as he entered the loft.
Scotty glanced up from the couch and then returned to his project of (packing) putting Amy’s toys into newly-purchased bins.
“What are you doing?” Kevin asked, placing his keys and wallet onto the bookshelf.
“Cleaning up,” Scotty lied. “I nearly tripped over some of these earlier.”
Kevin nodded in agreement. “We need to find a bigger place.”
Scotty didn’t answer for a few minutes and when he did, he changed the subject entirely. “Where have you been?”
“Oh, I went up to the ranch to talk to Robert and then to Mom’s for a couple hours.”
Scotty sighed, securing the lid and then moving the bin aside. “It’s my first Saturday off in almost two months. I wanted to do something, just the three of us.”
“I’m sorry,” Kevin said quickly. “I didn’t even think - this was - we can do something now, if you want.”
Scotty shook his head as he stood up. “Amy’s finally down after about an hour of screaming.”
Kevin grimaced.
“She sat up by herself today. For almost two minutes.”
“Really?!”
Scotty nodded.
“Did you take a picture?”
Scotty shrugged. He could have, but he felt like punishing Kevin which, now that he finally, officially decided to leave, seemed rather petty and childish. “I didn’t have a camera handy. She’ll do it again.”
***
Kevin had one eye on Amy and the other on his computer screen. At the moment, she was sitting quietly on the floor, playing with and gnawing on some of her toys. But she had a tendency to crawl away as soon as she thought she had a chance to make a break for it, and Kevin didn’t want to look up to discover she was almost to the kitchen or bedroom.
As if aware she was being watched, Amy twisted around to look back at him. She held out a plastic ring towards him and gurgled happily.
“Hi honey,” Kevin replied, grinning.
A muffled buzzing startled him, and he looked quickly around. Finally he realized the sound was coming from between the couch cushions. He squeezed a hand into the gap and pulled out Scotty’s phone. It must have fallen out of his pocket during their earlier…activities.
“Hello?” he quickly answered.
“…Kevin?”
“Hey Jordan.”
There was a pause and Kevin could hear the change in sound as Jordan pulled his phone from his ear. “Oh, I thought I dialed the wrong number.”
“No,” Kevin said, laughing. “Looks like Scotty left his phone here accidentally.”
“Oh. OK. Well, I just wanted him to pick up some stuff. I'll call him at the restaurant and let him know you have his phone.”
“Great, thanks.”
“Bye.”
“Talk to you later.”
Kevin smirked, shaking his head as he hung up the phone, trying not to get sucked into the memory of just why Scotty left his phone behind. And then he quickly glanced up to check on Amy. What he saw nearly made him drop the phone in surprise.
She hadn’t made any escape attempt. She wasn’t trying to climb a bookshelf or hiding behind the couch or into anything she shouldn’t be. She was, however, holding onto the edge of the coffee table, wobbling on her unsteady legs.
“Ohhh my God,” Kevin whispered. “Honey, hold that for just a second. Don’t fall.”
He quickly switched to the camera function on the phone and snapped several pictures before Amy lost her balance and tumbled to her butt.
“Amy, sweetie, that was fantastic! Try again!”
She seemed to be frustrated by the attempt, however, and returned to her toys instead. Kevin shrugged before turning back to the phone to store and save the pictures. He saw there were a few more albums of Amy pictures and one album he had not expected to see. He opened it and scrolled through the pictures in surprise. It was at that moment that a plan began to develop.
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Chapter 6
Kevin checked his watch. Scotty should be there any moment for their meeting. He exhaled quickly, trying to calm himself. There was a quick knock, but before Kevin could even stand, the doorknob turned and Scotty walked in. Kevin stared at him in surprise.
“Hi,” Scotty said. When Kevin didn’t respond, Scotty nervously shifted. “What?”
Kevin shook his head, standing. “Nothing. You just...you came in without - ”
“Oh!” Scotty said in realization. He turned briefly towards the door, then faced Kevin again. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No,” Kevin said, shaking his head and smiling widely. “That’s definitely OK.”
They had met several times since Scotty apprehensively asked what would happen if...nothing worked. At the end of that day, they both agreed that that was the worst-case scenario and neither one of them believed yet that they were there. In a way, it had almost been a turning point. They hadn’t even raised their voices at each other at all during their last two meetings. Instead, they were now almost exclusively focused on just talking. It was raw and very emotional, and both of them had actually broken down in tears more than once. But it was much more productive and open than any of the yelling or screaming had been.
Scotty took a better look at Kevin and then smiled in slight confusion. “You have your coat on. Do you have to go somewhere?”
Kevin grinned, shaking his head. “No. I just had an idea,” he explained as he stepped closer to Scotty.
“What?” Scotty asked cautiously.
Kevin took one more step and stopped just in front of Scotty. “We need to get out of this loft. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about enough of these walls closing in on us.” Scotty continued to stare at him questioningly. Kevin picked up his hand hesitantly, almost waiting for Scotty to pull back and scold him for premature touching. “We’ve been working so hard at some pretty heavy things, and we’ve forgotten to concentrate on some of the basics.”
“Like what?”
“Like,” Kevin grinned, “having fun and - and holding hands and, you know, seeing each other in the sunlight. I suggest that today, we take a break,” Kevin gestured sharply in emphasis. “Just hang out and, I don’t know, go for a walk or a picnic or something.”
Scotty grinned happily, then he nodded. “OK.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s a date.”
***
“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Scotty asked suddenly, looking up from the newspaper ads. “There’s a sale on steaks that ends tonight. I could pick some up, a few - ”
Kevin interrupted with a shake of his head. “None for me, thanks. I’ve got a dinner tonight with Robert and Kitty and some campaign sponsors.”
Scotty looked back at the newspaper, feeling rather disappointed. “Oh,” he said softly. “You didn’t mention it.”
“Didn’t I?” Kevin asked, standing up and walking over to the desk. “Thought I did. Just some big-roller couples.”
Scotty furrowed his brow quickly. “No, you didn’t say anything.”
“You’re OK with Amy tonight, right?”
“Yeah,” Scotty said with a nod. “But if it’s couples, we can get a sitter or your mom…”
Kevin shook his head. “No, that’s OK.”
“You don’t want me there,” Scotty realized, tilting his head to the side.
Kevin sighed as he sat back down on the couch. “It’s just these people…they’re a little conservative.”
Scotty nodded in annoyed understanding. “And they might not write a check if they have to eat dinner with a couple of - ”
“Scotty, come on. It’s not like that.”
“It’s not?”
Kevin didn’t answer.
Scotty stood up. He walked into the bedroom to check on a sleeping Amy. “Have fun at dinner,” he called over his shoulder.
***
Kevin scrolled through the calendar on his PDA while he waited for Scotty. He had carried Amy directly into the loft without even knocking. When they first arrived, she was screaming and crying due to being rudely awakened from her car-nap, but he could hear that she quickly calmed down and assumed she fell asleep again almost immediately. Scotty walked back into the living room, pushing his sleeves up past his elbows.
“Hi,” he said.
“Mmm,” Kevin replied, still staring at his calendar. Then he quickly shook his head, looking up. “Hi, how are you?”
Scotty smiled, slightly amused, as he sat down next to Kevin. “I’m good. What’s up?”
“Oh…our meeting this week. Are we still thinking Tuesday?”
“Yeah, if that works,” Scotty responded.
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek, turning back to the device. “Uh…Robert scheduled a press conference for that afternoon…” Kevin said trailing off. He paused for a moment before adding, “It’s OK. He certainly can manage on his own.”
Scotty shook his head. “If you have to be there, that’s fine. We can reschedule.” He leaned over Kevin’s shoulder, reading the calendar as well. “You’re free Thursday, it looks like. I work the afternoon shift that day, so I should be done by six or so.”
Kevin turned to face Scotty. “Really?” he asked in surprise. “That’s OK?”
Scotty grinned. “Yes,” he answered laughing. “What did you think?”
“I don’t know…I just…”
Scotty reached out and pulled Kevin into a kiss, snickering out of the corners of his mouth. Kevin pulled back almost immediately, staring at him in surprise before giving him a soft smile.
“I can never tell what’s wrong or right anymore,” Kevin murmured. “But I think that’s a good response.”
Scotty smiled. “Gotta keep you on your toes.”
Kevin laughed, and Scotty turned serious. “No, it’s not - it’s not like I expect you to drop everything for me and my schedule and what I want. I’m sorry if I made you think it was either-or. I know sometimes you have emergencies and unexpected - I just need to know that you would say no once in a while, if I needed you to.”
Kevin nodded. “OK,” he said.
They stared at each other for a beat longer, still close enough to feel each other’s breath on their faces. Scotty lowered his gaze, just barely glancing at Kevin’s lips, and Kevin smiled.
“You have to go to work,” he reminded Scotty softly.
Scotty inhaled. “Yeah,” he replied in a near-whisper. “Maybe on Thursday, we can work on some more basics.”
“You don’t think it’s time to get back to the more serious stuff?” Kevin asked quietly.
Scotty shrugged. “Some pretty serious basics,” he clarified, leaning in a fraction more.
Kevin smiled. “That doesn’t really make much sense.”
“Shut up and k - ” Scotty’s response was cut short as Kevin closed the distance between them, drawing Scotty into the first real kiss they shared in what felt like ages.
Things turned heated rather quickly, and Kevin soon found himself blindly reaching over to the coffee table to put his PDA down as he pushed Scotty to his back. Scotty let out a small moan and clutched tightly at his shirt, and Kevin feared he’d simply crumble from happiness and pent-up arousal. He deepened their kiss, caressing Scotty’s tongue with his own and wrapping his arms around Scotty’s shoulders to pull him close to his body.
And then Kevin pulled back, panting as he sat up straight. “You have to go to work,” he repeated.
When there was no response, he risked a glance in Scotty’s direction. He smiled as he saw his husband, unmoving except for the quick rise and fall of his chest as he fought for breath. His hands were still in the air where they had remained after Kevin pulled away from his embrace. His lips were moist and swollen and red, begging to be kissed; it was all Kevin could do to stay sitting, to not lower himself onto Scotty again and accept the unspoken invitation.
Finally Scotty opened his eyes and sat up. “Yeah,” he muttered. “Yeah.”
He stood, and Kevin followed him to the front door.
“Have a nice weekend,” Kevin said quietly.
Scotty smiled at him softly. “See you on Sunday.”
There was a long pause while they stared at each other before Scotty quickly turned away and hurried through the door. Kevin turned slightly, collapsing against the door with a short and happy laugh.
***
“Hey, I’m home,” Kevin said as he entered the loft.
Scotty glanced up from the couch and then returned to his project of (packing) putting Amy’s toys into newly-purchased bins.
“What are you doing?” Kevin asked, placing his keys and wallet onto the bookshelf.
“Cleaning up,” Scotty lied. “I nearly tripped over some of these earlier.”
Kevin nodded in agreement. “We need to find a bigger place.”
Scotty didn’t answer for a few minutes and when he did, he changed the subject entirely. “Where have you been?”
“Oh, I went up to the ranch to talk to Robert and then to Mom’s for a couple hours.”
Scotty sighed, securing the lid and then moving the bin aside. “It’s my first Saturday off in almost two months. I wanted to do something, just the three of us.”
“I’m sorry,” Kevin said quickly. “I didn’t even think - this was - we can do something now, if you want.”
Scotty shook his head as he stood up. “Amy’s finally down after about an hour of screaming.”
Kevin grimaced.
“She sat up by herself today. For almost two minutes.”
“Really?!”
Scotty nodded.
“Did you take a picture?”
Scotty shrugged. He could have, but he felt like punishing Kevin which, now that he finally, officially decided to leave, seemed rather petty and childish. “I didn’t have a camera handy. She’ll do it again.”
***
Kevin had one eye on Amy and the other on his computer screen. At the moment, she was sitting quietly on the floor, playing with and gnawing on some of her toys. But she had a tendency to crawl away as soon as she thought she had a chance to make a break for it, and Kevin didn’t want to look up to discover she was almost to the kitchen or bedroom.
As if aware she was being watched, Amy twisted around to look back at him. She held out a plastic ring towards him and gurgled happily.
“Hi honey,” Kevin replied, grinning.
A muffled buzzing startled him, and he looked quickly around. Finally he realized the sound was coming from between the couch cushions. He squeezed a hand into the gap and pulled out Scotty’s phone. It must have fallen out of his pocket during their earlier…activities.
“Hello?” he quickly answered.
“…Kevin?”
“Hey Jordan.”
There was a pause and Kevin could hear the change in sound as Jordan pulled his phone from his ear. “Oh, I thought I dialed the wrong number.”
“No,” Kevin said, laughing. “Looks like Scotty left his phone here accidentally.”
“Oh. OK. Well, I just wanted him to pick up some stuff. I'll call him at the restaurant and let him know you have his phone.”
“Great, thanks.”
“Bye.”
“Talk to you later.”
Kevin smirked, shaking his head as he hung up the phone, trying not to get sucked into the memory of just why Scotty left his phone behind. And then he quickly glanced up to check on Amy. What he saw nearly made him drop the phone in surprise.
She hadn’t made any escape attempt. She wasn’t trying to climb a bookshelf or hiding behind the couch or into anything she shouldn’t be. She was, however, holding onto the edge of the coffee table, wobbling on her unsteady legs.
“Ohhh my God,” Kevin whispered. “Honey, hold that for just a second. Don’t fall.”
He quickly switched to the camera function on the phone and snapped several pictures before Amy lost her balance and tumbled to her butt.
“Amy, sweetie, that was fantastic! Try again!”
She seemed to be frustrated by the attempt, however, and returned to her toys instead. Kevin shrugged before turning back to the phone to store and save the pictures. He saw there were a few more albums of Amy pictures and one album he had not expected to see. He opened it and scrolled through the pictures in surprise. It was at that moment that a plan began to develop.
Next Chapter
Main Page