Rescuing Alec

Chapter 10

Alec

I opened my eyes and tried to focus, I saw the captain and Amy standing there watching me.

Amy took my hand, “how are you feeling big brother?”

I looked to the captain, “is the kid ok?”

Captain shook his head, “your sister is asking how you are, and you want to know how the kid is?”

I looked to Amy, “oh, sorry sis, I’m ok, my leg is sore, but I’ll be fine.”

Captain laughed, “the kid is fine, just some scrapes and bruises. The fire marshal questioned the two boys, turns out the first kid brought a lighter and talked the other into burning some cardboard. The fire got out of control and the first kid ran out of the building. The one that you found was trying to put the fire out, but once the smoke got too thick, he couldn’t find his way out.”

“What going to happen to them?” I asked.

He replied, “the owner of the building had it scheduled for demolition next month, so he isn’t going to press any charges. The fire marshal is making the boys get some counseling and take some fire prevention classes.”

I relaxed, “good, I’m glad they are ok.” I turned to Amy, “where is Roman?”

She said, “he’s with Blake, they are going to be here in a few minutes, I just called them to tell them you are awake.”

“Good, what did you tell him?” I asked.

“I just said that you got hurt at work, but you were going to be fine.” She told me.

Captain said, “you know, you gave me a lot of paperwork to fill out with your little stunt.”

I said, “sorry captain, I just couldn’t leave that kid in there alone.”

He nodded, “yeah, I know, but we’ll have a long talk when you get back to work. Just like I said to that other idiot, you are going to get your ass chewed, then you are both are going to get a damn medal.”

I was confused, “other idiot, what are talking about?”

He smirked, “the idiot that carried you out of that building.”

He pointed to the other side of the room, I turned to see Nate sitting there.

“You carried me out?” I asked him.

He nodded, “of course, I couldn’t leave you in there either.”

Just then Blake and the boys walked into the room, Roman ran and jumped on the bed as soon as he saw me.

“Daddy, you had me so worried,” he wrapped his arms around my neck, I of course wrapped my arms around him.

“It’s ok buddy, I just hurt my leg a little bit, I’m going to be fine.”

He looked up at me, “I know, Aunt Amy told me, but I don’t want you to get hurt anymore.”

I felt a tear run down my cheek, “I promise, I will be more careful from now on. Hey this is Nate, he works with daddy. He ran into the building to get me out, we need to thank him.” I looked over to Nate, he had a tear in his eye as well.

Roman jumped from the bed and ran to Nate, he jumped into his lap and hugged him, “thank you for saving my daddy, you’re my hero.”

Nate looked to me with wide eyes, “you’re welcome, buddy.” As he returned Roman’s hug. “Your daddy is the real hero, he went into that building to save a little boy just like you.”

 Roman looked at Nate, “is the little boy ok?”

Nate smiled as he nodded, “yes he is, thanks to your dad.” Roman gave Nate a big smile as he crawled off his lap and back onto mine.

Captain thew his hands up, “your whole family is crazy, the first question you all ask is about the kid, I’ve never seen that before.”

I chuckled, “thank our mom, it’s how we were raised.” Captain just shook his head.

Amy stood up, “hey guys, how about a snack, I think Alec and Nate need to talk.”

Captain turned to leave, “yeah, I need to go too, Alec, keep me posted when you are ready to come back to work. Nate, take the rest of the day off and come see me first thing in the morning.”

In unison, “yes sir.”

Nate moved to the chair next to my bed, “look Alec, I am so sorry for everything.”

I said, “what, I was the one that ran to into that building.”

He shook his head, “no, not that, I was talking about Cancun, not talking to you when you came to work that first day, just everything.”

I took his hand, “I do wish you would give me a chance to explain.”

Nate squeezed my hand tighter, “you don’t have to, Amy told me everything. Why you left early, why you moved here, that she was your sister and not your wife.”

I interrupted, “wait, you thought Amy was my wife?”

He blushed, “when I saw her and Roman pick you up after work, I just assumed that you were a straight guy looking to experiment.”

I laughed, “look Nate, I loved my wife, yes, I was curious when we were married, but I would have never cheated on her with anyone. If she had been with me in Cancun and I saw you, I would never have even talked to you, I might have looked at you, but I never would have left her side.”

He said, “I know that now, like I said Amy told me everything. Do you think you can forgive me, I have been such an ass. God, I don’t know why I acted like, I have been thinking about it ever since we spent that night together. I really have feelings for you, I need to see where this goes. I mean, if you want too.”

I looked into Nate’s sad brown eyes, “yes, I want that too, I haven’t had feelings like this since I met Zoe.”

He asked, “but you have never felt like this about a guy?”

I shook my head, “no, I mean I found a lot of guys attractive but never acted on those feelings. But when I saw you, it was just different than I had ever felt before. Up until now, I never thought about being with anyone else.”

Nate smiled, “she must have been special.”

I nodded, “I see so much of her in Roman.”

Nate said, “yeah, you and Roman definitely have something special.”

I asked, “so what do we do now?”

He thought a minute, “I think we get you healed up first, then we can talk about that.”

I smiled, “yes, talk is the key word there.”

Nate raised his eyebrow, “that’s fair, I deserved that. I am so sorry that I acted like that.”

I said, “it’s ok, to be honest I would have probably acted the same way if you had stood me up.”

Amy, Blake, and boys came back into the room, Nate stood up, “hey, I’m going to let you rest, if it is ok, I will stop by on my next day off.”

I replied, “of course it’s ok.” He said his goodbyes to everyone and left.

Amy sat next to me, “so, did you guys work things out?”

I nodded, “I think so, we are going to keep talking and see where things go.”

They left and I rested for the rest of the day, Amy brought mom with her the next day, and I filled her in on everything.

 I started physical therapy that afternoon and a few days later the doctor said that I should get ready to go home the next day.

Nate came to see me, and I told him that I was ready to go home. He offered to take me home if I wanted him to, he didn’t want to interfere if Amy wanted to take me. I called Amy and told her that Nate was bringing me home and asked if she would bring Roman and meet us there, she agreed.

I was still on crutches but was getting around fairly well, Amy and Nate helped me get settled and we worked out a schedule to help me with cleaning and cooking. Nate would stop by on his off days and Amy would help on the other days.

Nate was being so great, he wasn’t overstepping, always asking if was ok to do something, but also making me do all the things that I could so I would keep making progress in my rehab. He and Roman were also getting along so great, even to the point that Roman wanted Uncle Nate to read his bedtime story with me. Nate even took turns picking up the boys from school.

Amy and Blake also fell in love with Nate, and we were doing a lot of things together. When I met his brother and the rest of his friends, we all got along great as well.

I was feeling better every day, I no longer needed my crutches and really didn’t need much help around the house any longer, Nate still showed up on his days off. Through it all he never pressured me to do anything physical, we had not had any sexual contact, other than a few kisses and hugs, with each other since Cancun, over three months ago.

We ate supper together and cleaned the kitchen, then both of us played with Roman before I gave him a bath. I put him to bed, after, we both read to him. I came out to the living room once Roman was sleeping, Nate was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels on the tv.

He smiled, “is the little guy asleep?”

I nodded, “yep, down for the count.”

He asked, “anything on tv you want to watch?”

I sat next to him, “not really, whatever you want to watch is fine.”

Nate picked a channel and we watched for a while, He gave me a quick kiss and said, “I guess I should be headed home, you need to get your rest.”

We stood up, I pulled him close to me and gave him another kiss, “you don’t have to go, if you don’t want to.”

Nate smiled, “well, it is getting late, you probably want to get to bed.”

I kept holding onto him, “yes, I do want to go to bed, you still don’t have to leave.”

He looked me in the eye, “are you sure?”

I nodded, “yes, I am, do you want to join me?”