The Start

The Start Book Two Chapter 3

From your Author:

First: I would like to thank all who rated on the last chapter. In one day over a quarter of the readers rated and by the end of the day it was on the ‘bests’ list. Even without comments, the ratings are validating for me.

Second: You might have read the only comments for the last chapter. It was an exchange between our host and me concerning my Authors comments at the beginning. I would encourage you to go back and comment.

Third: I want you to know that our host and I took our concerns out of the public eye and we understand each other differently now. Again I want to thank him for providing a place for authors to share and readers to enjoy.

Next: I am still trying to rap up Dean. In this chapter, Niki starts at ‘Little Dean had just turned one.’ That would be April 8th, 2018. But she reflects back six months and slowly brings us to today. RJC.

Niki’s POV:

Cooper had just turned one and I lived on the houseboat with Jeff and Donny. Dean had bought it as an incentive for me to go back to school and I couldn’t leave the boys behind. I never went back home to see my mom and dad because I had Jeff and Donny now. They were there for the birth and little Dean saw their faces first.

I have talked to woman and never suffered a single effect they talked about. As much as I don’t want to say it his birth was like the best orgasm I’d ever had. I didn’t have drugs and he came out fast. There was no need for a slap and he cried once and looked at me. I so wished Dean could have been here.

After his service, I still made every decision even though Parker was Executor of his estate. That was how Dean wanted it. ‘The Dean Cooper Foundation’ was to be boots on the ground in four hours of any school or mass shooting. I hand picked people and set up offices in states that met Dean’s goal.

When we weren’t responding to shootings we produced interactive assemblies for the youngest. Demonstration groups showed what bullying was, what it looked like, how it hurt people, and it needed to stop. You aren’t a bully when you come out of your momma. It is learned behavior and Dean’s goal was to provide a curve as early as possible.

He had recorded videos of his late self and asked all of them to pledge to never be a bully. He had raised a billion dollars for the Trevor Project and I was expected to pull off his wet dream with a tenth of that. But the money never stopped pouring in.

Lil Cooper was born on April 8th. Donny, Jeff, and I started at the UW in the fall. He was always with one of us and I wondered why this all came about as it did. Dean would have been a great Dad and Donny along with Jeff filled that void whether they realized it or not. And he had a lineage of God Mother’s and Father’s six deep.

I told Dean’s parents as soon as I knew for sure and they embraced having a grandchild as much as they did me. I spent most of my pregnancy setting up the Foundation and checking credentials. Most I offered to pay but it was refused.

We had Doctors, Physiologists, Psychiatrists’, Professors, and even victims who had been through the same thing years before willing to help. They all had a to-go bag and never once when a call went out did someone refuse. We didn’t wait to be asked, we just showed up.

Dean was up for more awards at the AMA’s and I was there with his Mom and Dad to accept on his behalf. A ten-minute tribute was dedicated to Dean. I had worked with his parents and tried to prepare them but the whole show was so emotional. I had slipped his mom a pill for her nerves but I should’ve given her two.

There had been a dry run the day before like always but it was just movements not the content of the show. They were taken backstage so they could walk out when introduced to accept the first award after the tribute. His Mom was in a beautiful floor length dress and His Dad was in a tux.

Ladies and gentlemen, Pink. And she walked out. “You know I loved that little… Best album by a male artist; Dean Cooper for Resurrection.” And everything after that couldn’t be heard over the applause. “The award goes to Dean Cooper.”

A voice came from everywhere and said, “Accepting for Dean are his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper.” And they walked out. Mom definitely needed two pills.

Pink stepped between both of them and did that thing when she’d wrap her wings around you then walked off. They stood looking at the audience and cameras with the North Dakota fish face. I got her attention doing two fingers to her eyes and then mine. She smiled and nodded totally understanding me.

“When Dean came home to do the healing concert after the shooting,” she started. “I look around and see familiar faces. He called you his friends. I asked him after the show; ‘Who are you and what have you done with my little boy.” And she wiped some tears.

“It’s me Mom, and he showed me his ring, his kidney stones he’d had mounted.”

“I guess what Dean did with the last year of his life created a legacy, made a difference, maybe saved lives. I missed him that last year. You all saw him more than we did,” she said holding his Dad’s arm.

“Many of you have been so kind staying in touch with us and sharing your experiences with our son. Dean found out about the cancer the day before his eighteenth birthday and didn’t tell any of us. The Doctor’s told him three months and he stretched it to almost five so he could finish what he did. I guess that’s why we’re standing before you now.” And Cooper chants started.

When I did shows the question was never asked if I was pregnant with Dean’s child or after if this was Dean’s son. I knew who Dean’s favorites were and I would appear whenever they asked. Never in the history of music had one person sang with so many different artists; dead or alive.

Lil Cooper was a Gerber Baby and always stole the show. He walked at seven months and was potty trained at eight. Well, he liked to pee off the deck into the lake. Thank you, Donny and Jeff. As soon as he could pull off his diaper, he did. And by one he was talking in complete sentences. Smallville and Jeff wanted to be the first one to be called Daddy and it was on Don Lemon’s show that Dean said it for the first time as I passed him over.

I could smell the fear off Don as I handed Dean across. When He said ‘Daddy’, you could have heard a pin drop in the studio and then the laughter started. “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,” as he slapped his hands on Don’s cheeks.

Don; a gay man who had once said, “Think of the gayest thing you can think of, I’m that gay.” Sounds like Mayor Pete, today.

The construction next door had been driving us all mad for the last few months. The Houseboat next to us was being remodeled. I walked down the dock and came face to face with the guys next door. I was speechless with Dean in my arms.

There are few times when I can’t talk and this was one of them. The taller of the two was maybe 5”11’ with brown hair shoulder length, a hint of Auburn, and parted in the middle. His pants and shirt were fitted; over the top expensive along with his shoes. But when he looked from Dean to me I saw the gold rings around his chestnut colored eyes.

“Are you, Niki?” The baby faced one with dishwater blond hair in matching equally expensive clothes, asked. “Is it really safe raising a baby on a houseboat?” That got my attention.

“I’ll throw him in if you think he can’t swim.” And I acted like I was ready to through him in.

The shorter of the two with his blue eyes and peaches and cream skin yelled, “NO.” like I would.

“Yes, I’m Niki.”

“We’re really sorry for all the noise and everything.” The taller one said. “We’re the Chancellors. My friends call me RJ or Chance, and this is Robby.” He told me.

Dean held out his arms and said, “Daddy.”

Ryan held out his arms and said, “Rye-Rye,” taking Dean and leaving me still speechless as he and the blue-eyed one battled for attention from my little guy.

Ryan held little Dean’s butt on his arm with his back to his chest so he could look around and I have no idea how he knew that. Dean liked to see where he was going, not where he’d been. And he would let you know it. We talked as I saw Dean in his Dad’s arms. Ryan could have been Dean’s doppelganger right down to the shape in his crotch.

“We’ve met your roommates and you’re all invited to our house warming party this weekend.” He said taking Dean from Ryan.

OK, one of them was going to bleed. “You’ve met Donny and Jeff?” I asked and they nodded. Yeah, I’m pissed.

Oh yeah, some blood will be shed. I smiled and held out my arms and took him from Robby and continued down the dock. I couldn’t believe it; Ryan could have doubled for Dean and he even had some of the same mannerisms.

The way Ryan nervously thrust his hands in his pockets pushing his crotch forward or how he bowed his head and looked up in a childlike way. I’m going to have to move. But first I want a pound of flesh from my roommates.

I walked in the door and they both greeted us as I pushed Dean to Donny and went at Jeff. His hands were up as he backed away, “Our neighbors.” And that was all I had to say.

“Niki.” And his hands came down. “You wouldn’t have believed us. I almost passed out.” Jeff finished shaking his head.

“It’s true Niki. We met them a week ago. Did you feel it, Niki?” Donny asked.

“Say, Daddy.” Donny requested of Dean; nothing.

Jeff walked over and took him. “I’m Daddy aren’t I?” And nothing.

“Come on Niki?” Jeff said. “Are you blind? They love each other more than themselves. It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

I guess I missed that but looking back it was like each was a half that made a whole. Fuck, I missed it. “You guys could have said something. If you knew, you should have said something.

“Really, Lil, Dude? You call Don Lemon, Daddy, and I get this?” Jeff said again.

“He called Ryan Daddy and held out his arms.” And I started to cry.

I still missed Dean so… much even after a year but everything reminded me of him and now this man next door would remind me even more how much I missed him.

“Niki, don’t cry or Donny and I will cry to; that’s too much sadness for this little guy.” And I couldn’t help but smile as I reached for Dean and he called me Daddy for the first time.

The next morning Ryan was sitting on a bench at the top of the dock smoking a cigarette. He flicked it when he saw me and Dean get to the top.

“Ah, Niki?” and he stood holding his arms out for Dean, who was reaching for him.

“Daddy?”

Ryan shook his head and said, “Rye-Rye,” in a baby voice and Dean made it clear what he wanted.

Ryan motioned to the bench and sat down after me. He pushed his knees together sitting Dean on them and started to bounce him. I had to look away.

“Your interview with Lemon was on last night. I have had people say I look like him but I don’t see it.”

“Oh come on. Tell me you haven’t Googled him? I look at you and see Dean at my age. So what do you want to say?”

“Ok, I can’t help what or who I look like. I want you to know that Robby and I have been together for five years. I had no idea who our neighbors were when we picked this place.” And he took a deep breath.

“With that said, it’s weird. I feel a connection with this little guy, and it’s not because he called me, Daddy. I had never held a baby before yesterday and he gives me kind of, a comfort.” And he shook his head back and forth like not understanding what he said.

I studied him. “Don’t worry about it. It will be hard but something tells me this, whatever it is; call it fate or coincidence, luck or destiny, we’re neighbors. I’ve got to meet Donny and pass this little guy off so I can make my lecture.”

The next morning I stood on the deck outside watching down on a twenty by twenty barge pulled by a ski boat making its way to my neighbors. It was loaded with furniture and boxes. Robby and Ryan were in the boat driven by; ‘fan myself; it must have been a young Keith Urban.’

I watched as a few more guys showed up and before long all shirts had been lost and I was treated to a Chippendales show in pants and shorts. I should have been sipping a mint julep. I found out later that Ryan had no intention of carrying everything down a three hundred foot dock. And honestly, I never saw him lift a thing.

I had a big house; theirs was bigger. We were both double slips meaning twenty-four feet wide and I was thirty-five feet long. The main floor was living and dining with a powder room. The kitchen was towards the front and the views were maximized. The main deck ran the full end and went out twelve feet.

My room was on the second level with Jeff and Donny’s and we split the deck looking out on the canal with a bathroom between. It was twelve feet of glass in both our rooms and the large third bedroom was towards the front. And we had a rooftop deck.

The bathroom was like a Jack and Jill but bigger. There was a long mirror and counter with a sink on each side. There was a toilet closet and another door to the shower. The boys tended to use the guest bath for pooping and I was thankful for that.

I thought about the bedroom to the front but even as a baby the little guy liked this one. When he was three months old he grew out of it but he would wake up at night and just sob. One of them would come in and take him from me and Dean would calm. Sometimes I would comfort Donny when Jeff couldn’t. We were a family.

I still slept naked with one of Dean’s button-up shirts that hung down over my butt and stuff. Donny wore boxer briefs and Jeff liked tight wild colored skimpy trunks that left nothing to the imagination. With the difference between them, they were both beautiful male specimens.

There were times in the morning when I would see them so hard that their underwear couldn’t begin to hide what lay beneath. Other times I would find little Dean between them in bed sleeping or sitting with one of them downstairs.

A bigger barge had been brought in two days later that was maybe twenty by forty and was anchored to the house next door. You do need to pay attention to weight on a houseboat and extra real estate for a party came in this form when you had twenty thousand pounds of guests.

The front door was open as the three of us walked in with Smallville carrying The Little Guy. It was like a smorgasbord of beautiful people. I scanned the room and saw Robby and Ryan. Then I saw him and I wished I hadn’t worn heels and had my razor. He didn’t see me.

“What in the hell are you doing here?” I asked saddling up next to him.

“Ryan is my, God Son. His father and I were friends. Why are you here, Niki?”

“I’m just his next-door neighbor; like you didn’t know. What are you trying to pull, Parker?”

“I didn’t know, Niki. Dean did consult me when he bought your place but Ryan didn’t. He had a guy he trusted. Dean and Ryan did spend time together when he came last October. They met in my office.”

I was surprised. Ryan didn’t mention and I never assumed. “It must have been like looking into a mirror for both of them.”

“You have no idea, Niki. Ryan is a man of passion and he has a voice in Seattle even as young as he is. He is also very rich. He and Robby are advocates and when they show up people listen. Robby is the scholar and Ryan’s the hothead; not that he’s dumb. I can understand why you would see it as something that was set up, but it wasn’t. I wouldn’t let that happen, Niki.”

Dean’s POV:

We’d landed in Minot and Niki put a coat over my face in case anyone tried taking pictures of my frail frame. I didn’t know it would be like this. It’s hard to breathe and if I take another pill I won’t be able to stay awake. I wish Niki would’ve left when I tried to fire her but.

She’s so strong for me. I’m so fuckin stoned I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t. I remember being in the car and Niki and Dad helping me up to my room. My head was clearing and I wasn’t in too much pain. I was happy for this moment and happy Niki would bury my secrets so my parents would never know.

I didn’t know a month ago how the end would happen or when. When I was in Washington I did some stuff and put it on a thumb drive for Niki, just in case. In case I never had the chance to tell her; if my last breaths had been robbed from me and I couldn’t tell her.

“I don’t know much, but, I know I love you. That may be all there is to know.”

When it gets to the end, you know. I did. Dying is kind of a once in a lifetime thing. It was like when I told Niki I loved her, it was ok to go. I had already composed an email to Niki and after convincing her I was hungry I added the end.

I lay there in the same bed I’d slept in since I was a kid. I could feel my breaths becoming shallower and tears ran down my cheeks as my finger hit send. Fade to white.

From the Author:

I know. But Dean the person is gone although his dreams and aspirations will continue on in this story. I’ve introduced, The Chancellor’s, who will play a very important part of the Second Book. In the next chapter, Donny and Jeff reach a tipping point and who do you think steps in? RJC.