AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well, I'm sorry to say it, but this is the end of "Memory, Family, and Demon". It's had a good run, being the only story of this length that I have completed so far, and I'm actually rather pleased with myself. Just because MFD is over doesn't mean that I won't come back to this fandom sometime, perhaps even sometime soon. But for now I'm devoting a lot of my time and energy into "Feminine Effects", my Yu-Gi-Oh gender-bender fanfic.
Thanks to everyone who stuck with me, including lightblue-Nymphadora and MonkeyMojo. It means a lot.
IMPORTANT! My first paid publication was just released by Torquere Press. It's a short story about a knight who captures and sleeps with a demon. The links to both the short story and the anthology it appears in are on my profile (hopefully, if ff.n accepted the update), so if you want to, check it out!
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EPILOGUE – Nelson
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Nelson grinned nervously as he reached out and jabbed his finger against the doorbell of the Meeks' house, hoping that Kyle and Jason were as thrilled to see him as they had sounded over the phone. He had just gotten to D.C. two hours ago and had been catching up with his mom before going to see his favorite couple.
He could hear someone thundering down the stairs from inside and the door had barely been thrown open before his arms were full of Kyle.
"God, I've missed you so much!" Kyle wailed, hugging Nelson tight enough to make his ribs creak.
Nelson squeezed Kyle in return and nuzzled him until he could whisper in Kyle's ear. "I've missed you, too. I'm so glad to be home."
"You're not allowed to leave again," Kyle said, "I'm not letting you."
"Aww, come on, in a few days you'll be jumping up and down at the chance to get rid of me." They pulled back and grinned at each other affectionately.
"Hey, don't stand there doing that on the front porch; what will the neighbors think?"
Nelson smirked and stepped around Kyle to give Jason a huge hug as well. "They'll think 'that poor Meeks boy finally wizened up and got himself a decent man'."
Jason chuckled and clapped him on the back before stepping away.
"Come on in," Kyle insisted, waving Nelson through the front door, "Do you need something to drink? Did your mom feed you yet? How was your flight?"
"Cluck, cluck, cluck," Nelson mocked, ruffling Kyle's hair. "I'm fine, mother hen. The flight was okay except I ended up next to some fat guy who snored the whole way! That's when headphones com in handy, though."
"Is that you, Nelson?" Mrs. Meeks asked, stepping out of the kitchen, drying her hands on a rag. "My goodness, it has been a long time."
"Definitely," Nelson agreed, "I sure have missed being back east. LA is chaotic at it's slowest!"
"I can imagine," she said.
"Come on upstairs, Nelson," Kyle said, gripping onto his sleeve happily. Nelson grinned; it sure felt nice to be wanted so much.
As they climbed the stairs, a blur ran up to them and jumped on Jason, who had to brace against the railing. Melissa grinned at him, then turned to Nelson. "I remember you!" she said, "You came over a few times and played dollies with me once!"
"Do you remember his name?" Jason teased her.
She stuck her tongue out at him and said, "I was listening outside the door while you and Kyle were on the phone, so I know his name is Nelson."
"You know better than to eavesdrop, Missy," Kyle chided.
"Aww, but Kyle!"
"'Aww, but' nothing, young lady," Jason said, setting her down. "Now run along and play, alright?"
"Okay."
Nelson grinned after her as she ran off. "She's cute."
"She's a pain in the butt is what she is," Jason replied, but the fond look on his face betrayed that right away.
Kyle laughed and let everyone into his room. Nelson flopped down on the bed, bouncing on it a few times, re-familiarizing himself with Kyle's room. He heard one spot creak and bounced on it a few more times, then grinned suggestively at Jason who reached out and whacked him upside the head.
"So what the hell has been going on here?" Nelson said, "Kyle's been telling me the amazingly-vague paraphrase version, but I want the whole story. Are you really here for good now?" he asked Jason.
Jason nodded. "Yep, and Missy and I are finished with my dad for good." He explained what had happened during and after the trial and Nelson whispered appreciatively.
"Goddamn," Nelson summarized. "So Kyle what do your parents think about all of this?"
Kyle laid down next to him and said, "They're fine about having two new tenants if that's what you mean. I think Mom is thrilled to have a little kid around again; let's just put it this way, I doubt she ever intended for me to be an only child."
Nelson cracked up laughing. "I can see that. How about the whole Princeton thing? Any updates in that direction?"
"Mmm. As of now – of course, this can change in the next year – the plan is for me to finish next year at Princeton, then transfer to Tech. That way, we can use the extra money to get a place off-campus for Jason, Missy, and me."
Jason sighed and added, "While Kyle's finishing up at Tech, I'll take a few years off and work since we'll still have day-to-day expenses."
"Wow," Nelson breathed, not expecting that. "Are you going to go back to school?"
"Probably when Kyle graduates."
Kyle laughed and added, "When he finally finishes and both of us are bringing home money, we'll feel like billionaires compared to when we were in school!"
All three laughed louder. Nelson grabbed one of Kyle's pillows and snuggled it, noting that it smelled like Jason instead of the math-geek. "Sounds like I'm missing all of the drama."
"Not all of it," Kyle said, "... sounds like you and Manny are having plenty out west."
He sighed and nodded. "That's putting it nicely. I had to get out of there or I was going to strangle him with my bare hands. It's not even so much that he's mad – that's a good thing; it means he really cares about me – it's just that he doesn't trust me!"
"Not to play the villain here," Jason said, "But after what happened, can you really blame him?"
Nelson shot Jason a venomous glare then pouted. "Well, no, but he didn't believe me before he accepted that I had... done that. It really burns my butt, you know?"
Kyle patted his arm soothingly. "I know. But I still say that Manny purposely made himself not believe you so he wouldn't be hurt. If he could pass it off as a joke or a lie, then he wouldn't have to deal with it."
The blond shrugged sadly. "I get that, I really do. But... I'm not even sure if Manny and I should try working things out."
"You definitely should!" Kyle insisted immediately. "What if any of those times I was soooooo ticked at Jason, I had decided it wasn't worth it? You wouldn't have even met Manny, and the three of us sure wouldn't be lazing around my room talking about this."
Jason blinked with a look of 'what did I ever do?!' on his face that just made Nelson crack up.
"Well that's different! You two must have frickin' guardian angels or something to make that little miracle work out without bloodshed."
Kyle laughed into his hands, nodding his agreement. "Okay, maybe. But it wasn't all 'angels' or whatever. Some of it was us arguing like pissy tom-cats and lots and lots of compromising. Not every second of a relationship is happy unicorns and jelly-beans, Nelson."
"There were a couple of times I wouldn't have blamed Kyle if he'd told me to fuck off and never come back," Jason added. "Sometimes, you've just got to roll with things as they come."
Nelson glowered at them and said, "I never expected the couple I spoon-fed into life to be giving me relationship advice."
"Well you need it," Kyle said, poking him in the stomach. Don't you want to get back together with Manny? I mean, until all of this you two were really happy, right?"
Nelson nodded, remembering some of the good times he and Manny had had going to shows, walking hand-in-hand as they explored Los Angeles, and of course swinging by the Harry Hay school and helping out sometimes. "Yeah we were."
"This is a just a little road bump," Kyle assured. "Okay, a damn big little road bump, but still a road bump; get over it."
"If Manny knifes you in the stomach in the middle of the night, sells your left eye on eBay, and gets a dog pregnant, you can break up over that. Otherwise, learn to work stuff out."
"... Wow, Jason," Nelson drawled, "That's... fucking odd. Are those the kinds of things you think about doing in your spare time?"
Jason reached out and grabbed his pillow from Nelson before beating him with it. Nelson grinned and grabbed the one out from under Kyle's head, attacking him back while Kyle stepped between them trying to keep the peace only to be whacked from both sides.
"Whoops."
"Uh-oh."
"You. Guys. Are both. Dead!" Kyle said, grabbing the last pillow and smacking both of them.
Nelson laughed loudly as he fended off his friend. This was what he had missed the most about being in LA, getting to just go crazy with his best friend. He would miss this when he left.
Finally Jason got Kyle pinned under him, grinning down at him victoriously. Nelson decided to tease them a bit and said, "If you guys start doing stuff in front of me, I'm totally leaving."
"Please," Jason scoffed, "You could learn a thing or two from my technique."
"JASON!" Kyle blushed as red as a stop-light and shoved his boyfriend off of him... and off the side of the bed.
Nelson rolled with laughter as Jason popped up, looking like a disheveled meerkat.
"We'd better calm down before Missy hears us and thinks we're playing something fun without her," Kyle said, sprawling back on the mattress.
To Nelson's amusement, Jason crawled back on with them so it was a tight squeeze for all three of them on a bed.
"So," Jason asked finally, "What are you going to do about the Manny situation?"
Nelson thought about it and finally said, "I definitely don't want to break up. I still love him." He decided not to repeat what he'd said to Manny about how he still loved Kyle but could never date him.
"Enough to make it worth it?" Kyle asked. "You know that if you decide you two do want to make things work that you'll still have to deal with these same issues. The trust, the cheating thing... those aren't going to go away."
"I know, I know!" He groaned and flopped an arm over his eyes. "But... I really want to work things out. I don't want things to end like this between us."
"Then suck it up and call him," Kyle said. "Because I know if Jason and I were fighting and he went to the other half of the country, I'd be sitting here chewing my fingernails to the nub with worry."
Nelson sighed but knew Kyle was right. "I'll call him tonight."
"Good boy." He purred quietly as Kyle petted his hair.
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Ring. Ring. Ring.
Nelson curled the cord around his finger as he listened to the other end of the line, wondering if Manny was going to pick up. If he even wanted him to.
"... Hello?"
"Hi, Manny," he whispered nervously.
"Nelson? I guess you made it to DC okay if you're calling from your mom's."
"Yeah, I'm fine. Already swung by and saw Kyle and Jason. I'm going to go see them tomorrow, too, of course, but.... They're both doing good. They both say hi."
"Tell them I send a hug when you see them."
"I will," Nelson agreed. "... I miss you. Which is so dumb because by now I should be used to not having you around."
"Nelson.... Did you get a chance to think about us while you were on the flight?"
"Yeah, and to talk about it with Kyle and Jason. I... I don't want to break up over this, Manny. I know I made a huge mistake, but we both did and said some things we shouldn't have. I mean... you still want us to try and work this out, don't you?" he asked desperately.
"Without a doubt. I love you, Nelson. Nothing you did or I did or even that David did can change that."
Nelson sighed happily. "I know. I love you, too. I promise we'll work this out, Manny," he vowed. Sometimes love was hard, but in the end all that mattered was that Manny was worth it.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Normally, I would never end a story when I'm so unhappy with the chapter, but I just can't get the creative juices flowing today. I know, I know, I'm ashamed of myself. But I also don't feel like I can leave you guys hanging. So this concludes "Memory, Family, and Demon". I never expected it to take this long, but over-all I'm content with it. See you in my next fanfic!