A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Clay's past is in italics. Present time is in the "normal" font.
Before he'd even stepped in the bathroom, he knew she'd been in there. That annoying wariness of unknown scent, he'd have to ask for a lock on the door, or he could make one himself, with a friend's help. He sat on Clay's bed and and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. "Clay...breakfast?" He asked leaning his ear over to Clay's lips to hear him mumble. "Mmmm...not hungry" A tap on the door and he got off Clay's bed and slithered down to the floor. No carpet, no furnishing, another blister on his butt. he leaned down and waited for her voice to turn their eardrums inside out. "Clay, Kev, get your asses down for brekkie" Becca shouted.
Kev leaned up wishing he had more clothes on, he didn't like the way Becca stared at any of them, why couldn't she just go? "Me and Clay aren't hungry" Kev said. "Whatever, just get the fuck downstairs" With a nod she shut the door. Kev turned round to see Clay out of bed and reaching for his trousers. Kev could smell the urine and knew he'd get strapped for it. "Clay take mine" Kev told Clay throwing over grey jogging pants. "Kev yours are too big, remember last time?" Clay asked. Kev nodded with the memory the embarrasment turning Clay's cheeks red. "That won't happen again OK?" Kev told him, wrapping one arm around Clay's stomach and shaking him playfully. "I'll be right there with you"
It was time for the hands on approach. Daddy wasn't sure if he could handle it. It was the only way he was going to get the codes and he needed that cash now more than ever. Daddy's hearing was coming up and there was a good chance Achkan wasn't going to show. This meant either prison time or a fine, and if it was a fine he knew he'd have to cough up a lot cash, especially if DannyV was up the judge's ass. He'd have to tell Eric first, no amount of Eric's whining was gonna make him change his mind. Eric came downstairs to find a bowl of cereal in front of his seat, along with a small plate that had two thick silces of white bread on it, covered in butter and strawberry jam. Eric looked at the plates and stood still.
"Dad are you sick?" Eric asked. "Have you got two days to live?" Daddy shook his head. "You lost a court case and have to stay with mom for good? If there was a case you should have told me Dad, I'm not really a kid, and if I wanna stay with both you guys I should pick..." "Son sit down, it's not about that, things are OK with your mom. I've got something to say" Eric sat down but didn't touch the food. "We're getting a new roommate for a while. "His name's Drew and he's going to help me out in court"
"Oh" Eric said as he got his spoon and dug into his sugar puffs. "You had me for a sec" "It won't be for long, a few days, then he'll be gone" "K" Eric said as he got up to brush his teeth. Daddy got Clay to pick up Claire and take her back to her place, then met them all there. Claire stared at him blankly as she opened the door. "Thank god, get him out" She said opening the door wider. "Sure" Daddy said tapping Claire quickly on the stomach. she moved back as Daddy let himself past. "You're weirder than I thought" Claire said under her breath. "Your uglier than I last thought, stay out of the way" Daddy spat as he went into the living room to see Drew on his cushion on the sofa watching TV.
Clay was in and out of Claire's room packaging Drew's plastic wrapped clothes and Drew's belongings in rucksacks with gloves on. "Hey Daddy" Clay said as he put Drew's things by the door. "You ready for the hearing?" Daddy nodded. "Yes Son, I'll get the results and I'll tell you where we go from here" "We?" Claire asked. "If Daddy gets fined, a payment plan needs to be set up" Clay told her. "Clay the only money you have is for us...you and me, and him or her" Claire said pointing at her stomach. Daddy rolled his eyes then Drew and Daddy said goodbye and Daddy said he'd call Clay later. "Will I have my own room Daddy?" Drew asked.
"Yes, you'll have mine" "Ahh...I assume we'll be bed-buddies" Drew said with a smile. "Wait..." Daddy began, but Drew wasn't listening. "You know in the Roman Empire which started from 27 BC to 476/1453 AD Roman soliders would constantly share quarters with their Emperor Theodosius the first...what they'd do is gather..." "Drew you're on your own, unless you want me to pay for someone" "To entertain me? With what?" Drew asked sticking his head out of the window slightly. "Nevermind" Daddy said as they reached his place. Daddy had cleaned up, changed the sheets hoovered the window sills and taken the magazines out from under the bed. This would be a great holding cell for Drew providing Daddy didn't find himself in a real jail cell. He had to act as nice as he could before paying the kid off and chucking him out on his ass.
"Mmmmm...I heard she put plastic on Damon, got on him and told him that it was gonna be fun, but he said it wasn't" Leanne said even though it was just a rumor. "Sal and Mattis have been off don't you think?" Clay asked. "Fuck if she ever came near me and pulled that shit, I'd stab her in the fucking heart" Kev said leaning over to Leanne to take her ciggarette with his mouth. "We're gonna ask for locks Lea, you coming?" Kev asked, tapping the ciggarette ash on the grass. Leanne shook her head and Kev grabbed Clay's arm to keep himself steady. Sal said yes to the locks, the boys went back to their room and were planning to get shandy's from the care worker's fridge. "We'll have to look everywhere for the lock" Clay whined, but that idea was cut short. A tap on the door and a wounded friend drove Kev to breaking point.
He let Lea in. Her trousers were soaked at the front and bruises were showing up on her arms. "It's Becca isn't it?" Kev asked as Clay helped Leanne on the bed. "She like girls too...the staff are looking for her" Leanne said sobbing. "They could cover for Bec" Kev added, "she is one of them" A member of staff knocked on the door Clay helped Leanne up with her belt strap and sat with her while the ambulance was called. "That Pervy slut needs to be put down" Kev said as the ambulance arrived. "You coming with us?" Clay asked, his eyes pleading for Kev to come but he couldn't. "Clay I'll meet you back here, I've got stuff to do" Kev said turning his back on the sirens and walking to the hardware store to get a torture toolkit.
"Clay I'm so glad I've got you all to myself" Claire said giving Clay a hug. Clay patted her back and her stomach. "As soon as I'm back at work, I'll be at the gym everyday" Clay kissed her on the cheek. It's OK, you can stay home as long as you want" He reassured her. "I don't want to stay home. As soon as him or her pops out, we're getting a babysitter. "Claire..." Clay whined. "You need to look after the baby for a while you don't want to be a workaholic mom" Claire smiled at him patronizingly.
"I just wanna give him or her everything and we can't do it on your pay" Clay nodded, she did have a point, but if they were gonna get a babysitter he'd do a criminal check on them every two months. Well, maybe weeks. "It'll all fall into place when this little one comes along" Clay said as he went in the kitchen to make Claire's lunch. His computer was on the kitchen cabinet and he played a few games before clicking onto Jack-cam. With Drew moving in and out, then claire moving out then in, he really hadn't the time to check on his former new best buddy. He turned the connection on only to see two people on the sofa. It could have been a friend but it looked like Jack's ex Sash.
"Let's go over this again. Clay is now with Claire. Achkan is Claire's father. You need to ask him about Claire's family" Sash told Jack in that thick Russian accent of his.
"I can't say it outright, and I just don't know how I'm gonna pretend that I care" Jack told him. Clay thought Jack could be faking, for Sash's sake.
"Does any part of you still care about Clay?" Sash asked and Clay turned the volume down a little.
"Sash I can't hear his name without my blood boiling. That kid is one desperate sicko, the sooner we get the info, the quicker I never have to see him again" Jack said tapping Sash's hand as Sash smiled. Clay turned the computer off and got a knife out to cut the onions. The knife was a little bigger than he needed it, but he felt like roleplaying. He'd make Claire a spanish omlette with some mushrooms and red peppers and make her some hot chocolate before bed. It was time to find another playmate a guy that could lessen the load take his anger away before the baby came.
He couldn't touch Sash, in Russia he was royalty and if he got killed abroad his parents wouldn't stop until Clay was caught. Jack was a more fluffier option, but he hadn't put enough planning into it. Just seeing Jack's face in his mind caught him off guard. Daddy always said that they had to plan ahead and Clay wouldn't be able to catch Jack unless the plan was foolproof and the fun and games would have to last for at least a week. So it was back to the internet for Clay...for now.
"Kev where did you go?" Clay asked as they walked back to the home from the hospital. Leanne was being placed in another home and the police were questioning staff about Becca. There was a very good chance that the home was gonna be shut down and the boys weren't going to wait to be kicked out. "This is cool Clay, you, and me out in wild" Kev said as he stuffed his clothes into his rucksack. Clay nodded, but he wasn't really looking forward to it. He was a homebody and liked routine. The wild was natural to Kev but he was more of an outdoors guy. Before he got put in the home Kev said he used to do ten laps around his local park each morning. Clay decided that one night outside couldn't hurt.
They ended up taking all their belongings to woodland area a few miles away from the park. Kev ended up wrapping his arm around Clay to stop him from shivering in the evening but it was no use. "What if Becca's out here? Looking for more of us to...you know..." "I'd slit her throat first" Kev growled. "Why?" Clay asked. "Did she pick on Leanne and the others because Becca thought they were special?" Clay asked turning to face Kev. "She got her weird hands on them because she's one sick bitch" Kev told him. "She needs to be taught a lesson" Clay nodded but didn't want to get involved. "Are we special Kev?" Clay asked.
"Course we fucking are Clay" Kev answered. "Then how come no-one wants us? Not even our mom's or Daddies?" Clay asked "Cause they're stupid" Kev said as he rubbed a splinter on his knee. "Clay listen, you're real special. "I can show you how special you are if you want" Kev slid his hand down Clay's chest down to his stomach but Clay moved away. "Kev I don't know how that works...I wouldn't know what to do..." His voice trailed of and he moved away from Kev, further into the woods where it was littered with beer cans and cigarette butts. Kev decided to leave him alone and sweet talk Clay in the morning. Pretend it never happened, but Kev woke up the next morning and searched the woodland high and low, but Clay had fucked off and the betrayal had never left Kev since...
"OK, OK, OK Smartass, name all the British Kings and Queens in order of the alphabet" Eric asked. "Well there were the Normans first, of French descent King William I, the Conqueror 1066 - 1087, King Henry I 1100 - 1135, King Stephen 1135 - 1154, Empress Matilda 1141... she didn't have the throne for long..."Drew, Eric could you carry this on upstairs, I've got a visitor" "Is it mom?" Eric asked. "If it was you'd be the first to know, now could I get a little privacy?" Daddy asked. Eric and Drew went to Eric's room to carry the list on, while Daddy got out a couple of fizzy cans glasses and sandwiches. The knock came on the door at seven exactly. This kid didn't mess around. Daddy opened the door and held out his hand. The visitor looked at it, before Daddy left him standing at the door with his arms crossed. Eventually he came in and sat on the sofa. "Lemonade and sandwiches...classy"
"How have you been Kevin?" Daddy asked. "Better when I get a price"
"It's not confirmed yet. I've got a hearing coming up and I need to know what shit Achkan is going to pull" Daddy said, passing Kev a store bought sandwich.
"You called me here on a "Maybe?" Get a grip Wilkes" Kevin said opening the sandwich and taking a bite.
"You can do serious damage kid. I've seen your work, remember?" Daddy said. "The world has, they just don't know it" Kev told him. His eyes watering at the onions in the mayonnaise. "Once the hearing's over, you can go after Achkan. I'll give you strict instructions" "Look Wilky" Kev said burping without covering his mouth. "Without paper the paper that you cash instead of wiping your ass, I can't do shit" "You're choosing to do nothing" Daddy said pouring out some more lemonade. "I'll just finish this" Kev told Daddy opening his mouth to show chewed up bread, ham and mayonnaise salad and onions with saliva."The name Achkan means nothing to me"
"What about the name Clay?" Daddy asked.
"Who?" Kev questioningly lied. "I'm sure he'd be thrilled to see you again. I can set that up, but if you don't give a "shit" you can go..." Daddy said teasing him. Kev chewed the remains of his sandwich slowly and Daddy timed him, while drinking his drink. It took Kev about thirty minutes to finish his glass of fizzyness. "Are you ready to hear me out?" Daddy asked knowing he had Kev at his deadly disposal.
"Fuck it, I've got no-one else to torture today...I'm listening dammit" Kev said searching Daddy's face for secrets. It was time for Daddy to prove once and for all that he could put Ackhan in his place without breaking every bone in Achkan's backstabbing body.