The Horror from Across the Ocean Part I
It was no surprise to anyone that when the nominations for the Tony Awards were announced, Cooper's name was amongst those for Best Actor in a Musical; he appeared alongside the two men he had already mentioned to his family on the day after his Opening Night, of course. The announcements had been made on a Monday night, and Cooper was forced to attend, much as he didn't want to, by his bosses on the show. He felt alright though with Grace at his side, dressed up to the nines. He had blushed furiously as his name was read out, as he still felt that he was undeserving of such attention. He wasn't helped by the fact that as his name was announced, all he could hear was the squealing and whooping of a couple of angels in the background. He was just glad that no-one else in the room could hear them apart from Grace. As far as he was concerned though, that was it; he would have to show up in his best bib and tucker on the night of the actual ceremony in June, along with Grace and probably his mom - she would never forgive him if she wasn't invited. He assured them though that he was only there to make up the numbers. The following night saw him back on stage, giving it his all as usual, dismissing the whole thing. He was unaware that Grace was trying to get tickets for Burt and Carole, who saw Cooper as a son in many ways, and was seriously considering how she could obtain them for Nick and Jeff.
As the month moved towards its end, another hectic year of study was drawing to a close for many of them. For Trent, it was the final stretch before he graduated; as for two of his fellow musketeers, it was the end of a busy junior year. Jeff's third year at art school had been hectic, but it was ending on a less stressful note than last year. When the art show had opened to students this year, his work had not been hidden away in the inner room, much to his relief. He had narrowly missed out on top marks this year to a senior, and he was grateful that someone else would be the centre of all the attention this year; however, the gap had been very slim, and he was still the top of the junior class. That meant that all of his submissions were displayed together, and in quite a prominent spot; he knew that the moment people saw his distinctive signature, they would still stop and stare. He was happy enough with that; he had done well, and he had no reason not to smile.
He was however on his own at the show this year. Nick had not been able to come with him as he had a last minute meeting with his tutor at school. The summons had initially left Nick flustered, so close to the end of term. He feared at first that the worst had happened, and his work had been deemed inadequate. As it turned out, the opposite was true; his work was subject of much praise, and it had come to the attention of one of the leading human rights lawyers in the city, an alumnus of Colombia themselves. They had requested to meet Nick face to face, and that was why his tutor had summoned him.
That was how Nick found that he was destined to spend his summer in an office in Manhattan, working for her and her team on a paid internship. He had of course consulted Jeff on the offer before accepting, as to do so meant that they would have no vacation again. Jeff was disappointed, but he could see exactly what this opportunity meant for his husband, both in terms of college and his future career, and so he gave him his blessing; after all, he would still be coming home every night. This settled, Jeff headed to the Spotlight, and offered his services to Michelle, stating that he would be happy to work full time more or less for the whole summer. As he was more than capable with dealing with the workload, she agreed, if only because it meant that she could give Dani and Elliott more vacation time. For the latter, it meant that he and Beats could head to Zanesville and spend some time with the Harpers. After that, Beats decided to book them a trip to Chicago, a place neither of them had ever visited but wished to explore. They could catch up with Jasper and Brad whilst they were in town too. With Jeff offering to keep an eye on Josh and Scott, there was no obstacle in the way of their first vacation as a couple.
Before that, Nick and Jeff had marked the fourth anniversary of their relationship quietly. It was a day that was also acknowledged by all of their friends and close family too now, which did seem a little strange at times, given what had happened to Nick on that night… That however was a far less traumatic moment in their life together than what had happened the day after their wedding. They spent the day together happily, not leaving the house. Contrary to what Santana suspected, they did leave the bedroom, and they did get dressed. They didn't go out for dinner, as there was no need; Mike had acted as chef for the evening, and had prepared a whole selection of dishes so that they had their own mini Chinese banquet. He had tried to leave them to it, but Jeff had forced him to join them, knowing that he would not feel able to refuse. Once they had eaten though, he did more or less frogmarch them out of the kitchen, knowing that if he didn't, Nick would start stacking plates…
They had retreated upstairs to the sitting room, and Nick had settled down to play a few notes on the piano, something that he was very rusty at. Jeff had taken out his guitar, and had joined in. Sam had been true to his word, and had sat patiently as Jeff had learnt the instrument. He would later tell Nick that his husband was a natural player; he was every bit as skilled with the strings as he was with his pencil. That night they managed to find a song they could both play well, and had managed to play it together a couple of times, blithely singing along, before they even noticed that Mike was standing in the doorway watching them, with Caleb in his arms, and a big smile on his face.
At the middle of the month of May, the focus for many of them switched to Washington. Trent had written his final papers, sat his last examinations and walked out of his final class, so far, as a college student. He had to admit as he did so that it would feel kind of strange not be heading back to school in August. He would be heading to work full time instead from that point, whilst his beloved Rory would be heading to college full time instead to get his degree; he would be working for Burt only in an extreme emergency, leaving everything to Trent. He was looking forward to assisting Burt more as the gears of Congress wore on. He was delighted by the fact that so far, they had managed to block much of what the President wanted to do, particularly in the areas of healthcare and immigration. It had left him a little distressed to think that the whole of the former scheme could fall apart, but he was confident that it wouldn't.
It was also quite gratifying for them all to see that the doors of the West Wing seemed to have been replaced with a revolving one, what with all the stuff that was coming out about Russia. The only pity was that some good people were being forced out of office too along the way. The whispers that he overheard in the corridors of power were fascinating to Trent, but he did not repeat what he heard to anyone other than Burt and Rory. As for Sue Sylvester, she had made a major impact in the House from day one; she left no-one in any doubt about her intention to disobey the party line and fight instead for all those things that she and her voters were passionate about. She had even admitted that she would have no problem with putting her name to any document that called for the impeachment of the President, because as far as she was concerned, the man was an embarrassment to the Republican Party and a danger to the world at large. I mean, that photo with the Pope had been nothing but a laughing point for the world at large…
Trent's graduation day came along before he knew it. As he stood there that morning, looking in the mirror in his marital bedroom, his husband straightening his tie for him before he had to don the ceremonial gown, he couldn't help but think back to the day four years earlier when he had been getting ready in his dorm room at his beloved Dalton for his graduation ceremony there. It was the crowning moment of what had been an eventful year, to say the least. He had considered that day that he might defer college for a year; after all, it was what Sebastian was being forced to do at his father's behest, and Nick and Jeff were also thinking about it. He knew though that if he did, it would only give him time to dwell on past events, and that was never a good thing…
The Trent that had looked in another mirror that day had been stouter, the young man mused. College had been good to him, people would say, but he knew that it was all down to the love of a good man. He smiled at him now as he stood back to admire his handiwork, and Trent couldn't help but lean forward to give him a kiss. Rory smiled back, then whispered, "You are one handsome man in a suit. I got so lucky in meeting you…"
"I'm the lucky one; I thank God every day that Séamus signed you up for that exchange programme, but don't ever tell him that!"
"Never! He would be unbearable if he ever thought that all this was done to him..."
Rory's brother would of course be in the general audience at the ceremony, alongside his wife, who was several months pregnant. That news had delighted them both, and Trent was certain that Uncle Rory was going to be a great success. As for his own family, his parents and sisters would be there, along with Burt and Carole. He knew that when that moment came, and Trent F. Nixon took his walk across that stage to receive his degree, with the highest grades of his year, he would be doing so to deafening applause. His phone had also been buzzing all morning with messages of best wishes from all of his fellow Warblers; only Mitch would be there, as life had the others caught up, but they would all be at his side in spirit. He would see them all in Port Jeff in a week or so anyway, for this years big Warbler get together. It was earlier this year, but that suited him, as he had plans to take a trip with Rory over to see some more of Europe…
On the night of Trent's graduation, Jeff was at home alone with just Caleb for company. Nick had gone with his summer boss to assist her at one of her weekly sessions at a free law clinic. There she provided advice to some of the city's poorest inhabitants, something that Nick intended to do himself once he was qualified. Mike was performing of course, and so Jeff had eaten at the Spotlight before returning home from his shift. He had fed the cat, then helped himself to a glass of iced tea and one or four cookies, intending to sit and read one of the art books that was on his summer reading list. He had barely begun when he heard a frantic knocking on the front door. His initial thought was that he could ignore it, as he was downstairs at the back of the house, and no-one would ever know, but then his inherent sense of duty kicked in…
He headed upstairs and checked who it was through the spy hole. What he saw startled him. He flung the front door open to admit Beats and Flint, both of whom were white as a sheet, and carrying between them an almost catatonic Ethan. The door closed behind them and Ethan placed on the sofa in the little downstairs living room, Jeff waited for someone to speak. Instead, Flint handed over Ethan's cellphone, gesturing him to look at it. It was opened at a page on Facebook. What he read made Jeff gasp and feel quite faint; it easily explained the state Ethan was in. After all, it was the natural reaction he would have to seeing that Drew's status had been altered to Married to Lucy George….
"Okay, so this has to be a joke! Someone has hacked into his Facebook profile and altered it in a pretty poor excuse for a prank," exclaimed Jeff quietly. "It's the only possible explanation! I mean, there is no way in the world that Drew would get married without…"
"That's exactly what I said when Flint told me," admitted Beats in a hushed tone," but then I started to really think about it, and I could find no obvious reason as to why somebody would. I have a horrible feeling that this is no joke; that he really has done it. If anyone of us should know whether something like this was feasible, it's Ethan, and judging by the way he has reacted, I think we have to concede that it is the truth."
Jeff turned to look at Ethan who was sitting on the sofa with glistening eyes, just staring blankly into space. At his side was Flint, looking every bit as heartbroken and destroyed, all for the sake of the young man he shared a home with and had as a result become so much closer to. He knew after all how something like this had to feel; it was a bit like when he had discovered that Beats was stripping in the bar, quite by accident. It had been a stab in the back, a complete betrayal of all that their friendship had been built upon. This was, of course, much, much worse. He knew that on the day he finally married Izzy, Beats would be there at his side as his best man. Ethan would have expected to carry out the same role for Drew, even if he did not think much of his choice of bride. Of course, this had her name written all over it. If indeed it was true, then she would have been the one to have excluded all of them from the ceremony. That realisation did bring with it a big question. Was Drew so weak now that he would not have thought tooth and nail for his friends to be there with him? Or had he tried and failed to stop her in her tracks, no doubt being punished in some way for doing so? Whatever the case was, Flint's priority now had to be Ethan. He had no idea however what could be done to fix this problem.
It wasn't long after that that Nick arrived home. His reaction was the same as everyone else, but he was the one that made the call that no-one else had. They were all due to be in Dalton on Friday, making the annual pilgrimage back to the school for graduation day. This was far too big an issue just to land on Thad on the day; he was assuming of course that Flint could even get Ethan to go. The minute he told them what he was going to do, they all realised sheepishly that they should have done so themselves by now, and so sat in silence as Nick made the call, then passed on everything that he knew to the Head Warbler.
Thad was silent for a moment, then spoke quietly. "I'm afraid that I am behind Ethan in believing that the statement on Facebook is true, unfortunately. What we have to ask ourselves though is this; when was the last time anyone can recall Drew updating his profile, or posting at all? To my knowledge, it has been well over a year, and so it does make me wonder if this is actually a cry for help… I mean, is this the only way that he has to tell us all what has happened? If he was genuinely celebrating a happy event, then where are all the photos of the happy couple and whatever guests they mustered up? I mean, would anyone marry willingly without recording it all for posterity? Has anyone tried to access her Facebook account?"
"No; I will check it out now…" said Nick; a few clicks later and he replied "Her profile is restricted to people that she recognises as friends, and we all know that even Ethan does not enjoy that status…"
"Right, so we have to be underhand. As I recall, one of the best hackers we know lives close to you. I would suggest that someone goes and explains the situation to Artie, and see if he can breach the security wall around her. If he can't, then I will get in touch with David, and see if he knows anyone at work that can help us out." Nick rang off and went to see Artie, eager to get the process under way. As for Thad in Ohio, he sighed inwardly, then turned his attention to Google. He typed in the name of his fellow Warbler, and of that woman, just on the off chance that their union might have made the local news somewhere…
Ten minutes later Nick was back home, having left Artie to start cracking the security on Lucy's Facebook page. As if by chance, he walked through the door just as Thad called back; the minute that Nick heard his voice, he knew that the news he was about to impart wasn't good. He headed to his own computer in the study, and having turned it on, typed in the exact phrase that Thad had told him to. It lead him to a tiny article from the Oxford Mail. He only had to read the first few words to feel his heart break. He headed back across the hall, and cautiously looked in the door of the sitting room. He saw that Beats and Jeff were now sitting on either side of the catatonic Ethan, with Flint now standing and staring out the window. He looked up and noticed Nick's reflection in the glass; the moment the younger man noticed that, he beckoned him to follow him. He left the room quietly, and followed Nick to the study. "It was Thad that found it… It broke my heart…" Nick said in a low voice, indicating the computer screen.
Flint sat down and read the words out loud. "A wedding took place yesterday in the wards of the John Radcliffe Hospital. Dr Lucy George married her boyfriend, Mr Dru Simmons, at the bedside of her gravely ill grandmother. 'She was desperate to see me married, and this was the perfect way to ensure that,' said Dr Warrington…. Damn and blast! So it is true, and worse still, they couldn't even spell his name correctly!"
Nick nodded. "That was the thing that Thad found the most galling about the situation at first, that his name was spelt so badly. Then he realised why; he thinks that the paper was deliberately given the bad spelling so that it would not pop up automatically on a search. Thad found this article on page 34 of the search results for their names on Google. That was one of two things that had Thad really concerned. He wants to know why Drew did not check that the paper had it right; we all know that he was always so particular about his name being spelt right. I mean, do you remember how he blew his top the one time that his name was spelt Simons instead of Symons on a letter he got at Dalton? He let them misspell both his names, and even add an extra letter, and didn't react."
"The paper might publish a correction in due course…" said Flint in hope.
"That's the second thing," said Nick with a sigh. "The wedding didn't take place today; it happened on Thursday; this article is from Friday's edition of a daily paper…"
"So any correction would have been made online by now," said Flint sadly. "Okay, so why did Facebook only update today? Ethan checks Drew's page every day; he thinks that I don't know, but I do. It was only updated at 20:03 our time today, four days after the 'happy' event."
Nick shook his head and sighed again. "That means that it was updated at 3 minutes past one in the morning over in England, and that makes Thad even more worried. I mean, not only is it four days late, but why update it in the middle of the night? And then there was something else that Thad realised. They got married at the bedside of her seriously ill grandmother. Now, you would only do something like this at a moment's notice if…"
"…the person in question was about to die. Well, it does say gravely ill," observed Flint.
"Thad has checked up and there is no record so far of the old lady dying. No mention in the paper of an elderly lady with a granddaughter named Lucy passing away, or anywhere else online for Oxford. And let's face it, after they covered the wedding, they would probably have followed it up if the grandmother in question had subsequently died," said Nick in a low tone. "Thad thinks that Drew was tricked into marriage; she claimed that her grandmother was about to die, and Drew, being the nice guy that he is, agreed to the ceremony for the sake of the old lady…"
Flint nodded, but couldn't bring himself to speak. It did look as if what Thad was surmising was true. Drew had been tricked into marrying that woman. If the fact that he had got married at all had left Ethan devastated, then the notion that he had been forced into it would crucify him. However, someone was going to have to tell him, and he was the closest of all the Warblers to the young man in question….
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Nick's phone ringing. Nick answered, and spoke quietly to the person on the other end. As he did so, his face got even more grim that it had been. He rang off, then turned back to Flint. "That was Artie; he has got into her page, and wants me to check something out. You want to come with me; get some air and check out whatever it is. I mean, you are the person that is closest to Ethan now, and Artie sounded a little upset. Whatever it is we see, it is going to be your call just how much we let Ethan know…"
Just after midnight, Jeff and Beats joined Nick and Flint in the kitchen. They were not alone; Sebastian had been summoned by Nick to join them as soon as they knew his show would be finished. He had been reluctant at first, until Nick told him what had happened. Once he knew, he had called Dave, told him there was a Warbler crisis, and that as a result, he might be out all night. Flint had made his way to the house next door, and had informed the four younger boys there of the situation. They had all agreed that they needed to be kept in the loop, but that they did not need to be dragged into this emergency assembly. They had considered calling up Trent and David, and having them present by Skype, but in the end they had thought better of it; after all, they would all be face to face on Friday, and it wasn't as if there was anything they could do. The same was true for Thad, and so he too was left blissfully unaware of the Council of War taking place in the West Village. As for Ethan, they had taken him home and put him to bed; they had found some Ambien, and had made him take it. Now he was sound asleep under the watchful eye of Elliott.
"So, now that we are all here, it is time for us to face the harsh reality of the situation we find ourselves in," started Nick. "Flint and I have seen a photo on Facebook of the wedding, and we have both agreed that Ethan cannot see it; can't even know it exists. To be brutally honest, as far as he is concerned, Artie could not access Lucy's Facebook page."
"Is it really that bad, Nicky," said Jeff in a trembling voice.
"Put it this way," said Flint. "The bride is smiling; her parents and other assorted family are smiling. Her grandmother, on her mother's side by the way, is awake and lying in bed, but she isn't smiling…"
"And the groom?" whispered Sebastian, fearful of what was coming.
"Drew's arm is in a sling. He has a big bruise on the same side of his face, and there is a plaster of some kind over his nose. It is claimed that 'my clumsy oaf of a husband tripped and fell down the stairs.' He looks lost, broken, and as if he is about to burst into tears at any moment…" Nick replied grimly.
There was a moment's silence, and then Beats spoke out. "So what are we going to do? We can't just ignore this situation now! We have to do something, for Drew and for Ethan! I mean, he fell down the stairs, for God's sake! That is a classic…"
"I've spoken to Thad," said Flint, "and he will be convening an emergency meeting of all the Warblers on Friday. He is going to fill the Carmichaels in, and ask them to distract and occupy Ethan. The problem is, as he sees it, is there is not that much we can actually do. He believes that if we try and intervene, then we might just end up making the situation worse…"
"Worse! With all due respect, Flint, how can we make it any worse than it already is? One of our number is being physically assaulted, from the evidence that you and Nick have seen, by his partner. He has been forced into marrying her. Lord knows what else she is doing to him behind closed doors. If we discovered that, for example, Flora was beating Cameron up, would we all just sit here? No, we'd be straight there to get him to safety," Sebastian shouted, before in a normal voice adding, "And before you say it, blondie, I only chose your cousin as an example; I know that she wouldn't."
"With all you respect to you, Sebastian," Flint hissed back, "what do you suggest we do? Head over to England mob handed to save him by dragging him home? If we could, then trust me, I would happily join you in that mission, but for a couple of points. One, we have no proof that he didn't actually fall down the stairs. I know it is unlikely, but he could have done. Two, who is to say that he would actually come with us if we did go over there; if she is treating him so badly, then he could have left at any time of his own free will."
"Drew would never chose to be used as some kind of target practice," said Beats quietly, "so there has to be some reason we don't know about as to why he hasn't dumped her yet. Either she has some kind of hold over him, or, as Flint said, maybe he really did just fall down the stairs…"
Before Sebastian could give more than a snort in retort, Nick spoke up. "I think that we all know in our hearts that she is hurting him, but the fact is that he has distanced himself from all of us over the last couple of years; that might not be of his own choice, but again, we have no proof that it isn't. Maybe he feels so ashamed of the fact that he has allowed this to happen to himself that even if we did manage to get him to leave her, he wouldn't be able to face any of us again out of embarrassment."
"We wouldn't say anything…" began Beats, but then he stopped.
"He would know that we knew, and that would be enough; his pride would be hurt. In any case, maybe he feels that he doesn't have anything or anyone to come back to," admitted Flint sadly.
"There is nothing that any of us can do tonight in any case," said Nick. "We can have a full meeting of all the guys on Friday; until then, our main task is holding Ethan together, as he is hurting the most. We can't leave that task to Flint on his own either; we all have to step up and support him."
"That goes without saying," replied Sebastian. "As it stands, hopefully there is at least one angel looking out for him right now…"
High above them, Wes sat in his office chair, despite the lateness of the hour, unable to sleep due to the turmoil in his mind. The moment that Elizabeth had broken the news to him that Drew had just married Lucy, he had cracked up completely, and had ended up in tears. He and his angelic counterparts knew exactly what she was doing to him, and had done for some time now. It frustrated him greatly that he could not intervene to save his friend and stop him from suffering more pain. Wes had spent his whole life being a stickler for the rules; he had always done the right thing, and had made sure that others did the same. Now he wanted more than anything to make some kind of intervention and save Drew from the hell that he was living through. He had gone to see him, not even intending to mention what was going on, but Drew had just ignored him completely.
He had done the same to Kurt and Blaine, pretending they were not there, even when Blaine was standing right in front of him and yelling in his face. The fact that Blaine could see that Drew was seeing him, evident from the tears in his eyes had left the angel in question all the more distressed. When he had broken the news about the marriage to those two… But there was nothing that they could do. The rules were the rules; they couldn't overtly intervene. They could only watch and wait, ready to help him when the time came. In the meantime, they just had to live with the facts, even though they were slowly tearing their hearts apart…
Eventually Wes left the office, and went to see the one person that he knew would understand. It was very late, but Wes had been certain that Thad would still be awake, and he was not proved wrong. Thad had not been able to sleep, not given all the information that he now had circulating around in his head. He felt so powerless sitting at Dalton, but he knew there was nothing else for it. He had agreed to the suggestion of a meeting on Friday in the full knowledge that it was actually going to be a pretty pointless exercise, a mere talking shop. Drew was an adult, and he had made his choices. Unless she was actually keeping him locked in the house as a prisoner, then he could have walked away at any time. He hadn't; Thad guessed that love sometimes made people do very silly things. Your heart made you stay somewhere when your head was screaming at you to head for the hills….
He looked up when he felt the draught, and rose up out of his armchair. He headed over to Wes, who was standing where he had appeared, his head bowed. He wrapped his arms around his angelic boyfriend, and let him weep on his shoulder, his own tears running down his cheeks. All they could do for now was be there and try to comfort each other in their distress.