Disclaimers: I do not own Saw or any of the characters.
Others: I'm sorry that it took me so incredibly long to update this chapter. I've had a horrible case of writer's block. But I'm back, hahah. I'd like to dedicate this chapter to the anonymous person who left three very nice reviews. I usually thank each reviewer through messages, but because it's anonymous, I am unable to do so. Thank you very much, I really appreciated them. :) Thank you all for reading this far, and I hope you're enjoying it. Feel free to leave suggestions/advise/opinions, etc. I think this is going pretty well, so far. :)
The day that Lawrence, his parents, Diana, and Adam went to the American Museum of Natural History was a chilly one. And for that, Lawrence was glad. Because he got to see Adam wearing a black leather jacket; Adam made that jacket look sexy, in Lawrence's opinion. He would've been the star model for that brand of jacket. It hugged his torso perfectly, tight in the right way. Beneath the jacket, Adam wore a white undershirt, of course. He wore his usual white Nike's, and a pair of low-cut dark-washed jeans. Lawrence was glancing over his shoulder every twenty seconds to check him out. Of course, Adam was too oblivious to realize. He was too busy chatting to Diana, who was looking up at him with great interest and love.
It was also Diana's birthday, which was why they were visiting the museum. She was turning eight, and wanted to go to the museum that her grandparents said was packed with amazing information. She loved Indians the best.
Walking in front of Lawrence was his parents, who walked hand in hand, talking happily. They loved history, as did Lawrence, though he preferred science. Diana, too, enjoyed history, because her grandparents told her wonderful stories about Native American Indians, evil kings who slaughtered their wives, beautiful princesses, brave soldiers, and more. As usual, Adam was a mystery; they had no idea whether or not he liked history. All Lawrence knew was that Adam had never been to a museum.
"Diana, look both ways, we're crossing the cross-walk. Adam, walk behind her to make sure she gets across," Lawrence called over his shoulder.
"So I walked around the side of the house, because I couldn't see in, and all of a sudden – Holy shit! " Adam was saying, his sentence breaking off into a shocked curse.
There was a squeal of tires, a loud bump, and Diana screamed. Lawrence's heart stopped. Time seemed to slow down horribly as he and his parents whirled around in unison to find a taxi with a smashed headlight stopped in the middle of the cross-walk, and Adam sprawled across the road. Diana stood inches from the car, her eyes wide, her mouth dropped open in a scream. Lawrence's eyes widened in horror; Adam had gotten hit by a car.
The taxi driver leaped out of the car and rushed towards Adam just as Lawrence raced over, kneeling down beside Adam. However, Adam pushed himself up into a sitting position and stood up shakily.
"It's cool, I'm alright, I'm fine," he declared, patting himself down. There was a bad scrape on his cheek, and blood streamed from it and his split lower lip. Lawrence glared at the cabbie.
"You could've killed him!" he snapped. The cabbie glared right back.
"Well, it's obvious that he's fine, so calm down and shut up," he snapped back. Adam turned to him and shoved his shoulder, causing him to stumble back.
"Hey, fuck you. Get back in your fucking taxi before I decide to fake a neck injury, asshole," Adam said, licking blood from his lip. The threat made the cabbie nervous. He grumbled to himself in Spanish and went back into his taxi while they finished crossing the road. Diana took Adam's hand.
"Adam, are you alright?" Lawrence asked concerned. His parents came over, and Lucille tutted over the scrape on Adam's cheek. She rummaged around in her purse and handed him a wad of tissues, which he held to his bleeding cheek.
"Yeah, peachy. Calm down, Lawrence, I've been in way worse situations. He only bumped me. I'm just glad that I was able to push Diana out of the way in time. She's smaller than me, she would've been a whole lot worse off," Adam replied. Diana beamed up at Adam.
"He saved my life, daddy!" she exclaimed happily. Adam grinned down at her.
"I'm glad you're alright, Adam. And thank you for protecting my daughter. I owe you," Lawrence said. Adam smirked at him.
"You can pay me back tonight," he said. Lucille took Diana's hand.
"Are we all ready to go?" Richard asked. Lawrence and Adam nodded, so they continued their way to the museum.
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They decided to go to the somewhat new planetarium before they actually began their fascinating history experience through the museum. A show called 'Journey to the Stars' was about to play, so they quickly entered the large globe-like room, and took their seats. Richard sat towards the end with Lucille on his right. Diana sat beside her, Lawrence sat beside Diana, and Adam sat beside Lawrence. Everyone in the room chatted amongst each other while they waited for the show to begin.
"Where's the screen?" Adam asked, leaning to the side to try to see if there was a screen towards the front of the room.
"It's the white globe," Lawrence replied, gesturing towards the ceiling and walls. Adam looked curious as he peered about. Lawrence didn't think Adam would like the show. He wasn't surprised when Adam gripped his hand when the lights went out. Diana giggled excitedly.
Whoopi Goldberg narrated the show as the room became pitch-black. Stars popped out everywhere, brilliant, bright white stars. The show was half an hour long. Everyone was deeply engrossed; even Adam. His eyes glinted with thought and interest as he tilted his head back and stared as stars glittered and planets appeared. He had a strange look on his face, one that Lawrence had never seen before, but wanted to figure out.
When the marvelous show was over, everyone stood up and began talking about how much they enjoyed the show. Diana talked loudly and excitedly to her grandparents about how she loved the planet Saturn the best, and that she thought the planet Pluto was adorable, tiny, and colored a pretty blue. Lawrence smiled at Adam.
"Did you like the show?" he asked. Adam nodded, and for some reason Lawrence had a strong urge to kiss him. He just looked very attractive today, and he was serious for once. It was…different. But Lawrence resisted, and merely squeezed his hand instead. Adam smiled at him, and they left the globe.
"Where to next?" Richard asked cheerfully. Diana was sitting on Adam's shoulders. She cried,
"I want to go see the Native Americans that grandma told me about!"
So that was where they went next. When they entered that 'hall', Adam set Diana down so that she could look at all the artifacts and pictures.
"Diana, stay with grandpa! Do not leave his side! There are a lot of people here, and I don't want you to get lost," he called. Diana gave him a thumbs up and ran to a wax display of Indians.
"Look, grandpa, this Indian girl has a baby tied to her back!" she exclaimed. Her grandmother was in the gift shop, looking at a row of Indian dolls. She bought the prettiest one that came with a small sack of tiny supplies and a removable papoose. It cost fifty five dollars. An informative booklet on Indians and Indian mothers was taped to the back of the box.
"Happy birthday, babycakes," Lucille said, handing the package to her granddaughter. Diana peered through the plastic front, saw the Native American doll, and squealed with joy. A few passersby smiled at her as she threw her arms around her grandmother and hugged her tightly.
"Thank you so much! She's beautiful!" she cried. When she released Lucille, she studied the box again, a happy smile on her face.
"I'm going to name her Tiger Lily, like in Peter Pan," Diana declared. Richard, Diana, and Lucille had a group hug.
Lawrence looked at Adam, who was watching Diana with a look of love and…Lawrence couldn't read it.
"Adam?" he said. Adam blinked and looked over at Lawrence. He smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry. I guess I was just lost in thought," he said, his eyes drifting back to the group hug. "She's a lucky kid."
Lawrence knew he was talking about how greatly she was loved. Diana got everything she could ever want or need, and was loved unconditionally. Adam grew up with nothing and was hated and abused. Lawrence wasn't surprised that Adam might feel a little...sad by witnessing the family love. He yanked Adam into a hug and pressed a kiss against the side of his neck. He could smell the leather of the jacket mingled with the Axe cologne that Adam wore, and it was highly intoxicating.
Adam was tense at first, but he quickly relaxed into the hug.
"Have I told you how incredibly sexy you look in that jacket?" Lawrence murmured. Adam grinned.
"No," he said. Lawrence kissed his jaw line.
"I want you to have a good time and only focus on us – your true family. Because we love you so much. Don't let anything ruin your time. Today will be fun," Lawrence said to him.
Adam nodded, stepping back, breaking the embrace. A few people had started to glance over.
"Alright," he said.
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It turned out that Adam liked the animal sections the best. He was an artistic person, of course, and was fascinated by the paintings. Sure, he was a photographer, but Lawrence learned that he also loved paintings, and was a highly skilled artist himself. He spent forty five minutes sketching out his favorite painting in the African Mammals section while Lawrence went into the history of the body, and Diana checked out the sea animal fossils with her grandparents. Tourists had checked out Adam's sketch, talked to him, and even got pictures with him.
Lawrence and Diana learned another skill of Adam's – he liked balloons. They found this out when Lawrence bought a bag of balloon for Diana when she saw another girl with a balloon. Adam asked for a pink balloon, so she gave him one. Lawrence and his family watched with surprise and amusement as Adam created a balloon-crown for Diana. With a crow of delight, she placed it onto her head and thanked him profusely. He then went on to make her a royal scepter, a balloon dog, and a balloon butterfly.
Soon, a large crowd of kids had gathered around Adam, and he made whatever they requested. Diana proudly stood beside him and talked about how he was the best, and that she even lived with him. Adam looked very happy as he passed out his balloon creations.
After they finished their visit at the museum, they stopped by the apartment to have cake and presents. Lucille had baked a glorious chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. 'Happy birthday, Diana' was written on the cake in beautiful script in bright, pink, glittery icing. Eight candles had been stuck into the cake.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Diana, happy birthday to you!" they sang while Diana beamed down at her cake, her cheeks a happy rosy red, her huge, lovely eyes glittering with joy. Adam took pictures, of course, as he sang, and then got a group photo of the family in front of the cake before she blew out the candles.
They ate cake until they were stuffed, and then sat down in the living room. Presents were piled high on the coffee table. Adam had his camera at the ready.
From Lucille, Diana had received eight gorgeous outfits, two cute purses, a bag of Reece's Cups, a brand new and expensive tea party set, and of course the Native American doll from earlier.
From Richard, Diana had received an old fashioned Victorian mansion Dollhouse, fully decorated with real electricity hooked up, and a working doorbell. There were five bedrooms, an attic with a trapdoor, a kitchen, three bathrooms, a living room, a nursery, a playroom, a library, an office, a parlor, and a dining room. There was also a garden in the back yard. It came with a large brown box full of hundreds of furniture to place in the house. The price of the dollhouse and furniture combined had been seven hundred and ninety nine dollars. The dollhouse was almost as big as Diana, and weighed almost more. It took all three men to carry it into Diana's room while Diana had a little shrieking attack because she was so insanely excited about the expensive present.
Her grandparents were very wealthy, and loved spoiling their one and only grandchild.
From Lawrence, Diana had received more clothes for her dress up trunk, a plane ticket to go to Florida with him and Adam so that they could visit Disney and other fun parks, and a fluffy, orange, kitten. The kitten was a male mainecoon named King Marmalade. Or Marmie, for short. Diana burst into tears of happiness and adoration as she hugged the kitten to her chest. King Marmalade purred and looked up at her with huge, amber-colored eyes.
And last, but not least, Diana opened Adam's presents. She always talked about how she wanted to go with Adam when he took pictures so that she could learn. So Adam had bought her (with all his money that he had earned when he sold everything in his old apartment before giving the key back to his landlady) a nice camera with excellent quality and options, a gorgeous photo album, a journal, and a packet of fifty sparkly gel pens.
Diana was very emotional when she was done opening his gifts. She hugged him tightly, tears trickling down her cheeks, and thanked him in between sobs. Adam's eyes glistened with unshed tears, and he smiled.
When she was done hugging him, she stood in front of everyone and cleared her throat.
"I want to thank you all very, very much. I…I love you all, and the gifts I received from everyone were all so lovely. I couldn't have asked for anything more or better. You are all too kind to me, and I can't thank you enough," she said, wiping tears from her face.
Adam, Lawrence, Lucille, and Richard moved in for a huge hug. Diana laughed when she saw Adam crying as well.
"Oh, look, now we're both crying," she said tearfully, letting out a burst of giggles. Adam laughed, wiping his face.
"Sorry, Diana, it's just that this is very…" his voice trailed off as he struggled to explain his situation. But Diana merely kissed his wet cheek.
"I love you, Adam!" she said, and he held her tightly against him. Lawrence took Adam into his arms so that he was hugging the two people he loved most, and his parents hugged both Adam and Lawrence.
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After the emotional group hug, the apartment was cleaned, and the gifts were put away nicely, Lucille and Richard took Diana out for an evening stroll through Central Park. They knew that their son and his lover needed some alone time, now that they knew a lot about Adam, and also because they knew that Diana loved Central Park. The sky was littered with dazzling stars that night.
All in all, it was an excellent birthday full of love in ways more than one. Which was beautiful, and much needed; because they would need the lovely memories of this day to help get them through the heart break of what would happen tomorrow. Because tomorrow consisted of a phone call that started with,
"Hello, Lawrence, it's Alison, obviously. I'm back in New York, and I'll be stopping by today to pick up our daughter, who will be living with me again."
Well...The fun lasted with Diana. Now her mother is coming to whisk her away. But...Could she be stopped? I guess you'll have to find out! Thank you for reading! Please review. :)