Chapter 11

FBI Field Office
San Francisco, CA

Hotch

"You took him home?" Hotch asked.

"Not like that." Tomás replied. "Alice and I co-owned a bed and breakfast up in Lakeland. We put him up in one of the empty rooms, told him to clean up and get some rest, join us for breakfast, and not to leave the property. That's all."

"You didn't have him looked at for rape?"

"That would have been...difficult. In his mind he consented to what happened. It wasn't the first time he and Blackburn had had unprotected sex. And an emergency room would have questioned the wounds and contacted the police, which would have involved Blackburn. At the time it seemed better to not get the authorities involved. He'd been given first aid at the dungeon, we had a number of nurses as members. They helped."

"All right. So what happened the next day?"

"We had breakfast and left him to his own devices until dinner. But Alice and I kept close, in case he wanted to talk or start falling apart. He spent most of the day in the garden, he said he hadn't been outdoors that much in years. But over the next few days he grew quieter, more tense. Finally he let go at us. He'd never been with a woman, had no clue what to expect, wanted us to just get it over with..."

"He was waiting for the abuse to start?"

"Yeah."

"What did you do?"

Tomás paused for a moment. "Agent Hotchner, do you have any children?"

That was an unexpected question, and one Hotch was always wary about. "I have a son."

"How old?"

"Ten."

"Did you ever notice that when you tell some kids not to do something that's the first thing they do? Or you tell them to do something and they'll never do it?"

"Challenge authority, sure." Jack was a good kid, but even he had his moments.

"But if you make a game of it, challenge them to prove to you that they can do it, offer them a reward...

"...you get their enthusiastic participation." Hotch nodded. He'd used a similar technique to get Jack to clean his room.

Tomás shrugged. "I told Joey if he would always be welcome in our inn, but if he wanted to be our submissive he had to prove himself worthy. He would have to show that he had the commitment and fortitude, by our standards, not by Blackburn's. That if he was willing to prove himself he could earn a place in our House and the security that went with it." He sighed. "I was manipulating him, of course. I was using his fear of abandonment and the outside world to get him to do what I wanted. But it worked."

"What did you want him to do?"

"See a doctor, when he was healed enough to not draw attention, and then do what the doctor told him to do to get as healthy as he could. Same with a dentist. Same with a therapist. I wanted him to go back for his GED. I expected him to "help out" around the inn, which I started paying him for although I didn't tell him at the time. And I wanted him to keep his hands out of his pants, there was a lot of healing and re-learning he needed to do around his own sexuality, he needed to take a long break from sexual activity before he could begin that."

By now Hotch was chuckling. "And he did it?"

"Oh, all of it. It was a direct challenge, he was going to prove himself no matter what. He was so dammed adorable too, this bumbling puppy in the body of a surfer god." Tomás shook his head. "No, we didn't go there. Not then. Not until he was ready."

"When was that?"

"About a year ago. His therapist called to give me a heads up, said he had a breakthrough. I noticed he was a lot quieter at meals, starting that night, and he started spending a lot more time away from the inn. He had off-property privileges by then, of course, he was taking classes at the community college and volunteering at a program for homeless youth. After about a week he came to me. He said he knew what I had challenged him to when he first came to us."

"He did?"

"Yes. He had a job offer from a very well-respected restaurant in town, the same job he'd been doing in my kitchen so he knew he would be successful. He had an offer from some friends in school to be their roommate. And he'd found out he could cobble together enough financial aid to go to the local university. He no longer needed to trade his sexuality or his submission for safety and security. He was free now to give it to whomever deserved it, no strings attached."

"And he chose you. Because you had the patience and strength to respect him and wait."

"He chose us, yes." Tomás turned red as he smiled. "I have never been so honored. We've been together ever since."

"When did Blackburn come back?"

"About six months after that, six months ago. Joey came in one afternoon all disheveled and wild and said that Blackburn had seen him walking and tried to accost him. We knew that now that Blackburn had found him it was just a matter of time, and Alice and I both firmly believe that people matter more than places or things. Since her mother had finally passed we decided it was best to get Joey out of harm's way. We put the Winchester on the market and started moving back to The White Swan, at least temporarily. The Winchester sold quickly."

"What happened next?"

"We ran out of time. Before we could close escrow Blackburn tried to grab Joey again. Alice sent us down here that night, she was going to stay to look after the guests we had until we transferred the keys. A couple of days later my manager called and said that she was missing."

"Did you file a missing persons report?"

"I did, but she traveled a lot and paid cash. No one was truly worried." Tomás sighed. "We didn't hear from her for months and months, I've been so worried. Joey kept trying to blame himself. Then a few days ago she walked in the front door. The rest you know."