Chapter 5: Consider Yourself Warned

Warning: Homophobic language, behavior and violence mentioned in this chapter.

A half hour earlier:

"Oh Frank, I'm so sorry! I'm such a klutz!" Beth apologized fiercely as she tried to dab at the red wine she had spilt on Frank's sleeve with her napkin. The poor girl looked about as tired as Chet did. Normally, Chet's fellow E.R. nurse was in bed by this time of night, it was just Frank's misfortune that the overworked girl was so tired she'd gotten a little clumsy after a few sips of her wine.

"It's okay Beth, really! I'll head to the men's room and see if I can get some of it out. Really, no problem." Frank tried to comfort the young lady who was nearly at the point of tears.

"Hey Frank," Tony reached into his jacket pocket and procured what looked like a small felt-tipped pin. "Dab some of this on the stain, should take most of it out right then and there." He saw the questioning glance on a few of his tablemate's faces. "What? You can't run a restaurant and not have something on you to clean up little splatters of marinara!"

Frank accepted the stain stick and headed towards the men's room. He noticed for a busy night, the restroom was quiet and vacant. He thought that was a little odd, but took the opportunity for what it was and started rubbing the solution from the stain pen into his sleeve. Sure enough the burgundy blotch began to lighten and was barely visible on the pale blue of Frank's dress shirt in a matter of minutes. Just as he replaced the cap on the pen, the hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle and he felt a cold presence behind him.

Frank looked up in the mirror, and was not surprised to see Eric Langhorne leaning against the tiled wall behind him. Frank had no idea how those in the afterlife maintained a wardrobe, or if it was just a manifestation they wanted those they could communicate with to see…but Eric was dressed very neatly in a tailored grey suit with matching shirt and a pale blue tie.

"Looking sharp for a dead guy." Frank snarked and he looked back down to his hands and washed them to get the stain solution off.

"Well, you know with your birthday and all, I wanted to look my best. Happy birthday Frank." The apparition responded. He moved closer to Frank and leaned against the vanity as the brunette tried his best to ignore the ghost of his dead ex-boyfriend. Correction, dead ex-boyfriend, kidnapper, rapist, and savior. Although Frank didn't put much stock in the savior part, Eric died trying to right all the wrongs he'd committed against Frank.

It was that one thing that was keeping Eric Langhorne from moving forward to his final judgment and the great beyond… He needed Frank's forgiveness, which was not something Frank had been able to give Eric genuinely, no matter how hard he tried. Frank had discussed the situation with Dr. Eisner on many occasions, but all the good doctor could do was shake his head and tell Frank "When you are genuinely grateful for his actions, you'll both be free. So long as you continue to bear the slightest of grudges, then you're stuck with him." Not what Frank had wanted to hear, but the man was right. How could he ever forgive the man who was responsible for so many of his physical and mental injuries?

Frank punched the button on the hand dryer so that he could drown out anything else Eric had to say, although it was more of an act of spite. He could still hear Eric in his head.

"Look Frank, I thought it was important to tell you… I've been getting a certain vibe since I've been here tonight." Frank just rolled his eyes and looked at Eric.

"If I had a nickel for every time you had some sort of vibe…"

"Frank, I'm serious! I've just been hearing whispers inside and outside of the club tonight!" Frank raised an eyebrow encourage the ghost to continue.

"I…I'm not sure. I don't have a connection to any of the people in this place other than you, and this place…"

"Has so many pleasant memories for us!" Frank hissed as he stepped forward. Eric was an entire head taller than Frank, and in his life as a vampire, was five times stronger. Now he found himself stepping back from his former boyfriend, despite the fact that Frank couldn't harm him any more than he could Frank.

"It's all muffled. You're the only one I can communicate with clearly, with the exception of other mediums…"

"Then go bug them…"

"Frank! Please! I'm hearing dangerous things, something's going to happen tonight. I'm worried that you and Phil…"

"You leave Phil out of this!" Frank shouted, color rising in his cheeks. "You have tried to tear Phil and I apart at almost every turn. Don't even think of trying to do the same by getting into my head somehow!"

"You don't understand! I've changed! Being…dead… and being stuck in this crazy limbo has really opened my eyes." Eric insisted.

"Pffft…save your breath…er…voice, what ever!" Frank started to walk away.

"I no longer want to keep you and Phil apart. You two belong together, I can see that now, and I know you're getting married in about a month. And… I know you want me to move on before that happens." Frank stopped and slowly turned back around to face Eric. The ghost could see several emotions cross Frank's handsome features, but the one that struck him the most was that of desperation. Eric sighed.

"Just be careful out there tonight. Both of you, all of you! I know Amy was very disappointed in me in the end, but I don't want her hurt either."

"I'll try to keep that in mind." Frank said stiffly and was out of the men's room like a shot.

….

"Hey Baby!" Phil kissed Frank's cheek when he rejoined him at the table, but he could tell from Frank's pale complexion that something was up. Frank handed Tony his stain stick back to him as he was leaving for the dance floor with Robyn.

"What's wrong?" Phil asked lowly, leaning in to put an arm around his fiancé.

"I had a really uncomfortable conversation with the Ex (their title for Eric whenever he was brought up in conversation) in the restroom." Phil couldn't help but feel overprotective and helpless at the same time. Althuogh he didn't have a gift like Frank's to see or hear Eric or he'd love to throttle or bless the pain-in-the-ass out. G-d it felt so satisfying to beat the crap out of him last summer. But the asshole did die saving Frank, he had to remind himself.

"Good G-d, he can't even leave you alone on your birthday!" Phil complained.

"Oddly enough he was wishing me a happy birthday." Frank took a long drink from his highball glass. Biff was their designated driver tonight, it was his birthday, and he was just harassed by the ghost of his Ex… so… to hell with it!

"I'm going to the bar for another, how's your drink?"

"I'm good Babe." Phil gave him another quick kiss on the cheek. "Don't be long, I want to get you out on that dance floor."

The older Hardy brother weaved and maneuvered his way through the crowd until he made it to the bar. Frank set his glass and cash on the bar when he got the bartender's attention.

"Captain and Coke please!" Frank leaned in so the bartender could hear him over the crowd. The bartender smiled and shook his head.

"Mr. T said your drinks were on the house tonight, Mr. Hardy. Your money's no good." He handed Frank's cash back to him and prepared the drink. Frank nodded his thanks and made his way back to the table to rejoin his party.

"Eh?" A man addressed the bartender, " How's he get off with free drinks? I've worked my ass off all day and pretty boy gets free drinks?"

"Mr. Hardy is a good friend of the owners." the bartender answered back as he filled another order.

"Hardy?" The man turned toward his companion. "It was a Hardy that got Nora arrested? Ain't that right Ramon?" A tall, dark haired man turned away from the buxom brunette he was chatting up to look in the direction his buddy was pointing in. Sure enough there was "Terry", the so-called North Cast technician that apparently gathered evidence right out from under Nora Halstead's nose. Now Nora was incarcerated and in the throes of an ugly preliminary hearing for a capital murder case.

And Ramon Hernandez? He'd been brought in for questioning, and thankfully Nora had done most of the damage long before she and Ramon ever met. But he'd been advised by the State's Attorney's office not to leave the state of New York, he may be needed for more questioning and possible testimony at the trial. Just fucking great.

His association with the Halstead murder did his professional and social life no favors. His private yoga clientele had dropped off to nearly nil as soon as his name was mentioned in the local paper as being present at the time of Nora Halstead's arrest. Now he was reduced to going back to his former gym and teaching yoga and step classes to middle aged women. Not sexy.

He watched as that Hardy prick made his way over to a table and sat down beside a man with black wavy hair and a well-trimmed beard and moustache that was maintained to look like a three day growth. Ramon's eyes widened with surprise when he saw Hardy kiss the other man on the cheek. Damn, Nora was right! He really did play for the other team. Too bad Ramon's acting skills weren't good enough to have convinced Hardy to come downstairs to the gym for that "fun" he'd promised. Nora wouldn't be in jail and there'd be one less queer in the world.

"Yeah Glen, that's him." Ramon finally answered his friend and raised his glass to take another shot of whiskey.

…

"Alright Frank, that's your second drink! Dance! Now!" Phil stood and held his hand out to Frank who had just finished his cocktail.

"Oh G-d you are so hot when you get all demanding." Frank said dreamily. Biff chuckled at his friends' bantering but he felt a cool hand on his own.

"Do not think you are getting off so easily. I like this particular song."

"Amy, would you care do dance?" Biff asked with a smile.

"It would be my pleasure." She slipped her delicate hand into his and let him lead the way to the dance floor.

"You coming Chet and Beth?" Frank asked his friend and his date.

"We'll sit this one out…" Chet began.

"We're having fun watching you guys and chatting about anything other than the hospital." Beth said brightly. Chet put his arm around her and gave her a slight squeeze. Each couple found a vacant spot on the dance floor and began to gently sway as Expresso's female lead crooned Adele's "Make You Feel My Love."

Frank and Phil wound up closer to the bar than Frank would have liked, but they looked into each other's eyes and as the melody and the words to the song filled their ears, the world just melted away. Frank lost himself in Phil's honey and hazel eyes, his full soft lips, his slightly crooked nose. There was nothing about this man that Frank didn't love. He smiled inwardly as Phil was silently singing the lyrics with the band, mouthing the words as he stared at Frank. Phil's lips came so close to Frank's as he sang along the brunette could feel the warm exhale and cool inhale of his breath on his own lips.

Frank mouthed "I love you" and Phil stopped his quiet singing to smile and return the sentiment. Frank pulled him a little closer and rested his head in the crook of Phil's neck. Phil took the hand whose fingers were interlaced with Frank's and put it over his heart. Frank could feel the thrum of Phil's heart under his fingers. It was the most glorious sensation in the world. He tried to push the memory down, but flashes of last summer's horrors began to resurface…

Phil bound and gagged in that horrible basement. Phil's neck slashed. The light leaving his eyes. It had been so real, and yet it wasn't. Then Phil appeared at the dock, he held him, he stayed by him… Nothing was more precious to Frank in his life now that Phillip Cohen.

Frank was snapped back to reality when he felt a jolt from behind and found himself almost falling into Phil's arms.

"Oh! 'Cuse me." A woman giggled and she righted herself. "I wasn't looking where I was …"

"It's alright…" Phil and Frank began to say when all three of them were cut off by the woman's dance partner.

"You don't need to apologize Baby. These two fags need to watch where the Hell they're goin'!" The man spat.

"Excuse me!" Phil exploded. He'd dealt with homophobia and bullies a lot longer than Frank had, but it had been quite a while since he'd heard such asinine rudeness.

Frank suddenly recognized the man harassing them, Ramon Hernandez, Nora Halstead's yoga instructor. Frank put a halting hand on Phil's chest.

"Phil, it's okay, we'll go to the other side of the dance floor." The less dealings he had with Hernandez outside the courtroom, the better, or all that hard work and investigating would go down the drain if a conflict of interest arose with a witness and one of the investigators.

"No, it's not "Okay" Frank! We've got just as much of a right to be here as…" But Ramon staggered forward on wobbly legs and got in Phil's face. Another man who was swaying as he stood had come to the dance floor to back him up.

"Just 'cuz they pass all those laws you fags think you can do what ever the fuck you want anywhere…"

"Excuse me sir, would you please come with me?"

Danny Silvo had started to maneuver closer to the dance floor as he watched his two "chowda heads" move in the same direction with a couple of girls from the bar to dance. He'd watched as the taller of the two men inched his way closer and closer to Mr. T's friends when he backed the brunette he was dancing with into Frank.

"Shawn, I think we got a possible sitch in progress with those knuckleheads I mentioned earlier, they're headin' over toward Mr. T's buddies." He said discreetly as he pressed the button on his communication device.

"On my way D. I'll let Marco know"

Danny now had a firm hand around the taller man's bicep. Shawn had arrived by then and was keeping an eye on the shorter drunk to make sure he didn't do anything stupid too.

"Hey, I haven't done anything wrong!" Ramon protested as Danny tried to lead him off the dance floor. "That son-of-a-bitch backed into my girl." Glen brusquely moved his arm as Shawn started to escort him away too, but wisely followed Danny and Ramon toward the door.

"Yeah, well accidents happen. It's nothing to get that riled up about or to start calling names." Shawn reprimanded the tall man.

"You two have had enough to drink and the management feels it would be best if you left for the night." Danny added.

"Gentlemen, it was my pleasure to call a cab for you. If you drove here, your vehicles will be safe in our parking lot until you come back in the morning to get them." Marco said as he opened the door to Pasquale's where, indeed, a yellow cab was waiting at the entrance.

"What the hell kinda business you runnin' here Prito?" Glen said loudly enough that anyone near the entrance of Pasquale's could not help but hear. "Free drinks for queers? Kicking out straight folks just because they bump into them? If I'd known this was a fuckin' gay bar I'd have taken my ass somewhere else tonight!"

Something inside Marco Prito wanted to literally kick the man to the curb, just like back in the good old days. But he took a steadying breath and as calmly as possible pronounced just as loudly to address his drunken patron and anyone within earshot.

"Pasquale's is a family run business that does not discriminate against their patrons. We do however how have a strict policy about public drunkenness and over intoxication, and you boys have reached your limit! Please enter the cab and have a safe ride home." Marco could still see the looks of shock and curiosity on the nearby patrons' faces, but several were nodding silently in approval. That made Marco feel a little better about handling these two drunks. Tony was so much better at this sort of thing. Speaking of Tony…

The moment the two drunks were at least a block away Marco caught up to Tony at the table reserved for Frank's birthday party. The party mood seemed to have deflated as the entire group had returned to the table discussing what had happened. Biff and Chet's faces were red with righteous indignation that their friends had been insulted in such a way. Amy was her usual cool self, although she did look slightly pissed off. Beth had probably witnessed much worse rude and intolerant displays of behavior after working in an Emergency Room for years, but the poor girl was probably hoping to escape such things on a date night. And Robyn was trying to soothe a very worried and fretted Tony, whose face paled as he saw his older brother approach their table.

"That asshole didn't lay a hand on you, did he Phil? I should have asked earlier incase we needed to press charges." Marco asked.

"Thanks to your boys it didn't get that far. He got in my face, but that was the extent of it."

"And you Frank?"

"I'm fine, I have a feeling he forced his dance partner back into me, but it's more of a he said, she said matter." Frank squeezed Phil's hand, he could tell Phil was still stewing over Ramon's homophobic comments.

"Guys, I am so sorry that happened!" Tony started but Frank cut him off.

"It's okay. You can't expect everyone who walks through those doors to be open minded. And alcohol can bring out the worst in anyone." Marco sighed, relived that his patrons were alright. He put a hand on Tony's shoulder.

"Hey Anthony, come with me to the kitchen. I believe there's a cheesecake with Frank's name on it, that oughta get this party going again!" Marco squeezed Tony's shoulder, a silent message between the two that meant "Right now, damn it!"

"Oh, how could I have forgotten? We get our pastries and baked goods from Julia's on Fifth Street." Tony informed them. The humans in the group gasped and perked up a the mention of the bakery. Julia's on Fifth's baked goods had gained a lot of attention since their three-minute appearance on a Food Network show about the best bakeries in the state of New York. "I had a white chocolate raspberry one ordered just for Frankie's birthday. Lemme go get it from the big fridge!"

Tony stood up from the table and gave Robyn a quick kiss on the cheek. When they were out of earshot Marco lit in on his younger brother.

"Frank's drink's were on the house tonight?" he hissed.

"Hey, I told the guys at the bar to put it on my tab, it's his birthday. I told you earlier today we were good." Tony snapped.

"Well next time you decide to put your buddies' drinks on your tab, educate the bartenders on how to handle it more discreetly… Maybe go ahead and take their money and then subtract it from their dinner bill or something! Those two homophobes were all up in arms that Frank got his drinks free tonight. The reason why was none of their damn business, but still, not everyone is as up to speed on mixed couples in places like this as we are… We have to be careful, we're still too new on the block and a bad rep will kill us!"

Tony shrugged his shoulder out from under his brother's grasp.

"And don't forget," Marco continued, "Councilman Blackmon's daughter was here tonight, a guest of one of the owners! We don't need a scandal, or have us on his shit list because his daughter was here when there was an incident. The last thing we need is for the public to think our place is not safe!"

"I get it! I get it!" Tony insisted. "Now will you please relax?"

"The band is getting ready to take a break." Marco sighed. "I'll go check on the bar's stock before the DJ takes over."