Moving On : Part II

The start of a new week on Monday marked a number of departures and moves amongst the circle of friends; events which would continue throughout that week. Strictly of course things actually began late on Sunday night, when Santana and Brittany headed to the airport for the flight to Paris and their honeymoon. They had managed to secure themselves an upgrade, although they were not getting quite the luxurious treatment that François had enjoyed when he had come to play the part of the ghost of Blaine for a few days. It was nonetheless a luxurious way to travel. For the first time, Sam and Rachel found themselves home alone for a whole fortnight; they had not realised that this had never happened before until that morning. With the other loft still vacant following Niff and Mike's departure to the West Village, it did feel a little lonely up there. As for the two setting off to Europe, they carried with them everyone's warm greetings to François and his friends, and a letter from Sebastian that Sam had pushed into Santana's hand as they had been getting into their cab.

It was only as she sat in the departure lounge waiting for the call to board their flight that Santana took a moment to look at the envelope properly, and that was when she discovered that it was not addressed to François Girard, but to Mrs and Mrs Pierce-Lopez. Intrigued, she opened it at once, and enclosed found a short letter from Sebastian, which read

Dearest Brittany and Satan,

We, the Warbler brotherhood, decided that as well as performing a song for you, against all of your instructions to the contrary, to push our luck even further, and club together to buy you something really special. Many suggestions were made, but in the end, we decided that the enclosed was the best choice. If nothing else, you can buy me some Custard Creams. With all of our love and affection to Brittany, and our only Warbler sister,

Meerkat.

Santana couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had signed off using her nickname for him, and then proceeded to pull out the remaining contents of the envelope. She gasped as she saw two return tickets for the Paris to London Eurostar, a confirmation receipt for a three night stay in a suite at the White House Hotel, by Regent's Park, and admission tickets for the Tower of London. Her shock then turned to laughter when she saw that Sebastian had carefully written the words 'Custard Creams' on all of them in his neat handwriting. She supposed that they might be able to buy him some…

The two moves that took place on Monday both impacted on the household in Murray Hill, as Cooper and Grace saw the changing of the guard in one of their spare rooms. Josh had no problem in getting his things packed up, although he had far more of them now than when he had arrived in New York on Christmas Day; then his entire life could be packed in two bags. This time he had a number of boxes to go with the three bags that he had packed, one of the bags borrowed from Elliott. Cooper had volunteered to hire a car, and so it was that just after 9am, the last of Josh's belongings had been carefully stowed, and it was now time for him to say goodbye to two of the three people that he now saw as family. He hugged Mason first, telling him that he and Roderick would always be welcome in the West Village for a game night. Then he moved on to Grace, producing a small thank you gift as he went to hug her. She was almost at once even more upset than she already had been. She reminded him that he could call her at anytime if he needed something; that nothing would change even though he was no longer living under her roof. Then he was off, to travel with Cooper the relatively short distance to his new home. The traffic in Manhattan meant that it still took them half an hour to get there, to find Elliott waiting patiently with Mike on hand to help out. It did not take long to get everything unpacked, and then it was the turn of Cooper to bid his farewells. A tight hug from Josh, and profuse thanks and a handshake from Elliott later, and the Gilbert brothers found themselves alone together under the one roof at long last. Josh had to unpack, but after that was done, their plan was just to chill together for the next two days and enjoy some brotherly company.

Cooper did not have far to go to the spot that he had arranged to pick up Roderick after that. He parked the car, finding a space by some miracle near the door, and headed into the dorm block. He found Roderick waiting for him in the hallway, surrounded by his small pile of belongings. It did not take them long to get the car packed up, with the assistance of a friendly caretaker, and then they were off again, heading east. The traffic was no better in this direction, and it was closing in on eleven by the time they pulled up in Murray Hill again. Cooper was tired from just the two short drives, and wondered once again why anyone in their right mind would attempt to drive around the city on a regular basis. The prospect of having to take the car back to the rental lot later filled him with dread…

Grace and Mason had been busy whilst he was gone, cleaning out the room, changing the bed linen, and generally tidying the house up. It would not have mattered to Roderick if they had not done so; he was just glad to be moving out of the dorms and into a nice place with an old friend. He was eternally grateful to both Cooper and Grace for having this opportunity, and he fully intended to show them that gratitude for as long as he lived under their roof.

He would not have the opportunity that evening however, as his new landlords were leaving for London on the overnight flight. This would be the first time that Cooper had been to Europe, whereas Grace had travelled to Germany many years ago in her first summer vacation from law school. It was no great secret that the Duval family had ancestors that hailed from the region of Alsace, on the French/German border; war and geography had given them a French sounding surname but decidedly German roots. She had not had the opportunity to explore more of the continent, but now at least she could make a trip to England. She and Cooper were fully aware of the extra gift that the Warblers had given to Santana and Brittany, and would make arrangements to meet them for at least a meal one evening whilst they were all in London, on their second free week in the city.

What Grace did not know, however, was that she and Cooper would be taking the train across to Paris themselves that weekend, spending Saturday night at the Girard's apartment, and then returning back to London on the last train on Sunday. It had been suggested to Cooper by Sebastian, who thought it would be a nice idea given that they were going to be so close; a quick chat with Nick had confirmed that his fiancée would love it, and the rest had been simple to organise. It was the least he could do for her, given that for the first three full days of the trip, he would be tied up with the show, and indeed he would be taking Grace to see it the following night, albeit as an audience member. He then had a series of meetings lined up with key members of the cast and crew, both past and present. He had also promised to pay a visit to the London company of Kinky Boots, just to say hello. Grace for her part had sat down with guide books, and then with the almost too eager assistance of her brother and his husband, had planned an itinerary for herself on the three days that Cooper would be unavailable. She had time set aside for shopping, as she knew that he would prefer not to be dragged round stores; a day for visiting the V & A in Kensington, and the Tate Gallery in Pimlico; and a day trip by train to the ancient city of York, which Nick admitted he would have chosen to visit had there been time on his own trip. The idea of a city with medieval walls and an ancient cathedral fascinated her, and she had also heard that there was good shopping to be had there…

After an early dinner, Cooper and Grace said their goodbyes to Mason and Roderick and headed out to board the car that had been sent to take them to the airport. The two young men where joined on the doorstep by Sebastian, who had been asked as he was older to keep an eye on them, as he was deemed to be more trustworthy by the virtue of age. That he was thought of as such just made Sebastian realise how much he had changed since he had thrown that slushie at his landlord's brother. It also made him feel a bit old, but he didn't mind that. It wasn't as if he would actually be at home all that much anyway, as he would be on standby at the theatre most of the time. He had by now mastered most of the script, and had enlisted the help of Nick and Jeff one night to perfect it. He had opted to run through it in the part of Elder Price; even though he had pretty much zero chance of ever playing that part on stage, it was the biggest role after Elder Cunningham, and he did not think that he had the characteristics to take on that part. He had been left close to corpsing though that night as his two friends had hammed it up as they played all the other cast members. He had also gone through a lot of the choreography and with the assistance of Mike, who had actually seen the show, he could now dance all of the main numbers with a degree of accuracy and confidence.

So far he had not even had a sniff of the stage though, but that was okay. The holidays were now beginning in earnest, and that gave him an increased chance of being called upon to take up some minor role. His dedication to the job and all his efforts to learn the script had been noticed by those in charge after all.

As the car pulled out of the street, he turned to the two younger men, and said "So if you are going to have a party, just promise me please that you will keep it small, and that you will ensure nothing gets damaged or broken. I mean, I would be very surprised if someone hadn't invited at least his girlfriend to come and visit for a start…"

Mason felt the colour run into his cheeks, and then replied, "Yes, Jane is coming for the weekend, but so are Spencer, Alistair and my sister. It's a New Directions reunion of a sort; Cooper and Grace know all about it, and have okayed it. We don't intend to have a wild party, we are just all going to get together and relax."

"Good," responded Sebastian. "I mean, I do not want to have to call people in Europe and tell them that you've been having wild bacchanalian parties; at least, one's that I wasn't invited to…" With that, Sebastian winked and walked away, heading back downstairs to his own place, leaving Roderick laughing.

That night, as Roderick settled into his new life in Murray Hill by sharing a pizza at the kitchen table with Mason, across in the West Village Jeff was spending his evening with the three younger men next door, helping them to get the house ready for the arrival of their three other housemates. Seth was naturally more comfortable with the whole thing than Luke or Duncan, who knew the other three boys solely from encounters with them at Warbler weddings. Seth had been talking to them about the others, naturally, letting them know all of the foibles of his old schoolmates, just as he had e-mailed Edward a list of all the things that they needed to know about Luke and Duncan. Jeff had come to help them set up the bedrooms, and also to ensure that the house did not look like a disaster zone when the new guys arrived the next day, particularly as they would be accompanied by Colin and Skylar's moms; they had opted to come with them to see exactly where their sons would be living. They both had expressed doubts about how nice the house could be, given the unfeasibly low rent. Both ladies had made a booking for the Holiday Inn the next night, so at least they did not have to provide them with a room for the night as well. One of the things they did was set up a room for Colin for his mother to inspect. Jeff was pretty certain that Mrs Baxter knew full well that her son would be sleeping in the same bed as Edward from the moment that he arrived, but just for appearances, it didn't hurt to have her think otherwise.

The evening was also a good excuse for Jeff to catch up with his cousin, and the topic of conversation quickly turned to events in Vermont. "Mom is still in shock, although she will never admit it, that thanks to you all of their plans can finally go ahead. Aunt Sarah is a powerhouse at these kind of things, and she is already organising all the tools and equipment that they will need to get the land back into a viable state, and to restore the buildings. The biggest issue now isn't money, but finding people that can do the work. Flora is at home for the holidays, and she is looking forward to the challenge, and she has also managed to recruit a few of her college friends to assist. Mom did ask if there was any chance of Duncan and I coming home for the holidays, but I told her we couldn't; we both have our jobs for starters, and then there is the new house to organise, new roommates to get to know… Admittedly, she did suggest that I could bring them all to Vermont. I don't think that any of the four Warblers we have here would be up for doing it though. Anyway, take this as a warning; next time you call your mother, be careful if she invites you up. It will be because she wants to use you and Nick as cheap labour…"

Jeff laughed, knowing that as much as he loved the peace and tranquillity of rural Vermont, there was no way that he and Nick would wish to spend their entire summer mending broken buildings and working fields. It was then that it hit him; if the buildings in question were like the ones at his aunts' farm, then they would require the services of a carpenter to make the repairs - and as it happened, he knew someone that was not only good at woodwork, from what he recalled, but who was now at college studying for a horticulture qualification…

When he returned home later, he made a call to his Aunt Moira, who was delighted to hear his voice. She started the conversation by thanking him once more for his unparalleled generosity, and as he had done so many times now, Jeff told her that it was nothing. He then moved on to the purpose of his call. "I hear on the grapevine that you are looking for help with getting the new land in shape. Now before you get overexcited, it isn't me and Nick I am talking about, because for as much as I love the countryside, I don't know the difference between weeds and wheat. On top of that, the carpentry master at Dalton had Nick and I barred from his workshop - he said that we were both a liability with a hammer or a saw." He paused as his aunt laughed, and then continued. "I do know someone that might just fit the bill though. His name is Cameron Gillen; he is another ex-Warbler, and he is studying horticulture. He is also the recipient of the most merit badges for woodcraft in the history of Dalton Academy. The thing is, he had a breakdown about three years ago when his parents were trying to force him through law school, and it threw him a bit off kilter. He is fine now though, or I wouldn't be suggesting that he might be some use to you. He loves working with his hands and the outdoors, and I have a feeling that this would be a dream summer job for him."

"Well all the help that we can get would be appreciated Jeff. He has a past, but so do we all; it's the here and now that matters. So call him up, and tell him about the job, and if he wants it, tell him to call me. We can have a discussion and then it will be up to him; from my perspective, he sounds ideal."

Jeff thanked her, and after a quick chat, he rang off. He immediately called the number that he had been given by Cameron at Dalton. His friend answered quickly, and after a few pleasantries, Jeff came straight to the point. He explained everything that was going on in Vermont, the scale of the task, and what his aunts would need. He could hear the excitement in Cam's voice as he described the place, and once he had finished, he was told with eagerness that he wanted the job; being at home with his parents for the summer was driving him crazy, as he was stuck in the middle of a city, and he had no opportunity to do what he loved easily. Jeff gave him Moira's number, and laughed as having repeated it back to him, Cam more or less hung up on him. He had a funny feeling that a phone in Vermont was about to start ringing at any moment…

Tuesday saw a removal truck arrive once more in the quiet little street in the West Village. Knowing that this would be happening a lot for the first few weeks, one of the first things that Nick had done on moving in had been to go and introduce himself to the neighbours across the street, not that this had been an easy task. The majority of the residents of the divided townhouses across from them worked all day and had jobs which meant they worked long hours. He had made the acquaintance of an elderly widow who lived more or less opposite his own home, however. She had known the female artists that had lived there very well, and she was glad that after the houses had been sitting empty for so long, under threat of demolition and replacement with a monstrosity, that they would once again be occupied. She like many of the other older residents had been vehemently opposed to the condo plans, and when the last of the ladies had died, they had expected that they would have to try and fight a last ditch effort to save the neighbourhood. She hadn't held out much hope, given that the city had approved it. Now the threat was gone, and she was content. Nick had apologised to her in advance for the disruption that would be caused by a string of movers' trucks, but she had shrugged, and said that a few hours of disturbance was a small price to pay for the pleasure of looking out of her front window and seeing lights on across the street once more. The following day she had come across to see Nick, the name Sterling-Duval having clicked in her mind the previous night. Nick had invited her in and introduced her to Jeff of course. She shook his hand warmly, and informed him that she was even more delighted that it was a young artist of his calibre that had moved in to what had always been known in her younger days as the artist's row. She had stayed for coffee, and had also met Mike. When she heard what he did for a living, her face had beamed all the more, delighted that such a collection of talented young people were coming in to her street. Thus when she saw all of Artie's camera equipment being moved in later that week, she had clapped her hands in delight at the idea of a film maker joining the artist and the dancer.

As the van that had travelled from Ohio pulled up early on that Tuesday afternoon, Nick was waiting to greet the new arrivals, and he was sure that he had seen the curtains on the other side of the street twitch as he greeted his friends. He was sure that when he told her in passing later that the three young men were all fellow former members of his high school glee club she would be satisfied. Then again, who would not be pleased by the arrival of young men studying pharmacy, dentistry and architecture.

The van had been followed by the car carrying three young men and two mothers. As it pulled up, the door to their new place swung open to reveal Luke, Duncan and Seth, the first two being more cautious in their approach. The mothers of course remembered Seth and Nick, and it fell to the latter to introduce the other two as Jeff's cousin and his boyfriend. The whole meeting was very formal, with Luke on his best behaviour, remembering all of his P's and Q's. He was the one that offered to show the two ladies around whilst the others set to in helping to unload the van, and they accepted. They were both instantly overwhelmed by the grandeur of the property from the moment they set foot through the front door. It was the polar opposite of what they had been anticipating. It did help that the three young men already resident had deep cleaned every inch of the place that morning, and as such the floors were spotless, the surfaces gleaming and a pleasant floral smell pervaded the whole house. This latter was down to the fact that Kurt had turned up, after they had finished the cleaning, and pointed out that the whole place looked good, but smelt of boy. A slight mustiness that they would never pick up on, but that a mother immediately would. There had been a rush to the store for scented candles, which had all now been extinguished and hidden from sight. All in all, by the end of the tour the qualms the two women had had about their son's living arrangements had been put to one side.

Nick had invited the two ladies for coffee next and they had accepted, both curious to see inside another house. They also knew that they had to give their boys a chance to settle in without the watchful eyes of a mother on them. This allowed Colin to move the majority of his belongings into Edward's room, rather than his own. The latter they intended to use as a study space. As such the shelves were filled with his books; a few items of clothing he rarely wore were placed in the drawers and the wardrobe. The rest of his personal items were placed in the room that he would be sharing with his fiancé. The door closed behind them for a moment, they had taken the chance to lie side by side on the big double bed, which was much larger than the single bed at Dalton they had shared from time to time before.

Across the landing, Skylar and Seth had observed the closed door as they carried up the last of the former's belongings between them and had shaken their heads. Skylar laughed moment's later as having set down the final box, Seth handed him a pair of earplugs. "Thanks Seth, I could use a new pair. The one's that I had at Dalton might well have got lost in the move!"

"And if it does get really bad, there are two sofas in the kitchen, down in the basement, where we will not hear a thing," added Seth. He knew though that it was unlikely they would hear a thing in any case; like Luke and Duncan, Colin and Edward were well versed in the art of quiet sex…

The new arrivals, their roommates and the two mothers ended up at the Spotlight diner for dinner that evening. It gave the two women a chance to thank Jeff in person for his extraordinarily generous gesture in providing their boys with such a high quality home at such a low rent. Jeff naturally told them that it was the least that he could do for them after what they had all suffered at the hands of his brother, but neither woman would accept that, with Mrs Baxter informing him that he was a saint. They then proceeded to eulogise his drawing, which they had seen online, and which they would be making a visit to with the boys the following day, before they drove back to Ohio. By the time that Jeff was able to get away from the table with their order, his face was glowing red from all the blushing that he had done.

Matters had not been helped by the phone call he had received from Cameron that morning, who had called him excitedly to tell him that he had spoken to Jeff's aunt, and he would be taking the job in Vermont over the summer; in fact, he was already on his way there, so glad was he to have a reason to not stay the summer with his parents. For their part, they had insisted on speaking to Moira, and she had told them all that they needed to hear. He had left with their blessing, both of them knowing that he would be okay.

"I am so grateful to you Jeff, and so glad that we had that chat at Dalton," Cameron had begun. Then he had added "Although to be honest, I guess I should also be grateful to Thad, because I think he might have had a hand in that. Will you tell him how grateful I am next time you speak to him? I would call him myself, but I know that he will be busy with his finals, and I don't want to disturb him. Your aunt is going to put me up at the house, which is really good of her, and it means there will be folks around to keep me company, which is excellent. So I need to go, they're calling my flight. I'll maybe see you at some point over the summer?" Jeff wasn't sure about that, but maybe he and Nick could head up there one weekend before school started up, or they could even ask Cameron to come and visit them in the city.

With the Law Library closing earlier all summer, Nick was at home alone with only Caleb for company. Mike had been invited to a meeting with the rest of the corps du ballet, and he had felt that it was vital that he got to know the people that would soon be his colleagues. After the meeting there would be a meal, and then probably drinks, so he would be back home late. Nick took full advantage of having the quiet house to make himself at home in his little study and started to collect the data that he would need for his project at college next year; a study of the Montgomery trials. He was intending to look at it not just from the usual angle of a discussion of the fraud and arson charges, but also at the human rights aspects, particularly in light of what had been done to those poor young women caught up in the whole saga. He had made up his mind to make contact with the law firm that had represented them as a group in court, to see if they would be willing to have a discussion with him on behalf of their clients. He was anxious not to cause any hurt or upset to the young women themselves by being too intrusive, as they had already been through enough. The case was however been hailed as a landmark one in terms of getting justice for female victims of abuse, and Nick felt that it was an important story to tell. He also wondered just how many other people there were out there that had not been brave enough to tell their story to the court. There was a rumour circulating that the list of names that had been given to the judge had been shorter than the number of clients that they represented, as some of the ladies had wished to protect their anonymity. Part of him also wondered if any of them had accepted the payment, but had then failed to do what was asked of them. The idea that somewhere out there, there might be a child that would call Wes their brother was fascinating to him, as much as he imagined that it would be to Wes himself…

His thoughts were interrupted as something furry, and no longer as small as he once had been jumped up into his lap, and miaowed. Contrary to their expectations, as cats so often are, Caleb had not been the least bit phased by the stairs, and was quite happy to run up and down them at will. This in itself had nearly caused a disaster as a half asleep Nick had almost tripped over him on the main stairs one morning, and only the fact that he had a firm grip on the handrail had prevented him from falling headlong down the length of the stairs. Naturally, Caleb had looked at him as if he was in the wrong… Now the last person to head upstairs at night made sure that Caleb was in his bed, then shut the door to the kitchen firmly behind them; at all other times, they kept their eyes peeled for his presence.

"I am guessing that somebody is feeling hungry," said Nick with a chuckle as Caleb rubbed his head into his stomach lovingly, and made little noises. As he said the word hungry, Caleb miaowed, and shaking his head, but smiling all the same, Nick lifted the cat off his lap. He got up, and set him down, and made his way to the kitchen, Caleb running along behind him. Nick placed some food in Caleb's bowl, and poured him some milk, then decided that he could do with a glass of juice himself - and maybe a small slice of the chocolate cake he had made earlier that week. His work could wait a little while after all…