August 2027: A Whole Parcel of White Lies.

Sam had to admit later that the dinner that Mrs Crawford served them up that Monday evening was wonderful. She had prepared a traditional Sunday lunch for them all, even if it was Monday night; there was a joint of roast beef with all of the trimmings. It was Sam's first encounter with Yorkshire Pudding and once he had got over the fact that it was called a pudding, he had to admit that it made short work of mopping up all of the rich brown gravy that covered the perfectly cooked meat. The roast potatoes were crisp on the outside but delightfully fluffy in the middle; he praised them loudly, before lamenting that those he occasionally enjoyed at home were either dry and hard, or soggy outside.

"The secret is to ensure that your fat is hot enough, and that you have parboiled the potatoes first; drain the water from the saucepan, then shake the potatoes about in the pan to roughen the edges to give a better surface to absorb the fat," advised Mrs Crawford, and Sam nodded. He and Rachel were theoretically supposed to take it in turns to cook, but her theatre work meant he did it most often. He would try the method that she had recommended, but he suspected that the fact that he had to use a vegetable oil and not the meat juices that his hostess surely had done might be a factor too. He decided that one Sunday when his wife was working, he could invite Stevie and Stacey to join him for lunch and roast a chicken…

Across the table, Adam and Joan sparred over her list as they ate, and that had them all chuckling at times. In the end Lawrence decided to intervene, and took the list from his fiancé's hand, and read it himself. He nodded, then said, "It isn't that bad a list, just a few minor issues, and at least everything is in the city. From what I have been told there are dozens of tourists arrive in Manhattan every year that want to pay a visit to Niagara Falls; they do not realise that New York is also a state, that said state is massive, and that the famous falls are a good 400 miles away. It is possible to do the trip in a day, but only by helicopter…"

"Which we will most certainly NOT be doing, thank you very much!" exclaimed Adam.

"For which I am truly grateful," added Joan. "I have seen so many television shows were the presenters go there and have to wear ridiculous plastic raincoats over their clothes to avoid getting soaked. That is not my idea of a good time at all…"

For dessert, Mrs Crawford had prepared a very traditional British pudding at her son's request. Adam had not been able to resist the prospect of his mother serving his fiancé and co-star Spotted Dick with Custard. After they had all laughed at the expression on Sam's face, they had tucked in, and Sam had to admit it tasted beautiful. He could not resist temptation either and had Adam take a photograph of him eating a spoonful, a big grin on his face, and sending it to Artie, telling him he was happy because he was spending time with Adam and had just enjoyed his first taste of Spotted Dick…

The blond man had known that the double entendre would amuse his friend, but realised too late that he should have told him not to share it with anyone else. He sighed as he quickly typed a message to his wife to tell her what he had just been eating and that it was a traditional dessert, and thus she should ignore any other comments she received. He did so in good time, as no sooner had he sent it than Santana commented on his original picture with her usual one-word answer, Wanky! In the next five minutes he received dozens of other comments, some ribald and others less so; in fact, Mike in a moment of oblivion responded that it looked delicious, and he would like to try a mouthful too. That took the heat of Sam, and the blond wondered if Mike had replied with that on purpose to achieve just that end.

The meal over, he headed out into the garden, to allow the Crawfords to have some alone time with Adam and Lawrence; he was happy to do so, as the garden was tranquil and beautiful. He knew that there was a major road nearby, and that the vapour trails in the sky showed the presence of a major airport, but the only sounds he could hear other than those of nature were the laughter of children playing somewhere close by and the occasional car on the lane outside. The summer flowers were still in full bloom and the air was scented by them even at this late hour, attracting both bees and butterflies…

He knew that a home just like this one was a dream of his one day; he loved their house in Bed-Stuy and how convenient it was to their life now, but as they got older, he would like to move away to a house somewhere further out on Long Island, or up in the Hudson Valley; somewhere with a big yard and fewer neighbours. The problem there was that he would find it hard to persuade Rachel to leave the bright lights behind; anywhere that would make her journey home in an evening after finishing her show would not be popular with her.

Eventually it was time for them to head back into the city; they said their goodbyes and then Mrs Crawford drove them back to the railway station, which was deserted at that time of night. They said goodbye to their hostess, then went to wait on the empty platform, which stayed that way as the train arrived a few minutes later; they boarded and found themselves in an empty carriage. They settled down in their seats, and almost at once, Adam spoke.

"Well, Lawrence, we will need to edit down her list as there are simply not enough hours in the day for it all! With the best will in the world, there is just no way of fitting everything in, and there are some things that even I can't achieve for her…"

"…like sitting at that table at Katz's Deli?" his fiancé said with a chuckle.

"Especially that! I know that she would want to recreate that scene, and at her age that would be both embarrassing and unbearable!"

"True. Look, I don't mind helping out on my day off to give you a bit of a break," Lawrence continued. "She was good enough to show me a few less well-known sights, and I can do the same for her. I can take her to some of the places that even the residents of the city don't know about!"

"I will hold you to that, although we still need to deal with the even bigger issue, namely that she isn't booked into a hotel, and I still haven't asked Jeff to find out if the guest suite is even free at that time. If it isn't then I will need to find her somewhere to stay and that might not be cheap at short notice. The only other alternative would be the two of us leaving her in our room and coach surfing on one of the neighbours sofa, or if we are lucky, spare bed."

Lawrence suddenly realised that Adam had a very valid point; it was bad enough that she had booked a flight with no warning, but they had no space to accommodate her at their place, and they could not ask her to sleep on their sofa…

By the time that the three men arrived at London Bridge station, it was late afternoon in New York, and normality had resumed at Nick and Jeff's home in the West Village, the family back in their familiar surroundings. Their journey back had been uneventful, which was a relief. Nick had indeed fallen asleep before the plane took off and had not woken until the plane was actually making its final descent into JFK. The pain in his head had still been there when he woke up, but as was always the case, by the time they were standing in the terminal to pass through immigration, it had all but dissipated. As for Jeff, he had eaten his in-flight meal with the usual gusto, then had promptly fallen asleep, which left Burt with the great pleasure of keeping Wes entertained.

They had ended up chatting for a while, Burt amazed sometimes at just how alert and mature the eight-year-old was, but then he recalled who his parents were, and decided that some of the genes from the Lau side of the family, the same ones that had made his namesake so wise, had obviously been passed down and working alongside Nick's own, had made an intelligent boy. Then there had been a pause, and in a hushed voice, Wes had told him that he was worried, as he thought his dad was keeping secrets from his papa. Burt looked at him in surprise, but nodded, a signal for Wes to go on…

"Dad keeps checking his phone when he thinks no-one is looking, and then on Sunday morning he snuck out of the room very early with his phone in his hand; I had woken up and was going for a drink of water when I saw him leave. When he came back, I heard him tell papa that he had been out for a walk, but it was raining when he went out, and he wasn't wearing a coat. There is no way that Dad would go out without his coat, or at least his umbrella when it is raining, no matter what."

Burt knew he had to think on his feet and deliver a boy that was stressing a plausible reason as to where his father had been. "He was actually doing something for me that morning, to help out the President… He is making top secret plans to deal with an outstanding human rights problem, and he asked me to ask your dad to make some notes on what to do to resolve the issue, and how to cope with any backlash. He decided to ask for some advice from an expert in these kinds of things, but they live on the western side of Canada, so the best way for him to talk to them was to get up early and talk to them whilst it was Saturday evening there. As it was top secret, he really couldn't tell your papa, and even if he could have, he wouldn't have, as he was so stressed with his own work."

Wes looked at Burt with just a hint of suspicion, and then slowly nodded his head. The House Speaker did not know if the boy believed a word of what he had just said, but it was enough for him to change the subject. Burt made a mental note to tell Nick what he had just said in case there were questions later…

Burt would part from the Sterling-Duvals after they had passed the immigration desks, as he had to make his way to his next flight, the short one that would take him back to Washington DC. The family of three made their way to baggage claim, and then with their cases collected, made their way out into the arrivals hall, and at once Wes spotted him; "Uncle Thad is here!" he yelled, and ran over to greet him. Nick managed to pull off a surprised expression for his husband's benefit, and then saw the worry on the blond's face…

Thad arrived before he could speak, and the Head Warbler spoke instead. "Now blondie, don't panic. Caleb is absolutely fine; the house is fine; and there has been no major crisis amongst our circle of friends. There might however be a crisis at the United Nations; a messenger arrived at the house a little over two hours ago carrying this envelope for Nick and he asked if I could possibly see that he got it as soon as he returned. I had no plans, so I decided that I should just head here to hand it over and speed the process along."

He handed the envelope over to Nick, who was doing his best to look curious and a little concerned; the brunet opened it, walking over to a quieter spot as he did so, leaving Thad to keep his husband and son occupied. "I think that cat of yours might be psychic by the way; he has spent most of the morning sitting at the bottom of the kitchen steps, looking up them hopefully; I think that he knows you are due home. Now I also took the liberty of making a call to your usual artist supplies store and ordered some extra paper and pencils for you, as I know that you will be anxious to make a start on your final drawings…"

Before Jeff could respond, Nick returned and said, "You were right Thad, there is a bit of a flap going on at work; they can't find some documents, but I know where there is a hard copy and also have them on my office computer, so I should have the whole thing sorted out in under half an hour once I am there. So, if you don't mind, Thad, could you take Jeff and Wes home with the luggage in a taxi just now, and I will head straight for work right now. It makes sense, as I can be home not long after you if I catch the Airtrain to Jamacia and take a LIRR train through to Grand Central…"

"That will not be a problem at all. I had a suspicion that you might do something like that if I brought the letter to you, as it saves you having to double back on yourself. Off you go and get the issue sorted for them." Nick nodded, then headed off at speed in the direction of the Airtrain. Jeff laughed and shook his head, but Thad suddenly saw the expression on Wes' face. It was the one he had seen so many times before on his angelic husband's face when they were students at Dalton; it was the one he had every time he thought that something was going on behind his back amongst the Warblers…

Fortune was on Nick's side that day; the Airtrain to Jamacia was pulling up at the platform as he arrived, and for once it was not crowded. He arrived at the LIRR station, and the same thing happened again, which meant that in no time at all he was walking through the secure entrance at the United Nations building. He did not head for the elevator up to his office though, turning instead round the corner and then down the stairs to the mailroom. He counted himself fortunate that the same supervisor that he had spoken to the other day was on duty, and he was quickly escorted to the quarantine room, where they laid out the three packages for him.

Nick thanked them profusely, then made a great show of donning one of the face masks that were set aside for use in emergency situations. Then as he put on a pair of disposable gloves, he said, "I think that it is best that I take every possible precaution at this juncture."

The supervisor nodded, and as Nick reached for a disposable apron to cover his clothes, they said, "If you don't mind, I will leave you to it."

That was exactly the response that Nick had hoped for; as soon as he was alone, aware that there were security cameras that the supervisor might well be observing, he made a great show of carefully opening the first package. He did not pull out the DVD inside, just lifted the wrapping enough to see that it was what he suspected it to be; he then did the same with the other two packages. That done, he took a large box from the pile at one side of the desk and placed all three packages in it, before closing the lid and sealing it up. He took off the protective clothing and placed it in the trash can provided, before heading out with the packages, telling the supervisor that whilst there had been no biological agents, the packages had contained what he had feared, and that he would arrange immediate disposal off site. The supervisor nodded, and let Nick go, happy to have averted a crisis in the building…

He reached home only about half an hour behind his husband and son but came down into the kitchen to find only Thad sitting at the table. "Your husband is up in his studio, sorting through all of his sketchbooks from London and Wes is upstairs in his room; he was yawning a lot in the taxi from the airport, so I am going to guess that he isn't reading just now like he said he would be, but probably taking a nap," he said before Nick could even ask. "There is fresh coffee in the pot, so sit down and I will pour you a cup. I will also make you up a sandwich, as according to your son, you slept the entire flight home, so you won't have eaten since you left the lounge at Heathrow…"

"Wes is right, I did sleep the entire flight, and in all honesty, I am famished. I passed a takeout pizza slice shop on my way from the UN to Grand Central to catch the subway and it took all of my willpower to not just run in and order four or five slices and then just eat them all myself…"

"Well, that proves how hungry you must be, as you are no great fan of those sorts of pizza place," chuckled Thad.

"I know; I think subconsciously I had chosen that side of that street to walk down as it would keep me away from the most tempting takeout places, but as it turned out, my stomach was just desperate for food…" replied Nick with a grin, which made Thad smile even more.

As he handed him his sandwich, Thad heard Nick's stomach rumble, which made them both laugh even more. When he had eaten half of his sandwich, Nick lowered his voice and spoke in a hushed tone to Thad, who had joined him at the table. "I got those three packages with no issues at all; I take it that all of the others have either been collected up or destroyed altogether?"

"They have been," Thad replied quietly too. "I even managed to get the one that had been sent to the New York Bar Association offices without having to get your sister involved. I realised there was another lawyer that I knew that had access to those premises, namely the one that represented the prosecution at Hunter's trial, who you may not know is actually a Dalton alumnus. He was surprised to hear from me, but when I told him that something nasty that could destroy your reputation had been sent to the offices of the association by a relative of one of the Clarington family, he was only too happy to assist. I told him that I had been charged with attempting to stop it being opened, and it was probably addressed to the Chair of the association. Well, it was all very easy after that, as what I did not know was that he was actually the current Chair of the body. He arranged to meet me at the Bar Association offices, and I was able to take the package without any problem. He did ask me to pass on his best wishes to you, and to pass on how impressed he is by all that you do at the United Nations…"

Nick smiled then, before laughing. "I had resigned myself to having Grace know about everything, and to being subjected to a few intense hours of sisterly questioning, but now I am spared that at least; trust me, she is like the Spanish Inquisition once she starts… Still, thanks to what Burt told me at Heathrow, there is a conversation that I will need to have with her, namely the one about how our beloved father's name ended up being linked to what Mr Anderson tried to do to Pam…"

Nick sighed, and Thad placed a hand on his friends at that point. "Even now, with all of the physical distance between us, and how long it has been since he played any part in my life, he can still come back and haunt me and my friends at any time. Is it wrong that I sometimes wish that he was dead? I feel guilty to even say something like that, but I constantly fear that one day his name is going to be linked to something really awful and the fallout is going to impact on me, Grace and the people that we love the most…"

"I don't think that such thoughts are wrong at all," Thad responded. "When your parent or parents decide to cast you out of their lives it is awful enough, without the added fear that one day they might do something that will ruin your entire life."

Nick nodded then, knowing that his older friend was talking from experience about the first thing, as he had lost his parents and so much more by deciding to pursue a career in academia rather than medicine as his folks had wanted. "I have taken the three packages out of my satchel and have locked them up in my study. At some point I will give you the key to the cupboard and you can go and collect them and place them safely with the others that you have here."

Thad nodded, then said, "We might still have to keep a close eye on Gideon for a while and make sure that he is never left alone with Jeff for any reason at all. Mitch came over with the package from Vogue last night and came clean with me; he suspects that Gideon believes that he is actually just covering for the three of you, and what is in that DVD is actual footage of you three together…"

Nick shook his head sadly, then said, "I actually suspected that he might. All that it proves is that the one image from the cover of the DVD is enough to convince anyone who sees it that what it purports to be is the case. Maybe the only way to stop Gideon believing it, is for him to actually be shown the DVD cover again, and have Mitch point out something on the back cover, as I recall. I believe that it shows a rear view of the three actors; point out to him that Hunter left all three of us scarred by his actions in a physical sense, and that they do not have them. If need be, let him watch the start of the movie until it is quite clear. After all, you can airbrush a photo, but a whole movie? I'd say that it was impossible to have us in the film and for there to be no blemishes on…"

"No blemishes on what?" came a voice, and the two men spun round to see Wes standing there…

"On these apples," said Thad, pointing to the bowl of fruit on the table. "Your dad and I were just talking about the differences between the food that you buy at a supermarket like the Stop n Shop, and that you buy at the market in Union Square."

Wes shook his head, then said, "Why do grown-ups have so many secrets? You always tell me that we should always be honest…"

Nick looked worried then, wondering just how long Wes had been listening. "We are all meant to be honest, but…"

"Why have you really been sneaking around behind papa's back for the last two days? Uncle Burt told me on the plane that you had been doing something for the President, but I don't believe it!"

"Well, you should, because I was," replied Nick calmly. "However, I was also doing something else, and that was something that I couldn't tell your papa about because it would have left him hurt. Someone tried to do something bad that would have spoiled the whole Coronation, and I was asked to try and help catch the person in question by Uncle Trent…" He paused, and noticed that as Wes' entire attention was on him, Thad had pulled out his cellphone and was typing something quickly, which he surmised correctly was a verbatim account of what he was saying to pass on to Trent. "Now, I couldn't possibly tell papa about that, because he would have panicked and not been able to do his job. Yes, we should be honest, but sometimes there are things call white lies; it is alright to tell them if they are going to stop someone being upset or hurt."

"Did they catch the person?"

"Yes, they stopped them doing what they were trying to do, and then they arrested them on Sunday morning, very early. I had to go down to the lobby of the hotel and meet the other people involved at very short notice, and that was why I left without my coat, which would have made my story seem more true, but fortunately papa isn't quite as smart as you. Now, I need you to keep the secret because it would still be very upsetting for papa if he found out now, and neither of us would want that…"

Wes promised that he wouldn't, then asked if he could have some milk and cookies. Nick nodded, and fetched the cookie tin; on opening it, he was surprised to see that it contained homemade cookies, as he had expected all that he had left behind to have been consumed by Thad…

"My apologies about the cookies, Wes, I tried my best, but they will not be up to your dad's standards," came the Head Warbler's voice, before he turned to a surprised looking Nick and said, "You aren't the only one that can bake you know, although I do so very rarely. It can be a very useful skill for a Dalton housemaster to have…"

Nick chuckled, and said, "I am sure that they will be perfectly fine, although I warn you know that my son is as much of a cookie connoisseur as his papa; fortunately, he eats them in much smaller doses."

Thad laughed at that, then as Nick went to open the fridge door to get the milk out, he said out loud "Three, Two, One…"

Right on cue, Caleb appeared to miaow at Nick as soon as the fridge door was open. "So, now do you believe me?" the brunet asked, trying not to laugh.

"Oh yes, he is a veritable alarm on that door! I was actually tempted to record the sound of the door being opened onto my phone and play it at random, but I decided in the end that was much to cruel."

Nick nodded in agreement, and after pouring out a glass of milk for his son, he found something to place in the cat's dish; it wasn't much, and he was immediately given a disapproving stare by the tortoiseshell cat, but he did not relent. "Oh, no, mister, I'm not falling for that. I am sure that you would have greeted Jeff and Wes when they returned half an hour ago, and I am equally certain that my husband would have seen that you were well fed, so don't give me that I've been starved to death look. You will get something more when it is dinner time."

As Nick remonstrated the cat, Thad picked up the milk and the plate of cookies and took them over to Wes, who thanked him, and then asked if he could put on the television. Nick agreed, and soon his boy was watching one of his favourite shows. He was engrossed in it, so he didn't notice Thad returning to where his father was now checking the food in the fridge and freezer, nor did he hear what he whispered in the brunet's ear…

"That was a very convincing story there; even I believed it."

Nick said nothing in reply, as he felt guilty that he had not only lied to his husband but to his son as well, even if doing so was to ensure that they achieved the best of results…

By the time that Nick served up dinner that night, they had heard the news from London that Pam could now see angels; it had been relayed to them in the strictest of confidence by Trent, who had been told by Rory, who had been told in turn by a delighted Carole, who had then sworn him to secrecy; Trent thought that as long as Cooper didn't find out until his mother told him, then it did not really matter exactly who knew. Nick had expressed much surprise at the news that she could even hear angels, as his husband had done, and Thad realised that this was something else that the blond had been kept in the dark about. He guessed correctly that Nick had decided to keep it to himself as he didn't want to add anything else onto the shoulders of his no doubt stressed husband, who had had a massive task to perform…

Not long after dinner, Nick sent a yawning Wes to his bed, and the boy did not protest too much. It wasn't much later when Nick himself announced that he was going to head up to bed and said his goodnights to Thad. Jeff told him he would be up himself in a minute, and after kissing him, Nick headed for the stairs. A few minutes later, having sat silently, Jeff turned to face Thad, and spoke.

"I knew when we were in London that Nick was keeping something from me, but now I know what it was. He must have known about Pam being able to hear Blaine, but obviously decided not to tell me as he knew how stressed I was already with all of my sketching to do. I know him so well, and well, I knew that he was faking the moment that he reacted to Trent's news! I am so lucky to have him to love and protect me…"

Thad nodded, and waited to see what Jeff would say next.

"I am so pleased for her, as I always thought it was such a shame that she couldn't. Okay, now that I have said that I am going to head up to bed myself, before he comes back down to see where I am." Jeff got up and headed for the door, but the spun round. "I almost forgot, thank you very much for taking such good care of Caleb for me, and thank you too for making cookies for me – they weren't that bad at all… I expect that Nicky will have a baking day himself tomorrow to stock up…" With that, the blond was gone…

Thad sat silently for a moment, as he pondered whether Jeff had actually been a little rude in his comments about his baking skills, then he felt a draught and Wes was in front of him, putting away his wings.

"Well, my dear husband, it has been an interesting and busy few days for you, has it not? You handled the entire crisis around that DVD excellently I must say, enlisting the assistance of the one person we know with access to all of the necessary systems right from the word go. You do know that Trent is going to be the custodian of that master copy by the way?"

Thad looked stunned at first at his husband's words, but then he nodded. "I didn't, but somehow I think that it will be in much safer hands left with him than locked up in some dusty government vault."

"I agree wholeheartedly with you, he can be trusted with anything. All that we have to hope now is that our dear blondie never gets wind of what Nick was really keeping from him in London, or he will be more than a little upset. The fact that he believes that it was all to do with Pam is a huge blessing for us all…"

"I bet that development had left Blaine very pleased."

"Oh, that is undoubtedly true, and Kurt is just as happy, as is Cooper…" said Wes, and Thad shook his head, knowing what had happened. "Yes, Blaine got overexcited and told him an hour ago, and the bear hug that older brother pulled younger into was enough to prove it. I don't understand why Pam didn't want him to know at once, but he is an actor, so he should be able to convincingly pull off surprise when the time comes. Right, enough of everyone else's drama; you and I have about an hour which we can spend as snuggle time…"

"I will never object to that, even if it was only ten minutes," replied Thad, and soon he was lying in Wes' arms on the sofa, both of their faces a picture of contentment and bliss…