"It's good to see you, son," Dave greeted Spencer. "You haven't been by to visit in awhile."
"I've just been busy," Spencer told Dave, even as he tried not to scuff his shoe against the floor, as that made him look nervous.
Dave had a way of seeming to read his mind, but he knew it was just because Dave was very old and had been around for a very long time. It helped that he was observer of human nature and so could tell what people were thinking most of the time.
Spencer well remembered the time that Dave had come into his life. He been kind of at loose ends in the old west, working mostly odd jobs, though he did tutor occasionally. His father had never accepted him, and his mother had died when he was 16 his father had divorced his mother in order to marry his mistress when he'd been four. Before that dreadful day, his father claimed he was to intelligent and should have been drowned at birth. Divorces hadn't been legal for more than a few years by that point so Spencer and his mother had been out on the street, as William Reid hadn't bothered to give them any money in alimony, as existed back then, but it was easier for me to get away with not paying it. It was easier to get away with being a bastard and leaving a wife penniless along with any children.
Luckily, for both of them, Diana Reid had been educated, unlike so many women in the old west by a tutor her father had hired, so she managed to get a job as a teacher at the school in another town, which was enough to support her and her son. Unfortunately, his grandfather was dead by that point, as a lot of people died really young back in the 1800 or 1900s.
The children at the school, learned their ABCs and the basics of math and writing, even a little basic science. Diana Reid was very intelligent for a woman of the old west and dared to show it, which a lot of men didn't appreciate Spencer knew.
In any case, his mother had died of consumption as there was nothing to be done, and Spencer was on his own. He was certainly old enough to get some work back then at 16, so he could support himself. There had been no orphanage in the town he lived in and really he was to old for the orphanage anyway. No foster homes had existed back so long ago the government had been very different.
He had set himself up as a tutor for boys and had earned some money that way once he was old enough. He had also worked odd jobs to bring in a little extra money, though physical labor had never been his thing, as he was simply too clumsy, and he could really have hurt himself when it came to that type of work. The work he could get kept him eating at least on a regular basis and even allowed him to buy maps, which were very expensive back then, as they had to be hand drawn. There was no way to photocopy anything as a Xerox machine had yet to be invented.
He had been only 19 when Dave had discovered him. He had been doing OK for himself for over three years, but not great until Dave had taken an interest. Spencer remembered resisting at first, as he was very independent, but Dave had been gentle but persistent. While Spencer was technically of age, especially for back in the old west, Dave had still taken an interest. Since Spencer had been of age to drink beer at 18, so he had certainly been responsible enough to work a full-time job if he could find one.
As for food, Spencer had made enough to eat at the open café named simply Elizabeth's, a simple name perhaps, but it had been named after the wife of the blacksmith. It had been run by her and her husband Robbie had been a smith while Elizabeth had run the café.
All the tables had been outside under awnings to protect the people from rain and also the sun while they ate. The food had been pretty good for the time the Spencer was well aware that the meat at least some of it had come from illegal hunting out of season. Still poaching wasn't exactly a new crime and it was less likely to be caught back then, then now.
Spencer remembered how Dave had sat down at his table, but then, they had been the long plank like type with rough benches instead of chairs. There had been plenty of other tables for Dave to have sat at and yet he had chosen to sit with him and he later learned why Dave had made that choice.
Dave had told him that he had been watching him and Spencer had asked why. Dave had then explained that he knew Spencer was struggling to make ends meet after his mother's death and he liked helping people that deserved it.
The two of them had talked for a long time once they had privacy, and Dave happened to be renting an old homestead that was unoccupied, because the owners Stanley Sutton's wife had died giving birth to his first child, a son and so the husband had left, not being able to live there anymore, but put a for rent notice in the local paper.
Dave had taken Stanley Sutton up on his offer, but said he only wanted to rent for the next six months until he could see if he liked the area or not. Sutton had agreed and Dave had paid six months rent all in one lump sum.
Back then, six months rent wasn't very much compared to today, as it was only a hundred dollars instead of much more. Dave had been in the area for a couple of months by then, and had noticed Spencer and how young he was. Spencer was young and slim and wasn't the type to work on a cattle ranch, which were quite common in that area. He had knew absolutely nothing about cattle or ranching, which meant that no rancher would hire him. He did know numbers though and was good at math, but he was so young that nobody would hire him to do their books and most people didn't hire outside help back then to do their taxes for them anyway. He didn't have a CPA degree so wasn't a certified accountant and most people would never take the risk of hiring anyone that didn't have the degree to afraid they'd lose everything.
Dave, however, had observed him often enough to see that he was good with numbers and was multitalented in other areas, even if physical labor wasn't his thing, because of his well-known clumsiness.
Once Dave had invited Spencer back to his rented homestead where they had privacy the two of them talked for a long time and while Dave did not reveal that he was immortal at first that was the start of their friendship.
Spencer came out of his thoughts, as Dave spoke up.
"So I'm assuming you haven't met your mate yet or you would've told me already," Dave said.
"Of course not," Spencer shot back. "How do you know I even have a mate since I wasn't born immortal? You changed me after I hit 40, which was old for the time I was born, even if I know I don't look it."
It was true that Spencer did not look 40 years old, which is when he had stopped aging when Dave had turned him immortal with his consent. He looked maybe 35 and a young 35 at that. Really though, he only looked possibly 32.
Dave simply gave Spencer a look and Spencer fell silent. The look was basically saying of course, you have a mate you idiot, whether you were born immortal or not she just hasn't been born yet.
"You haven't even met your mate yet, so why do you expect me to meet mine when I'm so much younger than you in immortal years anyway?" Spencer asked.
"That's where you're wrong," Dave told Spence quietly with a slight smile.
"What? You've met your mate," Spencer asked catching on immediately. There was amazement in his voice and Spencer slightly cocked his eyebrow in question, which was the only reaction he showed to Dave's words. "When? Why haven't I heard about this?"
"As for when it happened, only a few days ago, totally by accident not that that's unusual," Dave said, as he continued fixing dinner. "We're going on our first date tomorrow."
"So who is she?" Spencer asked curiously.
"Bellamy Ishida," Dave said.
"That's a Japanese last name," Spencer said.
"Yes, I'm well aware of it," Dave agreed. "I don't think she's herself Japanese, just has the ancestry and last name. I would say, a family by that name came over from Japan, probably hundreds of years ago, so she's at least Japanese American. She's a reiki practitioner."
"I've heard about reiki," Spencer said, "that doesn't mean I believe it works, but I have heard about the practice."
"There are more things in heaven and Earth that can't be explained by science, you know that," Dave told him. "I turned you immortal, and that should have been supposedly impossible. Immortality itself can also not be explained by science so I would think, considering you know immortality is real, that you would at least give the Japanese practice a chance."
"That's a good point," Spencer admitted. "Even though I am immortal, thanks to you, I still dismiss things like that, because it can't be proven by science, but you're also right, there are many supernatural things in the universe so if immortality is real who's to say that the practice of reiki doesn't work?"
"Exactly," Dave agreed smiling.
"I'm very happy for you, Dave. I know how lonely you've been even though I visit when I can," Spencer said. "So, where did you meet her?"
"At Pampered Paws Galore Pet Spa," Dave answered. "I saw an advertisement about the place and took Bax there to try it out."
"I can just imagine Baxter's reaction to going such a place," Spencer chuckled. "Much like his owner, he's old and set in his ways.
"You're not wrong and yes, I'm well aware that I'm old thank you but you didn't have to bring it up and remind how old I am," Dave said also chuckling not taking offence at Spencer's statement. "I had to bribe him with his favorite dog treats to get him to walk the last half a block with me. Luckily, I know how stubborn Baxter can be and had the treats already in my pocket, but wouldn't give him any until we actually arrived."
"So you met Bellamy at the spa," Spencer said and Dave nodded.
"Yeah, she's the new Reiki practitioner. It's apparently become quite popular for animals," Dave said. "I just signed him up for every service they offered and since he's moving more easily then he has in years it apparently worked. The only caveat is, it doesn't last more than a few days before he needs another treatment."
"So it's not a permanent solution," Spencer said, and Dave shook his head.
"Unfortunately not, but when Bellamy came by to give him a treatment and he seemed to be better after that, and I asked her out for a date after she was done with Baxter."
"I would like to meet her at some point," Spencer said and Dave nodded.
"You will and you'll like her I'm sure. She's a nice woman. We had quite a long conversation when she came to give Baxter his treatment," Dave said. "I invited her over to dinner next week, but we're going out to eat out on our first date. I've already mentioned you and said you were a good friend and I told her you were a psychologist."
"I'm looking forward to meeting her," Spencer said, as Dave finished preparing dinner and Spencer help set the table.
"Delicious as always Dave," Spencer said once he was about halfway through his food.
"If you like my cooking so much, you should come over for dinner more often," Dave teased him. "I certainly don't mind cooking for both of us."
"I'll think about it, but you're going have your mate to deal with for the next few months and I don't want to be in the way," Spencer said. "I know getting to know someone is a delicate process and telling them about immortality will be difficult. I remember how much trouble I had accepting it and I'm sure that this Bellamy will be the same. She might even possibly be more disbelieving than I was because this is the 21st century after all, not the old west."
"That's likely," Dave admitted, "but as to your first comment, Spencer, you will never be in the way and I wish you would quit thinking like that. For one thing, it's damn frustrating. I took you on as a protégé, because I saw you were brilliant man, whose father had abandoned him, because of it and who had no real prospects to ever see that intelligence realized, because of the times mostly. I won't claim there aren't other factors involved in your not being able to live up to your potential, however, including having the right connections to really make your own way and also a college education would've helped.
"Yes, there were many self-made men back then, but still, no one would listen to you without a degree in something, probably math, since you're so good at it. I know a lot of men lied about going to college, but you were never good at lying and being believed. You're just too honest."
"I might've done better if I'd been able to lie properly back then," Spencer said.
"That's true," Dave agreed, "and while you're better at lying nowadays, you're still not very good at it no offense."
"None taken, because I know what you mean," Spencer said. "When you right your right. Still, I do have a college education now when it became possible to go when you were older."
"I think part of the reason your lies were always obvious was because you were young and inexperienced with human nature," Dave said thoughtfully. "Now that you've been around awhile, it's different as you've had time to learn whatever you wanted to and like me, you've always been a keen observer of the human condition."
"It doesn't matter at this late stage, as I have money now mainly thanks to you giving me some to get me started, and also, thanks to you, I've learned how to invest so I have money to do whatever I want."
"Eat, we can talk afterwards or the foods gonna get cold," Dave suggested gently.
"That would be a shame," Spencer said turning his attention back to the food Dave had fixed.
The two ate in comfortable silence, and soon both plates were empty. Spencer loaded the dishwasher quickly while Dave refilled the wine glasses and took them and the bottle into the den so they could talk now that their bellies were full.
~~~Dave and Bellamy~~~
Several months later
"It's nice to meet you Spencer," Bellamy told the young man before her with a warm smile. "Dave talks about you all the time in the most glowing of terms. He thinks if you as a son, you know."
"I know," Spencer said smiling. "My mother died when I was young. I was just 16 and my father was useless. Dave kind of took me on as his protégé and helped me out when I had no one else. Believe me, I'm grateful. Unlike my father, he didn't see my intelligence as some sort of disease, but as a wonderful thing to be nurtured not disdained."
"His father didn't appreciate him for his intelligence or his talents," Dave snorted his contempt obvious.
"I'd certainly be grateful if the same thing happened to me," Bellamy said.
"Here, both of you sit down and I'll get the food," Dave said, as he led the way into the dining room that was set for three.
Bellamy and Spencer sad across from each other as Dave headed for the swinging door that led to the kitchen.
"So why don't you tell me some about yourself Spencer," Bellamy suggested. "Any siblings?"
"No, I am afraid not. I'm an only child though it might've been nice to have a brother or a sister," Spencer said looking wishful. "My father wasn't interested in having anymore, since he had the son he wanted."
"And then, he didn't appreciate you," Bellamy said.
"Yeah, I kind of always wondered why he didn't try to have another kid since he was so disappointed in me," Spencer admitted. "I suppose I'll never know as my father is dead. Even if he wasn't dead, we weren't exactly communicating. I'm actually not sure why William Reid bothered to have a kid if he didn't accept them for who they were."
"Perhaps it was just because it was expected," Bellamy suggested. "Dave did say he was a lawyer and sometimes it's expected for a lawyer to be married and have at least one child. Unless there's some kind of medical issue, this usually happens."
"You know, I never thought about it like that, but you could be right," Spencer said, as he knew very well, particularly in the old west that lawyers were usually expected to have wives and children, though not always depending on where they lived. "It doesn't really matter anymore though. To tell you the truth, I don't really care why father treated me like he did, as Dave has more than fulfilled that role for me and is a better father and always there when I need him for something, even if it's just to talk."
"So he filled that hole in your life," Bellamy said, and Spencer nodded smiling just a little.
"He absolutely did, so I don't miss having a father figure in my life, because I have one and a blood relationship doesn't really matter," Spencer said. "Dave has certainly been more of a father to me then the one that actually contributed his DNA."
Dave came out with a big pan of lasagna just then, and put it on the table and then went back for the garlic bread. It wasn't long until everything was on the table and ready to be served.
"Well, this looks like quite a feast, Dave," Bellamy told her boyfriend.
Bellamy had been over multiple times over the last few months and so she knew by now that Dave hadn't been bragging about his cooking skills. He was an excellent chief, and Bellamy was really beginning to fall in love with him, was really already in love with him, even though she had yet to tell him. If she was any judge, Dave was slowly courting her in the old-fashioned sense of the term.
While she'd been here a lot for multiple meals she had not met Spencer before now. Bellamy could see why Dave had taken Spencer under his wing as the young man just seemed to need a father figure in his life, one that wouldn't abandon him like his own father had.
How anyone could've abandoned a child with something Bellamy had never understood deep in her heart, but she knew it happened way too often. Just look at what happened between her father and her while her father had raised her and loved her, they hadn't spoken in years because of the way he'd forced her to go to college to be a doctor when it wasn't what she truly wanted. The first move was his, and he had never made that move.
"It was nothing," Dave waved away Bellamy's compliment, as if it was nothing.
"If there's one thing, I know Dave likes to cook, and he certainly outpaces my feeble effects by miles," Spencer said as he dug into a big square of lasagna.
"It's true, I do like to cook," Dave agreed, even as he dug into his own slice of lasagna. "There's banana cream pudding for dessert so make sure you save room."
"I should be used to you going all out," Bellamy said, smiling as she enjoyed her lasagna and garlic bread. There was also a large salad bowl in the middle of the table that everybody took some of it. It was the perfect accompaniment to the rest of the meal.
Dave and Bellamy took sips from their wine glasses while Spencer ate his meal and watched the pair of them.
"Well, I'm stuffed," Bellamy said, as she sat back after finishing the last bite of her garlic bread.
"Me too," Spencer agreed. "I think we can wait on dessert for a bit. Give us time to digest a little."
"That's OK with me," Dave said, as he started to gather up all the dishes to take them into the kitchen and put them in the dishwasher.
"Here, let me help, Dave," Spencer said, as he started gathering the dishes that were on his end of the table and carrying the armful towards the swinging door that led into the kitchen.
Suddenly there was a crash and Dave winced at the sound.
"This is why I don't normally let Spencer carry too many dishes into the kitchen," Dave told Bellamy. "He's a bit clumsy, and this is not the first dish of mine that he's broken in his eagerness to help."
"Sorry," came Spencer's voice, his tone, one of embarrassment.
"Well, let me go see what the damage is," Dave sighed while smiling a little, shaking his head in resigned acceptance at the broken dish. He headed into the kitchen to see what Spencer had broken.
Bellamy followed, along behind Dave to find a shattered dish of some kind broken in the middle of the kitchen floor and Spencer using a broom and dustpan to get up the pieces before anyone could step on them and grind them into pottery dust.
"You didn't cut yourself did you," Bellamy asked in concern, as she looked at Spencer from head to foot but didn't see any bleeding.
"No, I'm fine," Spencer assured her, even as he swept up the broken pieces of ceramic. "Even if I had stepped in it, all I would've done is ground the pieces into ceramic particles, as I'm wearing shoes and I didn't fall or anything. I just bumped into the booth over there."
Bellamy was familiar with the little nook that was only big enough for two as she and Dave had shared many a meal right there. She could see how Spencer could bump into it as it was kind of stuck out so it was easy to bump into if one wasn't watching where they were going. Since Spencer had had an arm full of dishes he just hadn't seen the part the stuck out at little until it was to late.
"I'll fix the tea and no, I don't need your help," Dave said not rudely to Spencer.
"Has Dave converted you to my liking for tea?" Bellamy asked Spencer smiling, as the two of them left the kitchen, since Dave would accept no help in fixing the tea for all three of them.
"Not really," Spencer said honestly. "I've always liked tea, though I have been trying new flavors, but I still prefer coffee, as it wakes me up much faster. I do drink tea sometimes just not first thing in the morning as I need my coffee in order to wake me up properly."
"So not a morning person like Dave isn't," Bellamy said and Spencer shook his head shyly.
"I'm afraid not. In that way, Dave and me are very much alike, but then there are 1000s of people all over the world that need coffee in the morning in order to function, so it's not like it's a unique trait. I had trouble getting up in the morning for school and I couldn't drink coffee back then, since it's supposed to stunt your growth and my mother never would've allowed it. I doubt very much I would've appreciated it as a kid anyway. Now it's different, as I'm all grown up now and I definitely appreciate coffee more than I probably would have as a child."
The two of them walked to the den together side by side and sat down.
"So I hear you're a reiki practitioner," Spencer brought up the subject that was on his mind and had been ever since Dave had told him that Bellamy was into the practice.
"I am, even if I realize that a lot of people don't believe in alternate methods when it comes to medicine," Bellamy said. "People believe doctors can cure any disease and yes, there are many things that can be cured due to advancement of medical science, but not everything."
"But why not become a real doctor as I understand from Dave that you do have a PhD?" Spencer asked curiously.
"Simply because it's not the career I chose for myself. Much like your father, dear old dad wasn't exactly supportive of the idea of letting me choose a career, I would be happy in. He wanted me to become a doctor and arguing with him was useless," Bellamy said looking sad, as she well remembered arguing with her father and how she couldn't change his mind no matter how many arguments she had put forth. "Don't get me wrong I love my father, even though we haven't spoken in years, ever since I finished my education actually. We just had different ideas for careers for me. It didn't help that I was an only child much like you were."
"So you went on to become a doctor, because your father forced it on you," Spencer said and Bellamy nodded.
"He told me I'd either become a doctor like he was or he wouldn't pay for my education. It was his way or the highway, as that ancient saying goes. It's not even that I don't have the aptitude for it, just not the desire to deal with the stress and possibly work complications that such a career brings."
"You could've shopped around for scholarships, which is what I would've done if it been me," Spencer said, catching himself just in time before he told Bellamy that Dave had helped him by paying for his college education, but only when it became possible to go to college as an adult.
"Don't think I didn't think about doing just that at the time, but I didn't in the end though maybe I should have," Bellamy said. "Really though, I don't need much in order to live on and so long as I can pay my bills I'm happy. Besides, it's too late now to even think of going back to college."
Spencer said nothing, but knew that it was not too late for Bellamy to go back to college if she wanted to that is, but she seemed happy at the dog spa and while it wouldn't have been his choice, he had to respect that she knew herself and what would make her happy.
~~~Dave and Bellamy~~~
