A Journey to South Dakota Part III.

In the end, Nick went to the restroom for real, partly because there had been too many people near the back door at first, and also because he knew they had a lengthy drive ahead of them. When he came out, the passageway was empty, so he sprinted out of the back door, closing it quietly behind him, then dashed over to the driveway, where the SUV was waiting. As he fastened his safety belt, Nick glanced over at his sister in the driver's seat and then into the back where Tim was lying down on the back seat. That startled him, until Grace explained…

"He knows what is going on; one of his old classmates from middle school was in attendance and she told him quite happily how she was looking forward to having him back in town and being with him at school next semester. She then went on to say that her mother had put her name down as a possible foster mom for him once they had him safely in town custody. As you can imagine, the very prospect of that filled him with horror and he knew it was time to leave. The Darrows overheard the young lady in question, and they walked out with him, telling the girl that they needed to talk with him about his return to school here in the fall. She will thus be our star witness, as she will be able to divert attention to them when they look for Tim. Mrs Darrow might have dropped a hint that they were going to take him to a well-known ice cream parlour three towns over in the opposite direction to the one we are heading in…"

Grace started the SUV then and drove quietly down the drive and out onto the road, heading in the direction of Wyoming. "The Darrows drove off in the direction of that town about three minutes ago, ensuring that it was witnessed and that there appeared to be a third party in the car – a part played to perfection by her dressmaker's dummy. There have been a couple of cars hurrying off after them, which means there is no-one left to witness us leave that is quite so fanatical. That fact should get us some time and hopefully leave us without a tail…"

As they headed west, Grace picked up speed as soon as they left the town limits, but it was only after about five more minutes that Tim pulled himself back up into a normal sitting position on the back seat. Nick caught sight of the expression on his face, and it was not a happy one. "I never, ever, want to come back here again. How can they think that they have the right to ignore my mom and dad's wishes for me? Have they forgotten how I was bullied constantly in middle school here? Did they not hear the other kids calling me sissy and faggot because I wasn't like them? They spat on me all the time and I used to go home with bruises every day…"

"Did your parents not go to the teacher and complain?" asked Grace.

"Yeah, they did, but it did no good. The Principal just called me to her office after they left and told me that what was happening to me was my own fault and my parents fault too. She said that my mom and dad needed to be tougher with me and ensure that they redirected me to the right path. She had said the same to them of course, and they decided that the right path for me was Dalton Academy…"

"If a teacher made remarks like that in New York, she would be fired," said Nick angrily.

"Not here in South Dakota; the school board would have backed her up," sighed Tim. "You have seen what she is like anyway; you met her with her two sidekicks yesterday and again today at the service…"

Nick and Grace looked at each other in horror. "Wait, that awful old woman is the middle school Principal!? Oh my God, what kind of town employs someone like that to teach young kids?" Tim said nothing in response, because he knew the question was a rhetorical one. Nick already knew what kind of town did, and he was already wondering how many young minds had been warped by the way of thinking that she espoused…

Their route to Wyoming would take them through the historic town of Deadwood, where the grave of Calamity Jane, amongst many others, was located. To the surprise of the two Duval siblings in the front of the car, Tim burst into song as soon as they entered the settlement, coming out with a cheery chorus about the Deadwood Stage; by the time that they left the place behind, they were all whip-cracking away with the lyrics… That moment had put smiles back on their faces, and it was no distance after that to the relative safety of Wyoming. Now that they had crossed the state line, it was much less likely that either a sheriff or a state trooper would pull them over…

Nick received a text message shortly after they crossed the line from Mr Darrow, to tell him that there had been quite a disturbance in the ice cream parlour where he and his wife had decided to share a knickerbocker glory; the door had been flung open by their pursuers and they had instantly been accosted by them, screaming and shouting, demanding to know where Tim was. They feigned innocence when accused of taking him out of town, Mrs Darrow saying that the last she had known was that Tim had a headache and was heading back to his bedroom. That had not stopped the noise, and the owners had come over to intervene…

The fact that the owners just happened to be of Italian-American descent and had openly referred to getting 'the family' in to help remove the little group of conspirators, had worked in their favour and they had fled. The Darrows had then had the delight of meeting the family in question – the short in stature, but hard as nails, octogenarian mother of the male owner… That latter made Nick laugh out loud and had the same effect on Grace and Tim. All Nick hoped now was that there would be no harsh comeback on the couple for all the help that they had given them…


As the Duval siblings and Tim headed southward through Wyoming, back in Manhattan Jeff had dealt with his son's confession that he might be in love with his best friend in the best way that he knew. He had vivid memories of what that felt like, of course, as what Wes was going through know was almost exactly like what he had experienced with Nick during his own time at Dalton. He had made it clear to his son that his door was always open if he wished to talk more, but they did not have to. He had made them both hot chocolate on that Saturday night, then on Sunday he had taken Wes out to his favourite pizza restaurant, but only after they had spent the best part of the day together getting what had always been the second spare bedroom next to Wes' own room clean and tidy ready for Tim to make his own on a permanent basis.

They had dusted, vacuumed and wiped down; cleaned the windows and then left them slightly open to freshen up the air. They had gone so far as to turn the mattress before they had changed the sheets on the bed. The chest of drawers and the closets had been gone through and the handful of items stored there were removed to be placed elsewhere. One of the items that Jeff found was a box that contained some of the first garments that Wes had ever worn, and the boy had blushed fiercely when Jeff had held up a perfect little sailor suit…

"If I recall, I think that you were wearing this on the day that your dad got his unofficial interview for his job at the UN. I seem to remember Miss Worthington saying that one of the reasons she decided that you dad was perfect for the role was because he had such a cute and adorable son," teased Jeff.

"Papa, if you ever repeat that story to Tim, or show him that sailor suit, I will never forgive you," hissed Wes, his face now crimson.

"I won't, I promise, even if that does make me derelict in my duty as an embarrassing parent, the kind that every teenager believes they have. I will tell you something else that I recall now; I think that you were wearing either this suit or one very like it on the day of Artie and Kitty's wedding, which was the day you first met Tim. Neither of you will remember that day as you were both babies. Nobody actually even knew about the existence of Tim until his mom and dad walked in carrying him, so that almost overshadowed the wedding in the amount of surprise and excitement it created. At the reception, we ended up talking to Joe and Sugar as new parents seem to do, and when we placed you and Tim next to each other, you looked at each other intently, then reached out your hands… When your hands touched, you both giggled and smiled even wider. Maybe that is a sign that you and Tim should be together; that you might even be soulmates…"

Wes did not respond to his papa's statement, just headed over to clean the window ledges once more, and Jeff decided to leave the matter there wisely. His son already had so much going on in his head right now that it was unfair of him to burden him with more. The topic remained off limits for the rest of the day; after they returned from the restaurant, Wes headed straight up to his bedroom, and Jeff headed down to the kitchen, where he went through the cupboards and made sure that there was now four of everything in what Nick called the 'regular' crockery cupboard and cutlery drawer. The last thing that they needed to do once Tim was here was spend time every day looking for another item…

They had promised Joe and Sugar that they would provide Tim with a safe and comfortable home and they needed to avoid any awkward moments when they could. They wanted him to feel that he was a part of the extended Sterling-Duval family and not just an intruder in their home. Jeff pondered for a moment just how close a member of the family Tim might become in due course; if all went well, then one day he might actually be his son-in-law, but for now at least that was possibly too much of an assumption to make.

After he had finished, he was able to talk to Nick on the phone, albeit very briefly. He had listened in horror as his husband told him everything that was going on in South Dakota; he felt torn then, his heart telling them that he should be there with them, taking care of the man that he loved so much and his son's best friend, but his head then told him, with the sound of duelling banjos in the background, that it was much better he was here and keeping Wes away from potential harm. He knew that when it came down to it, Grace was a more than equal substitute to be protecting Nick and Tim.

Once the call was over, he decided to head upstairs to check in with Wes and he found him sitting at his bedroom desk, listening to music on his headphones and doodling away on scraps of paper. With a pang of recognition, he realised that he had done much the same when he was just a little older than his son and he had fallen head over heals in love with the new kid at Dalton that hailed from Illinois… He decided that it was a night for more hot chocolate, along with the last slices of the chocolate fudge cake that was in a tin in the pantry…

The following day they made a trip over to Brooklyn for their supermarket shopping, a task they usually completed on a Saturday. Jeff told his son to be sure and put all of Tim's favourite treats into their shopping cart alongside his own and the more practical items. He was a little surprised when one of those items was a sandalwood and orange air freshener, until Wes informed him that it was the variety that they had in their shared dorm at Dalton.

"We decided that we needed to have one, as the room could get a little musky and it was Tim that chose this scent. His mom used the same kind back at home and he said that having it in our room made Dalton feel more homely than it already did. I have come to like it too, so it seems like something that would make his new room feel a nicer place…"

Jeff nodded, then added, "Well, you had better pick up a few of them so that we have a supply, and you can have one in your room as well." As Wes picked them up, Jeff noticed that there were other products in the same range, such as soap and candles, so he picked up some of them as well. Wes regarded the candles with a mix of alarm and curiosity, so Jeff said, "You are both old enough now to be trusted with a naked flame in the form of a candle in your rooms. It will actually make the scent last longer in the room than a diffuser can."

"It wasn't that so much, it is just that Tim told me that his mom made her own candles, and she made some in that very scent, so I was just worried as to how he might react to seeing a store-bought candle with that fragrance…"

His papa thought for a moment, then said, "We will still get them, but we can place them in the dresser; it will be up to him to decide what he feels about them and whether we light them or not."

Wes nodded, and they carried on shopping. As they walked around, he noticed what the time was and what time it meant it was in South Dakota. His thoughts turned to his best friend and how he must be feeling as the time for his parents' funeral drew ever closer; he suspected that he wouldn't be faring too well and given the ache that had started to form in his own heart, he guessed that things would only get worse as the day went on….

It would be mid-afternoon on that Monday when Jeff received a message from his husband, saying that there had been a change of plan due to the actions of some of the residents of the small-town Tim had called home, and that as a consequence, it would now be Wednesday before they would be in New York. The message was vague enough to cause Jeff to be worried, and to leave Wes more than a little concerned. A subsequent phone call to Cooper to see if he knew any more did give them more clarity, but did nothing to allay their fears…

"Grace sent me the same message more or less, but I decided to call her, which did not please her one bit. However, after a few terse exchanges she told me what the issue is; some of the congregation want to ignore Joe and Sugar's wishes and instead raise Tim themselves as a 'ward' of the town. I didn't understand how that could even be possible, but apparently there is some archaic law still on the statute books from pioneer days that allows for it; how it has never been repealed I do not know! She is absolutely certain that no court or judge in their right mind would uphold that law now, at least at a federal level, which makes me think that she thinks a local one just might… Anyway, they decided not to take any risks, so they are heading west when they leave Tim's hometown instead of east, so they can get out of South Dakota more quickly. In the circumstances, that seems a wise decision, even if it adds to the duration of their drive home."

Jeff found himself shaking his head at his brother-in-law's words, and said, "I am sure that the law in question only applied if the child had no living relatives and no direction had been given by the parents as to what their wishes were. Honestly, I sometimes despair at the actions of so-called Christians, especially those that seem to think that only their oft biased interpretation of the Bible is the correct one."

"It is a hallmark of most religions to think like that, unfortunately. Grace did hint that she and Nick had formulated a plan to try and dissuade the majority not to pursue their idea any further, but she didn't elaborate," continued Cooper. "I will not feel easy about things until they are all home, safe and sound… How is Wes coping by the way? It must be hard to cope with your best friend being in so much pain, especially when you are still reeling yourself from the death of someone else that you loved."

"He is okay, but he is worrying for all three of them, which is only to be expected. Like you, I won't be content until they are back here, but then we have a new challenge, as we will suddenly have a second teenage boy in the house. I think for Nick and I that will be the biggest thing to deal with over the next few weeks…" Cooper agreed with him, but what he did not say was what he was actually thinking, namely that it would be hardest of all for Wes; having the boy that he was quite clearly crushing on around all the time would be maddening, particularly if he eventually discovered that his feelings were not reciprocated…

Wes had vanished upstairs when his papa had said he would call his Uncle Cooper, and after the call ended, Jeff went up to find him. He was surprised to find him in what would soon be Tim's room, unpacking his friend's clothes. "I know what you are going to say, papa, but if Tim is going to feel at home here it will be a lot simpler if his clothes are in the closets and drawers, his books are out on the shelves and his toiletries are out in the bathroom we will be sharing. I know from sharing a dorm with him at Dalton just how he likes things set out, and I don't think he would want it any other way here."

"Well, okay, but don't get upset if he moves things around when he gets here, and don't put out any photographs or anything like that. We all handle grief and loss in different ways, and it may well be that the pictures he used to like seeing before might upset him now."

"All of that stuff is in a separate box, so I will leave that one unpacked," said his son, looking thoughtful. Jeff anticipated that he was about to be asked a question, and he was not wrong. "Papa, why do you think that some of the people in his hometown wanted to keep him there when it wasn't what his mom and dad wanted?"

Jeff sighed, and sat down on the bed, motioning Wes to do the same. "Those people probably think that Joe and Sugar didn't raise Tim correctly, and that the way he is could be altered to what they think he should be like if they took over as his 'parents' instead. Such a move would make Tim's life a miserable one, but that wouldn't matter to them, as he would fit the stereotype that they have there for a boy… My biological dad had the same sort of ideas, and when he realised that there was no way I could ever conform to them…."

"I don't understand why some people are like that," Wes muttered. "We are all very individual people, so why are some people so obsessed with making us all exactly the same as each other? I think that the people that do that are just stupid!"

Jeff smiled at his son, and agreed, before he headed out of the room, leaving Wes to carry on with the task that he had set himself. He decided that he might make a pie for their dinner, using the beef casserole that he had defrosting downstairs as a very tasty filling…


That night, Nick, Grace and Tim would stop at a hotel in Kimball, Nebraska. They could have carried on driving a little longer, but both Nick and Grace decided it was probably best to stop before they hit the I-80, a route that would take them all the way back to New Jersey if they chose to follow it. Nick had also suggested that they could stop off the next day in Indianapolis just to make the drive an easier one. Both the Duval siblings called home, letting people there know that they were okay, before they headed for an early night, which would allow them to make an earlier start in the morning.

Before she went to bed, Grace made a reservation at a motel on the eastern side of Indianapolis for the following night, having to agree with her brother that it would make the trip a lot easier. That meant that when they set off again the next day they had a destination, and the drive was a swift one, the traffic moving freely and no roadworks causing a delay as they crossed through the heart of the nation. In the backseat, Tim seemed to be content once again to just watch as they world passed by, seeing each new state they entered with fresh eyes filled with wonder. At times he found himself drifting off to sleep, the steady sound of the car's wheels on the road surface lulling him into slumber, even with music playing quietly from the car radio…

He was glad to stretch his legs at each of the three brief stops they made so that Nick and Grace could swap over on the driving duties and relieved when they finally pulled up outside their hotel for the night. He went to sleep that night with his mind full of how things would be the next day, when he would be going to bed in a house he had visited before, but which would now be his new home. The one thing that he was looking forward to most was being back in the company of his best friend. He had found himself missing Wes more and more as the day had gone on, and he knew that in the current situation, his companionship was all the more important to him than it had ever been before…

By the time that they entered the Holland Tunnel on the final approach to Manhattan on Wednesday, both Nick and Grace felt that they never wanted to drive such a long distance again, wishing that they could emulate Tim, who had been fast asleep in the back seat for most of the final section of the journey. Nick had been the one at the wheel for that part of the trip, and their initial plan had been for him to drive Grace home to Murray Hill before he returned downtown to the West Village; now as they came to the end of the tunnel and onto the island they both called home, she told him to head towards Canal Street and the subway stop there that would connect her to the 6 train.

"It makes much more sense than you driving all the way uptown little brother; it is nearing that time of day when it can take you twenty minutes to drive three blocks, and if I hop onto the subway, I can be up on 33rd Street and almost home in less time than that…"

Nick smiled and replied, "Okay, you have a very valid point. In that time, I can also be home in the West Village hopefully. By the way, thanks for coming with me; I think that things might have turned out a whole lot worse if you hadn't been around."

"It was my pleasure," his sister replied, getting herself ready to get out of the car as Nick was now approaching the best drop off point. "I will call round tomorrow with all of the confirmations that you will need to supply to the relevant authorities, but I am certain that Jeff will be more than able to handle that…"

Nick nodded, knowing full well that he would be back behind his desk at the UN the following day and would probably be there on Saturday as well as part of his duty to make up the extra time he had taken off to complete the cross-country journey safely. He pulled over and his sister alighted quickly, allowing Nick to drive on before the usual cacophony of horns began from other drivers. In no time he was pulling into the familiar street, and as he did so he noticed two things; first of all, Tim was now awake in the back seat and secondly, Beats was walking along on his way back home from the office. As they pulled up at the kerb, Tim said quietly, "I am so sorry that I fell asleep…"

"Don't worry about that; if I had the option, then I would do that on a long car journey every time too. Shall we get inside the house? I should warn you that I saw Beats coming along the street, so he is bound to want to stop and say hello…"

"I like Beats, so that is fine," replied Tim, and then he was out on the sidewalk, just as the man in question reached them.

Beats smiled and said, "Well Tim, welcome to the mad house. You come to us in the most tragic of circumstances, but you will have the entire extended family of bird brothers and their New Directions friends looking out for you. Seriously, if living with Nick, Jeff and Wes gets too much to bear, or you just need to talk, then come and pay me a visit; I am just two doors away…" That said, he quickly pulled Tim into a hug, then nodded to Nick before he headed off for his own home…

A second later and Tim found himself being hugged again, but this time it was by his best friend; Wes had seen him outside and had come running out of the house. Jeff stood at the door, his face serious, as Nick headed for the capacious trunk of the SUV. "Wes, take Tim downstairs to the kitchen whilst your dad and I unpack the car," the blond said, and his tone was such that his son was quick to comply, leaving Nick standing on the sidewalk with an eyebrow raised as his husband approached.

"I know, normally I would expect them to assist us with this, but Wes has been looking out of the window virtually continually for the last hour and well, he has been a little emotional since we got back here on Saturday. I think that in those circumstances he and Tim would both be more of a hinderance than a help…"

Nick nodded, then pulled his husband into a tight hug. "I am so glad to be back home; South Dakota is a beautiful state, but there are some of its inhabitants that are certainly not beautiful people. They are the usual sort, the small-minded nasty folk that think that their religious beliefs are more important than anything and allow them to rule their own life and to think that those around them should do the same. I was also forced to tell a number of quite unforgivable lies to a senior clergyman; I had to tell him falsehoods about Sugar's family and how they had connections in the underworld with a penchant for revenge…"

"If those lies helped you to get back here along with Tim, then I believe that they were justifiable white lies Nicky," said Jeff firmly. He then opened the trunk of the SUV, and was shocked at how little there was inside, having expected dozens of boxes. "He really doesn't have very much, does he…"

"No, he doesn't, and some of what is in there was his parents; little things that have become important to him now as a way to remember them… Tim said that he never wants to go back to that town already and I can't say I blame him, which is why Grace has arranged for his folks' real ashes to be sent to Dalton, whilst the town buries two lots of unclaimed ashes from the funeral director; it is more or less what Michelle did all those years ago when she smuggled Wes back to us…" Nick paused, then in a lower voice he added, "No-one came out and actually said it, but I think that Tim's time at middle school back there were very hard for him; in fact, the best word might be painful…"

"That would explain why Joe and Sugar were both so keen that he went to Dalton… Nick, we also need to have a private chat at some point about something that Wes said to me whilst we were here alone; it was a bit of a moment to be honest and it will colour so much of what will happen from now on…" said Jeff, but he was not certain that Nick heard him…

It did not take them long to bring everything from the trunk of the car into the hallway. The car itself would need to be returned to the hire company's depot, but that could be put off until the following day; they had a facility that was two minutes' walk from the UN Building. Their task completed the husbands headed downstairs to the kitchen themselves; on entering, they found that Tim sitting at the table as Wes made a start at serving up the evening meal, which was quiche and salad. It had seemed the best solution when they were not sure what time exactly Nick and Tim would arrive back…

Nick smiled at the domesticity of it all and did not argue for a moment when Jeff told him to take a seat as well, although he did pause to cut some slices off the fresh loaf of bread that was already on the table. The conversation over the meal was muted, but the food was perfect, the quiche going down very well with Tim; Jeff would later explain to his husband that Wes had suggested it as he knew that it was one of his best friend's favourite foods and the variety they had made was the one he liked most.

There was a Boston Cream Pie for dessert, which Wes had prepared himself; once it was eaten and the meal officially over, Nick and Jeff were happy to let their son take Tim up to his new bedroom, helping him carry the last of his belongings up. The first thing that he did once they were all there was to take out the comforter from his parents' bed and place it on top of the bed that would now be his; it was a connection to the life he had once known in South Dakota, but mainly a link to his mom and dad…

Wes had watched in silence as his friend had done so, but as he smoothed it into place, he spoke. "I hope that you don't mind, but I unpacked all the cases that you sent back from Dalton. I know how you like things set out there, so I tried my best to repeat that here. I didn't touch the box with your photos and stuff like that, as I thought that was a little too personal and you would want to sort that yourself."

Tim was quiet for a moment, making Wes worried, but then he replied, "Thank you. I have a few other things from home to get unpacked, and a few other things that just need a safe place to be stored in; things that were important to my mom and dad…"

"There is a top shelf in the big closet that I left empty; that would probably be a good place to put stuff like that. I can give you a hand with your unpacking if you like, but if you would rather do it by yourself then I totally understand…"

"No, I would appreciate a hand, not that there is all that much. I think that your dad left the two cases and the box down in the hall."

Wes nodded and offered to fetch them up for his friend, which was something Tim was only too pleased to agree to. He left him alone and headed downstairs, selecting the larger of the two cases to be the one he carried up first, deciding to not even attempt to bring the other case up at the same time, as the last thing he wanted was to have an accident when he was carrying things that were precious to his best friend. However, when he carried it into the room, he was faced with Tim sitting on his bed, holding a photo frame in his hands as tears rolled down his cheeks. Wes knew what the picture in the frame was; it was one of Tim flanked by his parents and had been taken back in South Dakota on the day before he left to start school at Dalton. he was wearing his uniform, but his parents were just in their ordinary, everyday clothes…

Wes set the case down and went to sit next to his friend, and carefully wrapped an arm around him. "Mr Darrow took this," Tim said quietly. "He is the Principal of the high school back there… Most of our other family photographs were taken using a timer, which makes them looked staged or hurried, or are of me with mom or dad on their own… Why did they both have to die, Wes? Dad would no doubt say that it was the Lord's will, but it is just so unfair…"

"Yes, it is, and you certainly didn't deserve this after all you've been through," replied Wes. "There is only one good thing in all of this; unlike so many other people in your situation, you will still be able to see them, because they are going to be angels. They will come and see you soon I expect. I know it isn't the same, but I know they will be desperate to see you again too…"

Tim nodded and leaned into his best friend. He had never cried in front of anyone but his parents when he had been bullied back home and his heart was broken; here, with Wes and his dads, he felt he could show all the emotions he wished, and he would not be judged. Like his parents, they just cared about his wellbeing, and that was a great comfort to him now…