A Captivating Coupling

Chapter Sixteen: Inkling

Hope never abandons you, you abandon it. ~ Weinberg

Sunday, May 3, 1999

Buzz. Buzz.

Jennifer jumped, startled from the sound of the intercom buzzer.

“Are you expecting someone else?” Craig asked a hint of jealousy in his tone. Last night he’d stayed over to watch his daughter while Jennifer went out with a friend to see a movie. He was shocked when Jennifer’s friend arrived and turned out to be male, a younger man named Tucker.

“No,” Jennifer answered. She kissed Molly’s forehead and stood from the living room floor. “I’ll be right back. It’s probably just someone punching in the wrong apartment number.”

“Okay.” Craig appraised Jennifer as she walked out of the room and into the hallway. A quick thought entered his mind, it wasn’t a memory but it felt like it should be one. Jennifer was kissing his lips sensually before disappearing from the room. Justin sat beside Molly, his face screwing up in mock disgust at having to witness his parents kissing. He didn’t realize that his vision of Justin hadn’t evolved, he still appeared to him as a little boy.

“Dada!” Molly put her hands on Craig’s face to get his attention, jealous that her father’s attention was anywhere but on the toys they were playing with.

Craig blinked away the fantasy and looked back at Molly. “Okay, you want to play with your shapes now?”

Molly nodded her head, her blond curls bouncing around. “Chooo chooo!”

He grabbed the purple train that’s caboose held a half-dozen plastic shapes that would fit into the train’s holes. “Find the star, Molly,” he instructed.

Molly looked into the caboose and found the yellow object. “Dah!” she exclaimed, holding it out for Craig to see.

“That’s right Molly, put the star where it goes,” Craig encouraged.

Molly grabbed the train and began to bang the star against the holes.

Craig stiffened when he took in the sound of a hushed male voice coming from the foyer. He grumbled to himself, unhappy that Tucker must have decided to surprise Jennifer by stopping by. After Jennifer returned from her outing, Craig refused to call it a date because she hadn’t, Jennifer appeared happier than he’d seen her in years. He’d wanted to dig and find out more information about Tucker, but Jennifer had politely kicked him out before he could ask anything about it. Today, he’d come to play with Molly, but also he wanted details on Jennifer’s friend. His son was coming home soon and the last thing he wanted was to lose any chance of his wife coming home too.

“Craig,” Jennifer stood in the doorway of the living room, her face pale as a ghost.

Craig immediately stood and walked over to Jennifer. “What’s wrong?”

“Carl’s here. He wants us to meet him at Debbie’s right away.”

***

“Tell us what’s going on, we’ve waited long enough.” Craig insisted the moment he walked into Debbie’s house.

All of Brian’s family and friends were there to hear the news. Usually, Debbie whispered the small information Carl told her to everyone. Jennifer knew that with everyone there, Debbie must have thought what was happening was significant to call everyone together to tell the news in person.

“Sit down, sit down,” Debbie offered, hugging Jennifer. She turned to Craig who held a sleeping Molly. “You can put her upstairs in Michael’s old room to nap if you’d like.”

“Thanks, I will.” Craig quickly disappeared upstairs.

“Jennifer, can I get you something to drink?” Lindsay offered.

Jennifer nodded. “Thank you,” she said her throat dry from anticipation. “Water would be fine.”

“My brother said he had a nice time with you, last night,” Cynthia said softly, hugging Jennifer.

Jennifer smiled a little. “He was a gentleman and I think he’ll be a good friend,” she spoke, uneasy about divulging any more.

Cynthia gave Jennifer and understanding expression. “I’m sure he’ll understand that.”

“Come sit down,” Melanie regarded, patting the cushion on the couch beside her own.

Jennifer glanced at the men of the family as she walked over to sit beside Melanie. “It’s so nice to have all of your love and support too,” she told them. “It was so lonely before…” she trailed off when she saw Craig coming back down the stairs.

“Here you are,” Lindsay offered the glass, walking back into the living area. “Craig can I get you anything?”

Craig shook his head. “No, thank you though.” He turned to Carl. “Please, tell us the new information.”

Carl nodded. “An undercover agent who has been working security at Marshall’s plant in Arkansas acquired some new information from the other security guard. The employee is an ex-cop and his brother-in-law also used to work security there and left his wife and children two days before Justin’s kidnapping.”

“That seems awfully convenient,” Ted voiced. “How did this guy even remember the exact date his brother-in-law left his sister?”

“And why would he just start talking about this to the agent?” Michael asked.

“It sounds fishy to me,” Emmett agreed.

Carl nodded in understand. “You’re right. It does.”

“So Marshal knows that the agent is undercover and he’s what, trying to throw this unknown guy under the bus?” Craig asked.

“No,” Carl sighed and felt Debbie start to rub his shoulder. “Marshall has no idea that the agent is undercover. The employee got a job at Marshall’s plant because he’s suspicious of Marshall and thinks he might be harming his brother-in-law and others. Marshall hired him almost two years ago and during that time; he has been quietly digging up dirt on Marshall and his employees. His brother-in-law is one of a dozen men who lived in or around towns surrounding Bearden and worked at the plant who have practically gone missing.”

“What do you mean practically?” Ben asked. “Have they filed a missing persons report on him?”

“No,” Carl said. “There’s been no need to. Most of the men ‘missing’ left their wives and children to take positions as Marshall’s personal security guards. After divorcing their wives, they claim their address to be Marshall’s estate, pay their taxes, their child support and send presents for the holidays. However, they have absolutely no contact with their families.”

“And no one thought this was weird?” Jennifer asked. “A dozen men in a small town suddenly leave their families to go work as personal security guards?”

“Marshall owns nearly everything in Bearden,” Carl reminded. “And he was smart enough to acquire most of the guards in a few years time and most are from different towns. No one really put two-and-two together and any gossip about Marshall is often side-comments made about the man when he, his husband and kid go off their compound.”

“So what does this have to do with finding Brian?” Michael asked. “I don’t get it.”

“Give him time to explain,” Debbie chastised.

“Sorry. I know you’re working hard, Carl…” Michael wiped the sudden tears from his eyes. ‘I just want Brian to come home.”

“We all do,” Blake said. “And Justin too.”

“We’re closer to bringing them home,” Carl said promisingly. “But everything has to be taken very slowly. Now that the feds are involved they have to focus on more than just the kidnappings.”

“So tell us how this information has helped?” Craig asked, sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Jennifer.

Jennifer took Craig’s hand in hers and squeezed it. “It has helped, right?”

“Yes,” Carl assured. “To answer Ted’s earlier question, the man remembered the date his brother-in-law left his family because it was his sister’s birthday.”

“Jesus,” Jennifer sighed.

“I’m still not getting the connection with Brian and Justin,” Michael said.

“The man told them that each year his brother-in-law would send him a birthday card. It would arrive on his birthday at the end of August without doubt. Two years ago, the birthday card didn’t come until September and inside the card instead of signing his name, he signed his initials.”

“What’s the big deal?” Emmett asked. “Maybe the guy just didn’t care anymore. It’s not like they were family any longer.”

“They were best friends growing up. In fact, his brother-in-law had also tried to join the police force but his plans were derailed when his girlfriend became pregnant. As I was saying, the significance of his initials is that he signed them in cursive, to appear as the numbers 207.”

Craig shot to his feet. “He was sending a message!”

“Kidnapping,” Cynthia, said in a hushed breath. “That’s the code for kidnapping.”

“Of course, the man knew that he’d have to be careful and he didn’t know who to trust,” Carl went on.

“So why did he tell the agent?”

“They’ve been working together for awhile and the agent has casually been putting off clues that he’s dissatisfied with Marshall, that he suspects him of illegal activities. After finding out that the guy used to be a cop and feeling him out, the agent risked telling him about him being undercover.”

“You’re sure this guy isn’t going to tell Marshall?”

“Yes. He can be trusted. However, he doesn’t know that the kidnapping code was most likely for Brian and Justin, not for his brother-in-law, but we really can’t be sure either way. He thinks the feds are checking Marshall out because one of the other families has realized something was suspect too. The feds aren’t telling him otherwise and they don’t know for if there are or are not other victims that Marshall is keeping.”

“This still doesn’t help them. Just because another person suspects Marshall…”

“The brother-in-law is meeting with him in a month,” Carl interrupted Jennifer. “He was able to make contact with him by sending him a birthday card too and he received one for himself in return that hinted at a time and a place to meet.”

“So then he must not be a victim of a kidnapping and the guy must realize that now.”

“Yes, but he’s an ex-cop and just because he knows that his brother-in-law might be okay, it doesn’t mean he’s going to stop investigating. He wants to know who the code 207 was meant for.”

“What will happen after this meeting?” Cynthia asked.

Carl shrugged. “We’re hoping that this guy will be able to help us rescue Brian and Justin. But the F.B.I. has informed me that even if we have a precise plan to get Brian and Justin out, they won’t be moving with it until they have everything they need on Gloss, Stockwell and all the rest of the creeps involved with Marshall. They’ll have to wait until they can take them all down at once.”

XXXXX

Moments in Captivity

Chapter Sixteen: In the Light

Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Sunday, May 3, 1999

The ride to wherever it was they were going didn’t take very long. Which wasn’t a good sign as far as Brian was concerned. Then again, he couldn’t stand not seeing his children or Justin and the sooner he could lay eyes on them again and make sure they were all right, the better he’d feel.

The driver instructed for Justin and Brian to remain silent as the van was unpacked. Both men felt the cold steel of guns press into their backs as the engine shut off and they heard the doors open. Beautiful air floated around them as they heard doors opening. They could faintly hear the sounds of birds and smelled freshly cut grass.

Justin couldn’t stop his body from shaking as his senses were overwhelmed with smells and sounds he hadn’t heard in years. The gun rubbing between his left shoulder blade and spine was barely noticeable through all the other sensations.

“All right, unload them,” Guard twelve ordered.

First, Justin was led out of the van, guard 25 gently instructing him on where he should place his feet. He was left standing alone in the open air for a moment as the guard went to retrieve Bevyn.

“Walk forward,” 25 ordered, taking Justin’s arm. “Brian and your daughter will be following us inside.”

“Inside where?” Justin asked.

“Would you shut the fuck up?” 82 groaned, sticking his pistol into Justin’s back. “We didn’t say you could talk.”

Another guard roughly jerked Brian forward by his elbow, nearly causing him to fall. “Walk straight,” the guard snapped.

Brian tried not to show his fear of the men, but he couldn’t help it. He was a mess of nerves and all he wanted to do was lash out at the guards but he knew he couldn’t. Instead, those angry feelings translated into fear and he felt his eyes watering with tears.

The guards directed the captives up four concrete steps. A moment later Brian and Justin heard a sound they knew well.

“There’s a small step up then walk inside. We’ll place the babies at your feet. You are not to take your blindfolds off for thirty seconds after we shut the metal door. You will then enter the wooden door,” 25 told them.

“The rules are exactly the same here,” 97 announced.

“If you break them and you know what will happen,” 12 warned.

“Do you understand?” 34 asked, placing Beatha in front of Brian’s feet.

“Yes,” Brian and Justin answered in unison.

“Count to thirty,” 12 ordered.

Justin and Brian both began counting, when they got to 15 they heard the door slam closed and heard a large creaking lock engage. The noise echoed around the concrete entryway, the screech waking Beatha and Bevyn, causing them both to cry out.

“We’re here,” Justin said softly and continued to count with Brian.

“Now,” Brian said, tearing off his blindfold, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the florescent light above them.

Justin tore off his blindfold too and looked at Brian before crouching down to Bevyn. “Oh, baby. I’m sorry if you’re scared,” he cooed, getting him out of his straps. “Daddy and Dada are here and the mean men are gone.”

Brian was busy taking Beatha out of her car seat. “It’s okay, baby girl. Dada’s here and Daddy’s right there,” he talked to her, pointing to Justin.

Beatha and Bevyn both buried their little faces against Brian and Justin’s chests, calming down significantly now that they were in their arms.

Brian helped Justin stand back up and looked him over. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” Justin said, taking Brian’s hand. “I’m fine. Are you?”

“Okay,” Brian said. “I was worried about you, about this baby.”

“Well I have to pee pretty badly, but other than that we’re okay,” Justin assured. “I promise you.”

Brian deeply and looked at the heavy wood door before them. “So I guess they didn’t take us home,” he whispered.

Justin kissed the side of Brian’s cheek. “As long as I’m with you, it’s home. I was so scared they’d take you and the kids away from me.”

Brian had been scared of the same scenario. “Come on,” he said, dropping Justin’s hand. He turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

“Fuck!” Justin gasped, walking into the large kitchen first. Their containers were set to the side, along with Duchess in her carrier.

“You can say that again,” Brian agreed, shutting the door behind him.

“Get Duchess out of there, please,” Justin begged, hearing the cat start to meow in protest.

“She’s probably got to pee,” Brian said, hurrying to unlock the door. “We don’t have a pan.”

“I don’t care if she pees right here,” Justin said. “I’ve got to find the bathroom.”

“Come on out, Duchess,” Brian goaded, holding the door open for her.

Duchess gave Brian an angry look and bolted from the cage, running off down the hall and out of sight. “Hey, it’s not my fault,” he called after her.

“She’ll probably be hiding until we feed her,” Justin said. Bevyn began to wiggle and grunt in his arms. “I think they’ll both need changed.”

“Here, hold Beatha for a second and I’ll get their diapers and wipes out.” Brian handed Beatha over and opened the container with the baby stuff in it. He placed the blankets from their carriers on the tile floor and took both babies back from Justin. “You go find a bathroom and I’ll get them changed.” He pointed to the door across the hall. “Look, I bet that’s a bathroom.”

“Okay, thanks,” Justin said, practically running into the hall. He opened the door and called, “You’re right it’s a bathroom.”

Brian placed the babies on the blankets. They both stared up at the ceiling, enamored with the new room and lights. “This is a new place, huh guys?” Brian said softly.

Beatha smiled up at Brian as her father began to change her. She was in a new place, but happy that her Dada was right there with her. Bevyn on the other hand couldn’t take his eyes off the light fixture above them.

“This is our home for now,” Brian went on, “but one day we’re going to live far away here in our own home. You’ll have a yard you can play in and you’ll get to go to school and have friends to play with. I promise you.”

***

Thursday, June 3, 1999

The house looked like a remolded farmhouse. It had three bedrooms on the top floor, three bathrooms and a smaller bedroom on the bottom floor. The entire home was ready with all the furniture they’d used in their apartment plus another crib for when Justin's baby was born. It had taken almost a month for Brian to unpack everything from the containers; he hadn’t wanted Justin to help him because he was afraid of putting any more stress on him.

Having so much more room took some getting used to for Justin. He’d only known such a small space and he hated being more than a room away from Brian or his children. Something had changed within him. He withdrew from Brian even though he also didn’t want him far away. They hadn’t had sex since they moved; actually, they hadn’t had sex since the one time that they’d been together in April. Justin said he felt uncomfortable all the time. Brian could barely go to hug him without Justin pushing him away and telling him that he was making him too hot. Brian figured that most of it was due to raging pregnancy hormones and knew that soon Justin would be back to normal.

Brian sort of thought it was a good thing that he and Justin weren’t having sex or being very affectionate. If they were, then Justin would most certainly know the secret that Brian was hiding. Brian hoped to hide the secret until after Justin gave birth, but as he stared at himself in the bathroom’s full-length mirror he knew that he wasn’t going to be able to hide it much longer. His body had other plans and he knew that when he came out of the bathroom after puking for the third time today, he’d have to explain himself. It wasn’t so much that Brian didn’t want Justin to know, it was that he didn’t want Justin to see how worried he was about it when he’d tell him.

“Brian?” Justin knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you okay?”

Brian leaned his head against the cool mirror as he tried to get himself under control. “I’m okay. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“If you’re sick… we need to get you some medicine. I don’t care if you say you’ll be over it by the time it gets here. If you would’ve let me order it last week it would’ve been here by now.”

Brian picked his head up, straightened his shirt and opened the door. “I don’t need any medicine.”

Justin worried his lip between his teeth and slowly reached out to touch Brian’s face. “You’re really pale.”

“I don’t want you to worry,” Brian said, taking Justin’s hands. “Come in the kitchen with me, I’m starving.”

Justin followed Brian into the kitchen. “Do you really think you should be eating chocolate-chip cookies when you just threw up?” he asked, taking one off the cooling rack for himself.

Brian went to the fridge, pulled out some milk, and poured a glass for them both. “I’ll be fine. This is the only thing I can even think about eating.”

Justin’s eyes widened. “Brian…”

Brian took a drink of his milk and shrugged. “I’m pregnant.”

“How?” Justin asked, walking around the island.

“You know how,” Brian whispered. “In April, remember?”

“But we used a condom.”

“Yeah, well it didn’t work.” Brian laughed softly. “They probably poked holes in them before giving them to us. They probably thought it’d be funny.”

Justin wasn’t laughing. “You’ve been hiding this from me?”

“I just wanted you to have the baby first. I didn’t want you worrying about me.”

Justin shook his head. “I’m always worried about everything you can’t stop me from worrying.” He gently placed his hand on Brian’s stomach and drew it back quickly. “You’re huge.”

Brian stepped away. “Yeah, I know.”

“Let me see,” Justin said his voice wobbly as he tried to think about how Brian could be so big at only around 2 months along.

Brian slowly lifted his t-shirt and looked down at the baby bump, which was twice as large as the baby books said he should be. “There may be something wrong with me,” he confessed.

“Brian,” Justin placed both of his hands on his lover’s belly. “I don’t think there is anything wrong… just maybe there’s a reason you’re so big and it’s normal.”

Brian grumbled. “I’m twice the size I’m supposed to be. I wasn’t even this big when we found out I was pregnant with Bevyn. You’ve never been this big when you were only 9 weeks along. It’s not going to be something normal and we’re going to be here, where there aren’t doctors to help me.”

Justin wrapped his arms around Brian the best he could with his belly in the way. “Shh… calm down. I need you to think about this. You’re twice as big as you’re supposed to be. So what do you think that means?”

Brian slid out of Justin’s arms and looked at him with a horrified expression. “No… don’t even go there.”

“It’s possible,” Justin said softly.

“I can’t… I can’t Justin.” Brian felt like an idiot. It was so obvious wasn’t it? He must have been in complete denial so much that the thought had never really reached his conscious thinking.

Justin smiled warmly and took Brian’s hand. “Come on, we’ll go use the sounder and stethoscope and see if we hear two heart beats and if we do, then you don’t have to worry anymore.”

“People don’t have twins naturally, Justin.” Brian wiped away the tears that started to stream down his face. “They’ll have to take me away and who knows what’ll happen then.” Brian had done his best to not dwell on the despair he felt when he realized that they weren’t going back home. Every day it was a struggle not to be angry, to keep going as though this was a normal life and hope that a rescue would come. Now, he couldn’t help but feel the utter fear and hopelessness that built for the last month, the last couple of years.

“Brian, no… no that’s not true. We’ve read about it. People do have twins naturally. They don’t always need surgery, they don’t. They just have to be really careful and we’ll be really careful.” He tugged on Brian’s hand. “It’ll be okay. I’ll make sure that it is, just as you always make sure I’m okay. Now let’s go upstairs and check you out before Beatha and Bevyn wake up.”

***

“How are we going to do this?” Brian asked, his eyes fluttering closed as Justin peppered kisses across his stomach. It was so good to feel Justin’s touch again, he’d missed it so much and he figured if him being pregnant brought it back, then he could handle being pregnant. With twins.

“We’ll take it one step at a time, just like we’ve done with Beatha and Bevyn and we’ll do that with this baby,” Justin paused and placed his hand on his naked belly, “and with these babies.” He leaned back down and began kissing Brian’s stretched skin. “I love you. I love you.”

Brian put his hand in Justin’s hair and tilted his face up. “I love you, Sunshine.”

Justin smiled a wide grin and his face flushed from the emotions he felt within him. “I love you, too.”

Brian didn’t know what he was thinking not telling Justin. Justin always knew how to bring him out of the darkness and into the light. Hope could not leave him, not when he had Justin and his children, the persons he loved and lived to hope for.

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