Author's note: Thank you all so much for your patience and your impatience. All your constant nagging was greatly appreciated and kept reminding me not to forget about this story. Life just got too busy for a while there and this story means too much to me to produce anything less that what I have been. Also, I didn't want to restart it until I knew I could get back into regular updates. I haven't been on my Literotica author page in a while. Imagine my surprise when I saw that my last chapter had received 130 votes and 27 public comments, which is an all time high for this story. Thank you all so much for all the support and you all deserve to see the story come to its conclusion and I promise you that I will not abandon the story. I hope you enjoy this chapter and that you will show your support by at least voting and maybe sending me a public comment. Also, I have an editor now, so hopefully some of the comments about my grammar will decrease.
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"Rise and shine, up and at 'em." Liam heard Rick say from the doorway. Liam rolled over and groaned.
"What time is it?" He asked, his eyes refusing to open.
"It's time to get up. The kids have a surprise for you." Rick said.
"What?" Liam asked, finally opening his eyes to look over at Rick. What he saw brought a huge grin to his face.
Rick was standing just inside the doorway, the kids flanked on either side of him. Rick had a tray of food in his hands, while Chris was holding a glass of milk, and Cassie holding a little vase that contained two dandelion flowers.
"What's all this?" He asked, as he sat up in bed.
"We made breakfast for you." Chris said.
"I pick flowers." Cassie said, as she came forward and gave Liam the vase.
Both Chris and Rick came forward at the same time, Chris putting the glass of milk on the bedside table and Rick setting the tray in Liam's lap.
"Pancakes again?" Liam asked, looking over at Rick.
"What can I say? We're getting good at pancakes." Rick said, shrugging his shoulders. "How are you feeling this morning?"
"Fine, I don't even remember falling asleep last night. How's my face look?" Liam asked, as he reached up and gently felt around the bruised area. It was tender, but it felt like the swelling had gone down.
"Yeah, once you fell asleep, you were out like a light. You didn't even stir when the kids came in this morning. We decided you probably needed the extra sleep. You've definitely got a wicked bruise on your face, but the swelling's gone down quite a bit. I want to take a look at your head again too. I would recommend you take a bath today instead of a shower, and don't wash your hair. Give the wound another day to heal." Rick instructed.
While Rick was talking, Chris and Cassie had both crawled up into bed with Liam, one kid on each side of him. He had to slide over a little to make room for Cassie. "Well, thanks for letting me sleep in. At the rate things have been going, I haven't slept through the night in a while," he said to Rick, and then turned to the kids. "And thanks for breakfast. I don't think I've ever had anyone bring me breakfast in bed. I feel spoiled." He said, leaning over and giving each of them a kiss.
"I make pancakes." Cassie said. "I pour and fipped."
"Wow, you did a good job, Cassie." Liam said.
Not to be outdone, Chris spoke up. "I made the scrambled eggs. I never made scrambled eggs before." He said, proudly.
"Well, they look delicious." Liam said, as he picked up his fork and started eating. "Aren't you guys going to eat too?" Liam asked.
"We ate while you were sleeping. We ate the mistakes, it took us a couple of tries to get it right." Rick said.
"Well, the end product came out pretty good. Hey, I just remembered. Don't you have to work today?" Liam asked Rick.
"Nope, I took a couple days of vacation. I've got plenty of vacation time accrued. Most of the time I don't use it and they have to pay it out, so they are perfectly happy to have me take the time. I am on call though, so if something comes up, I'll have to go in." Rick said, as he sat down on the bed in front of Liam, his hand automatically reaching out to rest on Liam's calf.
"We are gonna go camping and Rick said we can make s'mores." Chris said, bringing Liam's attention away from the hand that was slowly caressing his calf.
"Camping? Is he serious?" Liam asked, his attention going back to Rick.
"I was talking to the kids about some of the stuff we could do today, and when I mentioned camping out in the back yard, Chris got all excited and said that they'd never been camping. Can you believe they've never had s'mores?" Rick said, like it was a crime to have never had s'mores before.
"We've got the whole day planned out. There's an area out back that I cleared in order to plant a vegetable garden, but never actually got around to doing any planting. The kids decided that they want to help. Cassie wants green beans and cucumbers and Chris wants carrots. So, after lunch, we'll head into town to get everything we need for the garden and the camp out. After that, we'll head over to Frankie's for dinner and then go visit Sam and Mike at the hospital." Rick said, his hand still caressing Liam's calf.
It was hard to concentrate on anything but the thought of wanting that hand to work its way up into the leg of his boxers. The feel of Rick's warm hand and the thought of where he wanted that hand to go was causing things low in his body to stir, and it wasn't just his cock stirring. He actually had butterflies in his stomach.
'God, you'd think I was twelve and unable to handle my hormones,'
Liam thought to himself.
"So… Umm…" He stammered, trying to get his mind back to the subject at hand. "Wow, you guys do have the whole day planned out."
"Well, I figured since the kids weren't going to be in school, it would be good to plan things so they don't spend the whole day in front of the TV. I've got enough sleeping bags for everyone. We'll have a camp fire and roast marshmallows. It'll be fun," Rick said. "I hope that's okay with you," he added hesitantly.
"Oh, yeah, sure, that's okay, and that reminds me, I forgot about school. I've got to call their schools and let them know they won't be there this week and make arrangements to pick up Chris's homework. Plus, I've got to talk to Chris's counselor and see if we can make arrangements for Chris to keep seeing him," Liam said, as he set his finished breakfast aside. "Oh, and I had better call my mom too."
"Mitch already talked to Chris's school. The officers are going to swing by and pick up his work on their way out here for their shift change each afternoon. So, that's one less thing you have to worry about."
"Oh, wow, that was really nice of Mitch." Liam said, the surprise evident in his voice.
"Well, he's a good guy," Rick said, as he removed his hand from Liam's leg, stood up from the bed and picked up the breakfast tray. "The kids and I will clean up the breakfast dishes. Why don't you go ahead and get ready. You can use my bathroom. I've got a Jacuzzi tub in there and you'll be able to soak comfortably. Remember not to wash your hair or get it too wet. I don't want you to reopen the wound. Also, before we leave, I want to take another look at it, okay?" Rick said. "Oh, and take it slow when you stand up." Rick added, as he walked out carrying the tray. The kids following close behind.
Liam sat up in bed slowly. He paused, sitting at the edge of the bed for a few minutes, making sure he wasn't going to have another dizzy spell. Once he felt he would be okay, he slowly stood up, pausing again before deciding he was fine and heading to the bathroom.
As soon as Liam walked into the bathroom, he was assaulted by Rick's scent. With Rick freshly showered, the scent of him in the bathroom was still strong, and Liam couldn't help but stand in the middle of the bathroom and just breathe deep. It was a very rich and spicy scent that had Liam craving for a taste of the skin that went along with the scent.
Shaking his head and trying to refocus his thoughts, Liam headed over to the mirror to have a look at his face. He looked horrible. A dark purple bruise covered one side of his face and part of his eye. A large area around his eye looked slightly swollen, but it wasn't as bad as he'd expected. Liam tentatively reached up and pressed against the area. It was a little tender. He tried to look at the back of his head, but no matter which way he turned, he couldn't see the gash. Liam reached up again, this time gently feeling his way around the gash. He could feel that a large knot had developed, and just that little bit of pressure to the area sent pain shooting through his head, causing the area to throb for a few seconds afterwards.
Deciding he'd better get a move on, Liam started the bath water and then got undressed. Rick was right; the bathtub was oversized and could easily fit two. That line of thought led him to imagine Rick and him entwined chest to back in that tub. It was a nice thought and his cock gave a little twitch of agreement.
Once the tub was about half full, Liam stepped in. The warm water enveloped him, causing him to release a huge sigh of relief. Just as he was settling in, there was a knock at the door.
"Liam, I brought you some towels and my medical kit. If it's okay with you, I'd like to take a look at your head again." Rick said from the other side of the door.
"You sure you're not just trying to come up with an excuse to come in here and take advantage of me?" Liam said, only half joking.
He was met with silence on the other side of the door, causing him to worry that his presumptuousness had scared Rick off. When Rick finally responded, the response was one word that was spoken so quietly that Liam was surprised he'd heard it, but hear it he did, loud and clear.
"No," Rick said in a whisper.
"No, you're not sure, or no, you're not trying to take advantage of me?" Liam asked, the playfulness obvious in his voice.
"No, I'm not sure," Rick answered, his voice holding a little more confidence this time.
Again, silence loomed with only the door between them before Liam responded.
"Well, at least you're honest," Liam chuckled. "Go ahead and come in."
