Summary: David hears about the bombing at Babylon, so he comes back to Pittsburgh to see Michael, and discuss their relationship.
Rating: PG (language)
Archive Date: 19 April 2006
Notes: Spoilers for Season 5.
News about the bombing at Babylon quickly spread across the country. Newscasters in different cities commented about the Stop Proposition 14 benefit and the subsequent bombing. They showed pictures of the burning building, the people milling around outside, the emergency personnel. David happened to be sitting on his couch in Portland when the newsflash came across the television screen. He sat up and stared intently at the images, not believing what he was seeing. His partner Eric noticed his interest, and asked him, "Honey, what is it?"
By now David was on his feet, pacing around the room. "That club that was bombed, I've been there. Michael and his friends go there all the time. I have to find out if he's okay."
Eric knew a little about Michael, but not much. David told him that they lived together in Pittsburgh, and that Michael had even followed him out here to Portland, but it hadn't worked out. He hadn't pushed David for any more details, figuring he'd talk when he was ready to talk. News of this attack in Pittsburgh was probably going to be that catalyst, so he mentally prepared himself for whatever might come from it.
David was feverishly punching numbers into his cell phone. He tried Michael first, but there was no answer. Then he tried Deb's house, same thing. He tried the diner, but no one there had any useful information. He hesitated for just a moment, and then dialed another number, knowing that the conversation probably wouldn't go very well.
Brian's cell phone rang as he was walking outside of Babylon, so he grabbed it and answered it roughly. "Kinney," he said.
"Brian, it's David. David Cameron."
Brian knew he should probably just hang up on him, but he was just too exhausted. "What do you want?" he asked.
"I just saw the news, is everyone okay?"
Brian sighed, and said, "No. I'm okay, I wasn't inside when it happened, but Michael was injured. He's in surgery right now. They don't know if he'll make it."
Tears formed in David's eyes. He muttered, "Thanks" and hung up the phone. He kept pacing, unsure what to do next.
Eric looked over at him, asking, "What happened?"
David's voice cracked, as he relayed what Brian had told him.
Eric put a reassuring hand on his arm, saying, "Maybe you should go out there."
David just looked at him, so many questions in his eyes.
"From what I understand, your relationship with Michael ended pretty abruptly, with no real closure. Now may be your chance to really talk to him, clear things up, so you can finally close that chapter of your life."
"I knew I loved you for a reason," David said, grateful for Eric's support and understanding. "I think I will go out there." He kissed Eric gently, and then went to their room to pack.
*******************
Ben and Debbie were sitting with Michael, who had recovered from his surgery and was awake and chatting. They were both so grateful that he'd pulled through. Deb was having a hard time holding back her tears of joy, while Ben just kept looking deep into the eyes of the man whose love was so strong; it had brought him back to him. Michael was pretty quiet, but found the strength to ask how everyone else was doing. Ben assured him that everyone was fine, and that they all sent their best wishes.
Ben stood up, saying that he was going to stretch his legs a little bit, and go to the cafeteria to get something to drink. "Deb, do you want anything?" She shook her head no. "How about you, Brown Eyes?"
Michael smiled, and said, "No thanks, I'm fine. Hurry back. I love you."
"I love you, too."
As Ben left Michael's room and started down the hall, he was stopped by a man he didn't know, but seemed familiar somehow. The man asked, "Are you with Michael Novotny?"
"Yes, I'm his husband. And you are?"
"I'm David. David Cameron."
"Oh. Um, nice to meet you David. I'm Ben Bruckner." They shook hands cautiously, then stood there in awkward silence.
"I was actually heading down to the cafeteria to get something to drink," Ben said, finally. "Do you want to join me?"
"I'd appreciate that, thanks."
They walked silently down the hall, then David asked, "How is he doing?"
"The doctor said that the surgery went well. He's awake now, recovering, and hopefully he should be able to go home in a few days."
"Ben, I want you to know that I didn't come here to cause any problems, for any of you. I understand that you and Michael are married; I'm actually seeing someone as well, so I give you my word that I'm not here to try and rekindle anything."
Ben nodded, then asked, "So why are you here? You could have called to get an update on Michael's condition."
"Damned if I know," David answered ruefully. "Eric, he's my partner, suggested it. He knows that Michael and I ended poorly, and he figured that if I came out here, maybe we could have some closure."
"I have to say that I know very little about your relationship with Michael, and even less about how it ended. Is it safe to assume that Eric's in the same position?"
"Yes, he is. And the thing is, I don't really know what to say, or how to say it. All I do know is that I need to apologize, and see where it goes from there."
"I guess the biggest problem is that Michael and I came into each other's life at the wrong time," David continued. "I was a huge control freak, and Michael couldn't, or wouldn't, call me on it. I just did everything in my power to make things right between us, I refused to listen to him, or see the signs that I was just pushing him away. Then, of course, there was always Brian. If you don't mind me asking, how do you handle Brian?"
"I don't."
David just looked at him, confusion showing on his face.
"I understand and accept that Michael and Brian have been friends since they were kids, and that a small part of Michael loves Brian, and always will. But that doesn't have any impact on how he feels about me, so I don't worry about it."
"I suppose that makes sense. I could never get to that point when we were together. I think that's just another thing that I tried to control, with catastrophic results."
Ben nodded, beginning to understand why Michael and David didn't work out.
"So I'm hoping you'll help me out a little bit here. I'd like to see Michael, talk this through, and then I'll be on my way back to Portland. Will you tell him I'm here?"
"Sure."
"Here's my card, my cell number is on the back. I appreciate this, Ben."
***************************
The next morning, Ben came breezing into Michael's room to see that he was already awake, chatting with one of the nurses.
"Morning, Baby. How are feeling?"
"Better."
"You look better...hopefully you'll be well enough to come home soon. Our bed is too big and lonely when you aren't there."
Michael smiled at him, color tingeing his cheeks.
"So there's something I need to tell you. You, uh, had a visitor yesterday."
"Oh yeah? Who?"
Ben handed him David's card. Michael stared at it for several seconds, trying to decide how he felt about the fact that David had come out from Portland to see him.
"What did he want?"
"To talk to you, to see how you are, to apologize."
"You talked to him?"
"A little bit."
"How did he seem to you?"
"Michael, I don't know him like you do. He did seem relieved to hear that you were going to be okay."
"I don't know..."
"Baby, it's up to you whether you see him or not. I'm not going to push you either way. I will say that it will probably be good for both of you."
"So much for not pushing," Michael said, only half-joking.
"But if you decide not to see him, I'm not going to make a big deal of it."
Michael looked back at the card trying to figure out what to do next. He hated how he was when he was with David, and didn't really want to be reminded of his behavior. On the other hand, it would be good to clear the air, once and for all. And no matter what Ben said about not pushing him one way or the other, he obviously wanted the meeting to happen, and he was usually right about these things.
"Can you call him and tell him to come by after lunch?" Michael finally decided.
"Sure thing."
*************************
"So how are you feeling?" David asked, as he came into the room.
"Better, thanks."
"I can't tell you how freaked out I was when I saw the news footage. I couldn't get ahold of you or your mom - I finally called Brian who told me what happened."
"You talked to Brian?"
"Just long enough to find out that you'd been hurt. Eric's the one who suggested that I come out here to see you."
"Eric?"
"My partner. We've been together for a couple of years now."
"I'm glad you found someone."
"Me too. He's a lot like Ben - I think you'd get along with him really well. Speaking of Ben, I understand congratulations are in order, you're married?"
"Yeah. We were in Toronto for a charity bike ride, so we decided to get married while we were up there. Oh, and I don't know if you heard, but I'm a father now."
"Really?"
"Yeah, Ben and I are foster parents of Hunter, a teenage runaway, and then Melanie and I had a baby girl, Jenny Rebecca."
"You and Mel? That's great; so she and Lindsay have the two kids now?"
"Right, J.R. and Gus."
They both stopped and were quiet for a minute, and then they both said, "I'm sorry" at the same time.
Michael gestured toward David, saying, "You traveled all the way out here, you go first."
"I'm sorry for the way I treated you, treated our relationship. I was just set on making 'us' work that I didn't see what you needed."
"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you what I needed. To be fair, though, I'd never been in a relationship before, so I didn't know what I needed. I figured you knew, so I just went along with what you said and did."
"I could tell you weren't always happy. But instead of acknowledging it and trying to do something else, I just re-doubled my efforts."
"Plus I listened to my mom and my friends who told me how happy I should be, so I believed them."
"And then there was Brian."
"Brian." Michael stiffened
"Don't worry; I'm not trying to start another argument about Brian."
"Good. I don't think I have the energy to have that fight again."
"Ben actually gave me some good advice on that."
"You talked to Ben about him?"
"Just briefly. He told me that he understands your feelings for Brian, but since they don't affect your feelings for him, he doesn't worry about it. Such a simple philosophy, but it never occurred to me. He's quite a guy."
"I know."
"He loves you very much."
"I know that, too."
"I'm glad you're happy. That's all I ever really wanted for you. I'm glad you found it with Ben."
"Are you happy?"
"I am. Eric makes me happy."
"Then it all worked out the way it was supposed to."
"Sounds like some of Ben's outlook on life has rubbed off on you. It suits you."
Michael smiled; feeling like a huge weight had been lifted from his soul. It was nice to have a real conversation with David again, without fighting about anything and everything.
*********************
The conversation was tiring for Michael, so he slipped into a light nap. David stayed to keep an eye on him, and think about their conversation. After a short while, Deb came into the room, completely surprised to see David sitting there.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" she said, just barely managing to keep her voice down.
"I came here to see how Michael was."
"Well, you've seen him, now you can go home."
"Ma, leave him alone," Michael said, slowly waking up from his nap.
"I'm sorry, but after the way he treated you..."
"It's okay. We've been talking about it, everything's gonna be okay."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Deb, I've been able to look back at our relationship and realize what I did wrong, what we both did wrong. We weren't right for each other, but I tried to force it. We've both apologized, and now we can both move on with our lives."
Deb just looked from David, back to Michael, and back to David again. She finally said, "Well, if Michael has forgiven you," she looked at Michael for confirmation, and got it in a small nod of his head, "then I guess I have to as well."
David looked relieved, and quickly found himself in her embrace. A tear slowly slid down his cheek, as he realized that a giant weight was lifted from his soul, and felt ready to go back home and really talk to Eric about his and Michael's relationship.
End of "Closure" by Kirsten (eli_ollie@yahoo.com)