Please see Part 1 for disclaimers and archiving information.

"From The Top", Part 6/33
By Clotho (clothomoerae@hotmail.com) and Cathy (huntersglenn@yahoo.com)

*****************************************

After John dropped Dave off in the ambulance bay, he parked the Jeep and
headed for Doc Magoo's.  His stomach was feeling a lot better than it had
earlier, so he ordered a bagel and coffee, then bought a paper and sat down
in a booth to read it.  The ever popular "Rocky Horror Picture Show", the
dreadful "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" and some foreign film from Croatia
were their obscure choices.  The foreign film concerned a male gay couple,
at least that's what the advertisement seemed to indicate and John didn't
think it was a good idea for he and Dave to see *that* particular film.
John knew he didn't want to sit through another showing of "Attack", and he
had seen "Rocky Horror" so many times that he knew all the words -- and not
just the song lyrics.  Looking at the mainstream choices, John saw that
they could choose from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" -- lots of action
and a good looking cast, "Cast Away" -- Tom Hanks didn't do anything for
him, "Traffic" -- Catherine Zeta-Jones was hot, even if she was pregnant
when that film was made, and Benicio Del Toro was even hotter.  "The
Emperors New Groove" -- who in their right mind would drag their kids out
after midnight to see a Disney flick, John wondered.  Also playing were
"Miss Congeniality" and "O Brother Where Art Though".  John grinned when he
saw that "Dude, Where's My Car" even had a showing after midnight.  That
movie would probably suit Dave, John thought.  He ripped out the movie
listings page, then settled back to read the rest of the paper and enjoy
his bagel.

After breakfast, John still had a lot of time left before his shift began,
so he headed for his AA meeting.  He didn't really *have* to go to any
since his probationary period was now over, but he wanted to go.  He had
been going since his near relapse at Christmas.  After the meeting ended,
John headed for County, arriving at work with about ten minutes to spare.
He had hoped to see Dave before his shift began, but the place was jumping
and he was pressed into work the minute he arrived.

It wasn't until around four when John got a decent break and he headed to
the lounge for a well-deserved cup of coffee.  He opened the door and was
pleasantly surprised to see Dave there, his legs propped up on the coffee
table and a mug of coffee in his hand.

"What a day, huh?" John asked as he walked over to the coffee machine.

"Yeah."  Dave felt a little uneasy but did his best to ignore it.  No one
had done anything last night -- drunk or not.  "Reckon the kids who got
glued together were my favourite."  He took a slurp of his coffee.   "You
get that paper?"

John sat down in the armchair.  "Yeah, I did.  It's in my locker.   We've
got a lot to choose from.  I'll get up to get it in a second.  Right now I
just want to enjoy how good it feels to sit down," John said, smiling.

Dave leaned back.  "Yeah, been a full on day.  So what's on?"

"From what I remember, there's "Traffic", "Cast Away", "Dude, Where's My
Car"..." John began.  He closed his eyes as he tried to remember the rest
of the movies.

The door opened again, with a push that was half way between energetic and
exhausted, and Kerry Weaver entered the room.  She sniffed, then scowled at
them. "If you two have finished the coffee..." Leaving the dire threats
unspoken she limped toward the coffee machine and looked at it.

Dave looked over at Carter, questioning him silently.

"There's at least a cup and a half left," John said as he watched Kerry
grab a mug, then fill it.  "We were talking about going to see a movie.
Have you had a chance to get out to see any lately?"

Kerry poured herself a mug of coffee, then punctiliously -- aware she was
setting a good example -- began to refill the machine, getting it ready to
brew its next batch.  "Yes.  But you're not seeing a movie tonight -- or at
least Dave's not.  I need someone to cover 7 to 7 overnight."

Dave kept firm hold of his mug.  "What? Tomorrow's my day off.  Ya can't
give me an overnight shift before then."

"I can and will." Kerry firmly said.  Then she grinned.   "Besides, you had
last night off for your hot date."

Dave subsided back onto the sofa.  There was nothing he could say to that,
or at least nothing he wanted to say to that.  He kept his eyes firmly away
from Carter.  "It's not fair."

"Life's not fair, Malucci.  Haven't you learned that yet?"

"We can go to the movies anytime, Dave.  It's not a big deal."  John said,
not liking how crestfallen Dave seemed to be over the news.  What he really
wanted to know was if Dave was sad about having to work or sad about not
going to the movies?  John's ego hoped it was the latter.  He finished his
coffee, then went to the coffee maker to grab a fresh cup -- just as soon
as the pot was fully brewed.

"Sure you can say that.  You're not the one getting ta work an extra twelve
hours." Dave wasn't sure whether it was good or bad that Carter was talking
about rescheduling so he took refuge in general grumbling.

"Malucci, if you've got nothing better to do than complain, then I could
give you a bowel disimpaction to complain about."

Dave looked at his Chief a bit resentfully for a second before giving up,
and slurping his coffee.

Even though he felt more than a little disappointed about not being able to
go out with Dave, John thought he owed it to Dave to say something to cheer
him.  "We can try to catch a movie later in the week or even next weekend.
I was thinking you'd want to see 'Dude, Where's My Car'," John teased. "Or
we could always forget about current releases and go see "Rocky Horror"
after all."  The coffee was ready and John refilled his cup, then leaned
against the counter and contented himself with watching Dave drink from his
coffee mug.  Damn, but the man looked good sitting there, sullen and
muscular.

John suddenly shook his head as he realized that his thoughts about Dave
were rapidly going into dangerous territory.  They were friends and nothing
else.  He had to remember that.

Dave figured he'd have to put up with teasing about his driving and the
scrape on the Jeep for a while.  If it had been Carter driving Dave
wouldn't have let it rest anyway.  He half smiled before looking up at
Carter, and suddenly catching a strange look in his eye.  Shit.  He could
feel his dick responding to it.  Shit.  He turned his attention back to the
Chief.  "So what movie dya see boss?"

Kerry smiled in spite of herself -- one thing that could be said for
Malucci was he didn't stay in a bad mood for long.  "Crouching Tiger..."

"Really?" Dave's estimate of the Chief soared as he realised that she'd
been to a martial arts movie.  "Are they hot?"

Kerry didn't like the direction this conversation was going in.  "I think
that's a question for you to answer, Dave."  She poured the rest of her
coffee down the sink.  "Time to get back to work."

John headed for the door, holding it open for Kerry.  He looked over at
Dave, waiting for him to get up off the couch.  "You coming?"

Dave wasn't about to walk out and let the world see his hard on.  "Nah."
He held up his mug.  "Not gonna waste good coffee."

Kerry left the room, turning to look back at the resident on the sofa.
"The longer you stay here the closer the disimpaction gets to the front of
the line."

John laughed.  "I don't think I'd take too long savoring that coffee,
Dave.  It's not all that good anyway."  John waited until Kerry was almost
to the admit desk and then he stepped back into the lounge, letting the
door close behind him.  "So, shall we reschedule the movie?"

Dave did his best to shrug casually, even while simply knowing that Carter
was looking at him was making his nipples tingle.  Ignore it, ignore it,
and it will go away.  "Sure. Sounds good."

John smiled and nodded.  Dave was still willing to go out on a date with
him.  Well, maybe not a date, but at least out with him.  This was a good
thing.  A very good thing.  "What's your work schedule like for this week?
I'm moving back to days on Monday, doing the 7 to 7 shift."

"I've got tomorrow off."  Dave corrected himself, "I *had* all of tomorrow
off. From Monday I'm midday to midnight for a week."  He shrugged.   "Till
next time it's changed that is."

John sighed.  He really didn't see any way they could make it to the movies
during the week.  "I guess we can try for an after midnight show next
weekend then."  It was probably for the better, John thought.  Give him
even more time to get all thoughts of Dave out of his system.  Fall out of
love and not feel as if he would die if he didn't take the few steps that
separated them right now and kiss Dave silly.  Yes, time enough to get
*those* kinds of thoughts out of his head.

There was *tomorrow* night Dave wanted to shout.  What was wrong with
Sunday night?  He didn't though, he merely shrugged, "Ya busy tomorrow
then?"

"Well, I'm still pulling a noon to midnight then, and you won't be getting
off from here until 7 in the morning.  I don't remember any of the movies
having shows *that* early."  John thought for a moment.  "We can go after I
get done with my shift tomorrow night since I have Monday off.  Provided
that Weaver doesn't ask me to work a double tomorrow."

Dave thought for a moment -- that seemed to work.  It seemed a long time
away though.  Still he had to try and ignore his cock -- this was just a
couple of guys going to see a movie -- that was all.  He smiled.  "Yokay.
Sunday night."

John smiled back, then opened the door and started to walk out of the
lounge.  "Great. I'll catch you later."

***********************************************************

Dave signed off his night-shift with a sigh.  Somehow working here on
Saturday night on drunks and even really bizarre traumas didn't rate
against the possibility of going to a movie with Carter.  Maybe it was a
good thing he'd been told to work.  Who knew what he and Carter would have
ended up doing?  Last weekend he'd let Carter do anything to him that he
wanted.  Friday night too -- if Carter had wanted to do anything.  Which he
hadn't.  Nothing was going to happen tonight either.  Just a movie with a
pal.

Dave shook his head and wheeled his bike out onto the street.  It was 7am
on Sunday morning and he was awake.  He didn't want to go home and lie half
dreaming in bed wondering what might have happened with Carter last night.
He really didn't want to think about Carter and what they'd done, and what
they hadn't done.

Without consciously realising it Dave steered his bike in the direction of
a church near his apartment block.  He didn't often go here, but this
morning it seemed better than going home.  He was a few minutes late for
the 7am service but locked his bike to a railing and slipped quietly into
the back.

He was tired, but the air had a wake-up feel to it -- the damp and slightly
chilly feel of large buildings where the heating is neither tax-payer nor
corporate funded.  The middle-aged woman whose pew he'd entered quickly
showed him which part of the service they were up to.  Dave made the
responses automatically -- all these years after leaving New York and he
still had the service memorised.

When they knelt to pray the smell of beeswax and absorbed incense came off
the pew in from of him.  There was hot wax and slightly dusty books, and
Father Frank refusing to listen to any of his muttered pre-adolescent
incoherencies and repeating his question on whether Dave would prefer to be
a choir boy or an alter boy.  Dressing in a red gown under a white surplice
and processing up the aisle aware everyone was looking at him.  The way
beams of light came through the high windows and illuminated motes of dust
dancing in the air above candles.  The mutters that went through the
congregation the day Father Frank had him take the collection up even
though everyone knew that social services had taken Mike away for stealing
again.

Abruptly Dave realised that the service was over, and everyone was standing
up and talking, getting ready to leave.  He didn't want to talk to anyone
at the post-game wrap-up wherever this church held theirs -- didn't want to
get into conversation with them, and all the half questions they'd ask.  He
somehow got entangled in the queue to walk past the priest though, and for
his efforts got a warm, dry handshake, and a questioning look around the
eyebrows.

"Dave."

"Nice to meet you Dave.  There's tea and coffee in the hall across the
street."

Thanks, but no thanks and all that.  Dave unlocked his bike before some
well meaning person could attempt to inveigle him to join in the
bun-fight.  As soon as he could, Dave accelerated away from the people --
he wondered what they'd all say if they knew that about a week ago he'd let
a guy fuck him.  He knew precisely what Father Frank said about things like
that.  He didn't want to hear anyone else say it.


To be continued