So this one is for: Scott and Danny Fletcher, David and Joey Guessler, Phil and Todd Harmon, and Peter and Michael Leonard wherever they may be.
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Settling in was difficult enough without the noise from the bowling alley below. How Doug got talked into taking the living quarters over the lanes was beyond him. The sound of ball smacking against pins echoed through the floor.
"Uncle Doug, is it always going to be so loud?" Clavo's eyes fixed on his uncle.
Doug was sorting through the kitchen items. "Nah, when the place closes at ten it will be quiet as a church."
"Good. It will be hard to sleep in a new room anyway."
Doug tossed together a quick meal for the two of them and continued with the unpacking. When nine rolled around he asked, "Ready for bed, kiddo?"
Clavo sighed. He really wasn't, but Doug's question really wasn't either. He got up from the chair he was in and started for the bedroom.
"Hey," Doug called after him, "didn't you forget something?"
Clavo approached his uncle.
"Where's my kiss?" Doug asked.
"I don't know," Clavo answered.
"Aren't you gonna give me one?"
Clavo shook his head.
Doug stooped to be at eye level with his nephew. "I thought you loved me."
"I do."
"Then how 'bout a kiss."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"Well, when you love someone that's a way to show it. You know that."
"Don't you love Uncle Joey?" Doug looked at him totally puzzled. "You didn't want him to kiss you," Clavo explained.
Doug rose. Out of the mouths of babes. He thought about saying how that was different but then Clavo would have wanted to know how it was. "Well, what say you give me a kiss anyway," he said stooping again. "And we'll take care of Joey another time." Clavo nodded and gave his uncle the kiss goodnight he wanted and ran off to bed leaving Doug to wrestle with what he had said.
Doug flopped onto the couch. Clavo must've heard his parting conversation with his younger brother. "Don't be a knucklehead," he'd said when Joey asked if he was suppose to kiss him now. Even though Joey was being sarcastic in asking there could have been a better response. 'So I didn't tell my brother to kiss me. Big deal' Doug shrugged to himself. 'But now I've got a kid wanting to know why and that will be the main focus of his brain until I have an answer.' Doug was thinking of trying the old standby of 'because, that's why' when the phone rang.
"Hey, Doug, it's Judy," Officer Hoff's voice was urgent.
"Hey, Jude, what's up?"
"Doug, it's your brother. He's in the hospital. That drug case he was on. They found out he was a cop.....Doug..."
He grabbed Clavo from his bed not bothering to wake him but now planning on answering his question with "Because I'M a knucklehead."
Just a little over twenty-four hours he'd been gone and he was on his way back. With Clavo sleeping on the back seat he broke every speed law until he pulled in front of the hospital.
It was Captain Fuller who greeted him when he got to the floor where his brother was.
"Penhall, they shot him full of smack."
"What are his chances?"
"50-50. They're running some IV's." Fuller inhaled and pushed it out quickly. "Doug, I'm sorry."
"Yeah," Doug said quietly. "Me too." He looked to the waiting area where Clavo sat confused and concerned. "Would you mind watching him for a while. There's something I've got to do."
"Doug, if you're thinking of..."
"No I don't want to go after anybody. I'll leave that in the department's capable hands." He forced a smile. "I just need some time alone with Joey."
"He's not conscious."
"Doesn't matter. Would you watch him?"
Fuller nodded.
The sight was something out of science fiction. Joey lay on the hospital bed, monitors of every kind blinking and bleeping. Two IV's snaked from an electronic dispenser to his arm. And oxygen hose rested just above his upper lip forcing a gentle flow into his nostrils.
Doug pulled a chair up to the side of the bed. Sitting he took one of Joey's hands in his left hand. With his right hand he made the sign of the cross and said a prayer. "I just left and already you get yourself into trouble," Doug joked to him. The only response was the steady beep of the heart monitor. "I need you to wake up," he continued more seriously. "There's something I want to give you. And I'd like you to know I'm giving it to you."
Doug squeezed Joey's hand in his. He gazed at his brother and thought. "I just hope you don't deck me when I do give it to you," he told him.
"Doug..." Joey's voice was barely audible but it was enough to make Doug sit up. "If I let you kiss me will you shut up and let me rest?"
Doug was startled. "How'd you know that what I was talking about?"
Joey looked at him intently. "I just know." There was a pause. "Well?"
Doug was sheepish. He even stalled by asking, "Where do you want it?"
Joey rolled his eyes. "It's a kiss not a tattoo." There was another pause. "I'm going back to sleep."
"No." Doug rose. He leaned over and pressed his lips to Joey's forehead. As he sat back in the chair he saw a smile on his brother's face as he closed his eyes and returned to his slumber. Doug gave another prayer. This time of thanks that Joey had woken up, a sign that he would recover. Doug remained at his bedside the rest of the night and into the morning when the doctor entered and asked him to leave.
Doug now sat in the waiting area with his nephew.
"Uncle Doug, I'm sorry about last night," Clavo told him.
"Sorry about what?"
"If I had not made it sound like you didn't love Uncle Joey maybe he wouldn't have gotten hurt."
Doug pulled the boy onto his lap. "Hey, don't you think that for one more second. Understand?" Clavo nodded. "Things happen. Besides, you were right."
Clavo's eyes went wide. "I was?"
"Sure were. When you love someone, anyone, you should show it. Not showing it would make you the knucklehead." With that he gave his nephew a hug.
"Mr. Penhall," the doctor's voice interrupted.
Doug set Clavo beside him and stood. "My brother? He's going to be okay?"
"Yes he is," the doctor answered. "His system flushed the drug quite easily. We will keep him here a couple more days but he'll be fine."
Three days later Doug was again saying goodbye to his brother. "You sure you're okay? You don't need me to stay on a little longer."
Joey was exasperated. Doug had been fussing for the last days. "Doug, you're driving me crazy. Go!"
"But you call if you need anything."
"Doug!"
"Okay, okay," Doug said teasingly. "Clavo, give Uncle Joey a kiss."
Clavo obliged and said, "I'm glad you're okay."
Doug and Joey faced each other again. Their previous farewell playing back as Joey said, "Now am I suppose to kiss you?"
"Don't be a knucklehead," Doug said as he had before. But this time added, "You'd better."
Joey dropped a kiss on Doug's cheek, getting one in return. Clavo stood by smiling broadly at the scene.
THE END