Meet the Stokes

Dinner was burgers and hotdogs, cooked up by Judge Stokes himself. Coleslaw and potato salad joined the meat and everything went down with a large helping of peach cobbler that Danielle (yet another sister) showed up with. The food was good and the conversation was warm and comfortable. Greg spent most of the meal with his thigh pressed up against Nick’s, both for the need to be in contact with his lover and for comfort. The family seemed to have taken a liking to him, but he still wasn’t so sure.

The table conversation passed over numerous subjects, ranging from kids, to jobs, to spouses.

Greg learned a good deal of new information about Nick’s family during dinner. He found out that the overzealous republican was a Dallas local and lived the closest to his parents. At some point, work had taken him all the way out to Montana, but he’d moved back recently and decided to stay.

Carol was about twenty-five minutes from the head Stokes’ house in Arlington, where she lived alone with her son. She had a profitable job with an advertising agency that kept her fairly busy, but she spent every spare moment with Mathew. She was the one who had been married to the dead-beat that Greg was convinced that the family had run off. All in all, he gathered that NO ONE at the table had been fond of the man.

He also learned that the oldest of the Stokes children, Anna, wasn’t there yet, but Mary was the second oldest. After that came George, then Lindsey, who had also yet to arrive, then Carol, after that was Danielle, and then Nick. All five of the women had children, but Nick was the only one who hadn’t been married at least once.

The kids, who were dining outside, ranged in age from seven, to twenty-two, but were all very close. As often as the family seemed to gather, it really didn’t surprise Greg. He’d been fond of his cousins before he’d left California, but still saw them every Christmas. With lives that no longer revolved around school and fooling around, it was a little difficult to get everyone together in the same place.

Once everyone seemed tired of picking at what little food was left, Mrs. Stokes got up and began to clear the table. Not sure of family habits, Greg got up to help, winning a genuine smile of thanks from his host. Perhaps he would gain approval yet… at least from Nick’s mom.

“Hey, why don’t we play a card game?” Mary suggested warmly, holding up a blue and red deck of cards. The small box had ‘Phase 10’ printed on it in bright yellow letters.

Nick protested instantly, giving Greg his first impression of the family’s favorite game, “No way, Mary! That game takes way too long!”

“You just don’t want to play because you always lose,” Carol shot him down.

Nick scowled, but Greg could tell from his posture that he wasn’t being serious, so he tossed in his vote, “Nick’s a sore loser no matter what, so I say let’s play.”

“Traitor,” Greg’s boyfriend muttered under his breath, making sure that his lover heard. The gesture made the surfer’s grin grow even wider; morphing it into what Nick fondly called ‘the smile of a mischievous imp’. Rather than acknowledge Nick’s comment, Greg finished clearing off the table and poured up a cup of coffee for both of them.

After-dinner drinks and snacks were set up in the middle of the playing space and ten cards were dealt out to each combatant. The draw pile was a little thin due to the number of players, but no one saw it as a problem.

Interpreting instructions from seven different mouths, Greg pieced together the basics of the game. The game was played in rounds and in each round a different ‘phase’ (as it was called) had to be completed. There were ten phases total and if the player didn’t complete the phase they were on before the round was over, they had to repeat it. The rest of it was a little sketchy to him, but Nick was there to whisper hints over his shoulder (even if he HAD abandoned him earlier in the day).

A good part of the game was dumb luck. As the rounds progressed, Greg caught on and was able to run in the middle of the pack while Nick floundered behind it. In the third hand, it occurred to Greg that Warrick would be damn good at this game. The green-eyed CSI had an amazing knack to keep track of numbers. He might have to bring a deck home to Vegas and set up a CSI game night… which would quickly deteriorate into a beer, nachos, and TV night, like every other social event had done.

There was no way to explain it. The night-shift was just laid back by nature and were content to just hang out and do nothing.

Greg displayed his complete hand on the table and grinned at Nick, who was still stuck on the first phase. “I guess I understand why you’d be a little sore concerning this game… you kind of suck at it,” Greg poked at him playfully.

He was risking be taken over Nick’s knee in a few minutes, or maybe he was tempting the frustrated Texan into doling out punishment. Either way, he got a laugh from the rest of the family and a half-hearted glare from the man at his right.

For icing on the proverbial cake, Greg tossed his last card into the discard pile, ending the round and stranding Nick for another turn.

At the other side of the table, Carol gave her older sister a knowing look when their little brother pulled his offending guest in a headlock and mussed his blonde-tipped hair. Mary watched the two men interact and then break apart with smiles. Their visitor rose to his feet and picked up Nick’s empty coffee mug, disappearing into the kitchen for refills.

Danielle offhandedly mentioned getting more cobbler and followed after him. Mary was the next to leave the table while George dealt the next hand, and Carol was close behind.

In Mrs. Stokes’s beautiful chrome and marble kitchen, Greg was humming softly to himself and mixing a teaspoon of sugar into Nick’s coffee. It was the way the level three CSI had his coffee every day before work, with a little sugar and no milk. The punk-rocker preferred his straight black, with nothing to interfere with the drink’s natural flavor.

He licked the spoon clean and dropped it in the sink, completely unaware that he had an audience. It wasn’t until Carol cleared her throat that he noticed the company. If he’d been holding the mugs to return to the dining room, he would have dropped both of them in his startled leap.

“You even know how takes his coffee, that’s very observant,” Mary commented smoothly.

Greg turned to find the three sisters fanned across the main escape root from the kitchen. That was it! The pack had decided to take him out and they’d sent the females to do the hunting. The femme-fatales would eat him alive and spit out his bones for screwing one of their younger siblings.

The punk-rocker swallowed hard and tried to still his racing heart. There was no way that they would do him harm… would they?

“There is a break room at the Crime Lab, with a coffee machine and everything. I’ve seen him make his cup of Joe more than once,” Greg defended as calmly as he could with a stress level that was sky high.

Danielle (the sister that Greg had pegged as pretty docile) chuckled and shook her head, saying in return, “You can drop the act; we know you two are seeing each other. Who do you think Nick confided in before he told our parents?”

“His sisters,” Mary chimed in (just in case Greg couldn’t figure it out for himself).

“Carol always thought that it was because we dressed him up like a girl when he was four, but it doesn’t really matter. We just want the details… you know, how you two got together and how the relationship’s going,” the first sister continued.

Not entirely sure what he was hearing, Greg leaned against the counter and mentioned the first thing that came into his mind, “You know, there’s strong evidence that it’s genetic. Being gay, I mean.”

“So I’ve heard,” Mary said, with a tiny touch of sarcasm, but more amusement than anything else. “I can see why he’d like you.”

Back in the dining room, Nick glanced up from rearranging his hand. It took him a second to realize that, not only was his boyfriend gone, but so were all three of his sisters. It would be different if the other two siblings had arrived, because they controlled the Three Musketeers quite well. But without Anna to scold them into submission and Lindsey to give them guilt, there was no telling what those three were up to. For all he knew, they were doing something terrible to Greg and he hadn’t been paying enough attention to stop them.

Guessing that it was time for him to play ‘knight in shining armor’, Nick hopped up and went to find his wayward boyfriend. The Texan found very quickly that, not only had his sisters cornered Greg, they were grilling him with questions. The poor surfer looked positively bewildered. His sisters were just going to make him into a second victim, but he charged in anyway. Well, he walked in and barged his way into the center of the group.

“Alright, ladies, that’s quite enough. He doesn’t need you three to make him feel like he’s been captured by the Inquisition,” Nick said to get the situation under control.

Right on cue, the trio turned the questions to him. Carol started it, “And when were you going to tell us about this development?”

“He’s too adorable to keep all to yourself!” Danielle added cheerfully.

Greg took refuge behind his boyfriend and let him handle his decidedly frightening siblings. He knew a group of women could be terrifying, but Nick’s sisters took things to a whole new level.

With the ease of long practice, Nick settled as many questions as he could in one sweep, “I was going to tell you this weekend. We’ve been dating for over a year and a half. He’s living with me. We really did meet through work. Things are great and no, you may not inquire about our sex life.”

The women squealed in a highly child-like way, seemingly appeased with his answers. One of the three reached out to pinch Nick’s cheek before they herded back into the dining room. The Texan shot a glance back at his companion and gave him a warm smile.

“That’s how it’s done.”

Greg chuckled, finally regaining his scattered senses, and returned the dazzling grin. “Well, I didn’t grow up with sisters, so I guess I don’t know the best way to get around them when they corner you,” he joked lightly and pinched Nick’s side. “You could have come to the rescue a little sooner.”

The youngest member of the Stokes family led his boyfriend back into the dining room to finish their game of cards. In the end, Nick was in dead last and Greg landed a satisfying third place. Carol was the one to walk away with the victory, claiming happily that no one could ever defeat her at Phase 10.

The family split into singles and small groups as they started to get settled for the night. Most of Nick’s siblings just stayed in their respective rooms, with young offspring in tow, while the plethora of older kids sprawled across the floor, couches, and various soft objects. When the night had finally wound down to a crawl, Greg dragged Nick upstairs and closed them in behind a firmly locked door.

The level three CSI sank onto his old bed while his lover stripped out of the collared shirt he’d been fooling with all day. Greg had never been particularly fond of polo shirts. “So… you going to give me a first impression?” Nick asked with a smirk tugging at the edge of his mouth.

Greg turned a mockery of the evil eye on his boyfriend, tossing back, “Do you really want to know?”

His only answer was a small nod.

“The prospect of your father not knowing about us terrifies me, your brother George is overwhelming, your sisters are like a pack of predators, and your mother is either wholly clueless or she doesn’t want to think about me as your fuck buddy.”

Nick raised an eyebrow.

“But, they’re all very nice and I promise you my family far surpasses yours in weirdness,” Greg added.

He could only think back to his family get-togethers with fondness, despite his mother yelling at every child for stepping in the kitchen, his grandfather telling absurd stories that had no relevance, his cousins chasing around the family dog, and his grandmother reading fortunes off the coffee table for anyone who cared to listen. Every family had its quarks and they really only made sense to the people that belonged in them.

“I guess that pretty much sums things up,” Nick admitted.

They both chuckled and Nick started to get ready for bed. He’d barely gotten out of his shirt and jeans when Greg straddled his hips.

“Now, I’ve got way too much pent up energy from being a good boy all day. What do you say we take care of that before you try to get me to go to sleep,” the surfer all but purred in Nick’s ear.

The comment got an immediate reaction from his body, but Nick knew exactly how thin the walls of his parents’ home were. Sound traveled through those walls faster than water passed through a sieve.

“Greg, we’re in a house full of my family and you are not a quiet lover.”

“I can be quiet.”

“I don’t know, there was the time that you made the dogs start barking across the street.”

“Shut up you smart ass,” Greg griped. “Besides, are you just going to let your right hand take care of your problems downstairs?”

Nick rolled his eyes at the crude comment, but had to stifle a moan when Greg slid his highly skilled fingers under the elastic of his boxer shorts.

“It would be easier that way,” he tried to state around his firmly bitten tongue.

The punk-rocker leaned down to taste the corner of Nick’s mouth, bringing up a good point, “Yeah, but think of the high school thrill of trying to have sex while your parents are at home.”

“Wouldn’t know, never tried it.”

“Well then, it’s about damn time you did,” Greg teased and shoved his lover back onto the bed. He was NOT going to take no for an answer.

Nick pulled Greg down with him, claiming his mouth in a kiss that was more tongues and passion than anything else. Greg’s nimble hands worked his boyfriend’s boxer shorts off, as well as his own jeans and underwear, before Nick had released him from the kiss. They pulled away slowly, the Texan carding through Greg’s extreme hair.

The surfer grinned maniacally, creating a worried crease in Nick’s brow, and he voiced his concern, “What are you thinking? I know what a look like that means, it means there’s too much going on beneath that mop of yours.”

“Well, I really wasn’t joking… I was thinking, if I promise to be quiet, we could really… you know…,” Greg suggested with a wiggle of his eyebrows and a gentle brush to Nick’s crotch.

The older man groaned again, whispering, “That REALLY isn’t a good idea! You know we won’t be able to be quiet enough… AH!” His words turned into a yelp as Greg squeezed him firmly.

“I see what you mean,” Greg murmured slyly, adding, “but I don’t think you’re trying hard enough.”

Nick edged to the side of the bed as easily as he could with his boyfriend sitting on his hips and rummaged around in their bag on the floor. He tossed lube on the bed and smirked, warning in a low tone, “If you scream too loud, my father’s going to find out about us a lot sooner than I was planning.”

Greg nodded breathlessly, stifling a moan as Nick ran his hand up his slim body. “I’ll try not to.”

Within minutes, they were sliding against each other in the throws of passion, holding back their cries with hands, pillows, kisses, and anything else they could think of. It was a mad, but thrilling, attempt to laugh in the face of conformity and authority.

Nick knew his father could never truly approve, as both a good Catholic man and a strong stander on the right side of politics. To be a homosexual was to damn Nick in his father’s eyes. He could only hope that he could see around it somehow and be happy for him… for him and for Greg.

The judge had plenty of time to think on Nick’s preferences, since it had been nearly two years since he’d told him about it. Aside from the family reunion, Nick hadn’t seen his father after his confession. He’d talked to him twice on the phone, once at Father’s Day and once the next Christmas, but the conversations had been clipped and brief. He’d been surprised to see him act so warmly to him when he arrived, but his mother’s presence probably helped quite a bit.

Nick slid Greg’s legs off his shoulders and rolled so his smaller lover was above him. The exuberant young man adjusted to the new position easily, his head falling back on his shoulders as he bit his lip to hold back a yell. Despite the thrill of having sex with his lover on the sly, Nick wished they were at home so he could make Greg beg and scream until his throat was raw and he was panting with exhaustion. The boy was made to be loud and Nick hated to make him be anything but. Most people found him to be slightly obnoxious while the Texan found him to be extremely refreshing, if not mildly over the top.

There was no way Nick was going to give this up. He would never be able to survive without Greg… without the flesh of another man sliding against his own. The Texan didn’t want to jump the gun about his relationship with Greg, but he was confident that their steady connection would stay strong for many, many years to come, if not more. The opinion of his father was extremely important, but if he couldn’t get approval, then they were going to start butting heads at every family gathering.

Greg leaned over to brush his lips against the Texan’s ear, whimpering softly, “Love… love you…”

No, he didn’t need anything else, as long as he had this.

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TBC