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1-Four Corners

Exhausted from their swim, John and Dave were lying on beach towels, whispering playfully and making joking comments to each other. It was a beautiful, sunny Monday and they were thoroughly enjoying their time off.

Across the patio Millicent and John Carter, Sr. sat at a small, round table sipping cocktails as they observed the two men.

"You know that it really comes as no surprise to me that Johnny is one of those kind of guys," John, Sr. whispered softly as he leaned close to Millicent.

"John, what on earth are you talking about?" Millicent tried to hide the fact that she knew full well what he was referring to.

"You know Millie, a fairy." He said seriously. "Come on, I know that you had to have known for quite some time now. Neither one of them are very good at hiding it."

"Maybe they aren't really trying to." She stated flatly.

"I do wish John knew that he could talk to us about this." He frowned.

"It's taken him a long time to come to terms with this himself. I think that this is his way of breaking the news 'gently' as they say. He wants us to see that he is happy." Millicent shared her observation of their grandson.

"They do seem happy, don't they?" John smiled as he got up from the table. "Well, I think I am going to go mow this lawn." He headed towards the garage.

Dave had fallen asleep and John was well on his way when John, Sr. passed by.

"You boys don't stay out in the sun too long now." He warned, interrupting John's attempt to nap. John got up and joined his Gamma at the table.

"You look tired, John. Is Dave asleep?" Gamma asked, concerned that John wasn't getting enough sleep.

"Yeah, out like a light." John yawned.

"He a fine young man, John, and a very good friend. Am I not correct?"

"Yeah, sure, a real good friend." John danced around the chance to tell her about him and Dave.

"You two are pretty close?" She continued to fish around, hoping that he would admit his feelings for Dave.

"Uhm.yeah, I guess you could say that." John blushed as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"You know, John, your grandfather and I may be old, but we are not blind. If he makes you happy, then that is all that matters." Millicent finally decided to let him off the hook.

She understood too well that John would never come right out and say it. After all the years that his family had rejected his choice of career, they certainly could not be expected to accept that he was gay.

"It's just that Dave's still not ready for anyone to know yet, give me a chance to talk to him before you let him in on the fact that you know." John pleaded.

"Don't worry, John, we won't say anything to embarrass your friend." She promised.

After sitting for a while, they were startled by the sound of a loud crashing noise, which also awakened Dave. He sat up in time to see John running across the lawn, he pulled himself up off the ground and ran after him.

When Dave came around the corner of the house he saw a small lawn tractor crashed into a birdbath. "What happened?" He called as he saw John with his head pressed against his grandpa's chest.

"Start compressions, Dave." John yelled as he ran to the house. Millicent gasped when she saw her husband lying flat on the ground and Dave performing CPR.

~~~~~~~~

After his grandfather's funeral, Abby had called Carter. One of his patients from the night before was asking for him and was still waiting to be admitted to a room upstairs. Once he entered the ER, Carter checked on his patient and called the pediatric unit to remind them that the girl was still waiting for a room.

"Nice suit Carter, who died?" Abby commented jokingly as he dialed the number for the pediatric ward.

"My grandfather." He looked preoccupied as he waited for someone to answer his call.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." She uttered, a bit embarrassed. He turned back to his phone conversation only to be put on hold again.

"When did he die?" She added a bit worried.

"Monday." He whispered softly.

"Wow. Are you okay?" Abby was genuinely concerned. He just nodded and gave her a rather wry grin.

"I'm off at four if you'd like to go get a coffee or something?" She invited, feeling a bit hurt that he never mentioned anything about this to her earlier.

"I've got 200 people back at the house." He declined sheepishly.

"There's coffee there, isn't there?" She offered to accompany him.

"I wouldn't ask you to subject yourself to that." He continued his conversation on the phone.

After hanging up he began to head out, Abby followed him still concerned. "Exactly what wouldn't you want me to subject myself too?"

"Things are a little tense." He tried to passively explain.

He was getting ready to leave when he saw Dave walking into the men's room. Needing to see him, John asked Abby to give him a minute and followed Dave. After walking in and looking around to make sure no one else was in there, Carter quietly announced. "Hey, I'm going to miss you tonight."

"Carter, wow, you look.yummy." Dave was surprised to see him. He grinned as he turned and zipped up his jeans. "And to think that I'm going to miss out on undressing you from that." He went to wash his hands. "So what are you doing here?"

"Abby called. It seems one of my patients from last night never got admitted. I needed to come down and take care of things."

"You should have called me, I could have taken care of it." Dave knew that Carter had plenty to deal with right now. He didn't need to be worrying about work.

"I was hoping to see you." Carter drew in a deep breath, then exhaled heavily as he leaned against the stall wall. "I needed to see you." He added wearily.

"Are you okay?" Dave asked as he took Carter's hand and tenderly kissed it. "You look tired." He pulled him close and embraced him compassionately.

"Yeah, and I really need to get back." Carter patted Dave's cheek and recomposed himself. "I'll see you in the morning." He quickly kissed Dave and left.

~~~~~~~~

Back at the house, John's father greeted him and his mother as they arrived. John stood still as his mother fixed his loosened tie. He always felt like such a child when he was around them.

Jack seemed a bit upset by the fact that they had taken so long to get there.

Eleanor admonished John for having to make a stop at the hospital as she explained why they were late.

John had acknowledged long ago that there was no pleasing his parents, so, besides being modestly polite, he no longer tried.

He was on his way to mingle with a few guests when he stopped in the hall to reflect on the memories of his brother. Staring at a very large portrait of the two of them together, he found himself wondering what things would have been like if Bobby were still alive.

His thoughts were interrupted when Henry, the butler, announced that his friend had arrived. Thinking that maybe Dave managed to get off early he was pleasantly surprised to find that it was Abby.

His mother watched with disapproval as they strolled out past the guests and sat on a park bench in the middle of the back yard.

"You're going to have some dirty birds." Abby teased, noticing the destroyed birdbath.

"Grandpa liked driving the power lawnmower around." John offered as an explanation.

"And he drove it into the birdbath?" She smiled humorously.

"Not on purpose. He was having a fatal MI at the time." John was trying to keep a straight face as Abby began to stifle her laughter.

"Oh God, I'm sorry." It wasn't funny but she couldn't keep from laughing.

"Got to die somehow." He continued frankly as she nodded in agreement, still snickering under her breath.

"It's not a bad way to go. Sunny day, out on the mower." John was finding it hard to contain himself as Abby continued to try unsuccessfully to not burst out laughing. "Don't.don't laugh." He chuckled lightly.

"I'm sorry." She giggled even more as he began to laugh also. "Well, stop it." Now they were both giggling.

Despite the circumstances, he needed that bit of release that the laughter had offered him. They had finally gotten themselves under control when Abby turned and looked towards him.

"I hope it was okay that I came here, I'm not usually a funeral crasher." She stated empathetically.

"Figured this would be a good one?" He desperately wanted to keep the conversation on the lighter side.

"And I felt bad, that something like your grandfather dying, could happen and you didn't even talk about it." She kept her eyes on him as he sat back and tried to gather up an explanation. He really didn't have one.

They were interrupted by his mother's sudden appearance. Eleanor insisted that he go in search of his grandmother.

Abby understood that he had obligations to attend to as she bid him goodbye. Hoping that maybe they would be able to finish this conversation another time, she got up and left.

~~~~~~~~

That night, John found himself unable to sleep. His parents had refused to stay at the house and he didn't want to leave Gamma alone. Even though he had previously planned on staying, he still hoped that his parents would have, so he wouldn't have to.

He had been so busy since his grandfather died, with helping Gamma make all the arrangements and contacting family and friends, that he really had not had time to allow himself to grieve. He already missed his grandfather terribly and could not even begin to imagine how this was going to effect his grandmother.

Reaching for the phone, he called Dave. He just needed to hear his voice and to say goodnight.
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