dreamlikenewyork | "Your father's gone a-hunting."

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"Your father's gone a-hunting."

Who: Clint Chevalier, Euan Fitzpatrick, Mark Campbell, James Campbell and Hunter Alexander
What: Revenge is best served murderous
Where: Chevalier-Cole-Ashwood joint, NYC
When: After this and this

Clint had his baby son expertly nursed against his shoulder when he opened the door to his pals. Normally, he would arrange a meeting like this away from home, but he was on solo daddy duty that evening. "Come in. Sorry, my hands are fucking full at the moment. Ange and Lex are away on some dirty lesbo weekend for an anniversary or some shit, and Linc's on a location shoot in Hawaii. I'm left holding the rugrat. Don't worry, he only understands sprog-speak, so your secrets're fucking safe. But I can't put him down, or he'll scream the fucking place to rubble. I dunno what's up with him, but he's a moody shit today."

He had tried everything since Angela and Lexie left at lunchtime, but all he had succeeded in was getting Zephyr to nap for about 3.4 minutes and crap his diaper what felt like about 12 times in the last hour. He was quiet and calm if Clint held him, and all hell broke loose when he tried to put him down for too long. But he was under strict orders to try to stick to a feeding schedule, at least, even if everything else went to shit. Clint wasn't quite as clueless of the process of parenthood as he used to be, but he still felt like his skills paled in comparison to those made to do this job. Like all three of the dudes arriving now to talk about a really fucking sensitive subject. Clint wasn't sure he would have the stamina Mark did to handle all he did with his kid. Clint felt sick to his stomach when he worried about what Zephyr might be like when he grew up, hoping like hell it was nothing like him, even if the kid was looking more and more like him by the day.

"You look rough, bud. I know it's not usually allowed on the menu, but if you want a drink, I'm happy to cough up. You look like you need it," Clint commented as Mark came in with his brother, James. This was some really fucking serious business and Clint wasn't surprised Mark needed back-up. He probably wasn't going to deal well with what Clint revealed here, that he had found out instigating some heavy digging into the situation that was the biological mother of Mark's kid. He nodded to Euan as he passed. "I take it all this is well off the fucking record?"

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All this cop, FBI, criminal mastermind, justice stuff was over Hunter's head, but he was grateful they were at least speaking in Laymen's terms so he could follow what they were talking about. It would ultimately help with keeping Justin assessed and compiling the best care plan for him. He was Justin's Caseworker, and worked closely with the hospital doctors regarding Justin's clinical management. But they worked one-on-one with Justin's family and established care team. But Mark was the apex of the whole care structure built around Justin. He was the one who had the ultimate final say on everything. James was right, they had to tread carefully because Justin needed his dad so much. He would for the rest of his life. He was clinically disabled and he wouldn't be cured. "Look, there's something else I need to table here. Because it's not just Justin's wellbeing to consider. To be honest, seeing how severe this episode is for Justin and listening to his speech patterns, extracting why he is saying certain things, in certain ways, it wouldn't surprise me if she was trying to blackmail him. The whole time I've had Justin as a patient, he has never reacted to a situation by wanting to hurt anyone else. It's always been hurting himself. I don't think that dramatic change in wanting his mother dead is just an added symptom. I think it's a cause."

"But, Justin used hard drugs this time. He had Ice and Coke in his system, granted, it wasn't a lot. I think it's likely he only did it that one night. But took both and we don't know if it was injected because he can't remember. We also don't know what he was cutting himself with, but there were infected lacerations. We know he has a history of using whatever he can get his hands on to cut, to release the endorphins and intercept the pain receptors. And I really need help from all of you, because this particular part is on the clock. He was psychotic and can't remember what he did. We can't rule out the chance he used a dirty needle or cut with something dirty. We're running full blood panels and we've taken the first HIV test and put him on PEP. Is there a chance he might've had sex with Sasha that same night? Or do you think he was too sick for it?"

As soon as Hunter said that, Clint closed his eyes and the air rushed out of him in a heavy sigh. "Fuck a duck," he mumbled, and accidentally poked his son in the nose with his bottle because he lost his concentration. Zephyr was already 100% done with the bottle bullshit anyway, and when Clint tried to get him to take the bottle again, he started to scream the place down. "Alright, alright, kid." He put the bottle aside and stood up, scooping Zephyr up onto his shoulder so he could take him for a little walk back and forth by the window, rubbing his back. He wasn't a good eater, much like Holly wasn't. Whereas, Hols had a medical condition, Zephyr jus got a diva streak off his other dad, and fuck knew Linc's was a fucking ocean wide. If the kid didn't want his bottle, he just didn't want it. But his tears settled as soon as Clint was bouncing him a bit and rubbing his back. His train of thought was derailed with Hunter dropping the bombshell about the HIV risk. "The kid fucking wiped himself out, bud. You ain't the same person on Ice, just like you ain't the same person psychotic. He's got two fucking strikes. Anything's fucking possible. But wasn't he pretty outta it after the runts had their chillout sesh? Would he have fucked if his triggers were raw? I know fucking can be an issue for him sometimes. Ain't Sash Ace? Narrows the chances a lil', I guess."

"Can't fucking rule out blackmail at all. It fits her fucking her MO. And I think she's probably jealous as all fucking shit that Mark's got the kid when he's successful and rich, and she had him when he was, as she probably fucking thinks, was worthless. It's easy to fucking say Mark's genes are responsible for the kid's illness, but it's his fucking mother who ain't playing with a full deck. Pimping a fucking child out like that is fucking vile. We gotta look at this thing from all angles, and one of the biggest is that she controlled him his whole life. Then she lost control when he came to Mark and Mark took her down. Blackmail ain't outta the picture, but I'd be more inclined to think this is a revenge act. She wants to take Mark down, not the kid. The kid's incidental. She might wanna ruin his rep, but do you know whose rep I think she wants to ruin more?" He pointed at Mark with a nod. "And as soon as she lets slip the kid's been fiddled by blokes as a child, ain't gonna be a far step for her to slap the same accusation Mark. Or on his brothers. Or father. Or anyone that'll cause his life to be ruined. She'll use the kid to her advantage. She did it his whole life, and she's been in the fucking slammer for months seething with anger."

Hunter's revelation cut close to the bone for Euan. His adopted son, Noah, was Positive and an addict. He was on a good run right now and after a serious relapse that nearly took his life, he was clean again and doing pretty well. He had bad days, but who didn't. Euan was equipped to weigh-in on this whole thing not just as a NYPD Captain with a long history of being a cop and a detective, but also as a father of a kid with issues similar to Justin. There was no way to ever know if Noah got infected by a dirty needle or unprotected sex, because when he was homeless and trying to harbour a drug addiction, he prostituted himself to pay drug debts. He wasn't much older than Justin, so Euan was understandably shaken with what Hunter said too. Even though Noah's HIV was really well-controlled with meds and as stable as it could be with little viral-load, no one would ever wish it on anyone, let alone a young person. He hoped Mark had the strength to hold up here, but Euan wouldn't blame him if he wanted to hit the bottle with this amount of horrible shit coming at him hard and fast. Not just the HIV, but now James and Clint putting Euan's own concerns out there as he had been planning to do. Blackmail was one, but revenge was what he had been learning towards, especially after reading through the woman's criminal record. She had prior convictions for drug possession and prostitution, but they hadn't been able to nail her with drug trafficking due to lack of a chain of evidence.

He nodded and cleared his throat. "I was gonna put the revenge thing out there. But if I had t'put m'money on mountin' a case here, I'd go both. I think she's threatened the kid with blackmail, probably some demandin' some substantial amount o'cash 'cause she knows he's loaded from what he's achieved, but I think she's threatened t'take Mark down f'somethin' unless he coughs up the money. Makes sense she'd make it as filthy as she can 'cause she'll want t'try and make it stick aimin' at an attorney. She'd only get one chance. She knows what Mark's capable of, he got the book thrown at her with a maximum sentence. It's probably why the poor kid got so spooked and it messed him up mentally. It ain't a secret he's always been terrified o'losin' Mark. He ends up having a bad episode every time Mark's been poorly. Somethin' like a pedophile accusation sticks f'life, whether ya' innocent or not. She mighta told him it's what she was gonna do. Somethin' 'bout this whole thing has made him remember these parts o'his past now. And honestly, I think the first thing ya' gotta do, Mark, is get on the phone and ask Sash if he had sex with Justin that night. He's only got a small window for PEP. Chances are slim, but these slim chances ya' don't wanna fuck 'bout with."

There was a lot to talk about, but Mark was reeling and his head was spinning. "Fuck, I want to say no, but Sash nearly did lines with Justin to try to ground him again. He challenged him, said whatever Justin was going to do, he'd match it. It worked. It shook Justin enough to knock him off course of taking more drugs. Fuck..." He got up, digging his phone from his pocket and went out onto the connected balcony, already dialing Sasha's number. There was no guarantee he would answer. He hadn't been sleeping well since all this happened with Justin, so his folks, along with Mark and Gen, had been encouraging him to sleep if he felt tired when he was home. The summer school break was nearly here. It was just biding his time for a couple more weeks.

Sasha answered. "Mark? What happened, is Justin okay?"

"Sash, I need you to sit down, mate. I've got something serious I need to ask you and it's going to be a bit of a shock. But I don't want you to panic that I'm calling because something has happened to Jus. His condition hasn't changed. I've got Hunter here with me right now. Are you at home?" Mark asked him.

"I've just pulled up at Mom and Dad's. Whatever it is, I can take it."

Mark closed his eyes. He tucked the phone in between his ear and shoulder and grabbed the packet of cigarettes on the outdoor table. He put one between his lips and lit up with the accompanying lighter. He didn't generally smoke. He might have one socially, but usually it didn't bother him. But if he couldn't have a drink, he needed something to try to get through all this. There was a fury bubbling under the surface because his child was not just under threat, but being used as a weapon against him. None of this was going to end well. "Sash, they don't know what Justin did while he was psychotic. There is a whole gap of time no one was with him and he doesn't know what he did either. He can't remember taking the drugs, much less where he got them from. He's blocked it all out. The concern is, if he injected it, he may have used a contaminated needle. Or if he was cutting while he was psychotic, if the implement was dirty. He has lacerations but he doesn't remember doing that either. Hunter said they're testing Justin and started him on post-exposure medication just in case. But I need to know, kiddo, if you had sex with him at any point beyond his during or beyond his psychosis. Because if you did, we need to get you to the hospital straight away."

"I..." Sasha paused and Mark felt his gut give a sick lurch up towards his throat. He leaned on the railing, the cigarette nestled between his fingers. "He wanted it. I thought it'd help him..." Sasha soon added. Panic could hear the panic in his voice.

"It's okay, kiddo. It's probably just a very tiny risk, but we have to cover you anyway. Can you get your mum to take you to the hospital or even to Walker's clinic? You just need to have the initial test and explain the situation. They'll give you a strong medication to combat it, and reduce any chance you might have. Okay? I can come get you and take you if you need me to," Mark offered. If Sash needed it, everything else could wait.

"I-I'll do it. I'll go now. Fuck. I'm leaving now." Sasha ended the call.

Mark had heard he was shaken. He was relieved the poor kid was at his parents. He would call them in a short while to make sure he got there. He finished off the smoke and stabbed it out in the ashtray before going back inside. "I want the cunt gone. I could take her for attempted murder, but it'll take too much time. Get it done. I don't care how. I'm not letting her harm my son again."

Never had James hoped a kid's sexuality could play more in his favour than right now. Sasha had been well and truly part of their family by the time he officially came out as on the asexual-spectrum, so a lot of them had done their learning about it right along with him. James was no exception. He talked to Sasha a lot about it, and had learned some days, Sasha had a general desire for sex with Justin, but other days, he didn't really have any urge for it at all. Things like porn or extended sex scenes in movies made him uncomfortable, and you'd never find him in a strip bar. His exception was Justin, everything else he had no desire for, and never had. But it wasn't the asexual side of his sexuality James was hoping would win out here, he was hoping the part where he only had a desire for Justin might have been dialled down the night Justin was psychotic. In saying that, he had heard the way Sasha had tried to intervene on Justin with the drugs, so he was pretty sure he would've done anything if he thought it might help prevent Justin getting more hurt than he already was. He watched Mark out on the balcony, and as soon as he saw him light up that cigarette, he knew his big brother wasn't coping with any of this. He would keep holding it together as long as he had to, but James knew he had to make sure Mark had any help he needed too.

He didn't ask what Sasha said because he knew Sasha would probably be mortified if he thought anyone was discussing his sex life in any significant way. It would've been why Mark left the room to make the call to start with, and as awful as the situation was, it didn't matter to why they were meeting here today. That was collateral damage to what Justin's mother did, not the root cause of anything. "I care how. I agree, get the bitch burned, but I don't want it coming back on Justin or Mark. Our fucking family have been through enough. It's got to look like natural causes, and I want both your snitches, or connections, or whatever else you have tapped into for information bled dry so no one can put it back on either of them. I'd say aim to make it look like suicide, but nothing would be more o fa kick in the guts to Justin's suffering than that. Natural causes, or find someone willing to go down for the murder to reduce a plea for a loved one. Not an accident, it can be tracked. Not suicide. And I want to be kept informed the whole way. But I don't want anyone else in our family dragged down to it."

Hunter wasn't qualified to weigh in on any of this, but he was no wilting flower. If someone did to the people he loved what Justin's mother had done to him, he would be shelling out whatever it took to get them gone too. But he had to intercept here. "Okay, sorry, but I need to butt-in for a minute because I have to go back to the hospital and care for Justin's mental health, so I need to know firstly, what Sasha said, and secondly, if any of the outfall of this will filter back to him in a certain way so I can pre-empt the best care for him. If he and Sasha had any sort of unprotected sex, I'm going to have to tell Justin about it. He's already seeming like he's going to ask to see Sasha when we thought he might not want visitors. I need to know from Mark the best way to go about navigating that with him because we all know blindsiding him is the worst thing we can do. My duty of care here is to Justin, and he's currently in primary mental healthcare on suicide watch. I don't want anyone here to think I'm palming off the rest of the stuff. I'm not. But his life is immediately in my hands here, and Sasha's by default."

Still, he was trying to keep up with what was going on here. "My question is, Justin already asked Clint to get rid of his mother, and he's an intelligent kid. Really intelligent. Some people, for some abhorrent reason, think mental health means brain damaged or intellectually incapacitated, and nothing could be further from the truth in this case. I think the fact he even approached Clint in the way he did without going to anyone else here in this room is indicative of how smart he is, because each of you have professional ladders to tumble a significant distance from. He wasn't psychotic when he asked Clint to do this. I've asked Clint about Justin's demeanour during that meeting, and even if he was spiralling, he had complete clarity in what he was requesting. You don't think he's going want to know what happened if she suddenly turns up dead? I don't know enough about his history with her to know how this will impact on him and his mental health is extremely volatile right now."

"Butt in all you need, bud. You're the one who can fucking think the clearest of us all with this case. We've all got kids, we ain't medical professionals. That's why you're here, Mark wants you to butt in any fucking time you need. We're thinking about the poor kid in a different way. But you... you see what happens when we don't get to kids soon enough and cunts like that bitch in the slammer are left to destroy them." Clint was still pacing, rubbing Zephyr's back. By this point, he didn't know if he was the one comforting his kid, or if the fact he was nursing him was keeping him calm. Whatever it was, in this moment, he was starkly aware how much time Mark had missed with his son. Clint only had his a very short while, but he couldn't imagine staring his death in the face. It made him feel sick to think about. He had felt bad enough when Ange and the baby had been at risk when he was born, and that was a natural cause, not this what Mark had to try to navigate when he probably felt like he was losing his mind.

He was nodding at what Hunter was saying. "Justin's got his dad's brain. Maybe some fucking mental illness can cancel out smarts, but not bipolar. He knew what he was coming to me for. And he knew fucking why. That doesn't mean he's ever gonna be able to verbalise why. Maybe wanting him to'll be too damn much. We all want the cunt dead, why shouldn't he? If he's remembering the full story, maybe all he wants is peace and freedom from her. I ain't no fucking mental health professional, fuck knows no one'd give me that job, but I think with this particular kid, who we've all seen crash and burn, the benefits of what we do'll far out way the drawbacks. The risks. Sounds to me, that as long as she's alive and wants revenge on Mark, she ain't gonna stop and she ain't got no qualms harming a seriously sick kid for her own gain either. Didn't seem to matter to him how she was destroyed, just so long as she was gone outta his life... outta his head."

"Aye, look... I gotta kid who's Positive, and I can tell ya'll that I went t'hell and back w'him when w'were findin' out, and that was before he was even m'kid. I get what it's like t'have sick kids and it's seriously the fuckin' hardest thing a parent can do. Ya' fuck it up all o'er the place tryin' t'just get it right, and even then, ya' got no clue what should be right and what shouldn't. And I know the fuckin' justice system in this fuckin' country is up the fuckin's shite and then some. The cunt's always gonna find a way t'try t'fuck him up. I think it's revenge she's wantin'. And probably fuckin' money. Kid's loaded, she'll probably be thinkin' he owes her. I don't think it's gonna get us any further forward if we sit back and let the system take o'er. So, even if I'm gonna turn a blind eye, ya' don't need me t'tell ya' what I'd do if I was in this position, mate. I done the same f'my kids. And I'd do it all o'er again if I had't." Euan shook his head, because it was atrocious they even had to be discussing this at all. As if the kid's potential self-imposed death sentence wasn't a battle enough for him to cope with.

He gestured to Hunter. "Hunter's right. I've seen horrifically fucked up kids been through less trauma than this kid, and there'll never be goin' back f'em. Right fuckin' messed up, some o'em endin' up rapists or mass murderers 'cause they didn't get the help for the mess in their heads when they needed it the most. That's the difference here. The kid has bucketloads o'help and many folk who love 'im dearly. That's gonna keep him alive the best it can, but I don't think he's gonna survive draggin' the cunt through another court case. Months and months on end o'im tryin' t'wait out the end result, just t'see if she'll get some fuckin' extended sentence. Then what? She tries to fuckin' get t'him again in another year? Make whatever call ya' need t'make as a dad, mate. Forget the fact ya' a fuckin' attorney. That ain't the more important job here. Justice ain't the most important outcome. Ya' kid still havin' life's breath is. Alright? We've all got ya' back. And if ya' want Clint t'take care o'it without ya' input t'focus on ya' kid, just say the word."

Mark had gratitude beyond words every day that he had mates who understood the difficult task of parenting a kid with issues. There were many times they offered sound advice when he was poised to fuck up out of anger or plain distress about missing so many years of Justin's life. Years that were filled with abuse and neglect, and pain that kept an undiagnosed mental illness exacerbated and life-threatening. He knew it was a miracle Justin ever found him. Barely hanging onto his life, but he was one of the best things Mark ever did. But Justin's batshit crazy mother stole those vital years from him. He could've known the kid since he was born, but she chose to instead take her fucked up anger towards him out on the kid. He was starting to realise there was a reason he didn't remember sleeping with her, even if she had a reputation for being a slut on campus. There was a good chance she roofied him, he knew that. And closing in on two decades later, he still felt stupid for it. But he was a cocky SOB back then, basking in the glory of being the top of his Ivy League class and destined for greatness. He shouldered the blame that was his.

He nodded, trying to form some semblance of organised chaos on his head. But maybe it was impossible to organise because it was so fucking incomprehensible that someone would want to harm an innocent child. That would always be an incomprehensible fact. It just made you lose your shit and cripple your brain from working succinctly when the innocent child was yours, that you made and would sacrifice your own life to protect. "Okay. Get it done. And if it can be a slow and painful death, even better. Not that anything will make up for torturing a kid for fifteen straight years of his life, but small mercies. Make it clean and untraceable. I want to know when it's done."

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"Your father's gone a-hunting."

WINNING AT LIFE, BB! \o/

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