A Chance at a New Life

For once, Detective Parker left without a sarcastic parting word.

The cold, snowy winter had given way to a warm sunny spring when Alex entered the master bedroom one afternoon and pulled Scott's blanket down. Leaning over the bed, he tapped his shoulder.

It had become a standard signal; Scott put his uninjured arm around Alex's shoulders and Alex picked him up.

"Where are you taking me?" Scott asked as he was carried from the room.

"Outside."

Through the open door to the backyard, Scott saw that his lawn was populated with tables and chairs, and standing among them were the other detectives in his squad. Some of the tables were covered with food. One held a candle-festooned cake.

Alex brought Scott out onto the lawn, where he was greeted with a unison cry of "Happy birthday!"

Someone lit the candles.

Scott beamed. "Guys, I don't know what to say!"

"You could say thank you" someone suggested as Alex was lowering Scott carefully onto a chaise lounge. "But not to us. Alex did all this. As if he didn't have enough work taking care of you, he made all this food and set up the lawn furniture. He said the only thing he wantedusto do was be here for the party."

Alex had now finished arranging Scott on the chaise lounge and was unfolding a blanket. He turned toward the voice.

And almost dropped the blanket - the speaker was Detective Parker.

Scott smiled up at Alex. "This is sensational! Thank you!"

Detective Parker frowned. "That's it? Thanks and a smile? After everything he's done for you? Maybe I should go through the list. And these are just the things I know about." Detective Parker pretended to count on his fingers: "He kicked a heavy smoking habit for you." One finger was extended. "He was giving you most of his pay until he quit his job so he could dedicate himself entirely to your care." That required two more fingers. "Because we're helping you, he took a boatload of crap from some of us and from me in particular, without ever telling any of us to fuck off. And he must have run himself ragged putting this party together while still giving you the awesome care you've been telling us about. Let's see, is there anything else, I'll need the other hand. Oh there is one more thing I could mention:He's changed completely for you, Scott! Aren't you at least going to kiss him?"

Scott's shocked expression drew a snort from Parker. "Don't look at me like that, we all know how you two feel about each other. So kiss him!"

When there was still no response from Scott, the other detectives began chanting "Kiss him! Kiss him! K―"

"Alright, alright!" Scott said, laughing. "I yield to public opinion." He reached up. "Get that exquisite face down here."

It was a deep, lingering kiss. Everyone applauded.

=====

Following the removal of Scott's casts at the beginning of the summer, he was given physical therapy to restore the muscles that had gone unused for so long. He put maximum effort into the exercises, anxious to free Alex from the burden of attending to his every need. By the end of the summer he could manage on his own in the house, and Alex started as an assistant to the chef.

Seeing how creatively Alex dealt with the variety of challenges his tasks presented, the chef said: "Detective Henderson is right, you have a flair for this. If you ever want to apply to culinary school you can count on me for a recommendation."

Scott returned to work after two more weeks at home. The evening of his first day back, he proposed to Alex.

Alex gaped at him.

"We can have the ceremony in Boston" Scott told him. "Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and we don't have to be residents. It won't be recognized in Colorado but that's just a matter of time, there's a growing trend in this country."

Alex remained open-mouthed.

"Well?" Scott asked. "Will you marry me or not?"

Scott had proposed in the autumn of 2010. It was now the autumn of 2015 and this month would mark their fifth wedding anniversary.

There were also two other events that warranted celebration: Recently Alex had graduated from Escoffier, a renowned culinary institute, and the United States Supreme Court had struck down all laws banning marriage between people of the same sex. Their marriage was already recognized in Colorado, gay marriage having been legalized there the previous year; now it would be recognized throughout the United States.

They decided to celebrate the three events together by hosting a catered dinner party. Since they had chosen to keep Alex's culinary pursuits private, the invitations mentioned only the anniversary and the Supreme Court decision.

The party was a jubilant affair, with jokes about their now being an old married couple and wisecracks about Scott having robbed the cradle. At one point he demanded: "When will you all stop taunting me about Alex being a few years younger than me?"

Detective Ryan spoke for everyone: "Never."

=====

That night, after they made love Alex snuggled up and said: "I'm glad you didn't tell anyone about Escoffier before the party."

"Why?" Scott asked, holding him close.

"Because I wouldn't have had the fun of seeing the looks on people's faces when they asked you to give their compliments to the chef and you pointed to me.

"Yes, I got a kick out of that too."

All at once Alex gave Scott a fiery kiss.

Scott drew back. "What wasthatfor? Don't get me wrong, it was terrific. I'm just curious."

"If not for you, I would probably be spending my life going in and out of prison. Or I would be dead by now. That's another life you've saved."

Scott ran a hand tenderly over Alex's face. "You saved your own life. I only helped."

"I expect we'll always disagree about that."

Scott pulled Alex close again and said: "In case you don't know it, I love you with all my heart."

"I love you more."

Scott grinned. "I expect we'll always disagree about that."

For several minutes, neither one spoke. Then Scott said: "You know, they're right: I did rob the cradle. And no matter how old we get to be, I'll always think of you as my young husband."

Alex kissed him again. "I like that."

They lapsed once more into silence. Soon, Alex was asleep. Scott remained awake a while longer, looking adoringly at Alex and thinking how much better his own life had become since he took in the teenage boy who everyone else had rejected. He was happier now than he could ever have imagined.

That thought was still in his mind as he drifted off to sleep with his young husband in his arms.

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1. Although an exotic device was used to verify the Twin Paradox, relativistic effects are significant in everyday life for everyone who has GPS in their smart phone or vehicle: The GPS system depends on an array of satellites that orbit the Earth. They move at speeds far below that of light, but relativistic effects must be taken into account, otherwise the extraordinarily precise clocks those satellites contain would drift far enough from ground-based time to make the GPS system useless.

2. 'Through the Looking Glass' (whose full title is 'Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There') is one of two classic works by mathematician and logician Charles Dodgson, who wrote children's fiction under the pen name Lewis Carroll. The conversation that Scott said would appeal to philosophers, involves a distinction the White Knight makes between a song he's about to sing, what the song is called, the song's name, and what the song's name is called. Analytic philosophers would recognize that as a use-name distinction. It would also appeal to system-level computer programmers, who would see it as indirect addressing, and to Talmudic scholars, who make such distinctions when referring to God.