by Dani Gray
Trevor stirred and Harvey looked down into the sleepy eyes of his mate.
“Hello mate.” Harvey grinned, being able to say that to someone was something he didn’t think he would ever get tired of.
“Hello mate.”
Wow, hearing it said back was just as special as getting to say it.
Grinning, Harvey leaned over so that he could kiss Trevor. The flavor of the other man was something that was becoming one of Harvey’s favorite things. It was even better than one of Peter’s apple turnovers. Moving so that he was about to rest on top of Trevor, Harvey let out a growl at the banging on the bedroom door.
“What do you want now?” He snarled out, not the least bit upset he was so grouchy. He was just getting started with sexing up his mate again.
“You can fuck like bunnies later.” Eros told them through the door. “Get your asses out here.”
Harvey looked down at his mate in surprise when he heard Trevor giggling.
“What’s so funny?”
“Fuck like bunnies.” Trevor managed to gasp out. “How do bunnies fuck?”
Harvey could only stare at Trevor in shock, then he rolled over to the side, roaring out in laughter. He was trying to picture how bunnies would fuck, but all he could think about was his bunny trying to fuck him in his other form. The size difference just wouldn’t work and trying to picture it had him in tears trying to imagine it. Then he tried to explain it to Trevor, which then had them both crying in laughter.
After fifteen minutes of trying to get dressed, while trying not to fall down in laughter, they finally managed to make it out to the living room. The grim faces that met them silenced their snickers faster than any dose of cold water ever could.
“What happened?” Trevor asked. “Have you found my family?”
“Zeus has set up a task force using the human police agencies, or as he has called it an ‘alphabet task force’ to get this taken care of.” Eros told them.
“Asclepius also likes the building,” Peter said. “He’s going to be using it to set up a clinic there. He’s going to look after humans on the three main floors. On the remaining floors, he’s going to look after shifters and have some housing for those who are displaced until they can find new homes.”
“What a great idea.” Trevor said, biting his bottom lip, anxious to know about the rest of his family.
“Asclepius did something that got him into trouble with Zeus.” Eros quietly told them. “He went in and attempted rescued your family.”
“Are they okay?”
“They are fine, Zeus is keeping an eye on them.” Eros told them. “Right now, though, Asclepius is on his shit list. He’s banned from anything to do with the rescue of the shifters. He can only work on his clinic. Zeus has restricted his powers to that place.”
“Can he do that?” Harvey asked.
“Yeah,” Eros breathed out. “Zeus can be one scary fucker if you cross him. He knows what a softhearted person Asclepius is, so he’s letting him continue to help people, but you don’t mess with Zeus.”
“Maybe we should go help him.” Trevor looked up to Harvey, “maybe we can go offer him some support, be his friends.”
“Yeah,” Harvey agreed. “He was good to us and tried to help you. I think he needs his friends right now.”
“Come on,” Trevor stood up, holding his hand out to Harvey, “let’s go and see if we can help cheer up Asclepius. Maybe we can even help him with getting his clinic running.”
“That would be so awesome.” Harvey was excited at the idea.
The sudden ringing of a phone could be heard in the apartment.
“Harvey, isn’t that your work ringtone?” Peter asked.
“Oops,” Harvey said, running to the bedroom and getting his phone.
Quickly answering it, “hi Jerry, sorry for not calling you.”
Everyone watched as Harvey turned red, listening to what his boss had to say to him.
“I know I should have called you, and I didn’t mean to make you worry. But I don’t think that I’m going to be back. I have my mate here and I have to look after him.” Harvey began to say.
Peter stepped up, asking if he could speak to Jerry, so Harvey handed the phone to him.
“Hi Jerry, it’s Peter. Harvey probably won’t be returning back to work. He found a friend of his and they are going to be working at that new clinic downtown. They have some friends and some family here and they are going to be staying there to help them.”
Peter nodded his head to what Jerry was saying, “yeah, but you know Harvey. When he found out that Trevor needed his help, nothing would keep him away. Now that they have been dating for a while and are serious, Trevor came to me and asked how I felt about them getting married. I’m thrilled for them, so I was happy to give my blessings.”
“I know, Harvey can be quiet about stuff like that, but he didn’t say anything as he didn’t want to create any problems on the job in case anyone was homophobic. He didn’t want to make any situations for you.”
“Sure thing Jerry, I’ll be happy to pass on your congratulations. Take care and we’ll be sure to send you an invite.”
After saying that, Peter hung up the phone.
“Sorry about that, but I had to say something to Jerry, and that was the first thing that came to mind.” Peter shyly smiled at Harvey as he handed him back his phone.
“No,” Trevor said, coming up and standing beside Harvey. “That was the perfect thing to say. Now we can plan a wedding for your human friends, while we can get the clinic ready for everyone.”
Trevor smiled up at Harvey, “what do you think, want to get married?”
“YES!” Harvey yelled out, grabbing Trevor into a hug, pulling him up and kissed him breathless.
Pulling back from the kiss, the two men moved to get ready to go to the clinic. Peter put his foot down and had them take separate showers.
“If you guys go in there together, you’ll run out of hot water before you have a chance to get washed.” He laughed when Harvey and Trevor both turned bright red.
“Here, come and eat before you go.” Peter set down plates of food before he ran out the door. “I’ve got to get back down to the coffee shop, I need to get some more baking done before I come meet you guys at the clinic. See you there.”
“Wow,” Trevor moaned around a bite of eggs. “Your brother is such a good cook.”
“I know,” Harvey said, “but he’s an even better baker. I usually do most of the everyday cooking, while Peter usually did the baking.”
“I’m glad one of us can cook,” Trevor told him. “It’s good thing, ‘cause I’m pretty sure I can burn water.”
Chapter Seven
Trevor was excited to see what Asclepius had managed to get done with the clinic, but what he saw when he got there stunned him. The neighborhood was poor – that much was obvious. Furtive people lurking on street corners, the battered sign of a city mission that had seen better days. The building itself was huge, soaring into the sky. Trevor wondered what it had been before a downturn in the economy rendered it useless. But it was clear Asclepius was excited to show them what had been done.
The top five floors for the shifters were already done. All the medical rooms were done, as well as the apartments on the top three floors.
“I would like to offer you one of the apartments on the top floor.” Asclepius said. “I was going to ask if you guys would like to stay here, help me with this place?”
“Are you sure that you want us to help you?” Trevor nervously asked.
“I’m very sure.” Asclepius told them. “When I was helping you, I saw into your souls. I saw the type of people you are and knew that you would be the perfect ones to ask to help.”
“Sure.” Trevor looked over to Harvey, who nodded his head in agreement. “How can we help? But we also need to speak with Peter.”
“Come on up with me.” Asclepius led them over to a bank of elevators. “These are warded to only go to the
human floors if it’s someone who shouldn’t go to the shifter floors. Peter and Eros will be joining us upstairs in a bit. First I wanted some time alone with you guys to give you the tour and to chat with you.”
“We heard about what you tried to do with my family and Zeus,” Trevor said quietly once they were alone on the elevator. “Thank you for trying. I’m sorry that you got into trouble. I never would have wanted that for you.”
“I knew the consequences of my actions.” Asclepius shrugged. “I was hoping that I would be able to rescue them, but I couldn’t manage it. I’m sorry I couldn’t.”
“You tried.” Trevor swallowed hard as tears fell. “That is more than others have done.”
Harvey hugged him while Trevor dried his eyes. Trevor also reached out his hand, pulling Asclepius into the hug. The look of shock on Asclepius’s face caused Trevor to break out in giggles, lightening the mood.
The elevator dinged and the trio stepped off it into a completely different building.
“We used our powers to gets these floors ready now,” Asclepius said. “On the fourth floor is the medical ward for the shifters who are hurt and require any medical attention. The fifth floor is for those who are single, displaced and are looking for a new place to live. The sixth and seventh floors are for families who are displaced and are looking for a new place to live.”
Waving his arm about, Asclepius showed them towards an apartment near the elevator.
“This is the eighth floor,” he said. “This would be your apartment.” He opened the door to what was a large living room with a huge dining room attached to it.
“Why are we on the eighth floor?” Trevor asked, curiosity in his voice as he looked around at the apartment.
“This floor is for the children whose parents are gone and have no one to look after them.” Asclepius smiled softly. “What I am hoping for is that you would become the guardians of those children, until a suitable family could be found for them.”
Trevor stopped at the gasp he heard from Harvey, knowing that his mate would want to do this. Looking after children would be something that Harvey would be perfect at.
“Are you sure that we would be the ones you want to do this?” Trevor asked, moving over to stand with Harvey, wrapping his arms around his mate’s waist.
He looked up into the dark green eyes of his mate. Harvey really did have the most amazing eyes, and he could see the pleading in them. Harvey wanted to do this, and to be honest, so did Trevor. He could see them, spending their lives helping children, raising those who didn’t have anyone. They would help them become loving and caring adults, who would go on to find their mates and begin their families.
“What type of facilities are you going to have here for the kids? Are the kids going to be able to go to school?” Trevor began to look around. “Are we going to be the only ones here? Will we have help to look after the kids?”
“Yes, you will.” Zeus’s loud voiced boomed out around the room, causing everyone to jump and look over their shoulders.
The room was suddenly filled with a bright light, and there, in the middle of the room, stood a small group of people, looking lost and frightened.
“Mom, dad,” Trevor yelled, running over to the older couple. Loud crying could be heard from everyone as they huddled together, holding and checking each other, making sure everyone was okay.
Finally, the woman looked up and her gaze searched around. “Where’s Suzanne?” She frantically asked. “Why isn’t she here?”
“Mom,” Trevor tearfully tried to get her attention. “Mom, listen to me.”
Trevor grabbed her, pulling her into his arms, holding her tightly.
“I’m sorry, mom, but she didn’t make it.”
The loud wail that she made broke Trevor’s heart.
“She fought them when they tried to rape her. They killed her for her defiance of them.”
Trevor watched as his dad came over with tears running down his face. He gently took her from Trevor’s arms and held her while they cried together over the loss of their child.
Going over to his remaining siblings, Trevor took them over to meet Harvey.
“Guys, I would like you to meet my mate.” Trevor walked over and wrapped his arms around Harvey’s waist.
“This is Harvey Ames.” Trevor began to point to his brother and sister. “This is my brother Barry and my sister Sharon. Over there are my parents, Julie and Jacob.”
“Holy shit, dude.” Barry looked at Harvey in amazement. “He’s huge.”
Trevor began to snicker, “yeah, just wait till I tell you what he shifts into you. You’re gonna pee yourself.”
“Why would he pee his pants?” Harvey asked, confusion on his face. “He looks like he knows how to use the bathroom.”
“Dude, what’s wrong with you?”
All sound in the room stopped at Barry’s question, and Trevor could see that Harvey knew that he had said something wrong.
“Um, I’m going to go see what’s in the kitchen.”
Trevor didn’t have a chance to say anything before Harvey quickly ran away.
Turning around to give his brother shit, he was stopped by Asclepius.
“There is something that you need to understand about that very special man,” Asclepius said, anger could be heard crackling in his voice. “He was hurt by someone who should have been looking after him when he was just a baby. They abused him, so now he has to live with the consequences of someone else’s actions. They hurt his brain, leaving him with a condition called shaken baby syndrome. What you just did makes me question your intelligence. How dare you treat him like that!” Asclepius roared out that last few words.
Harvey came running back into the room when he heard Asclepius yelling.
“It’s okay, Skippy.” Harvey grabbed him into a hug. “His words can’t hurt me. Trevor loves me just the way I am, and so do you. Same with Peter and Eros, and Cupid and Liam. Only those who love me can hurt me with their words, and none of you would ever do that to me.”
“Skippy?” Asclepius looked up at Harvey in surprise. “Since when do you get to call me Skippy?”
“I like it.” Harvey told him. “It’s easier to say, the kids will have an easier time saying it, and it will make it easier for you to hide with the humans.”
“Fine,” Asclepius rolled his eyes. “Be all smart and logical.”
Barry stepped up, holding his hand out to Harvey. “Hey dude, I’m sorry. Guess I should think before I speak too.”
Harvey held out his hand and shook Barry’s. Barry’s eyes rounded when he saw the way that Harvey’s hand seemed to make his disappear.
“Holy shit,” Barry whispered, “you’re huge.”
“And get this,” Trevor stage whispered to him. “He shifts into Big Foot.”
Trevor broke into hysterical laughter at the look on Barry’s face. He just stood there with his jaw hanging open.
Chapter Eight
Harvey was happy that Trevor had his family back, and that Barry turned out to be an okay guy.
“Can I ask a question?” Harvey looked around at everyone. “How did you guys get here?”
Asclepius stepped forward, “I think I can answer that.” He waved everyone over to the living room area. “Let’s go sit and we can talk for a bit.”
While everyone moved over, Harvey could see that Trevor’s mom was getting upset about something.
“What’s wrong?” He gently asked her, worried that his size might scare her.
“I’m kinda too dirty to want to sit on your nice furniture.” She whispered to him. Her sudden gasp made him grin. The way that everyone was suddenly clean and dressed in neat and tidy clothing had the rest of the family all looking around at one another wondering what just happened.
“Um, mom…” Trevor began to stammer, “let me introduce you guys to the god of healing, Asclepius.”
“What the…” Barry went to sit on the chair, and promptly fell onto the floor.
&nbs
p; “Pardon?”
“Yeah,” Trevor’s face was turning a very pretty shade of red, or at least Harvey thought it was pretty. “It turns out that I’ve made some new friends.”
“Is that how we got away?” Julie asked him.
“No, ma’am.” Asclepius began to tell her the story. “That would have been Zeus.”
“Holy mother of pearl.” Julie faintly said, going to sit beside her husband.
“I was going to get you out, but I would have been doing it against Zeus’s orders.” Asclepius said. “I was about to defy him, but he stopped me. While I’m glad to see that he saved you, it turns out that had I done it at that time, it would have ruined part of the police investigation. While I wish you hadn’t had to have been there longer, he was right.”
“So, what is going to happen now?” Jacob asked.
“Now, I will take you down to an apartment on the floor below us, and give you time to get settled in.” Asclepius stood up, getting ready to show them to their new home.
“You guys are real?” Barry squeaked out. “I thought you guys were just stories.”
“We are very real,” Asclepius said. “We have been forgotten about, for the most part. Regulated to stories, and I think most of us prefer it that way.”
“Then why are you here now?” Julie looked at him.
“Because of the need I can hear for me and what I can do to help others.” Asclepius said simply. “For both humans and shifters. This is a very poor area, and the people here are trying to do everything they can to raise their families, but it’s just not enough. They have no medical care, because they can’t afford it. Their children are getting sick and dying, and no one cares. Those who do care can’t help enough because they can’t afford to cover the cost of the care that is needed. This is why I’m here.”
