“You’re ridiculous,” Stephen joked.
“Maybe I am. But you love me just the same.”
“Yes, I do,” Stephen whispered leaning forward as far as his belly would allow and initiated their kiss. Brenden groaned taking their kiss deeper.
After a few more tender moments they stopped kissing. Stephen turned to the side to rest his head on Brenden’s chest. He wrapped his arms around his lover, and they sat in silence, the movie forgotten. This was what he wanted all along. A man he loved and who loved him back. His hand slipped down to Stephens side. He touched his belly bump that was getting bigger, something he would not say out loud. He learned from watching Jaxson put his foot in his mouth too many times with Christen when he was pregnant. Stephen’s food craving was getting weirder, and he’d almost broken down and had a steak. That was a fun night out.
Brenden shook his head and kissed the crown of Stephen’s head. His breathing evened out, and he knew his lover was asleep. He was about to reach for the remote but changed his mind, he didn’t want to disturb his sleeping partner. He relaxed back on the sofa and listened to Stephen’s breathing that lulled him to sleep.
** ** ** ** **
Stephen was bored out of his mind, he was not meant for desk duty. He liked the thrill of solving the puzzle of a case and going after the unsub. Maybe he had a thing for danger. Getting up he stretched when an idea came to him as he looked around his office. Brook. He’d go and visit his friend Brook Chambers, one of the technical analysts, to see what she was up to plus she was another vegan and hoarded the best snacks. Since being on desk duty, he’d come to rely on Brook; not only for her snacks but her goods on office gossip. He was about to walk away from his desk when his desk phone rang.
“Young,” he answered.
“Mr. Young, this is Mrs. Waters.”
Stephen’s brows furrowed together. Mrs. Waters was the principal of the preschool that Nicholas attended. It was a private school rated as one of the top ten schools in the district for their attentiveness to their students. Accepting students from pre-kindergarten to high school. Stephen liked them and didn’t mind footing the bill.
“Is there something wrong, Mrs. Waters? Is Nicholas okay?”
“That’s why I’m calling, we just returned from a fire drill, and it came to our attention that Nicholas is missing.”
“What?!” Stephen yelled. “What the hell do you mean missing?!”
“I’m not sure if this is correct, but one of his classmates said his mommy came to pick him up. We’ve…”
The phone fell from Stephen’s hand and he couldn’t breathe, he held on to the desk to stop him from falling to his knees. His lips moved but no sound came out as his body shook. His son, someone took his child. Brenden, he needed his lover. “Brenden,” he called out, but it wasn’t loud enough. The next time he spoke, he screamed the other man’s name, getting the attention of everyone in earshot. He called out his lover’s name again. Someone was at his side, but he didn’t know who it was.
“They took him, someone took my baby,” he chanted over and over. He heard a gasp and wondered why Brenden wasn’t at his side. They needed to find Nicholas. His head was starting to hurt and his vision was cloudy with tears. Someone helped him to sit down. He needed to calm down, he thought. Through all his maddening thoughts he finally heard Brenden’s deep voice reach his ears.
“Stephen, baby, look at me.”
He raised his head and looked at Brenden with tears in his eyes. “Brenden, someone took Nicholas. Our baby.”
“I know,” Brenden said calmly. “The principal called me after she called you.”
“We need to go find him.” Stephen tried to get up, but Brenden pressed him back down. “Why are you stopping me? And why are you so damn calm?!” he yelled. “Our son was kidnapped!”
“Stephen, listen to me,” Brenden said to him.
“No!” He got up, and that time Brenden didn’t try to stop him. “I’m going to look for my son since you don’t seem too con…”
“Don’t you finish that sentence,” Brenden snapped. “I am fucking worried about our child, and I’m holding myself back from not tearing this entire city apart looking for him.”
“Then why aren’t you!” Stephen yelled.
“Because I have to think like an agent first and then a father second! And third, I need to make sure you’re not going to run off and do something stupid, adding to my worry,” he said much calmer. He walked closer to Stephen who was losing some of his steam. Brenden pulled him into his arms. “We will find him,” Brenden whispered.
“Promise me,” Stephen said, his voice muffled in Brenden’s chest.
“I promise,” Brenden said stepping back from him.
“I know this will be hard, but I need you to stay here while Jaxson and I go to the school and find out what happened. Okay?”
“I…” Stephen started.
“I need you to stay here, baby, please,” Brenden begged.
