Blake & Gabe

"Thank you Blakey." Blake smiled at her and turned to walk away. "Blake?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Please take this bread I made. You're looking too skinny." Blake went to say no. "It's a banana nut, with pecans."

"Not walnuts."

"Nope, that's my secret." She smiled.

"Thank you Ma'am." Blake smiled, taking the loaf from her.

Getting back in the cruiser, he set it on the seat beside him and started to write up his report before he left Mrs. Friedrich's home. He called over the radio that he cleared the scene and was heading back out on patrol.

Blake wasn't called out on any more quote-unquote disturbances for the rest of the day. He did pull a few people over for speeding. He laughs at the juvenile girls. They always give him sad puppy dog eyes when he pulls them over. Most policemen will let the juvenile girls off but tend not to let the boys off as much without letting them sweat a little. But Blake does keep a list of juveniles that he pulls over, and if they stay on his radar, he will eventually give them a ticket.

When Blake finished the day, he went to a standing weekly appointment with his psychologist Tom Griffin. He has been seeing Tom for a few months now, so they are still working through back history and establishing the reasons to continue. Depending on if Blake is running late or not, he sometimes has shown up in uniform, which he doesn't like to do. It's mainly because it's a huge waiting room, and there are kids, and he would like to blend in and not be noticed. But when he runs late, he has to be in uniform, and it means he is carrying because he's not going to leave his service weapon in his car.

The first time that Blake came into the office in uniform, it shocked Tom. They had talked about what he did for a living, but when you first start seeing a patient, not all their information is in memory. So the first time Blake showed up carrying, it was a little unnerving for Tom. But Blake offered right away to take his duty belt off and set it in the corner. Tom stated it was okay that he didn't feel unsafe, just didn't realize it. That's another reason Blake tries to change before coming.

Today he was able to change, and before leaving the station, he placed his gun in the safe that he had installed in his car's trunk. He walked into the office's waiting room, signed in, and sat down. There is always this one little girl, she is about nine, and it doesn't matter if he is in uniform or not, she just stares and never talks to him.

Blake was off in his memories, and Tom could tell because when Tom first came to the waiting room, Blake didn't even notice he was there. Blake was just staring off into space when Tom entered. It took walking into Blake's field of vision for Blake to snap out of it and follow Tom to his office.

"Well, Blake, since I noticed that you were off in your thoughts. Would you like to share?"

"Was just thinking about when my father moved us here," Blake responded.

"You moved here after your father left the service and became a police officer, correct?"

"Affirm..." Blake looked at Tom. "Yes, you are correct."

"I do understand you were brought up in a military setting Blake and you even followed your father into both, Army and now the police force. So I know your language will be different."

"Yeah, but I do try to tone it down some, especially when I'm out with friends."

"What made you start thinking about when you moved here?"

Blake chuckled, "It was a... Mrs. Friedrich, she's an elderly woman, and she has been calling in a few disturbances lately." Blake had stuck up his hands to make the air quotes when he said disturbances. "She's lonely, and it just reminded me of when I moved here as a juvenile."

"I'm not completely following."

"She reminds me a lot of Mrs. Jacobs. She was our elderly neighbor. She took a shine to me." Blake chuckled again. "Mrs. Friedrich is treating me like what Mrs. Jacobs did. But Mrs. Friedrich is calling nine-one-one to have me come by."

"Have you thought about stopping there when you're not on duty?"

"Actually, yes, after talking with her today, I think I just may." Blake did really want to start checking up on Mrs. Friedrich. He knows she is just lonely, and he did see things that needed to be done around her home.

"How old were you when you moved here?"

"Eight, my father retired from the army after only putting in eighteen years then became a police officer."

"Why didn't he finish out his twenty."

Blake chuckled. "One person threatened to leave him, but with us."

"Your mom threatened to leave him with your sister and you?"

"Affirmative. They only made it another two before my mother moved out, and they divorced when I was twelve."

"You lived with?"

"We both were with my mom, then when she couldn't deal with me any longer. I permanently moved in with my dad."

"Does your mother live here?"

"No, she moved back to Chicago after the divorce with my sister."

"Your mom didn't want to take you?"

"No, she didn't want a gay son, my father didn't either, but he wasn't going to cast me aside. I think he just thought it was a phase I was going through. I tried to tell them it wasn't, but they wouldn't believe me. At least not then."

"How about now?"

"We don't talk about it."

"Well, we will talk about that next time since we are now out of time. So you were technically saved by the bell." Tom smiled.

"Yeah Doc." Blake chuckled as he left.

Blake's weekends were spent first helping his father. Even though he knew his father was more than capable of doing everything himself, being retired from the army and police force. Brian, was in great shape for being in his mid-sixties.

"Kate will be here next week."

"My sister?"

"Fuck Son, of course, your sister. Who else would be coming into town next week?"

"Sorry Sir, I don't know what I was thinking."

"Apparently nothing." Brian doesn't mean to put his son down. He doesn't know where his anger comes from. Brian went into the kitchen. "Do you want to stay for dinner?"

"I was actually going to eat at the diner tonight," Blake stated. "But yeah, I can stay."

"Hell, why don't we both go up to the diner."

"Sure, you can see your girlfriend, and I can eat something that's not burnt." Blake chuckled, and so did Brian.

They drove separately, so Blake didn't have to take his father back home afterward, and they ended up having a nice dinner with one another. Sally even came by the table and sat down with them for a bit when it was slow.

*

One evening during the week, Blake was sitting in the diner. He had been watching the people in the surrounding booths, particularly this one couple. They had been talking low, but Blake knew by the woman's body language that she was angry at the man. The man was taking the abuse, and he wasn't arguing back. Blake thought he didn't want to be noticed.

When the woman got up to leave, the man stayed. He just stared into space, not moving. Blake could tell he didn't know where or what he was doing next.

When Sally came over to refill Blake's coffee, he asked if she knew the couple. Which she informed him that she did. Sally told him that they weren't a couple, that they were siblings. She had seen them many times before, but this was the first time she had been angry with the brother.

Blake decided to see if he could talk to the man. He still seemed lost. "Would you like some coffee and company?" Blake asked before he took a seat across from the man.

"What?" The man looked up from the table.

"Would you like some coffee? It looks like you need to talk. Name's Blake."

"Sure, Gabriel, Gabe." The man smiled and pushed his plate aside. Blake motioned for Sally to come over and asked for another cup and more for himself.

Blake smiled. "Gabe, would you like some pie or anything?" Gabe shook his head.

"Why are you being nice?"

"Why not?" Blake responded. "Anyways, it looks like you need a friend right now. But if you don't, I can move back to my table."

"No, it's fine. I was just wondering." Gabe responded. "Were you done with your dinner?" Gabe looked back to where Blake had been sitting.

"Yes, but I would like some dessert." He was still working on sounding less like a cop when off duty. His therapist didn't thoroughly recommend it but agreed it may help him sound less commanding when talking to other men. "I hear the apple pie here is out of this world."

"Now I know you are lying." Gabe laughed, and so did Blake.

"Well, what can you say? It's never going to be like grandmas." Blake smiled.

"You can say that again, but in my case, like my aunts. She can bake like you can't believe. Sometimes I think there's crack in it." They both laughed.

"I can believe, hell, I get called out to an older woman's home quite a bit, and she gives me pie. The other day she gave me an entire loaf of banana bread. I had the entire thing gone in one night."

"Sounds like you've been hit by the old lady crack," Gabe responded. "What do you do for a living, to be called out to someone's house all the time?"

"I'm a police officer." Blake never knows when talking to complete strangers if telling them what he does for a living is going to make them uneasy or not. Because he can't call in every stranger's ID to find out if they're wanted.

"Okay." Now Gabe wondered if Blake was sitting here to be a friend or a cop. Thinking that because his sister went off on him, he would do something to himself or others.

"Yup, that's why I didn't want to tell you what I did for a living." Blake smiled, trying to relieve the tension.

"Why didn't you want to tell me?" Gabe looked down because he knew Blake knew what he was thinking.

"Because I can see you're overthinking the situation now. Just don't. We are talking here. I walked over because it looked like you could use someone to talk to. Plus, I haven't seen you in here before, but I know Sally has."

"Yeah, Sally has been waitressing here for a long time, hasn't she?" Blake could tell he calmed Gabe a little with that statement.

"Yeah, she has."

"But I've seen you here before. You almost always sit in that booth. If you can't get that booth, you will sit at the counter." Gabe commented. "But I've never seen you come here in uniform."

Blake laughed, "Who's watching who here, and once in a blue moon, I'll come in uniform."

"To be truly honest, I've only seen you a few times, and you've looked tired. Maybe that's why you haven't noticed me. But I'm sure a cop would have been looking at their surroundings before anything."

"That would be the reason I'm in that booth. No one can be behind me and in the worst case, the last seat at the counter. But no, I stopped scanning the customers years ago, unless Sally tells me to watch someone."

"So what drew your attention to me... nevermind," Gabe remembered that his sister bitched him out not more than thirty minutes prior.

Blake laughed. "See, you needed a diversion." Then Gabe smiled.

They talked for a while longer but didn't make any plans to meet again. Gabe left first, and Blake just sat there. "So, do you like him?" Sally came around to the table.

"Sally, it doesn't matter if I do or don't. He's not gay." Blake responded.

"How do you know? Did you ask him?" Sally was clearing the dishes from the table. "You two seemed like you were having a good time talking."

"We were, and no, I didn't ask him." Blake got up and handed her some money, and walked out of the diner.

Gabe went home and thought about Blake. Blake was average but good-looking to Gabe. He was five-nine, the same height as Gabe, but Gabe was a little stockier than Blake. Blake had brown hair that he kept short because you could see that it was thinning. Gabe was a shaggy sandy blonde, which gets greasy when he's under a car repairing it, so he smells like oil a lot.

Gabe fixated on Blakes' green eyes as he masturbated. He would love to see all of Blake, but he loved talking with him and looking into his green eyes. And now, knowing that he's a policeman will make his fantasies about him more interesting.

It didn't take Gabe long to rub one out over Blake. He was imagining Blake standing over him in uniform, smiling and holding his cuffs. When Gabe started cumming, he wasn't quiet about it, and it surprised him.

Blake didn't think about Gabe after that night at the diner. He didn't have time between seeing his psychologist, keeping his dad happy, and working. In Blake's life, there is never any time for dating. He still abides by that rule.

It's not to say that Blake hasn't had sex with anyone, but it has been a long time since he's even done that. He's just not had a relationship since moving back and following his father's footsteps into law enforcement. Sally's always trying to push him to date. Telling Blake that his father has always been fine with him being gay. Blake just can't bring himself to take that step yet.

Blake stopped at Mrs. Friedrich's to check up on her. She answered the door with a big smile. "Blakey, I didn't call. I promise."

"I know Mrs. Friedrich. I just stopped by to see how you were doing and if you needed anything done."

"No Blakey, I couldn't have you do anything for me." Mrs. Friedrich said.

Blake smiled, "Well, okay, Mrs. Friedrich, then I'll just go and talk with you later." He went to turn around, and she stopped him.

"Well, I do have a few things you could do. My grandson will come and mow my yard every other week, but he won't do anything else. I know I'm just a burden to my daughter."

"Ma'am, what do you need done?"

Mrs. Friedrich just listed a few things that could be done outside, and Blake got to work quickly. As he finished one thing, he would notice something else and would make a list. So if he couldn't take care of everything, which he knew he wouldn't be able to, he would do it next time.

"Blakey?" Mrs. Friedrich called from the porch. He was around the side picking up branches, cutting them, and putting them in yard bags.

He came around the corner, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Yes Ma'am?"

"Why don't you come in for lunch and iced tea. You should cool off some."

"Yes Ma'am, let me finish this little bit, and I will be in, in about five minutes. I promise." She nodded and went back in while he finished what he was doing. When he walked in, he ducked into the bathroom to wash his hands.

"There's a washcloth there if you want to wash your face, Blake." Which he did, then walked into the kitchen where she told him to have a seat.

Sitting a plate down in front of him with a tuna fish sandwich with potato salad and chips. "Thank you Ma'am."

"Helen."

"Ma'am?"

"Helen Rose Friedrich, Davis before I got married." She smiled. "Frank Otto Friedrich." She laughed. "Blake, I think Otto would have liked you. You remind me so much of our son, Frank Jr."

"Ma'am, I take it he is not alive?"

"No, Blake, Junior died a long time ago. I only have Rebecca now. She comes by when she can. That's Junior's wife. David, my grandson, will stop every two weeks to mow the lawn, but he's busy too. I'm amazed they haven't hired it out yet."

"Ah, David Friedrich." Blake knew of David, knew he was known to drink a lot too.

"Well, I know there's not much I can say about him. He's my grandson. I just wish he would settle down and get married." Helen brought out an apple pie after Blake finished his lunch.

"Mrs. Friedrich, you are going to get me fat." They laughed.

"Blake, you need something for your loved one to hold." She smiled as she served him up a quarter of the pie.

When Blake left that day, he had a list of things that needed to be done around her house. He had taken a walk through her entire home, he knew he would be showing up there for a while, and she needed the company. She also produced another loaf of her special banana nut bread, this time, Blake didn't even try to tell her no.

That evening he stopped at the diner for dinner, and Sally was working. Not long after he sat down, his father came in and joined him. Sally would come by the table and chat when she could, but of course, she had other customers. One was Gabe, who noticed immediately that Blake was in the diner.

"Gabe, how are you doing tonight?" Sally walked up to him, staring at Blake.

"Ah... What?"

Sally laughed and sat down beside him, so she wasn't loud. "Gabe, ask him out."

"What?" Gabe cleared his throat. "Sally, how did you know?"

"Gabe, you don't think I watch people?"

"Sally, he's not gay."

"Well, how would you know if you don't ask?"

"Well, in my case, I'd get punched, and he's a cop. I'm sure he can punch decently well." Gabe responded.

"Well, I think you can handle it. You look like you're in good shape for a mechanic."

"Yeah, well, again, I'll look from afar. I don't think he's gay. He didn't look twice at me. So either he's not, or I'm not his type."

"Okay," Sally responded and got up. "Would you like a refill?"

"No thanks." Gabe handed her some money and left the diner. All the while, Blake was watching them, and Sally knew this.

*

Brian stopped off at his son's on his way out of town. "Hey, will you do me a favor in the morning?" Blake was sitting on his porch.

"It depends on what it is." He smiled. Brian just shook his head.

"You're an asshole, son, you know that." Brian blew out. "I need you to pick my car up from the repair shop while Sally and I are gone this weekend. It'll be ready tomorrow.

"Yeah, I can do that. I'll be at Jacks in the morning."

"It's not at Jacks."

"Where is it?"

"Wilks Auto Repair," Brian stated.

"Not Jacks?" Blake couldn't believe that his dad didn't take his car to his long-time buddy.

"No, I took it to Wilks. Will you pick it up or not?"

"Yeah, I'm off tomorrow. Where are you taking Sally this time?"

"Just to the cabin."

Saturday morning, Blake found himself walking into Wilks Auto Repair. Blake was there because he told his father he would. He didn't know why his father couldn't pick his car up when he returned on Monday.

Blake had walked to the repair shop, and when he arrived, it wasn't busy. There was just a juvenile girl working the service counter. Blake could hear someone working on a car in the garage. The girl looked up when Blake walked through the door because it rang a bell as it opened. "Officer Parker!"

It took Blake a few seconds to recognize the girl. He had pulled her over a few weeks prior. "Marshall, Becky. Right?"

"Yes Sir, and again, thank you for not giving me a ticket. My mother would have killed me." Becky smiled. "Are you here to pick up or drop off?"

"Here to pick up my father's car, Brian Parker."

Becky looked through the invoices and pulled out one. "Oh, his car was ready yesterday." Blake thought to himself, 'of course it was.' Then wondered why his father didn't collect it himself. "Total due is five hundred and sixty-two dollars and eighty cents." 'Bingo,' Blake thought, 'his dad didn't want to pay right then because Sally and he were going out of town, and he probably wanted all his money.'

Blake just pulled out his wallet and handed over his credit card. Once she ran it and Blake signed it. She attached a copy to the invoice and gave it to him. "I'll get my uncle so he can go over what he did to the car. Wait here, Officer Parker."

Blake turned around. There were a few chairs against the wall, so he sat down. He chuckled to himself. Sometimes he wishes his dad would use credit cards but understands why his dad doesn't. Blake was leaning over with his head looking down, he was tired, and he was sort of massaging his neck.

Gabe was standing at the door watching Blake. Blake had his coffee from a local chain on the floor between his legs. He was still rubbing his neck when he reached for his coffee to take a drink. As he lifted the cup, their eyes met, and Blake smiled.