Consumed Pt. 09

With another long sigh, Liam stood up and started putting away the few clothes they had. They basically had two sets of clothing each, plus the one they were currently wearing, which also happened to be the same clothes they wore yesterday. The kids didn't even have pajamas.

About the time he finished putting their things away, Liam caught a whiff of something good. Following his nose to the kitchen, he found Rick working at the stove.

"Mmmm, that smells good. I didn't realize how hungry I was until I smelled the food. Can I help with anything?" Liam asked.

Nope, got it covered. It's pretty simple, just grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. The soup's very good though. My mom makes tons of it from scratch and freezes it. My freezer is full of it." Rick said, as he started spooning the soup into bowls.

The soup was in fact, very good. Nothing like the canned soup Liam was used to. At first, the kids turned their noses up at it, but Rick promised them that if they at least tried it, he would give them both a scoop of ice cream after they were done with their sandwiches. In the end, they both ate a half a sandwich, two bowls of soup and a bowl of ice cream each.

After lunch, the kids headed back up to their room to play and Liam helped Rick clean up the dishes, Liam washing and Rick drying.

Looking out the kitchen window, Liam could see the police cruiser parked out front. "Are they going to be out there all the time?" Liam asked, as he handed Rick one of the dishes to dry.

"Yeah, they will be. But, listen, Mitch mentioned that you didn't get any sleep last night. I can finish up here. Why don't you go lie down and take a nap. If you're not up by dinner time, I'll wake you up." Rick said.

"Oh, god, sleep would be wonderful right about now. Would it be alright if I took a shower first?" Liam asked.

"Hey, this is your home too, while you're here. You don't have to ask. Go ahead. If you need anything, just let me know."

The shower had felt really good. The hot water beating down on his neck and back helped to relieve a lot of the tension and worked to relax him for his nap. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. In fact, he didn't remember anything else until Chris was nudging him awake.

"Uncle Liam, Rick says it's time to wake up. Dinner is ready and I'm hungry. Come on, Uncle Liam, you have to get up." Chris said, working hard to get Liam up.

"Okay, okay, I'm up." Liam said, as he stretched his arms over his head and yawned. Glancing at the clock on the bedside table, he saw that it was just after six-thirty.

"Come on Uncle Liam, we're having chicken for dinner and I helped barbeque it and we're eating outside." Chris said, dragging Liam along.

Dinner was really good. They did, indeed, eat outside on the patio by the pool. They talked while they ate, with Chris and Cassie filling him in on how they had passed their time while he was asleep.

Rick and Chris were taking turns tossing a tennis ball to the dog while they ate their dinner. They found out, quite by accident, that the dog loved water. Chris had accidentally tossed the ball into the pool and the dog dove for it. The kids thought that was great, and after that the dog spent most of his time retrieving the ball from the pool. That was, until the dog decided to shake himself dry at the table, next to Chris.

After dinner, Liam gave the kids a bath, and then got them into some pajamas that he found in one of the dressers in the kid's room. Once they were ready for bed, they all settled down to watch a movie. Liam sat on the couch with Cassie in his lap and Rick sat on the floor with his back against the couch, Chris curled up on one side of him and the dog curled up on the other.

Liam found himself distracted from the movie and watching Rick, in profile, intently. He couldn't help but think how nice this little scene was. He knew he would never have been able to get Jack to hunker down with them like this and watch a movie, especially a kid's movie. Jack was just not a family man. He was an only child with parents that were very successfully motivated and didn't have time for family. It was obvious that Jack just didn't know how to relate to children, didn't know how to be a family, didn't want to be a family. It was really kind of sad when you thought about it.

Liam focused on Rick's profile again. It was nice to have someone around who played an active role with the children. Heck, Rick had basically spent the afternoon watching the kids so he could sleep, and now, here he was, laughing with Chris and Cassie while they watched Shrek.

As soon as the movie ended, Liam herded the kids off to the bathroom and then to bed. He gave them the option of sleeping with him or in their bedroom and he was happy to hear them choose their bedroom. It showed that they were comfortable here and that they felt safe. Although, he assumed that sometime during the night, they would end up in his bed.

Once the kids were tucked away in bed, Liam helped Rick clean up the dinner dishes. Again, Liam washed while Rick dried. At one point, Rick leaned over Liam's shoulder to put away a stack of plates and Liam could feel Rick's chest against his backside. After the plates were neatly stacked back in the cupboard however, Rick didn't retreat. Instead, Liam felt Rick's arm wrap around his waist, pulling him fully against his front.

"God, Liam, do you have any idea what you do to me?" Rick whispered in his ear.

"If it's anything like what you do to me, then I have a pretty good idea." Liam said, as his eyes closed automatically and his heart beat sped up.

Rick had started brushing his lips back and forth along the base of Liam's neck.

"Mmmm…I want to kiss you so bad." Rick practically growled out, as he started kissing the same spot.

"Yessss…" He hissed in agreement, tipping his head to the side to allow Rick better access, and when Rick's tongue came out to meet his skin, Liam couldn't stop the moan that erupted from his lips as he pressed his backside more firmly against Rick.

"I know I shouldn't." Rick said, lightly sucking on the area now.

"No." Liam agreed again, as he started grinding his ass into Rick's groin. "We shouldn't." Liam added.

"I'm going to back away now." Rick whispered in Liam's ear, but made no attempt to actually back off, but instead, his mouth started working on Liam's earlobe.

"Oh, shit!" Liam exclaimed. He couldn't take any more. He wheeled around, grabbed Rick by the back of the neck and pulled his lips to him, their lips meeting in a frantic kiss, mouth's immediately opening up to each other, their hands working to grasp the other and pull them closer, tighter.

Suddenly, and at the same time, they both pushed away from each other, gasping for breath.

"Rick, we can't do this." Liam said, as he tried to catch his breath and slow down his pounding heart.

"I know. Shit, Liam, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I should know better. I'm sorry." Rick said.

"Its okay, Rick, it's not your fault, at least, not all your fault. I wasn't exactly holding back either." Liam said, with a slight chuckle.

"You've got to know Liam, that I'm crazy about you… About you and the kids. I know this isn't a good time, but I just want you to know that." Rick said.

"I can easily tell you that the feeling is mutual, for all of us." Liam said.

"Why do I sense a 'but' about to come out of your mouth?" Rick asked.

"But… I need to resolve things with Jack before we can go any further." Liam said.

"I can respect that." Rick said.

"Thank you, Rick, and I'm sorry about all this. I really appreciate your understanding. If it's okay with you, I think I'm just going to head to bed. I'm still pretty tired from last night." Liam said.

"Hey, you need to just take care of yourself and the kids right now. Yes, I can imagine you are probably still pretty wiped out. Go get some sleep and I'll see you in the morning. Oh, wait, just a heads up. I think Stacey, Mitch, Bren, and Jacob are coming over tomorrow." Rick said.

"Okay, that ought to make the kids happy. Good night, Rick, and thanks for everything." Liam said as he leaned forward and gave Rick a slight kiss on the lips and then headed to bed.

It was about three in the morning when Liam woke with a start. He wasn't sure what woke him, but he was surprised that the kids weren't in bed with him. He sat there for a couple of minutes, just listening, listening for anything that might have woken him, but the house was silent.

Deciding to check on the kids anyway, Liam got out of bed and headed to the room next door. When he peeked in, he found both beds empty. 'Shit, where could they be?' Liam thought, as he started back towards his room to check the bathroom. It was empty. He then checked the kitchen and the living room and couldn't find any sign of the kids. The front door was still locked, so they had to be in the house. "Rick." He thought, as he headed for Rick's bedroom. Rick's door was slightly ajar and when he pushed it further open and peered inside, he found Rick, Cassie, and Chris all curled up together in the bed. The dog was also sleeping in the bed, at the foot of the bed, just below Chris and Cassie.

He heaved a huge sigh of relief and then started backing out of the room, when Rick's voice suddenly startled him.

"I have two little feet in my face." He said facetiously, and Liam couldn't stop the huge burst of laughter that escaped his lungs.

"Shhhh… Don't wake them." Rick admonished.

"Sorry, but you don't know how many times I've woken up with those same two feet in my face." Liam said, still chuckling slightly.

"That's okay, they're cute little feet. In fact, I think they're probably, just about the cutest little feet I've ever seen." Rick said, as he lifted his head and looked at Liam. "Why don't you join us?" He said, nodding his head to the other side of the bed, next to Chris.

"Okay." Liam said, a little too quickly, as he crawled into bed next to Chris. He settled in on his side facing the middle of the bed. He could just see Rick over the top of Chris's head and Cassie's feet. He snuggled closer to Chris and rested his left arm across the top of Chris and Cassie.

"Good night." Rick said.

"Good night." Liam replied, as he felt Rick's hand grasp his, their finger's entwining over the top of the kids, as they both drifted off to sleep.

To be continued...