Consumed Pt. 10

"I fell and hit my head. I'm okay though, so don't worry.

"Does it hurt?" Chris said, as he came up and lightly touched Liam's face.

"A little bit." Liam said, while he picked Chris up and put him in his lap. Cassie climbed up too and he hugged them both close.

"Stacey, can you go get my medical kit from the trunk of my car? I want to check him over and make sure he's okay." Rick asked, and then turned his attention to the kids, as Stacey left to get the medical kit. "Chris, Cassie, Bren, Jacob, why don't you guys go get cleaned up. Take a shower and get all the chlorine washed off and get dressed. We'll have dinner in a little bit." Rick said, as the kids left the room and Stacey came back with the kit.

"I'll just go and make sure the kids don't flood your bathroom." Stacey said, as she followed the kids upstairs.

"Okay, first, did you lose consciousness?" Rick asked.

"No, I didn't." Liam replied.

"Have you had any dizziness or nausea?"

"I had a dizzy spell when I first sat up from resting at Laura's house, but I think I had just sat up too quickly. I've been fine since. No nausea either." Liam replied.

"Okay, that's good." Rick said, as he pulled a penlight out of his EMS bag and proceeded to check Liam's pupils. "You really should have gone to the hospital. Head wounds aren't something you want to mess around with. Now, I'm going to check out your neck. Most likely you're fine, but I want to make sure there isn't an underlining neck injury. Tell me if I press anywhere that hurts, okay?" Rick said.

"Okay."

Rick asked a few times if certain areas hurt and Liam replied that it didn't. In actuality, it felt kind of good. Rick's large, warm hands massaging and pressing against his neck was pretty soothing.

"Well, I'd say you're probably going to be fine. I think you're mom's assessment that you have a slight concussion is right on. I would recommend you rest up and take it easy. Let me know if you have any more dizziness or if you have any nausea. Now, I want to take a look at the head wound." Rick said, as he parted Liam's hair to take a look.

"That's a nice little gash you have. It probably could have used a couple of stitches, but it's too late for that now. It doesn't matter anyway, your hair will cover the scar you're probably going to have." Rick said.

"Hey, what happened to everybody? You guys head out to take a bathroom break and nobody ever comes back. You guys all just ditched me." Mitch said, as he walked into the living room. Noticing everyone's solemn looks, he stopped in his tracks. "What's wrong? What's happened?" He asked, looking first at Frank and Rebecca, then at Rick, and then his eyes settled on Liam. "Oh, man, Liam, what happened?"

Liam groaned. He especially didn't want to explain what happened to Mitch. Thankfully, Rick beat him to the punch.

"His prick of a boyfriend hit him." Rick answered.

"Ex." Liam corrected and Rick's head snapped back to Liam.

"What?" He asked.

"Ex-boyfriend or ex-partner, however you look at it. Five years really does garner something more than boyfriend, doesn't it?" He asked.

"Ex, really?" Rick asked, completely ignoring Liam's babbling. He couldn't help the stupid grin that spread from ear to ear across his face.

"Yeah, ex." Liam replied, matching Rick's stupid grin.

"Ahem, okay girls, I don't mean to interrupt this tender moment, but I've got tri-tip on the barbeque and we might want to eat it before it turns into jerky." Mitch said.

"Right." Rick said, as he stood up from the couch. "Mr. and Mrs. Strickland, would you like to join us? There's plenty. We've got the tri-tip, a potato salad that Stacey brought over, and corn on the cob."

Both Frank and Rebecca wanted to stay, mostly so they could watch more of what was obviously transpiring between their son and Rick, but Laura was expecting them back for dinner, so they regretfully declined and headed home. But, before they left, Rebecca made Liam promise to call her tomorrow morning and let her know how he was doing, and then made Rick promise he would keep a close eye on him tonight.

Dinner was good, as usual, but Liam got frustrated when Mitch kept trying to push him to press charges against Jack. He didn't want to press charges. He could understand why Jack got so angry. Liam probably would have been just as angry if he thought that Jack was cheating on him. Although Liam didn't think he would have actually hit Jack, he did understand.

Once Stacey and her caravan had left, Liam gave the kids their baths and tucked them into bed, knowing full well that they would eventually end up in bed with either him or Rick.

After the kids were settled in, Liam found Rick in the kitchen putting food away and cleaning up the dishes.

"They are going to sleep good tonight. They really wore themselves out today." Liam said, as he entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, I think they spent all day in the pool. The dog was actually in there today too. He just couldn't stand the fact that they were in the pool playing with out him. The kids thought it was great." Rick said.

"Well, thanks for watching them today. I really appreciate it. Can I help you with all this?" He asked, gesturing towards the dishes in the sink.

"No, I'm pretty tuckered out too. I'm just going to put away the food and then finish the rest in the morning. I was hoping we could talk a little. Maybe you'd stay in my room tonight and we could just talk?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, we could do that." Liam said, as he took Rick's hand and pulled him toward the bedroom.

They both dressed down to their boxers and climbed into bed facing each other.

"So..." Rick starts, but doesn't continue. Liam can see his mind working and it's obvious, that when he finally does continue, that he doesn't say what he'd originally intended. "How's you're face and head feel?" He ends up saying instead, while his hand comes up to caress the bruise on Liam's face.

"It aches, a little and every once in a while the back of my head gets to throbbing, but otherwise, it's okay." Liam says, as he leans forward and gives Rick a small kiss on the lips, his eyes automatically closing. When he opens them, he sees that Rick also has his eyes closed. He watches as Rick slowly starts to open his too, his tongue coming out to snake across his lips. Liam watches this innocuous display and it makes him want to lean forward again for a deeper kiss, but he doesn't.

"So..." Rick says again. "I don't want to rush things, but now that you're single again, do you think that you might give me a chance? I mean... I... We can take it slow and get to know each other better. I don't want to worry about any relationship but the one I'm building with the kids." Liam said.

This time, Liam couldn't help it. Rick was really putting his heart out there and Liam just couldn't control himself. He reached out and took Rick's hand in his, their fingers entwining and then leaned forward for another kiss. This one was longer and more passionate, with Rick opening his mouth to let Liam in. Liam didn't hesitate, their tongues working together exploring the other's mouth and tasting each other. When they finally separated, Liam spoke.

"Rick, I'm crazy about you too. You are such an amazing man. The only thing I ask; is that we take it slow. I need time to make a life for myself and the kids, to find our place together, as a family. I'm willing to let any relationship we have take a natural course, but don't expect me to do anything more than that yet. I don't want to have to worry about any relationship but the one I'm building with the kids." Liam said.

"Okay, that's more than I could ask for." Rick said, grinning from ear to ear. "So, I figure, if it's okay with you, I'll work on helping you focus on you and the kids and maybe, in the process, charm my way into your lives? Would that be acceptable? Rick asked.

This time, it was Liam's turn to grin from ear to ear, as he leaned in for another kiss. 'Damn, but could this man kiss any better?' Liam thought, as he lost himself in the kiss.

To be continued...