A Hero's Reward (15 page)

“I don't like it here at all.
It's creepy how my father treats his new wife, and she just accepts
it. It's kind of scary sometimes.” Jack continued in a softer
voice.

“You can go back to your own
school, starting in a couple of days I'd guess. You don't have to
stay here and you wouldn't have been here this long if your dad had
obeyed the law.”

“Awesome! I can't wait to get
back to school and out of this place.”

Meanwhile the FBI agents were having a
little chat with Freddy.

“Well sir, she's right. It's a
federal offense to kidnap across a state line. We came down to make
sure the child was transferred to his mother since she has custody.
We gave your sheriff a little courtesy call to let him know we'd be
operating in his jurisdiction but then we made it here a little
sooner than we thought we would. Good thing too, or we might have
missed you.”

Freddy was dumb enough that he didn't
seem to be reading the message Ben had delivered between the lines.

“Well, I had to drive all the way
up there to get him. Why shouldn't he stay with me.”

“Because you don't have custody
and his mother was discharged from the hospital and is capable of
custody again, sir. It's the law and our job is to uphold that law.”

“That's a bunch of bullshit. That
boy needs a strong man around the house to teach him to be a man.
He'll never get that with his mouse of a mother.”

“Well sir, his place of residence
will currently be the same residence as the man who rescued him from
the fire. If that isn't a strong man to use as a role model, I don't
know who would be.” said Agent White.

“
Plus, that
mouse
of a mother just stood up to you despite being half your weight,
sir.” added Ben with a sardonic twist on the 'sir'.

Freddy just stood there glaring at
Margaret. She noticed and glared back for a moment, then she turned
her attention to Jack and utterly ignored Freddy. Greg warily placed
himself between Freddy and Margaret, returning Freddy's glare with
interest. Greg pointed to Freddy's side and when Freddy looked down
he realized he had been unconsciously rubbing the arm Greg had
abused. When Freddy looked back up Greg just smiled and nodded. Once
again Freddy's bluff and bluster left him.

“Now sir, if you'll just return
to your home, Margaret has agreed to not press charges. If you try to
make a fuss about this though, you may spend some time in a federal
prison.” said Ben.

Freddy, his bluster gone, shuffled
towards his car looking beaten and dejected. Greg kept an eye on him
nonetheless. As Freddy started the car and began to reverse up the
driveway Greg thought he saw, just for a moment, the beaten and
dejected look replaced by a glare of pure hatred directed at Margaret
as Freddy drove out of sight.

The drive back home was as uneventful
as a long drive with an excited six year old boy in the car could be.
Jack chattered constantly all the way home. Greg was amazed to see
how dealing with Jack changed Margaret's attitude. She was strong at
one moment, soft and loving the next. He could see how her thinking
that Freddy might cause harm to Jack would have been the one thing to
strengthen her spine enough to get her out of that relationship.

Jack was ecstatic when they stopped at
the FBI location to drop off the radio and have a chat with the
agents that had helped them.

“Here you go Ben. Sorry, I
should've returned the radio before we headed back. Thank you again,
that went more smoothly than I had feared, if less smoothly than I
had hoped.” Greg said, returning the radio to Agent Brown.

“Quite alright, it was a bit of a
charged atmosphere down there. I was just happy to get out of the
county without any more trouble.”

“Well, you got the information
you needed on the Sheriff also.”

“Yes we did and we have the two
of you to thank for that. I'll let the arson unit investigating the
fire know where they can contact you to let you know the results.
They don't currently have any contact info for Ms. Chisolm.”

“Well her phone burned up so if
they tried to call shortly after the fire they wouldn't have gotten
anything. She has a replacement now though so that number should be
good, or they can use my number if they prefer.”

“We'll let them know that. I
should probably mention that based on Freddy's reactions, you may
want to keep an eye out for a couple of weeks. I wouldn't put it past
him to try something. It seems that he feels he's been deeply wronged
somehow. He might be the type to look for revenge. If the arson
investigation comes up positive, I'd think that would indicate that
he has already been trying to avenge some imagined slight on him by
Margaret and that he's willing to do even more to try to get his
revenge. Not that I'm saying he did it, of course, since there isn't
any proof. But I'd still keep an eye out if I were you.”

“Thank you for your concern Ben.
I'll do that, he looked like he was spoiling for a fight of some
sort. He also acted like the type of guy who hates a fair fight and
tries to stack the deck.”

“I'm glad you understand. I've
got to be going now. We need to start action to get that Sheriff
moved on out of his position.”

“Thanks again, Ben.”

“You're welcome.”

Agent Brown turned and headed for the
elevator. Jack was less enthusiastic when he found out that the lobby
was the only part of the FBI office that he'd be allowed to see. But
his excitement returned when he found out that they'd be heading to
Greg's place and he'd get to see the room he'd be staying in for the
foreseeable future.

When they got back to Greg's place and
parked the Saturn, Jack was all over Greg's work truck.

“Cool truck man, can I get a ride
in it sometime?”

“Well Jack, I'm still on some
pain medication so I can't drive. Once I'm off of it I'll take you
for a ride in it. Your mom isn't quite up to driving something that
large so it will have to wait until I can.”

“Alright, you promise though?”

“I promise.”

“Jack,” said Margaret, “you
really shouldn't call Greg 'man' or anything like that. Maybe you can
call him Uncle Greg or something. What do you think Greg?”

“He could call me Greg if he
wanted to, Uncle Greg works also.”

“Well, I'd prefer he not call
adults by their first names but I think Mister would be too formal
here. So Jack, you can call him Uncle Greg, okay?”

“Alright mom. Is that okay with
you Uncle Greg?”

“That's fine Jack.”

Greg showed Jack into the house and
showed him around. Jack was incredibly excited when he saw Greg's
collection of action movies. Greg told him he could watch any of them
he wanted as long as he cleared it with his mom first.

When Greg took Jack upstairs and showed
him his room; Jack settled right in. Margaret came in and showed him
where the new clothes they had gotten him were. Jack unpacked the
small bag of items he had with him into the bureau with the new
clothes in it.

They went back downstairs and Jack was
immediately asking to watch a movie. They found one that Margaret
approved of and started it. Margaret went into the kitchen to make
dinner for the three of them and Greg logged onto his computer.

The previews on the movie were still
running so Jack came over to Greg.

“Do you have high speed internet
Uncle Greg?”

“Yes I do.”

“That's great, it took me fifteen
minutes to load the Youtube clip of you on my dad's dial-up
connection. That sucked. Can I use your computer and internet
connection some?”

“Only if your mom or I are with
you while you do. Plus, you'll have to get your mom's okay on that as
well.”

“Well, she used to let me use the
computers at the library where she worked. I think she'll be okay
with me using this one also but I'll ask first.”

“Okay Jack, you do that and I'm
fine with you using it. Do you want me to skip the previews on the
movie for you?”

“Would you? My mom doesn't like
me using the remote. She said I messed it up a couple of times and it
took her hours to fix it.”

“Well, you can use the remote
here if you want. I know how to reprogram it in just a few minutes if
you mess something up.”

“That's great, thank you Uncle
Greg.”

Greg wandered into the kitchen to chat
with Margaret. Since they had left Freddy's place Jack had been with
them nearly constantly and he could tell that Margaret had been
wanting to say something to him. She had started to do so several
times earlier but then Jack would come back into earshot and she
would stop herself.

“What's for dinner?” he
asked.

“You'll see.” she said,
“It's a surprise.”

“So what were you trying to say
earlier on when Jack interrupted us?”

“You noticed, did you? I can't
believe it. I stood up to Freddy and he backed down! I'll admit you
and the agents were probably a good portion of why he did, but he
actually backed down and we got Jack back. I'm so happy.”

“Well, the agents also warned me
about him. They said there wasn't anything official but that we ought
to keep an eye out in case he tries to show up. Is he listed as a
guardian with the school or anything? If so you might want to have
them remove that so he can't show up there and try to take him back.”

“No, we were already separated
when Jack started school, Freddy was never listed as a guardian or
parent with them.”

“Good, that's one thing we don't
have to worry about at least.”

Greg went back out to his computer and
caught up on emails again. Then he surfed a little, trying to catch
up on what had been happening in the world over the past few days.

Within the hour, Margaret had dinner
ready. As it cooked, Greg had been drooling on and off at the smells
coming out of the kitchen. He had determined that there was
definitely beef involved from the smells but beyond that he had no
idea what dinner would be, except that it smelled really good.

Margaret set the table and put dinner
out. She came over to get Greg and Jack and noticed Jack with the
remote.

“Jack, you know you aren't
supposed to use the remote.”

“Uncle Greg told me I could.”

“It's okay” said Greg, “If
he messes it up I can reprogram it from scratch in less than five
minutes.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes, if you still don't want him
using it, that's fine. But I figure using a remote is a skill, albeit
not the most useful skill, that everyone should know.”

“It's fine as long as it won't be
any trouble for you.”

“Pause the movie Jack, your mom
has a delicious smelling dinner on the table.”

Margaret had made a mock beef
stroganoff with a side of peas. Greg was continually amazed by what
she could turn out in his kitchen in under an hour. He would never
have guessed that you could make something like this out of what was
in his kitchen, even after their grocery run.

“Margaret, this is delicious.
You're an incredible cook, did you know that?”

Margaret blushed:

“Thank you Greg but it's nothing
really.”

“No, he's right mom. This is
great. That's the other thing I missed most besides you and school.
Your cooking beats anything dad's new wife managed to turn out. It
was mostly instant stuff or stuff you toss in the microwave to cook
all this past week.”

“Well, thank you also Jack. Let's
eat though, shall we?”

They polished off the entire dinner
Margaret had cooked, the excitement of the day sharpening their
appetites. When Margaret went back into the kitchen and came out with
a chocolate cream pie for dessert Greg groaned and loosened his belt
a notch. He decided that he either had to start working out or get
back to work soon if he didn't want to start gaining weight from
Margaret's cooking.

When dinner was over, Jack was allowed
to finish watching his movie before starting to get ready for bed.
Margaret was enforcing a strict eight o'clock bedtime for him. She
confided to Greg that not only did doctors recommend that a six year
old get ten to eleven hours of sleep per night but that she needed
the downtime provided by him getting more sleep than she did. She
also pointed out that since they normally went to bed around ten
o'clock that they'd have a couple of hours together every day once
Jack was asleep.

Once Jack was showered and tucked into
bed Margaret came back downstairs.

“I think he should sleep right
through the night, I'm guessing he'll be exhausted from all the
excitement. If not though, I'm going to sleep in my own room tonight
in case he wakes up and comes looking for me.”

At the crestfallen look on Greg's face
Margaret continued:

“We've got a couple of hours
until bedtime though. I thought maybe I could reward you, for helping
me get Jack back, by trying that... Well, that thing with my mouth
with me in control of what happens. I want to try that and see if I
like it better when I'm in control. We can even do that down here so
we don't disturb Jack.”

“If you actually want to try
that, we can. You don't need to do it to reward me though. I'd love
to have you see what you think but only if it is something that you
want to do and not just from a sense of obligation.”

“Well, I've had my viewpoint
turned around on a few other things like that recently.”
Margaret said with a shy smile, “I thought I should check and
see if my ideas about other related things were skewed or not.”

Margaret positioned Greg in an easy
chair and slid his pants down. She leaned in and tentatively licked
the top of his cock. It wasn't currently hard but when her tongue
touched it, she jumped back as it began to stand up straight.