Hi Mum, It's Sammy (Clone 63 - part 17 Finale)

“Sammy?”

“Yes love?”

“Stop fretting. You’re too tense and it’s making me tense and then we will both upset the twins.” Jericho probably had a point. I had barely left his side all evening, I couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to him. So for the third time in one evening, Jer went to move and bumped against me because I was too close.



“Sorry Jer. It’s just that…” I broke off with the vivid memory seeing him flat and completely still on the floor and another of picking him up and knowing the extent of his injuries. “There was a moment when I thought that freaking bastard had killed you. My heart almost stopped.”

“I know, but we can’t let the bastards win. We shouldn’t hide away. We shouldn’t live in fear. It’s our choice, our right and no one else’s business.” Jer wrapped his arms around me. “One bad apple is all. Granted that apple was rotten to the core but we know good people in town.”

I nodded. At the Pet Show no one seemed bothered by Jericho and I as a couple. No one commented at the ball either, except Chuck. Chuck had a lot of hate for us but no one else seemed to. “True, blue and beautiful. Very true. But I really don’t want to see you hurt again.”

“I feel fine. In fact,” he looked at me with a playful gleam in his eyes. He grabbed my left hand and kissed the palm. Then with deliberate slowness he continued up my arm; kissing, licking, nibbling and biting. Each time moving just the tiniest bit further up.

He still hadn’t even reached my elbow when I complained, “Jericho, hurry up.”

He paused and looked at me with an evil grin. “I know exactly what I’m doing.” He resumed his excruciatingly slow progress up the arm. He was right, he could keep me on an exact edge of excitement, an advantage of sharing each other’s pleasure as well as pain.

When he reached my elbow, he paused long enough to remove my shirt entirely. I started to reach to unbutton his shirt when he stopped me. “No, not allowed. You just stand there. You move and the game is over.” I froze in place and moaned softly when I realised he had no intention of heading for the bed yet. He resumed his attack on my arm still working with exquisite slowness. When he finally reached the collarbone, his shirt and my trousers joined the pile on the floor.

Much much later, or all too soon, he finally started nibbling an ear lobe. “Well,” he whispered. “Ready for bed?”

“If you are suggesting that I could possibly sleep after that, I might have to kill you.” I replied. He grinned. “But you have convinced me to let you have your wicked way with me.”  I noticed then that at some point, Jer had managed to shed his own trousers.

Jericho proved that he truly felt fine by picking me and carrying me to our room. He put me down on the bed. “Still worried about my health?” he asked as he straddled me. He had me pinned to the bed with enough strength that I’d definitely have a struggle, if what I wanted to do was get away. Getting away wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do.

“At this point, I’m more worried about mine. You are trying to kill me with anticipation.” I tried to kiss him but he stayed just out of reach. “I give, I surrender, uncle, please?” Jericho finally relented. I was still pinned under his weight but he moved close enough that I could, with effort, kiss him. Mostly though, he was kissing me.

I finally started to relax and unwind under his attention, his devotion creating a warm glow within. By the time we went to sleep, a tangle of limbs and sheets, we were both pleasantly exhausted by our activities.

The next morning I woke briefly, remembered I’d been fired and snuggled back into the bed nestling against Jericho. Unemployment did have one perk, I could sleep in. We might go broke but I’d be well rested.

So when a car honked outside, I did my best to ignore it. It wasn’t until someone was pounding on the door shouting, “Sam? Jericho? Are you guys ok?” that I finally gave in, got up and opened the door.

Felipe came in. “Well, it’s about time. We’ll be late to the station.” He took a second look at me and one eyebrow went up. “Umm, not exactly ready for work, are you?”

“I was fired yesterday,” I shrugged. “Why not sleep in?”

At this point, Jericho cautiously came out into the room. “Jericho?” Felipe said, “There will be an official apology later today but I want you to know that I am sorry for what happened yesterday. I had no idea that our former senior officer had major issues nor that he’d take it out on someone.” Felipe turned back to me. “I didn’t know that Darnell-Hobble had fired you so you have an appointment for 9:30 today. It’s kind of important that you be there. After that, if you need a few days off, please do take them.”

I sighed and nodded. “I refuse to be responsible for my actions if that bastard is in the room.”

“He won’t be. When Jared brought him in yesterday, we decided it best to ship him over to the Pleasantview prison. You know we don’t have the facilities to keep someone locked up for more than a day or two. And we need to get rolling if we are going to make that appointment.” He looked over at Jericho. “You can come as well if you like. One of you has to come but both would be welcome.”

We looked at each other and nodded. We both threw on some clothes, I rang a sitter and within five minutes, we were on our way.

“So, is there anything you can tell us about this appointment?”

“Well, after Jared brought in Chuck, and told me why, I had a chat to the mayor. He called a meeting of the town council. They spent a great deal of yesterday afternoon and into the evening debating the issues.”

Jericho and I looked at each other. “Really?”

“Yes. I know the mayor will be at the meeting. I’m not sure who else, if anyone, will be there.”

Sure enough, Mayor Booker Singleton, Cheyenne Fox of the town council, and retired judge Tate Curley were all in attendance. “Mayor, Sam and Jericho Grant are here for the appointment.”

The mayor stood and shook our hands. “Mr Grant, Felipe has told me that you are a promising young policeman. And Mr Grant, I’m glad to see that you are feeling well enough to come to this meeting.”

Jer shrugged, “Only because Sam happened to come home before your officer had a chance to do too much damage.” Mayor Singleton winced slightly at Jericho’s emphasis but didn’t protest. He waved at some comfortable furniture clustered around a low table.

“That brings us to why I arranged this meeting. We may be a small town but we like to think we are quite progressive in our outlook. Finding out that a police officer harboured such prejudice as to assault an ordinary citizen in their home, well, it’s just not acceptable. Darnell-Hobble was way out of line. He’s been officially suspend from the force without pay awaiting trial. If he’s convicted, he’ll be permanently dismissed from the force.”

Tate Curley spoke up. “The town has filed official charges of police brutality, intimidation and discrimination against Mr Darnell-Hobble. Are there any further charges you wish to add?”

“He entered our home under false pretences. He was wearing his uniform, which meant Jericho felt obligated to let him in. Assault.” I frowned in thought. “I think that covers it.”

Tate nodded, “While I can’t predict how the trial might go, it’s safe to say that he will be convicted of some of these charges.”

Felipe spoke up. “I would like to add that Darnell-Hobble’s dismissal of Sam from the force was another act of discrimination. Sam, as far as your job is concerned, you are still a cop and I think that you deserve a pay increase for any stress caused by that wrongful dismissal.” There were nods around the table at that.

“So now we get to the crux of the matter. As a citizen that has been wronged by an official of our town, you do have the right to sue. We’d much rather avoid the pain, expense and time that one or more law suits would bring,” said Cheyenne. “There’s not much point in trying to sue Darnell-Hobble, he went through a divorce recently and won’t be worth the effort. You could potential sue either the town or the police department or both.” She opened her case and shuffled through a few papers. “I have the authority to offer you 100,000 as a one time settlement with the understanding that you will take no further legal actions against the town or police department.”

Jericho and I looked at each other. “Comments, love?” I asked him quietly.

He examined each person sitting in the small room. “Nearly there, but I think we could do without a property tax on our home as well,” he finally stated. I nodded in agreement.

Cheyenne wrote a few quick notes. “I think it’s safe to say that’s a reasonable request. So, gentlemen, anything else we can do to conclude our business from this very unfortunate affair?”

I did some serious thinking. I had my job back. We’d have enough cash to last a long time if we weren’t too extravagant. Charges against Chuck were in progress. He was already in prison in a different place so, with any luck, we’d never see him again.

Some part of me was disappointed that wasn’t to be a fight, there was no need to sue everybody I could think of. But what I really wanted was to make sure it wasn’t going to happen again and it was clear that the town council was sending that message too. “It is against city codes of conduct to discriminate against citizens for any reason; colour, creed, sexual preferences?”

Brooker nodded. “We checked yesterday. It has been official policy for some years now. That’s why the council filed a charge of discrimination against Darnell-Hobble among the other charges. You both are just as entitled to full protection under our laws as anyone else in this town.”

I traced the back of Jer’s hand lightly with one finger. “I can’t think of anything more to ask for. You?”

He frowned slightly in concentration. “Everything I can think of has been covered. I want to know all our children, no matter what they look like and no matter who they love, will grow up in a place that is safe for them. I’m satisfied that the town has done what’s needed. People will be people so there can be no guarantee but we’ll probably never find a safer place.”

“Then we agree. We won’t sue the town or the police department in exchange for the 100,000 offered and no more property tax on our home.”

“Gentlemen, I wish our first meeting had been under better circumstances,” Mayor Singleton said as he was standing. “I do hope our next meeting is for much happier reasons.” He shook our hands as we got ready to leave the building.

“Need a lift home?” asked Felipe. My phone beeped at me a couple of times and I checked the message.

“Actually, could you drop us off at the science lab? I think we have a special delivery to pick up.”

Jericho’s eyes sparkled. “Special delivery?”

“Two babies, a boy and a girl again. I told you I had your wedding wish covered.”

Felipe came to a halt. “Wait, you guys want twins?” We both nodded. “No offence but god you are weird. One toddler was enough to drive my wife and I nuts sometimes.”

We laughed. “None taken. Twins are twice the cuddles, twice the love.”

“Twice the dirty diapers,” added Jericho.

“Your problem, you are the one with a baby fetish,” I teased him. Felipe just shook his head as he drove us over to the lab.

—

Well, Mum, that’s about it from me. Eddie and Howie moved out, they finally found a new place to rent in town. The two new babies are both striders, they are Seahorse and Anemone. Chuck was offered a plea bargain, he pleaded guilty to about half the charges and didn’t have to face the others. He did end up with a respectable prison sentence and was dismissed from the police. Once Chuck was officially fired, I was offered a promotion. Jericho is a happy house hubby who can concentrate as much as he likes on the kids. Goby and Monica just started school, we hope they are ready for it.

---
Bonus pics

Damn, I have to do these again. They are supposed to have shirts for the first couple...
So suffer guys with some spare shirtless pics.

sammy frown

I pledge my love to my fans. Sammy.