Saving....Gabriel?

It had taken them forever to get Gabriel to warm up to them but, Remy was gently persistant. During lunch, they held hands under the table and sat next to each other while Gabriel wandered, unsurely, around the playground. After a few minutes, he came up to them and gave them a look of fear. "What's de matter?" Remy had noticed the three kids making their noisy way to the jungle gym. "You can go play wit' dem. It's okay, petit."

Gabriel shook his head and slipped a cautious hand into Remy's. He stood there and swallowed, hoping Remy would get the idea of leaving, nudging his hand and giving a quick look to Logan as he stood up.

"All right, petit, we'll go." Remy smiled and casually stood up, still holding Gabriel's hand.

Walking out of the room, Remy stopped and knelt down to Gabriel's height. "How about some ice cream? Do you like ice cream?"

Gabriel's eyes widened and he smiled and nodded.

"Cone or a cup?" Logan asked, as he stood in front of them.

The look on his face was that of thoughtfulness more than fear. "Cone." His voice was so soft both of them had to lean in to hear it.

"Okay. Go find a seat and I'll be right back, okay?" Logan smiled and pulled his wallet out of his backpocket.

Gabriel walked briskly to the nearest table for four and sat there in the booth with his hands folded on the table, sitting up straight, and watched as Logan bought the ice cream for three.

Remy sat across from him and smiled as Logan came back and handed a cone of vanilla to Gabriel before handing one to him. Remy took the first lick of the ice cream to show that it wasn't poison. "It won' hur' ya, petit. Try some." Holding the cone with his right hand while holding Logan's with his left, between them as the older man sat down beside him.

Eating the ice cream and then the cone, Gabriel kept a sharp eye on both men as they all finished about the same time. He was handed a napkin and wiped his mouth and hands before holding his hand out for their napkins and walking to throw them away. Hurrying back to where they still sat, he waited for them to stand up and head for the car.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

As they showed him around the house, he kept his distance from them and every three or four seconds, looked over his shoulder for the quickest escape. They were nice and kept a clean house but, once inside and away from the front door, Gabriel was unsure of how long they would continue to be nice to him. He followed three steps behind Remy and quietly observed the rooms, his being the last room down the hall.

"Dis is your room." Remy opened the door to a neatly kept room. A small bed with head and foot boards, made up with fresh white linens and a lightweight but warm comforter, blue with yellow stars and moons. He stood back as Gabriel peered inside but didn't go in. "Dere's some toys on de shelves, books, and out de window....." Slipping by him, Remy walked forward to the bed that was underneath the window, and sat down on the edge. Holding the curtain open, he finished. "dere's a playground. A swingset, slide, and seesaw."

Gabriel came around the corner, into the room. Taking a better look around, he saw a double sliding door closet to his left, and a small creme-coloured, 3-drawer dresser to his right, next to the door. The bookshelf was adjacent to the dresser, on the same wall as the headboard for the bed that sat a good 2 feet away. The floor was polished dark wood with an oval shaped rope rug in te middle of the room. A soft, fuzzy brown teddybear caught his eye, behind Remy, on the bed. He smiled and walked over to pick it up and look it over.

Remy turned to watch him and sit there with his hands folded in his lap. "Oui, dat's for you." Remy smiled and nodded as Gabriel looked questionably at him. "Do you like bears?"

Gabriel nodded and hugged the bear.

"Mebbe, we go to de zoo? When you want, okay?"

A nod again and then pause as Gabriel ran his tongue along his lips in a nervous twitch before stepping closer to Remy and hugging him, as if to say "thank you".

Slightly shocked at the boy's quick taking to him, Remy smiled and patted his back softly as he hugged the thin boy.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

At dinner, Gabriel sat between them at the round table. With Remy to his right and Logan to his left, he quietly ate his second bowl of spaghetti that Logan had fixed while Remy showed him the house. Only nibbling on his garlic bread, he eyed them as he finished. Holding the bowl and nudging it forward to Remy, he swallowed and shook as he asked for more.

"Sure you can have more. You can eat as much as you want." Remy and Logan both smiled at Gabriel's appetite. Setting down his fork and standing up as he took Gabriel's bowl, he gave Logan a look of relief.

The table sat off to the right of the room, while the kitchen part was to the left. A long, tall countre with the stove and oven in the middle, and the pot of noodles and sauce sat on top. As Remy dished up more, Logan had finished and stood up to take his plate to the sink, behind Remy, and run water over it.

Shutting the water off, and leaving the plate in the sink, Logan walked back to where Remy was standing and stood behind him. His arms snaked around Remy's waist and hugged him carefully as Remy finished dishing up the spaghetti. Kissing the Cajun's left cheek, his eyes caught sight of a small watcher peering over the back of the wooden chair at them. Releasing Remy, he smiled and went back over to sit down in his chair.

Remy placed the bowl down in front of Gabriel and sat back down to finish his meal, he watched as the boy eyed Logan and then him carefuly before picking up his fork and eating.

When Gabriel had finished, he picked up his bowl and slid off the chair to take it to the sink and began washing it until Logan came up behind him gently took it from him. Looking at Logan as if he had done something wrong, he watched Logan place the bowl with his plate and kneel down to his level.

"You don't have to do the dishes to stay here, or earn your meal. It's my night to wash dishes, anyway." Stopping and looking at Remy, who came up behind them, he turned back to the boy. "Why don't you go find a movie to watch, in the other room, and we'll be in shortly, okay?"

Gabriel looked up at Remy who nodded and smiled and held out his hand to show him where the movies were before going back into the kitchen to help with dishes. Staring at titles, he noticed that they were all in categories; kids movies, family movies and adult movies. Picking out one film about a boy and a panda bear, he placed it on the sofa that faced the television and sat down beside it. He waited paiently as they finished the dishes and joined him in the livingroom.

"Which one did you find?" Logan asked and smiled as he sat down beside him. "This is a good one." He looked at the DVD that Gabriel held up for him and took it as he looked back to him. "How about you go get your pajamas on, and I'll put this in while Remy makes the popcorn, okay?"

Gabriel lit up and nodded as he stood up and walked hurriedly upstairs but stopped in the middle and turned around to look at both of them.

"I'll go wit' you, petit." Remy smiled and held out his hand for Gabriel to take as they climbed the stairs together. He waited outside the door while Gabriel opened his suitcase that sat on the bed, and changed into his cotton pants and shirt. "Ready?" He asked as Gabriel opened the door and stood in the doorway.

Nodding and slipping his hand in Remy's they went back downstairs to watch the movie that Logan had put in and waited with a bowl of buttered popcorn.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Gabriel had fallen asleep while sitting between them, as the movie was half over. His head rest against Logan's bare shoulder while the bowl of popcorn sat in his lap. He held a loose grip on the bowl and flinched as Logan carefully took the bowl and set it on the table, in front of them.

"Tired kid. I'll get him to bed, if you wanna shut off everything down here." Logan whispered as Remy stood up and moved to shut the DVD player off. Carefully turning and slipping his arms behind Gabriel's back and under his legs, he gently lifted the boy up and carried him upstairs to put him to bed.

Shushing him back to sleep as he shifted the boy in his arms to pull back the covers, before sliding him into the linens and slipping out from underneath him. Logan met eyes with Gabriel as he woke up to see where he was. "It's okay, you're in yer bedroom. You can finish watchin the movie tomorrow. Time for sleep now." Logan whispered as Gabriel nodded and closed his eyes. Standing up, Logan watched him for a minute and quietly slipped out of the room after tucking the brown teddybear in beside him.

Leaving the door open a crack for them to hear, Logan went in to the guest bathroom and retrieved a small Mickey Mouse nightlight from the drawer. He tiptoed back to Gabriel's room and found Remy standing in the doorway. Handing the light to him, he waited for Remy to plug it in and reclose the door as Logan had it before following him to their bedroom.

Remy shut the door and started removing his shirt to get ready for bed. "Dat went better dan I thought." He went to sit down in the end of the bed while Logan sat down on his side of the bed and removed his shoes and socks.

"Yea, he really warmed up to you." Taking off his pants and turning to slide under the covers, he was joined by a boxers-clad Remy who leaned over him and started kissing him. Logan kissed him back and reached up to hold the back of his head and stroke his soft auburn hair. "You sure about this? He might wake up."

Remy smiled and started kissing his way down Logan's chest. "I don' think he'll do dat for awhile. He was pretty tired. And, as long as we're quiet, I think we be fine, non?" He stopped at Logan's boxerband and rubbed a hand over the covered manhood. Licking the material over the legnth and smiling as Logan moaned and watched him. Slipping a hand through the lit and removing Logan's erection, he licked from base to tip before crawling up and letting Logan removed his boxers while Remy busied himself with getting the gel from Logan's nightstand drawer.

Squeezing a good amount into his palm, Remy reached down to gel the legnth while kissing Logan again. He sighed and groaned as they heard a moan and a whimper come from Gabriel's room. Pulling his boxers up and moving to pull his pants back on, Remy went to wipe his hands on a towel in the bathroom before going to check on the boy.

When he came back, Logan had covered himself and lay on his right side, dozing with he light on. Sighing Remy removed his pants and climbed into bed, reaching over Logan to shut off the light. Getting comfortable and facing away from Logan, he felt a hand reach for him and intertwined their fingers as they fell asleep.

Continued....