Family Ties

Like Father, Like Son

"Hello?"

"Hey."

Damien froze, the low almost shy voice coming through the phone made him feel giddy. It was like he was a teenager with his first love. The man had to get his heart to calm down before he replied to the sweet voice.

"Are you okay?

"Yeah. I just..."

Damien waited patiently for Jonathan to finish what he was saying. He knew that being open with emotion was a sore spot for him sometimes so, the brunette liked waiting to see what he would say. It was quite amusing to think of the man as being at a loss for words.

"I miss you."

This man finds new ways of surprising me every day. I can't believe he actually said something like that.

Before he could continue thinking of how cute the man was, the younger male continued on with a speech that reeked of nervousness.

"I know that we just saw each other. It's okay if you don't miss me, I just wanted you to know. It's going to take me some time getting used to having conversations like this with you, but I couldn't stop myself from calling you."

"It's fine. You don't know how much I missed you while you were gone Jonathan."

Damien's voice had taken on a low timbre of its own. He wished he could show the man just how much he had missed him but that would be too much for the newly liberated Jonathan. He didn't want to push the man in a corner, nothing good would come of that.

"I'm sorry. I really should have called but I didn't want to burden you with my problems anymore. You are my friend Damien, not my psychiatrist."

"For you, I wouldn't have minded being both."

"You are too selfless, you have to hold me accountable for the past decade. I was a horrible friend to you, more times than none. I don't want to be that guy anymore."

"Then, who do you want to be?"

"The only person that you rely on."

For the second time that morning Damien was frozen. The man had uttered that sentence with so much conviction and honesty that he wouldn't dare question him about the validity of it. It warmed his heart that he cared so much for him.

"Well, I think we can work up to that. If you don't mind sticking around for some time."

The resounding laugh that he received as a reply was music to his ears. He always loved making Jonathan smile and laugh, that probably wouldn't change anytime soon.

"You aren't going to let me forget about my Houdini act, huh?"

"Nope. Not anytime soon, so you might want to suck it up for the time being."

"Fine. I guess I deserve the ridicule."

Damien couldn't keep the smile out his voice when he replied, "Yeah, you do."

Meanwhile, in his office across town; James Meyers sat in his office contemplating his own life and relationships. He felt like he had failed his eldest son, he realized that he never truly had any freedom. He had basically railroaded his life to be an exact copy of his own. A young business man with a promising future and a beautiful woman on his own.

Now reminiscing, he could see that Jonathan was never truly happy with Ashley. His smile was dead, his eyes were dull, and spent more days at work than he did at home. How could he have been so blind?! His own son had been deteriorating in front of his eyes and he refused to acknowledge it.