A Real Family

Chapter 4-3

“Hurry up, get your ass in gear. s**t, we’re going to be late.” Russell glared at Peter. “If you ever again wake up at three in the morning and decide you need to get laid, I’m sending you out to find someone at the all-night pharmacy. Besides, I don’t know what you did, but my ass will never forgive you. It wasn’t a f*****g contest to see how deep you could go. Jeez, Peter.”

“Not that I’m playing the blame game here, Russell, but if you hadn’t reached around and rubbed my crotch, none of that would ever have happened. Sure, you can pretend you were doing foreplay in your sleep, but my body couldn’t tell the difference between sleep horny and awake horny. I’m sure those evil beings in my clinic have bets on what time I’ll stroll in late, again.”

He glared at Russell before it melted and he wrapped him in a hug. He felt his c**k stiffen and rubbed it against Russell’s crotch. Russell tried to protest, then sighed and let his shoulders drop. He pulled Peter into a deep, passionate kiss, mumbling that they were late anyway, so another orgasm wouldn’t make a difference.

Bernice won the bet this time. Trevor covered both his and Peter’s patients, and grinned when his partner finally made his way into the office. Everyone respectfully kept their comments to themselves, a small mercy for which Peter was grateful.

Russell strolled in behind Peter for his ten o’clock appointment. Bernice looked at him, shook her head, and said, “Tsk, tsk. Doctor Peter was supposed to be here three hours ago to start his day, not have you drag him in at this hour, after a night of heaven-knows-what.”

Russell grinned. “It wasn’t heaven-knows-what, Bernice. It was pure heaven. I must commend the clinic on your physicians’ professional bedside manner. Well, I can only speak for one, but the other guy is pretty hot, so I imagine they had the same teacher.”

Bernice laughed as Helen led Russell to the examining room where she took his blood pressure and temperature. She folded her arms and frowned. “Leave your clothes on, unless Dr. Mills specifically requests you to disrobe.” She then smirked and left the room.

Trevor came in after a short knock and sat. “I know you must have a lot of emotions going on right now. This news isn’t easy to process. I can refer you to a counselor who specializes in working with patients with this type of diagnosis.” When Russell nodded Trevor continued. “I have a list of tests I need you to get. Sooner would be better. I’ve got requisitions for a CT scan and ultrasound. There is no need for a second colonoscopy at this time, although I’m not missing the next one. You, sir, are very entertaining. If you can get these done before Friday, the oncologist will have a good idea of which treatment options will be most appropriate for your stage. I’ll be following you through the entire treatment regimen. If you can wait for a few minutes, I’ll get Bernice to print off the requisitions for the tests.”

When Trevor left, Russell closed his eyes thinking about what lay ahead. He heard the door, but it wasn’t until he felt a kiss on his forehead that he realized Peter was with him. He kept his eyes closed.

“Trevor, I told you we need to be more discreet. We don’t want Peter to find out about us.” He opened his eyes to see a grinning Peter looking at him. “Oops, sorry, wrong doctor.”

“Nope, right doctor, and you knew there are no other lips like these babies, anywhere. I thought I’d drop in to say I love you, and we’ll talk this evening about the tests. I’ll see you later, sweet man.”

After Russell left for his own office, Bernice went to see Peter between patients. “I did a bit of searching and found a Mr. George Bennett. Russell’s father is still among the living. He’s in Ontario. He’s had, and was successfully treated for, colon cancer. He’s been cancer-free for almost four years now. I have his contact information, if you want it.”

Peter read the summary. “So based on the timeline he knew about his diagnosis before his son died and shortly after his wife passed away. I wonder if he thought he had to leave to spare Russell any more grief. Strange logic, but since he was also dealing with loss, perhaps, in his mind he felt it was the right thing to do.” He thanked Bernice for the information and tried to decide if he should share the news with Russell now, or try to contact his father first. He got back to his patients and decided to ask the others for an opinion at the end of day meeting.