Author’s notes: Well folks, here it is – the grand finale. Thank you so much to everyone who has joined me on yet another one of my dark rides. It’s been a pleasure.

Journey of a Thousand Miles (Part 10)

Justin sat by the hospital bed and stared down at the sleeping man that occupied it. He had been watching him; both asleep and awake, for the past twenty-eight hours and he could still not stop staring. Joshua fascinated him so much; he felt he could sit and gaze at him forever.

The hospital staff had given up on trying to get him to go home hours ago. They were even kind enough to pull a cot into the private room so that he could sleep. They liked to smile at him and call him a hero, but he knew better. He was no hero. He had merely done what had to be done.

And it had all been so worth it, he thought as he ran his fingers gently down Joshua’s cheek. Joshua turned towards the touch and exhaled, but did not wake. Justin moved his hand to Joshua’s arm and let it rest there as he continued his unofficial vigil.

Time passed quietly and after awhile he casually glanced over at the clock on the wall across from him. He was surprised to see that it was already one in the afternoon. That meant that Lance would be here any moment. Only a couple of minutes later Justin heard a knock on the door. He couldn’t help but smile. Even in times of crises, his friend was punctual.

"Come in," he called out, then immediately regretted it. He shouldn’t have said it so loudly – his throat still hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.

The door opened slowly to reveal a very worried looking Lance.

As soon as Justin saw his best friend, he stood up and began to walk towards him. Before he had even made it two feet however, Lance was across the room and hugging him tightly.

Justin hugged him back and for a moment the two friends merely stood there, both happy to be reunited with the other.

"Am I glad to see you," Lance said as he pulled away from the embrace with a huge smile on his face.

"Same here man."

Lance’s smile faded and was replaced by a look of concern. "Are you ok? How bad are you hurt? Let me see," he said as he began to inspect Justin for injuries. Justin smiled and pulled down the neck of his shirt and allowed Lance to see the small bruises on his throat.

"Oh Jesus," Lance breathed as he gently ran his fingers over them. "That was a close one wasn’t it?" he asked as he looked into Justin’s eyes.

Justin’s smile disappeared. "Too close," he admitted softly. "I thought I was I goner."

"Oh shit, Justin. Your eyes…"

Justin nodded, already knowing what he was referring to. "Yeah, I know. When he strangled me…"

"The pressure caused the capillaries in your eyes to burst."

"Very good, Dr. Bass," Justin said.

Lance blushed and looked down. "Sorry. Insensitive much, Bass?"

Justin gave a small chuckle. "I’m sorry. I’m just giving you a hard time. I’m ok Lance. Really."

"Ok. But listen, if you EVER pull shit like that again, I will kill you myself. Do you have any idea how fucking worried I was?"

"I think my days of rescuing people from sadistic killers are over," Justin said.

Lance nodded briskly. "Damn straight they are." His gaze drifted over to the bed and its occupant. "Is this him?" he asked softly.

Justin walked over to the side of the bed and looked down. "This is him. This is Joshua."

Lance moved to stand next to Justin. In a quiet voice filled with awe, he said, "God Justin. He looks just like the drawing."

Justin’s voice was just as quiet. "Yeah, I know."

"How is he doing?"

"Pretty good considering the hell he went through," Justin answered grimly. "His chart’s right there. You can take a look."

Lance walked to the foot of the bed and picked up the chart that hung from it. He took a minute to read it over, scanning it quickly and with his usual efficiency.

When he was done he replaced the chart and looked up. There was a sadness in his eyes that Justin had never seen before.

"Jesus, what that man did to him…"

Justin nodded sadly. "I know. You should have seen him, Lance. I thought he was dead. He looked dead. All the blood and the bruises…" Justin let the sentence trail away. If he talked about it, he would cry and he really didn’t want to cry.

Lance walked back over to him and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I’m sorry."

"It’s all right. It’s over now," Justin said. "And he’s going to be all right."

Lance shook his head and removed his hand, looking down guiltily. "I know he is. And no - I mean I’m sorry about what I said to you that night…"

"Oh no…don’t even go there Lance. You have nothing to be sorry about."

Lance’s next words came out in a rush. "But you were right. You were right about everything. And I was trying to get you to stop. If you had listened to me you never would have saved his life."

"But I was acting crazy Lance. I mean, you had no way of knowing that it was all real. And, well…to be honest, if it had been you doing that stuff, I would have done the same thing you did. You said it because you cared." He paused, wanting his words to make an impact. "And I appreciate it."

"So we’re good then?" Lance asked, looking a little dubious.

"Dude, we’re always good."

Lance breathed a sigh of relief. "Good.

Justin looked down at Joshua who hadn’t moved throughout their entire conversation. "Ummm…he’ll wake up eventually, but I don’t know how long it’s going to be. And I don’t know how he’s going to react to seeing you. So…you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to."

Lance smiled easily as he grabbed Justin’s usual chair and sat down. "Are you kidding? There’s no place else I’d rather be."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin walked into Joshua’s room and quickly took his place by the side of the bed. Two days ago, everyone, including Joshua, had finally convinced him to spend some time in his own bed and to eat something other than hospital food. He had gone grudgingly and had begun to sleep in his own apartment at night. But every morning he hurried back to the hospital as soon as he was able and he stayed until he was kicked out.

Despite the fact that Joshua appeared to be sleeping, his eyes opened easily and immediately focused on Justin.

"Hey," Joshua said quietly.

"Hey," Justin echoed as he leaned forward. "How do you feel today?"

"Better. The pain’s better," Joshua answered.

"The nurse said you didn’t sleep well last night."

Joshua looked down and for a brief moment, he did not look like a man that had been through hell and back. He looked more like a man who had been caught trying to hide a secret. He looked so heartbreakingly normal that Justin wanted to cry.

"I don’t sleep well when you’re not here," Joshua admitted.

"I’d be here all the time if I could," Justin said. He resisted the urge to say, "I told you so."

Joshua lifted his head to look at Justin directly. His eyes looked haunted and sad. "I know you would," he said.

Justin shifted nervously in his seat. "I talked to the doctor today…" he began.

Joshua swallowed and nodded, encouraging Justin to go on despite his eyes suddenly growing wide with fear.

"It’s nothing bad, don’t worry," Justin said quickly, hoping to alleviate that fear. "He was just telling me that he thinks you can leave the hospital in about a week."

"Oh yeah. He told me that too," Joshua said softly as he lowered his eyes.

"Yeah and I was thinking…well actually, Lance and I were talking and we both think it’s a good idea if you move in with us for awhile." Justin leaned back in the chair. There, he had said it. Now all that was left was to wait for Joshua’s reaction.

Joshua looked up quickly, the surprise evident on his face. "You want me to live with you?" he asked.

"Yes. We both do. And not only that, but Lance has been talking to his boss, and he’s pretty sure he can get you a job where he works."

Joshua shook his head. "Justin, I can’t…"

"Yes you can," Justin said gently.

"No, I can’t…it’s too much. You’ve done so much already…it’s too much," Joshua said. His eyes filled with tears that he quickly wiped away with the back of his hand.

"This is nothing."

Joshua shook his head violently. "No…"

"Josh please, I can’t just let you walk out of here in a week knowing what you’d be going back to. You deserve so much better than that."

Again, Joshua looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean, what I’d be going back to?"

Justin breathed in deeply. He knew that he was treading on sensitive ground and that he had to be careful. He spoke slowly, carefully choosing his next words. "Josh, I know what you do. I know about the…the prostitution. And I know that half the time you don’t have a place to stay and that you have to sleep at shelters."

"Oh my God," Joshua breathed out as he turned his face away from Justin. "Oh my God."

"Josh, wait, no…it’s ok. That doesn’t matter to me…" Justin said.

"How can it not matter, Justin? How can it not? I sleep with men for money. I’m nothing but a whore."

Justin reached out and, gently holding JC’s chin, turned his head back to face him. It nearly crushed him to see that he was crying again. "Listen to me. None of that matters to me. It’s something you did – it’s not who you are." He let his hand drop and lowered his voice. "Besides, I know why you did it. I know about your parents. I know you didn’t feel like you had a choice."

Joshua’s voice was choked with emotion. "What do you know about my parents?"

"I know that they died in a fire, and that you had to use all your money for their funeral and that when you came back, you couldn’t find a job…I know it all Joshua," Justin answered.

Joshua’s eyes were wide and unblinking. He opened his mouth to speak but no sound came out. He swallowed and tried again, this time managing to make the words come out. "How do you know all that?"

Justin looked uncertain. "Your friend told me."

"Who?" Joshua asked, his voice low and urgent.

"Wade. He said his name was Wade. Tall guy…blond, spiky hair? He’s a…well he was outside of Sammy’s when I went to go talk to him," Justin said.

Joshua shook his head vigorously. "No Justin. I don’t know anyone named Wade. And I’ve never told anyone here about my parents."

Now it was Justin’s turn to look surprised. "But he knew you. He knew all about you."

Joshua sighed heavily. He suddenly looked very tired and frail, as if the conversation had drained him of all his energy. "I guess it doesn’t matter how you found out. What matters is that you know."

"I told you, none of that matters to me. YOU matter to me."

"Why are you so nice to me? Why do you care so much?" Joshua asked.

The thought came to his mind unbidden and the words almost passed his lips. He didn’t let them, however. He knew that neither he nor Joshua was ready for that admission yet. Instead he simply said, "I’ve never thought to question it. I just care."

Joshua stared at him for a moment, his face a mixture of doubt and belief. "I’ve never met anyone like you Justin. You are so kind."

"Yeah well, you’re easy to be kind to," Justin said.

Joshua was about to say something else when a yawn interrupted his words. He rubbed at his eyes, careful not to aggravate any bruises.

"You’re tired. Why don’t you go to sleep and we can talk about this some more later?" Justin said as he smoothed a lock of Joshua’s hair from his forehead.

"You sure?" Joshua asked right before another yawn overtook him.

"I’m sure. Go to sleep," Justin said gently.

Joshua smiled faintly and then closed his eyes. The next few minutes passed in silence as Justin watched Joshua drift off to sleep.

He was just about to move to his cot for his own quick nap when the sound of Joshua’s voice stopped him. He looked over at the bed and noticed that the other man still had his eyes closed and that his lips barely moved when he spoke.

His voice was soft and his words slightly slurred and they caused a sweet shiver to run down Justin’s spine.

"Scared Justin…think I love you too…"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Justin drove his car into the parking lot of his apartment complex and groaned when he saw the throng of reporters that were camped out in front of his door. He just couldn’t understand why they were here day in and day out or why there seemed to more of them with each passing day. Didn’t they ever get tired of hearing the words "no comment" from him?

He parked the car in his designated space and got out, keys to the apartment in hand, ready to run the gauntlet.

As soon as he got within a few feet of the crowd, they all turned around as if they sensed him. Questions were thrown at him with a dizzying speed as he pushed his way through them.

"Justin, can you tell us how you knew to go to the house that night?"

"How does it feel to be a hero?"

"Justin, are you still considered a suspect?"

"Is it true that there were at least five bodies in the basement?"

He answered none of their questions. He merely threw out his patented "no comment" and continued to make his way through the crowd. He finally reached the door and was trying to make his key fit in the keyhole when it opened abruptly. A hand grabbed on to his shirt and pulled him inside. He stumbled in and heard the door close behind him.

Smiling grimly he turned around and saw that Lance was peering out through the peephole.

"Thanks for the rescue," he said as he walked over to the couch and flopped down on it.

"No problem. Man, for a minute there I thought they were going to eat you alive."

"Don’t they ever get tired of just watching me ignore them?" Justin asked.

"Face it Justin. You’re a hero. Everybody wants to know about the hero," Lance replied as he walked over to the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of beer from the fridge. He joined Justin on the couch, offering him one of the bottles.

"Not a hero," Justin mumbled as he took it gratefully.

"Not a hero?! Please, you saved a man’s life PLUS stopped a serial killer. Damn Justin, face it. You’re a hero."

"You know what? Can we change the subject?" Justin said as he viciously twisted off the cap to the bottle and took a big swig.

"Fine. So what happened with Josh? Is he going to stay with us?"

"He hasn’t agreed to it yet, but yeah he will."

"How do you know?" Lance asked curiously.

"I just know," Justin replied simply.

Lance sat back and sighed. "I gotta tell you, this whole psychic thing you got going with this guy is kind of freaky."

Justin laughed. "I used to think so too. Now I just go with it."

Justin turned his head and glanced at the tv screen. Not surprisingly Lance had been watching the news, as he had every day since he had found Joshua. He was about to turn his attention back to Lance when he saw a familiar face on the screen. He leaned forward as he stared; completely unaware that he had dropped his beer and that it was now fizzing all over the carpet.

He could vaguely hear Lance calling his name, asking him what was wrong, but he couldn’t make himself answer. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. Vivid memories of standing in front of an old building and talking to a tall, blond man with weary eyes flashed in his mind.

Feeling as if he were moving in slow motion, he finally forced himself to turn towards Lance. "Who is that?" he asked. His voice was barely above a whisper.

"Who?" Lance asked, puzzled.

"The guy on tv. His picture. Who is he?"

Lance seemed to relax a little now that Justin was talking and not just staring straight ahead. "Remember when the police dug up that psycho’s back yard and they found that body?"

Justin nodded, no longer trusting his voice to work properly.

"Well, they finally identified him. His name’s Wade. That was his picture. The cops are thinking that he was the guy’s first victim."

Justin turned back towards the television set, but the picture of the young blond was no longer on the screen.

But that couldn’t be…that just couldn’t be.

Could it?

Suddenly lightning quick images were flashing across his mind. He closed his eyes against their almost painful onslaught.

He saw an image of Wade’s suffering as the serial killer brutally ran his knife across his throat.

He saw an image of Joshua sobbing in a dark corner as the monster drew ever closer to him.

He saw a frightening image of his own near death at the hands of that same monster.

And finally, he saw one pure image of himself and Joshua, many years down the road. They were together and happy and Joshua was smiling and beautiful and healthy.

He opened his eyes and found that Lance had a hand on his shoulder and was worriedly asking him if he was all right.

He smiled.

"Yeah, I’m all right. And you know what?"

"What?" Lance asked.

His smile widened. "So is everything else, Lance. Everything’s going to be great."

Lance looked at him and nodded slowly. "That’s great buddy. So are you going to clean that beer up, cause where I come from, that’s alcohol abuse."

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