There were two people already in the home office when Dallas and Nate limped inside: the first was a willowy woman with a kind face, while the other was a man about Rob’s age in a deputy’s uniform. Deputy Nelson had thick grey eyebrows, which raised up when they saw Nate’s face.

“Yep, there’s no confusing that for anything other than what it is,” the deputy muttered under his breath. The woman hushed him, then hurried forward to help Nate into a chair beside Rob’s desk. Rob motioned for everyone to sit down and he shut the door behind him. Dallas sat next to Nate, who immediately grabbed his hand again.

“Nate, I would like to introduce you to Kari Danivers, who is a case worker in Child Protective Services,” Rob said, gesturing to the woman, “and this is Deputy Nelson with the sheriff’s department.”

Nate nodded nervously to both adults. Kari gave him a small smile.

“Hello Nate,” she said. “I’m going to be in charge of your case. Rob has been in touch with your grandmother and I’ve already gotten the paperwork started for your emergency guardianship. However, I need to ask you a few questions about what happened before I can submit it to the judge. Deputy Nelson will be helping me investigate your situation – he is not here to arrest you or take you back to your parents. As of right now, we have sufficient evidence that it is an unsafe environment for you, but the more information you can give us the easier it will be to convince the judge that you need a permanent move. Do you understand what I’m asking or is there anything you’d like me to explain?”

“I understand,” Nate answered. “I don’t want to go back to that house.”

Kari nodded.

“Alright,” she said, and she took out a voice recorder. “I will be recording this conversation to be used as evidence, but you are free to tell me to stop recording at any time. You do not have to answer any of my questions or you may pass over the ones that are too uncomfortable for you to talk about. Rob is here to represent you in a legal capacity and you may refer any questions you have to him. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” came Nate’s breathy reply.

“Then let’s begin,” she said and she started the recorder. Kari stated her name and the day’s date, along with the names of everyone present in the room, before she began the conversation with Nate.

“If you could please, Nate, tell us what happened today,” Kari said.

Nate took a deep breath and squeezed Dallas’ hand before he began to tell the story of what happened with Roy Kearns and the incident with his locker that morning. Dallas listened with mounting horror as Nate told them how his parents picked him up from school and took him back to their house, where Nate proceeded to tell them that while he hadn’t tried to kiss Roy, he was indeed gay.

“At first, the Reverend didn’t do anything,” he said. “I'd known that he suspected for a while that I was gay, but he was so quiet that I started to hope I was wrong about how he'd react. Finally he began to talk. He told me that I was confused and that he’d failed to raise me right and that he’d do whatever it took to fix me and save my soul. I’d heard all this before - those are the sorts of things he’d usually say before he’d ‘chastise’ me - so I decided to stand up for myself.”

Nate swallowed several times before continuing.

“I told him that I wasn’t confused, that he’d barely raised me, and that my soul didn’t need fixing,” he said. “I told him that he could hit me all he liked, it wasn’t going to change the fact that I want to marry a man one day. I told him that his options were to love me as I am or to hate me like he hated all other gays. His anger wasn’t going to change a fucking thing.”

Nate grinned as he said the f-word and Dallas couldn’t help a smile too; it was odd to hear Nate swear, but it made him sound more like himself too.

“And that’s when he hit me,” Nate said matter-of-factly. “I didn’t see it coming. He swung out in a rage and knocked me right over. I think it startled him too, because he looked horrified afterwards. I almost felt sorry for him. I told him that I’d pray for him. He replied that I was a disgrace and a fool if I thought this was the end of it…he said he was going to send me to people who knew how to fix problems like me. Then he grabbed me and locked me in my room. He told me that he had to clean up my mess, but afterwards we were going to talk again and he was going to send me to therapy where they’d have the strength to do what he couldn’t.”

As he said these words, Nate began to tremble and Dallas rubbed his thumb over his hand. 

“I’ve heard stories about conversion therapy,” Nate continued, “and there was no way I’m going through that, so I broke through the window and climbed down the drain. That’s where the scrape on my knee and my ankle happened. I knew I’d be safe here with the Carpenters – Dallas is my best friend – so I walked over to his house and well, they called you.”

Everyone glanced at Dallas when his name was mentioned and Rob gave his son a pat on the back, as if he’d won an award or something. Dallas blushed, but he grinned at Nate when the boy looked at him.

“Thank you for telling us this,” Kari said. “If I may, you mentioned that your father already suspected you were gay and he would regularly ‘chastise’ you. Could you talk a little more about that? What would he do? How long has he been doing this?”

Dallas’ grin faded again as slowly Nate began to detail how once he started high school, Reverend Westerson withdrew Nate from all social activities that brought him into contact with other boys – sports, the Boy Scouts, certain church groups – and instead he gave him weekly lectures on purity and sin. At first they were nothing more than lectures, but when Nate didn’t seem to respond to them, the Reverend included more corporal ‘chastisement’. Usually Nate’s father hit him with a switch or rod, but later he got a special stick that he carved the words ‘Proverbs 13:24’ into so that it would leave the words bruised on the skin.

“He’s been hitting me with that every Sunday evening for the last year,” Nate said. “He would do it on my left forearm, so that the bruise would last for most of the schoolweek to remind me not to sin. I had to wear long-sleeve shirts to hide it from other people. Then the Reverend decided that it would be good for my soul if my body abstained from food, so my mother was responsible for making sure I ‘fasted’. Most days she would make me skip meals or she limited my portions when I did eat.”

Nate glanced up at Rob.

“They were both confused when I started gaining weight again thanks to Rosalie,” he admitted with a grin. “I’m really grateful for her kindness.”

Dallas’ eyes prickled with tears at these words and he thought he saw his dad’s eyes glisten too. Then Deputy Nelson stirred and spoke up for the first time.

“Nate, do you know where your father keeps this stick?” he asked. 

Nate nodded. “He puts it in a cabinet in his study, under the right-side bookshelf. I had to fetch it for him as part of the punishment.”

The deputy made a note and then shared a glance with Kari. She nodded and turned to Nate.

“Nate, we would like to gather as much evidence as possible,” she said. “If you are willing, I would like to take some photographs of your injury from today, as well as any old ones you may have. These photos will be kept under strict privacy and only people involved with the case will see them. Is that something you will allow me to do?”

Nate froze for a moment, but then he nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “If it will help, I agree.”

“OK,” Kari said, and she took out her phone before coming over to him. She snapped some photos of Nate’s black eye, as well as the old bruises on his arm. Dallas could see the dim outlines of ‘Proverbs 13:24’ there.

“Why ‘Proverbs 13:24’?” he asked before could stop himself.

It was Deputy Nelson who answered. 

“ ‘He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently’,” the deputy said with a grimace. “It’s a commonly spouted phrase in cases like this. Fortunately for us, it might just be the Reverend’s smoking gun. I think I have everything I need for the moment – Kari?”

“I agree, I think we have more than enough to start with,” the social worker said, putting her phone away. “Rob, Rosalie may need to provide additional testimony, but we can save that for another day. I’m going to speak to the school while Deputy Nelson conducts a search of the Westerson house. I expect we’ll have this wrapped up by later this evening.”

Rob nodded and Kari turned to Nate, who suddenly looked worn out and exhausted. She gave him one more of her gentle smiles.

“Nate, thank you for all of your cooperation,” she said. “I really appreciate the trust you’ve put in us and please believe me when I say that we’re going to do everything to get you to your grandmother soon. She’s agreed to take you in and is very eager to see you again. For now, I’d like it if you stayed with the Carpenters while we make the final arrangements. I’ll be in touch shortly.”

She offered Nate her hand, which he shook. Deputy Nelson also stood up and nodded to Nate.

“You’ve done nothing wrong, son,” the deputy reassured him. “You did everything you needed to protect yourself and the law recognizes that. I wish everyone in the same situation had as much courage as you do.”

“Thank you, sir,” Nate replied. “But I was only brave because I knew I had Dallas.”

Deputy Nelson grinned at Dallas.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes,” he said before he left the office. Kari followed him out, but not before giving Nate her business card in case he wanted to reach her. Rob told the boys they could go back to the kitchen and he escorted the visitors to the front door. 

Dallas and Nate didn’t go right away, though – Nate sat on the chair and took several deep breaths, as if trying to gather up the last dregs of his strength to move. 

“Do you want a piggyback ride to the kitchen?” Dallas offered.

Nate grinned back.

“Won’t Rico get jealous?” he asked.

“Eh, I’ll give him one too if he wants,” Dallas replied. “Come on, you deserve it.”

He crouched in front of Nate and allowed the other boy to drape his arms around his neck. Nate rested his head on Dallas’ shoulder as Dallas heaved him up and carried him out of the home office.

“Thank you Dallas,” he whispered in his ear, his breath tickling Dallas’ neck.

“It’s alright, Nate, I’ve got you,” Dallas replied. “Always.”

* * * * * * * *