Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

chart. "Look, Mr.," he paused, "McCray. Can you just answer the question?"
    "What question?" James thought he heard teeth grinding.
    "Where is the child's mother?"
    "Oh, she's on a business trip. She's going to kill me."
    "So you're staying with your son? You don't have primary custody?"
    "What? I don't have custody at all." What was the guy getting at? "He's not my son."
    James watched the doctor close his eyes once again and take a deep breath. He leaned out into the hallway and called for a nurse. When she arrived, he turned to James. "I'm going to have to speak to the child alone; can you just step outside the curtain for a moment?"
    "Why? What's going on?"
    The nurse patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, dear, just a formality."
    "I'm not leaving." James wasn't sure what was going on, but he wasn't leaving Dedrick.
    The doctor sighed. "Fine." He turned to the little boy. "So," he glanced at the chart, "Dedrick, can you tell me how you hurt your head?"
    "I banged into the wall."
    "How did that happen? Did you trip, or did someone push you?"
    James' eyes went wide. Oh my God. They thought he'd hurt Dedrick. Before he could speak up, Dedrick beat him to it. "I was chasing Maxi, and I slipped."
    "Maxi?"
    "My kitty. He's fast."
    "Hmm." The doctor just hummed as he continued to poke at his head. "Where was your daddy?"
    "I don't have a daddy." Dedrick was looking up at the doctor, completely guileless. The doctor drew back and looked at James.
    James cross his arms and looked down his nose. "I told you I'm not his father. I'm his uncle."
    "Oh." The doctor gave him the once over, which confused James momentarily, but then he figured anyone that pretty living in San Francisco had to be gay. A dick, but a hot gay dick apparently. The doctor turned back to Dedrick. "Where was your uncle?"
    "Making noodles." The doctor nodded.
    "I think it could use a couple of stitches." Eli looked at the clock and sighed. Eight o'clock and he was starting stitches. Fuck.
    Eli gave instructions to the nurse to get the things ready for the sutures, and looked up to see the kid's uncle staring at him with his arms crossed. Nice arms, very nice. Shit, he was so tired his mind was wandering. He might look at patients sometimes - hell, he wasn't dead, well, not quite yet. The guy had sandy brown hair cut super short - nearly buzzed - and the same chocolate brown eyes as his nephew. Even their hair was the same color, which explained his confusion as to parentage.
    "I can't believe you thought I hurt him," hissed the guy from between clenched teeth.
    "Look, Mr. McCray. I'm sorry, but we have to confirm these things. It happens, more often than most people would like to know."
    "I'm a teacher." The indignant way he said it, clearly indicated he thought he would be above suspicion.
    Eli tipped his head. Seriously, the guy had to know better. "Then you sir, should know that abuse comes in all forms. It's not just trailer trash hillbillies who hurt their kids. Upstanding working folk, wearing expensive clothes, do it too. Gay parents, straight parents, single parents, black parents, white parents, - abuse doesn't discriminate."
    Eli took a deep breath. He knew he was on his damn soap box, but it was his hot button. Most of the stuff that came through the ER he just turned off. You couldn't get emotionally invested in every case. Sure it was unfortunate when some teenager got caught up in a gang shooting or a middle aged guy left behind a wife and kids, but that was how it worked. However, seeing a baby with broken legs or a preschooler with third degree burns inflicted by a parent or caregiver was something that ate at him for days after. Eli didn't give a shit if he pissed off parents by asking probing questions - he wasn't going to be that doctor who sent a kid home only to have them back a week later, dead.
    The guy lowered his eyes and the starch went out of his spine. "You're right. I know that. It's just when you're the one on the receiving end of the suspicions..." he trailed off with a shrug.
    "Right. Well, seems like everything is fine here, just a freak accident. If the floors are hardwood you might want to keep him in bare feet so he can't slip."
    "Yeah. Okay." James shook his head. "Really, she's going to kill me. I promised I'd take good care of him."
    Eli got the nurse to hold the kid's head while he injected the freezing. "So, where's his ..." he glanced down. Sometimes saying " mom " was all it took to trigger a kid. "Where's your