But, Honestly

Taylor and Dave spent some time explaining how they had several sexual encounters as well, but these were different because it wasn't only Nicky who wanted Dave. "And Dave wanted me too." Taylor paused to give his wife a second to digest it all. "What are you thinking so far, Alison?"

She pulled her hand back. "Again, possession, it happened. But this... this is cheating, Taylor. You did this without my knowledge."

Dave tried to step in. "It wasn't like we could talk to you first. I was chained down and Taylor had little control of his body."

"Okay, but he wanted you in his heart, for years and years."

"Which you knew about," Taylor added.

"Which started years before we even met them," Jordyn said.

Alison gaped at her friend. "You support this?!"

"Hey, I wasn't extremely enthused when I found out these two had sex long before I ever met Dave, but I knew my husband was bi within a few dates. I knew what I was in for when I married him. He didn't stop being bi, and he didn't stop loving Taylor because we got married. I'm not some naïve little girl who believes all those feelings went away when we took our marriage vows."

Dave felt horrible; hearing these words from her, he felt like a jerk. "Jordyn, I never wanted you to feel like you were second best. I - "

"Dave, it's okay. It's really okay. I love you for who you are, not what I want you to become. Not what I want to turn you into. I never asked you to stop loving Taylor when we got married. I thought maybe this might never come up again - you were too scared to tell him anyway - but if it did, I was ready to see where it would take us." Jordyn took Dave's hand and squeezed it. "I'm okay with this."

Alison, throwing up her hands, cried, "So no one's on my side." She sighed, a hand over her face. "Okay, I knew about all the bisexual stuff and your feelings for Dave." Alison lowered her hand. "But I did allow myself to think it was all over when we got married. I didn't think this was ever going to come up again. And then the thing happened with Chris, and I knew somehow that it was all about Dave, but I still kept telling myself that you were only mine." Tears welled up in her eyes.

The expression on Taylor's face softened, and he reached out to touch Alison's cheek. "Don't cry. I'm still yours. It's just... I don't want to lie to you. I still have feelings for Dave, and I want to continue our relationship. But I don't want to leave you. I just want you to... share me." Taylor paused, rolling his eyes. "Why do I feel like such an asshole saying that?"

"That's what Dave said," Jordyn threw in with a small grin.

"Share you?"

"We talked about this, Alison. Years ago. You said you wanted me to be happy."

Looking down, she thought it over a few long seconds. "I said that because I thought it would never come up again. Now that it has... I don't know if I can go through with it."

Jordyn tried again. "Alison, they don't just want to be together without us. They're hoping we want to do some foursomes." She wiggled her eyebrows. "Remember, we talked about that?"

Alison lowered her head, grinning despite herself. A giggle escaped her. "Yeah, I... I remember."

Looking between the two women, Taylor smiled a bit too and asked, "You guys discussed foursomes?"

"Um... wine was involved," Alison confessed.

Now Taylor and Dave felt it was okay to smile, just a little. "Does that mean you want to try it?" Taylor asked his wife.

Alison thought it over as she had before, fumbling with her wedding ring. Turning it around and around on her finger. "Yeah, we can try it. I can't promise anything. I kind of have to see this before I can agree to anything further. If it hurts too much or makes me too jealous... I can't promise anything."

Something she said caught Dave's attention. "You have to see this first? See what?"

Again, Alison looked down, embarrassed and unsure. "I've never seen two guys together. You know, making out."

Dave and Taylor couldn't help but look at each other and snicker. "Do you want to see a kiss? It's the best we can do right now."

"Okay." Alison stood up. She made room for Dave, who came to the side of the bed, leaned over, and gave Taylor a peck on the mouth.

"Oh come on, you can do better than that," Jordyn said.

Taylor and Dave laughed, but Alison watched it all very carefully. With a shrug, Dave leaned in once more and planted a longer, more passionate kiss on Taylor's mouth. Their lips parted, but they went in for a few more small kisses, lingering, sucking lightly at each other's lips.

Alison let out a breath. "That wasn't so bad."

"Did you think it would be gross?" Dave questioned.

Alison shrugged. "Maybe. I never have had any desire to watch two guys get it on. But it wasn't so bad." She ran a hand through Taylor's hair. "You really like that?"

"You know I do."

She smoothed his blonde hair behind his ear. "I think that's why I could acquire a taste for watching it. To see you get off." Kissing the space between Taylor's ear and his cheek, Alison continued finger-combing his hair possessively. "It might be fun to see how many times we can get him off. Huh, Dave?"

He jumped a little; that was a surprise. "Yeah. That would be fun." Something in her tone suggested she saw this as a competition.

Taylor's face colored. He pulled Alison down for a kiss, which became just as passionate as the one between the two men. "Thank you for being understanding, baby, and giving this a shot."

"I love you too much to give you up that easily." There was another kiss.

Dave breathed a sigh of relief. Somehow he knew that if Alison had said no, Taylor would have been out.

"Um, so... when do you think we can get started?" Jordyn asked shyly.

This time, even Alison laughed. Taylor winced a little before delivering the bad news. "Unfortunately, the doctor said I have to wait two weeks before having sex again. It's too strenuous to do it any sooner."

The three looked at each other and groaned. "Your husband's nothing but a big fucking tease," Dave declared.

"I know," Alison said, and kissed Taylor's head. "I know."

*****

Jordyn wanted to bring the kids home. Both she and Dave missed them, but he certainly couldn't run off to Hawaii now. "Give it one more night," Dave told her, giving her a good night kiss. "Kurt will bring me that dream and then I can take the statue to 606."

"And then our kids can come home," Jordyn added happily.

"Exactly. Everything will start getting back to normal." Dave turned out the light. "At least, our new version of normal."

The mindscape seemed to change every time he entered it now. The ambient light was currently a pale pink, going well with the fuschia throne upon which Kurt sat. Only three spikes protruded from it at this time. Dave was looking at things as they are. "Kurt, is this the dream?"

Kurt leaned on one of the spikes. It teetered to one side; it was loose, like the one on his collar. "Yeah, buddy, it is. There will still be things you have to figure out, but there's a lot I can show you." Considering the throne beneath him, he remarked, "It's so pathetic that it took dying for me to grow up." Kurt offered a hand.

Dave sighed at his self-deprecation. "Kurt, you weren't - "

"Save it. Okay? You don't have to try to make me feel better. I've learned too much to need that anymore. Now take my hand and get your answers."

Resigned, Dave took it. Suddenly, he was on a journey. First stop, his house, the art room. It was filled with fog, a fog through which Nicky Kelly walked, trying to find something to hold onto. A chain tethered him to the statue.

Something moved through the fog, something small and blonde. "Mommy, put me on the horsie! Wanna ride!" Ophelia's voice pleaded, floating up out of the white soup. His precious little PhePhe.

"Okay, just for a little bit," Jordyn's voice said.

Nicky frowned, nervously cracking his knuckles. "Where am I?"

A black blur ran through, and Dave heard his own voice. "Oh boy, my girl gets to ride the horsie! Isn't it pretty? Almost as pretty as you."

Ophelia began to giggle loudly; Dave was probably tickling her. He couldn't even see through the fog, as he saw things through Nicky's perspective. "Daddy, Ima airplane. Do the airplane!"

Dave made airplane motor noises and ran around the room with Ophelia in his arms. Her arms spread out like wings and she giggled and squealed as he flew her around the room. He didn't need to see it to know what was happening; he'd lived it.

"You are who I'm here for," Nicky said to the raven-haired blob. "You. But who are you?" He tried to follow the man about the room, squinting at him, but his movements were too quick. "Slow down!" he demanded, and pounded a fist in the air.

This caused one of those loud bangs in the wall that started the whole "haunted house" thing. Jordyn squeaked, Ophelia screamed and grabbed at her father's neck. "Ghost! Scary ghost, Daddy!"

"It's okay, Daddy's got you. Let's go out back and swing, okay? Okay." They all headed for the stairs.

"Now do you believe me? You heard that, right?" Jordyn asked.

"Yeah, I heard it."

Nicky ran after them, chasing them up the stairs. "Wait! I didn't see your face!" He went as far as the chain would allow, and was eventually stopped like a dog on a leash.

Dave watched it all and shuddered. All those times it felt like someone was chasing him up the stairs, someone was.

He turned back to the statue and saw that the light had changed. This must be another time, another day. Harper stood in front of the statue with a plum in her hand; every time she bit into it, juice dripped from her hand and onto the carpet.

"Ooh, does your mother know you're down here with that messy fruit? You better get back upstairs, girl," Dave scolded his daughter.

Of course, she could not hear him. This was a memory, a memory of the house. Nicky seemed to be melded with the statue, sleeping.

Harper considered the statue, staring at it as if they were communicating. "Do you really have a ghost in you?" she questioned, trying to keep her voice down. "Hey ghost! Are you in there?"

Nicky opened his eyes.

Gasping, Dave ordered, "Harper, stop! Stop talking to it!"

Jordyn called down the stairs. "Harper, you better not be in the art room unattended."

She gasped and jumped, then put a finger to her lips. "Shhhh," the child told the statue. Harper waited at the bottom of the stairs until her mother was distracted, then scurried back up to the kitchen.

When Dave turned to the statue again, things had changed once more. The fog was thick, but Dave could see well enough to surmise that it was the night Taylor was possessed. He had his fingers on the planchette, waiting for Dave to ask a question.

"Is there anybody here besides us?"

As he had been with Harper, Nicky seemed to be sleeping in the statue. When Dave spoke to him, he opened his eyes.

The planchette moved to YES.

Dave watched as Nicky stepped out of the statue and approached him and Taylor from three days ago. Quickly, Nicky put his hands over Taylor's and actually moved the pointer. Right after, Taylor began complaining that it felt like someone else's hands were over his. Nicky kept squinting at them, trying to make out their faces.

Eventually, Nicky moved his face very close to Dave's and gasped, recognition coming into his eyes. "Holy shit, are you Dave Grohl?!"

So this was everything from Nicky's point of view. For a few minutes, they spoke back and forth through the Ouija board, the tension mounting as Nicky started to make threats.

Making one last attempt to figure out if he knew who Taylor was, Nicky put his face up close to Taylor's as he raised his head. That was the moment that Taylor gasped with such shock and fear that it turned Dave's spine to ice. Taylor had noticed that the statue's eyes were no longer blue, not knowing that he was face to face with those eyes at that very moment.

Nicky grinned, satisfied. "You'll do," he said. His grin became predatory. "A friend of Dave Grohl's? You'll do just fine." He moved around in back of Taylor and put his arms around his shoulders, hands over Taylor's. "Sleep, my friend. Sleeeeeeep..."

Watching it now, Dave was struck by how easy it all seemed for Nicky to do it. He needed to get the statue out of his house. "Message received, Kurt."

Dave felt himself being pulled somewhere else. Rush, rush, wind whipping at his face. That nauseating feeling he got before when Kurt yanked him around the mindscape. "Go easy on me, Kurt. No reason to hurry, I'll be asleep - "

He found himself standing in Taylor's hospital room. " - all night," Dave finished. Asleep in his bed, Taylor was still bare chested; he didn't seem to like wearing a hospital gown. Alison slept on the couch in the room for another night.

Why was he here? If he shook Taylor, would he wake up for real, or just in the dream? "This shit is confusing," Dave complained to himself.

"Tell me about it," Taylor said, and turned over to grin at him. "Hey Dave. What brings you here?"

"Fuck if I know." Taking the seat next to the bed, he smiled back at his friend. "You remember Kurt was going to bring me an important dream?" Dave spread out his arms. "This is it."

"Huh." Taylor touched Dave's arm. "Why do you think you're here?" He made lazy circles with his finger, causing the hair on Dave's arm to tingle.

"I guess so we can talk."

"Or maybe because this is a dream, and I'm not bound by any physical limitations." Those lazy circles... Taylor's grin...

Dave smiled too. "Two weeks, huh?"

"Two weeks."

Still grinning, Dave chuckled and rubbed the back of Taylor's hand, then held it. "Maybe in a minute. I think we should talk first."

Taylor scoffed, but good-naturedly. "Killjoy."

"Hey, there's a reason I'm here. I doubt it's to make out with you." When Taylor flashed him a pouty look, Dave gave him a scolding one back. "I'm sure this won't take long."

Taylor sighed. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, first, how do you think Alison really took our proposition? Did she seem sincere?"

Shrugging, he replied, "I think my wife would prefer that this not be happening and she get to have me all to herself, but she's going to try a foursome because she wants me to be happy."

"What if she doesn't like it?" asked Dave, nearly holding his breath in anticipation of the answer.

Taylor shrugged again. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." He leaned up and kissed Dave on the mouth. "I'm going to do everything I can, fight for the two of us, because I love you. I have loved you... since I was Oh."

Dave reeled, his eyes wide. "That long?!"

Taylor nodded.

A lovesick expression coming over his face, Dave said, "I realized I was in love with you when I almost lost you, to the overdose."

They looked into each other's eyes and shared a gentle kiss. "Can we make out now?"

"Aw fuck, I can't keep my hands off you any longer." Dave pushed the bed rail down and climbed into the bed. Taylor threw the covers off; not only was there no wound and no bandage, but he wasn't wearing anything under that sheet. Just as he said, this was a dream, there weren't any physical limitations.

The two men came together in the middle of the bed, kissing, arms around each other, bodies stroking against one another, creating heat. They fumbled Dave's pajamas off and it was skin to skin, and before he knew what was happening, he was inside Taylor, the other man moaning loud and a bit shrill. Taylor's legs wrapped around his waist and his arms around his neck and they moved together, thrusting in time, like this was so meant to be, no one would or could ever tear them apart now. They were eternal.

"Mm... Dave," Taylor cried, panting into Dave's ear.

His excitement growing, Dave sat up, pulling Taylor up with him, and let him sink down onto his lap, his cock going deeper into his lover's body. Taylor's head went further back with every extra inch that stroked that sweet spot inside him, and he let out another cry of ecstasy. Dave smothered his exposed neck in kisses.

Dave began thrusting again. In this position, gravity was his ally. Once more, their arms went about each other and lips came together, and they moved toward the mutual goal of mind blowing pleasure.

The result was that Dave came, but Taylor, not yet. Shaking and moaning, he laid Taylor down and kissed him, riding out his orgasm. Taylor kissed Dave's face softly as he lay there with his eyes closed, panting. Seconds later, without a word, Dave kissed his way down the other man's body and ran his tongue along the trail of light brown hair that led to Taylor's erection before sliding it into his mouth, all the way in.

"Uhh! Dave, baby!" Taylor arched his back, smoothing Dave's hair down with his hands, stroking the raven-haired head between his legs. Shortly after, he began grabbing at that hair instead as he neared orgasm. "Dave... that's so good, almost... almost there... ahhh!"

Dave swallowed it all, and crawled up the bed, lying down next to his lover. Coming in for a kiss, Taylor put his head on Dave's shoulder afterward. "I'd say I didn't realize it could be this good with you, but I already knew that. Oh told me," he laughed.

"We spent a lotta years dancing around the truth. That's all done." Dave propped himself up on his elbow. "As tension-relieving as that was, I don't think this is what Kurt sent me here for," he said with a snort of laughter. "I think the reason he sent me is he knew you'd be able to help me work something out."

"What?"

"I had a dream last night that was in three parts. I understand why I was shown the first and last part, but not the middle. Can I run it by you?"

"Sure." Taylor gave his arm a sharp pat.

"I saw Nicky at a college party. He was talking to a friend. There was another dude there, someone Nicky referred to as his boyfriend. But the boyfriend never said anything. In fact, he barely moved. I think Nicky said his name was Manny." Searching his memory, Dave tried to remember if there was anything else. "His friend seemed to think that name was really funny. It was almost like Nicky had some sort of control over the boyfriend, he was so... so stiff and motionless."

"Hm." Taylor stretched, lifting his arms up over his head. "Maybe he was a dead body."

"I don't think so. The other people at the party didn't react like it was a dead guy, and Nicky and his friend couldn't stop laughing. I mean, yeah, it was a Halloween party, but still..."

"Somebody carrying around a dead body's gonna stick out."

"Right. Oh, and then this girl tried to get me to bob for apples, and I said no, I don't want those apples, they're made of plastic." Dave rolled his eyes. "Why does all this shit have to be so cryptic and written in metaphor? I got to figure out what I own that belonged to Nicky. My time is limited here."

"What do you mean, something you own that belonged to Nicky?"

It was the one detail of this whole sorted story that Dave had accidentally left out when trying to catch Taylor up. He explained how Nicky's belonging fit in with the spell. "But I have no fucking idea what I own that could have belonged to Nicky. I mean, what the fuck? How did that even happ - "

Taylor gasped. "Dave! Oh my God!" He turned wide eyes toward him. "I've got it!"

"What?!"

"Manny, he's really stiff, he barely moved... did you ever see his face?"

"No, his back was to me."

"Think about it! Manny... everybody thinks it's hilarious that he's there... plastic, they're made of plastic! Dave... it's the statue!" Taylor cried.

Confused, Dave asked, "Nicky owned the statue?"

"No. The statue was made from a mannequin!" Taylor's face lit up when the realization came to Dave's eyes. "Nicky owned the mannequin!"

His mouth hanging open in shock, Dave started, "Then that means - "

He felt himself being yanked out of the bed so hard that his dinner came up in his throat. "Taylor!" Dave called, grabbing at the sheet. It came with him as he flew away, through a tunnel and toward his next stop. The food went back down, but Dave could still taste it as he was plunked down in a sunny field, the same field of wildflowers he saw earlier, where Nicky and his siblings played pirate. Unable to move his head, he couldn't even look down to see if he was still naked. Some force directed where his head could look, and it now turned Dave's gaze skyward, showing him a beautiful blue sky with fluffy white clouds. Someone was flying a kite.

The scene painted on the front of the statue. It was the scene painted on the statue.

Dave could feel the sun, the light breeze, the perfect temperature of a spring day.

The force that controlled where he could look moved him forward enough to see two boys lying in the grass, looking up at the sky, their arms resting behind their heads. Nicky and his little friend, the one who stood up for the bug and played pirate with Nicky's siblings. Dave realized he was also the college friend, the one with black hair.

Here, they looked about ten or so. Birds sang in the nearby trees.

"Do you have red hair?"

"No."

"Do you have black hair?"

"Yeah."

"You are Jimmy Page."

"You got it." Nicky reached into a bag lying at his side and took out a Pixie Stix to empty into his mouth. "I don't wanna play this game anymore. I'm bored."

"Don't let your dad hear you say that." Nicky's friend imitated his father. "He'll give you something to do!"

Both boys giggled. "Yeah, he'll make me paint the fence or clean out the garage. School isn't even out yet. I can do that shit over the summer."

The black-haired boy sighed. "What do ya wanna be when you grow up?"

"Rich!"

"How are you gonna get there? What job do you want?"

Nicky, chewing on the Pixie Stix wrapper, thought it over, looking at a cloud shaped like a snail. "I'm going to be a famous surgeon. Fix people's hearts and brains and stuff. Everybody around the hospital will know about the famous Doctor Kelly." He swept a hand out from his chest in a dramatic flourish. "What about you?"

The boy said, "I'm going to be an architect, and design big, beautiful buildings and museums and skyscrapers."

"I bet you could. You're a great artist."

"Thanks, Nicky!" He reached into the bag and pulled out a box of candy cigarettes. This seemed to be their candy stash for a lazy Saturday afternoon.

"Nicky! Nicky!" The little girl who played pirate with the others came running up. Probably Nicky's sister. "Robin found a dead raccoon that got run over by a bus! It's covered in maggots and everything! Wanna see?"

"Ewwww!" the two boys cried. Then they jumped up, ready to follow her.

The girl and friend ran off; Nicky went back for the bag of candy. "Wait up, guys!" He chased after them. "Ericka, Bobby, wait up!"

Bobby!

"Members of the pirate gang with last names that are also girl's first names, follow me!"

Nicky Kelly.

...Bob Christy.

They were childhood friends!

Bobby.

Bob.

Baub.