Free By Any Other Name by Tia Fielding

Beckett,” he answered and gestured at Kara to go on and build her sandwich as she wanted.
     
    “Oh, hi, honey. No, didn’t look at the number,” Dru said and mouthed “Thom” at Skye, who nodded. “Yeah, we’re fine. Skye got some sleep. Kara came over, and we’re going to have lunch just now.”
     
    Dru looked at Skye with raised brows. “Yeah, okay, see you then, honey,” he said and handed the phone to Skye, who looked at least as surprised as Dru felt. “It’s for you,” Dru said, and Skye took the phone.
     
    “Thom?” Skye asked and wandered off toward the library.
     
    Dru turned to check on how Kara was doing and found her staring at him with a strange look in her eyes. “What?” he asked.
     
    “He’s, like… hot . Like… amazing ,” she said in a very girly and dreamy tone, making Dru roll his eyes in a theatrical way.
     
    “And so totally not in the game. So stop, you’ll make him uncomfortable.”
     
    “Fine… just… observing,” she said as she wrapped her panini in a napkin and took a couple of bottles of water from the fridge.
     
    Dru had just finished preparing his own meal when Skye walked back into the room.
     
    “What did Thom want?” Dru asked, more reflexively than anything else.
     
    “Oh, he had looked into the possible options for a therapist, or, like, asked around, really. He had met that psychiatrist guy….” Skye frowned, trying to remember the name.
     
    “Roy or something, I think,” Dru said.
     
    “Yeah, something like that. Anyway, he had referred a couple of people, and he gave me the names to do research online. I need to take care of it as soon as possible anyway, and I can always call Al to make sure I get an appointment.” Skye shrugged as he returned the phone to its place.
     
    “I suppose having him tell the new guy that you are supposed to stay in intensive therapy would help. He can probably put it so that a professional understands, I mean,” Dru said as he took a seat next to Kara at the bar.
     
    “Exactly. I can’t put it into words, and I don’t even know what exactly I’m supposed to be working on with the new person,” Skye said, speaking while stuffing his panini. Dru assumed it was because it was easier for Skye to talk without making eye contact in the first place, and there was a stranger around.
     
    Dru got up from his seat to go get another bottle of water from the fridge. He walked behind Skye and touched his lower back like he did with both Thom and Kara and even Thom’s best friend, Oscar, occasionally. The clatter of the plate that had been in Skye’s hand made him bolt back, and he heard Kara gasp.
     
    “Fuck… sorry,” Dru said for what felt like the tenth time since Skye had moved in with them.
     
    “Is… is it okay if I take this to my room and research while I eat?” Skye asked suddenly, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable as hell.
     
    “Sure, we don’t mind,” Dru said, and Kara nodded her agreement. Skye took a water bottle off the counter and walked to the stairs and up, and they heard his door close in the other end of the hallway.
     
    “Damn,” Kara said quietly.
     
    “You’re telling me. You know I touch people like that all the time. He can’t be touched, nobody can make sudden movements around him… I don’t know how we’ll handle this,” Dru said and sat down to eat his lunch.
     
    “It will work out. Everything always does somehow,” Kara said. That was almost her motto in life, and it made Dru grin.
     
    “If you say so, pumpkin.”
     

     

     
    Later , while Dru was wrapping up his work for the day a bit early, Skye walked out of his room and went downstairs to put his dishes away. Dru had been working nonstop since Kara left, and he had gotten the basics for Axel’s website done. It was only a part of the work, but it was in a spot where he could easily pick up the next day, and that was what was important. He hated to be stuck in the middle of revising code, but he