The Reluctant Assistant - Book One

Disguise Part 39

"Cook?" Jackson sat straight up on the couch, where he was laying, bored out of his skull, at his office and frantically wondering if Raymond would ever contact him again.

"Do you want to go for ice-cream?" Raymond decided that he needed to settle things with Jackson before he got lost in work for the next two months.

"Yes! Yes, I love ice-cream. I'll pick you up in fifteen minutes!" Jackson immediately cut the line. Raymond will not get a chance to change his mind. 

When the driver stopped in front of the office building, Raymond climbed in.

"It's nice to see you again, Jackson." Raymond said a bit awkwardly.

"It's more than wonderful to see you again, my love." Jackson couldn't be happier. He also couldn't stop looking at Raymond.

Stopping near the promenade along the lake, Jackson got them each ice-creams and they walked in companionable silence.

"Jackson?" Raymond started. "Will you really choose me over your family? It seems like you'll be throwing away a lot for one person."

"Not for one person," Jackson stopped, looking at Raymond, "For the most important person in my life, for you. I'd give it all up for you. I've told you, you will be my family, whether the others come around or not, you and me, we are family.

All Raymond could do was smile and nod. "We are family. I like that." He kept walking, looking at the people around them, eating his ice-cream. As he was walking, he felt Jackson's hand slipping over his own, interlacing their fingers.

"You're holding my hand." Raymond smiled to himself.

"I am." was all that Jackson said as they kept walking. Inside however, every cell in his body seemed to be tap dancing,  at the thrill of touching Raymond. This was a good sign, the best sign, he thought grinning to himself, while finishing his ice cream. Raymond had of course hoovered his down within seconds.

"Jackson, what your mother said really hurt like hell, I'm not going to deny that and I don't even know if I can ever forgive that. But irrespective all that shit, I do care for you, you big lug and I can't really hold you responsible for what your mother said." He was quiet for a while. "I think, what I'm trying to say is, we could give it another chance?" 

"Really?" Jackson stopped, hardly able to believe his ears. "You really want to be with me again? You're coming home?"

"Yes, I really want to be with you again, and I'm coming home." He smiled up at Jackson. 

"Come on," he pulled Raymond back toward the car. "We can move your things now."

"Hold your horses, will you. There's no rush to do anything." Raymond tugged back.

"What do you mean? Of course we need to rush!" Jackson looked at him as if he's just gone mad.

"Thing is, I have to go away for two months to sort out some family business." Well, it wasn't family business in the strictest sense, but he considered Damon family.

"Two months? What sort of family business?" he asked in surprise. "Do you want me to go with you?" Jackson wondered if it was Layla or Raymond's dad. 

"Come with me?" Raymond laughed out loud at that. "No, this is something I need to do by myself. You're not my knight in shining armor, remember?" Seeing Jackson's face, he softened his voice. "It's okay Jackson, it's only going to be two months."  

"But two more months? Then we'd have been apart of nearly half a year!" he roared, while some people turned to look at them. "Do you have to go away, can't you commute?"

"I won't be able to leave until the two months are over. Not even weekends," he forestalled Jackson, who was going to go down every avenue to find a way to spend time together.

"I still don't like it." his frowned. "Where is it that you're going?" he queried.

"Jackson, this is for family. I wouldn't go away if it wasn't important."

"Okay, if you say so." he started, "But you can still move in tonight, can't you?"

"No Jackson, I'll move in once I'm done." he stepped closer to Jackson, wrapping his arms around his waist, leaning his head against Jackson's chest. "Can you wait just a little while longer? I'll try and finish up as soon as I can."

Sighing, Jackson wrapped his arms around Raymond, pulling him into a death grip. "I'll wait for you, but you'd better call every day or as much as possible!"

"About that..." Raymond pulled away from Jackson's blistering curses. "Just hold on now, I'll try to call when I can." Raymond didn't want to outright lie to Jackson, so he kept everything vague, finally pacifying him with a kiss.

--

The following week, Raymond was dressed in torn jeans and an old hoodie that looked like it had seen better days. The hoodie and sunglasses obscuring his face. He took a bus to the waterfront, deciding to walk the rest of the way to Damon's offices. He was signed in as a general worker and started his shift.

It took him a while to get the lay of the land and get through all the stories making their rounds at the company, familiarizing himself with as many people as possible and what was happening. When he got back to the hostel, where he was staying, he took out a phone to call Jackson.

"Hey Jackson. I'm doing my check in." he smiled saying this.

"Cook? Where are you calling from? Did you get a new phone or something? Are you okay? I miss you." When he'd looked at the caller ID, it had shown an unknown number. Lucky that he'd decided to pick it up. 

"Yip, new phone. I'm okay, just tired, but things are going along well.  Still surviving without me?" he laughed. "I miss you too."

"Forget about me, what about you? It's been nearly three weeks now. And also, why all the secrets, where are you?" He'd tried calling Raymond on previous occasions, but his phone was always out of service and his assistant, Jessica, seemed to be stonewalling him. "It's like you fell off the face of the earth."

"There are no secrets," he laughed. I'm with family that's all. Remember what I said, no interfering, okay?"

"Okay, okay, I won't interfere." Jackson really wanted to go to wherever he was, but knew that he'd royally piss Raymond off.

"I've got to go. I miss you, a lot." Raymond looked at his watch he was cutting it fine.

"What? No, Can't you talk a little longer? I've missed you too." Jackson tried to keep Raymond on the phone.

"Goodbye Jackson." he immediately cut the line and got rid of the phone and the card. 

Going to the bathroom, he took out a bottle of hair dye, black this time. When he started at a general worker, his hair was blonde and he dressed like a teenager who'd just go their first job. Next was brown, with the same color eyes, different clothes, different posture, accent and making slight additional changes to his appearance. 

Now he started the process all over again to ensure that he'd fit in without being noticed. He somehow enjoyed changing his appearance and taking on the different mannerism and personality changes that it called for.

To him it was a challenge to see whether he could fool all those around him, that he enjoyed. Tomorrow he'd have a different job. The toughest one so far in the process.