Surprises For Everyone

Co-written by: Myst and LJ

Special Thanks to our Beta, Mel.





Chandi drove into the storage shed and shut off the motor of his snowmobile. He hung his helmet on the handle of his snowmobile and carefully removed the wooden crate he’d tied on the passenger seat over an hour ago. Opening it up, he peered inside to check on the contents. “I gotta keep you hidden until I figure out a way to let Eric know about you. He may not be too pleased when he finds out we have a new family member. In the meantime, I’ll keep you as comfortable as possible if you try to stay as quiet as possible. Deal?” Chandi chuckled. He didn’t really expect an answer.

After making sure all was taken care of, he locked up and headed for the house. It has been an eventful afternoon to say the least and he was anxious to share it all with Eric. Although Chandi had texted his partner several times, he had not provided too much information about all he had been doing.

“Helloooo, I’m home!” he hollered; then stamped the snow off his boots while removing his heavy mitts. He was shouldering out of his ski-doo suit when it hit him just how quiet the house was.

He looked outside and saw the garage door wide open and the space where Eric parked his truck still vacant. “Guess he got tied up with that new client,” Chandi mused. Swallowing his disappointment in having to wait a bit longer before sharing his news, he searched the fridge for ingredients with which to get supper started. He settled for making a homemade meat sauce to have over pasta.

Eric glanced at his watch. ‘Three-thirty; Chandi should be home by now,’ he thought as he hit the speed dial number for home. Hearing his Brat’s cheerful “Hello” made him smile.

“Hey, Chandi, can you come to Jenny Wilson’s place and help me out? I’m going to be refinishing a dresser for her, but it’s too big for me to get into the truck on my own and she’s not strong enough to help me with it. We’ve got everything out of it, so it’s not heavy; just too awkward for me to move on my own.”

Chandi looked over at the pots heating on the stove. He hated leaving the meal in mid-preparations, but his partner needed his help. “I’ll be there as soon as I can, Eric. Ah, give me about twenty minutes, okay? I trust the roads are fairly clear out that way as some are still closed from this last storm.”

“The roads are fine,” Eric responded. “I appreciate you coming out on such short notice, love. Could you do me a favour by bringing along a thermos of coffee? I don’t want to impose on Mrs. Wilson, but it’s starting to get chilly and I could use something hot to drink.” Eric couldn’t help but laugh as he replied to Chandi’s question. “Yes, I have my coat on, but it’s cold even with that. I’ll be fine; don’t worry.”

Chandi got the coffee going and turned the burner off under the pot of water he had boiling. He next checked to make sure the meat was fully cooked before adding the rest of the ingredients and moving that pot to the back of the stove.

He was dressed and ready to head out by the time the coffee was made. He filled the thermos and locked up the house once again. It was almost four o’clock when he pulled into Jenny Wilson’s driveway.

Eric smiled when he spotted his partner coming up the road. As soon as Chandi was within arm’s reach, he gave him a quick hug. “Thanks for getting here so fast, babe.”

Taking the thermos, he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a long drink. “I needed that," he sighed with a grin of satisfaction. “Are you ready to load the dresser with me? Like I said, it’s not that heavy; just too awkward to manoeuvre into the van on my own.”

Chandi accepted the cup Eric handed back to him. Seeing the mouthful of coffee left behind, he quickly gulped it down before screwing the cover back on the thermos.

“I don’t mind giving you a hand, but I would have thought a big hunk like you could have handled this on his own,” Chandi teased as he followed the older man into the house. He laughed his understanding of his partner’s predicament when he saw the piece of furniture that was to be refinished. It was almost eight feet long and over three feet high.

Contrary to what he had been lead to believe, the dresser was solid and rather heavy despite them having removed the nine drawers and taking them out to the van separately.

“Obviously your definition of heavy and mine differ, Eric,” Chandi griped as he lifted his end of the dresser and struggled to get a good hold on it. “Thank God we don’t have to carry it down any stairs,” he muttered as he groaned under the weight of the thing. He was glad when they finally got it to the van as he was anxious to get home.

Giving the dresser a final shove, Eric had it safely situated in the back of his van. Turning to his partner, he laughed and teased, “All that complaining for nothing, babe.” He kissed the younger man and swatted the seat of his pants at the same time.

“We’ll have to take our time getting this back to the shop. I can’t shut these back doors all the way, so I want you to follow me. That way you can let me know if anything goes wrong,” Eric instructed as he tightened the bungee cords to the back doors of the van. “Besides,” he added with a grin, “I’m going to need your help unloading this monster.”

It was going on five-thirty by the time Chandi entered their kitchen for the second time that afternoon. He immediately checked on his meal preparations, put the pot of water on to boil and turned on the heat under the sauce to warm it up.

Next, he hung up his jacket and removed his boots. “I don’t know about you, Eric, but I’m just about starved. If you throw together a salad, I’ll get some garlic bread ready.” He wrapped his arms around the bigger man’s neck and kissed him. “I got a lot to tell you. I was going to tell you over supper but I can’t wait.” He grinned; his coffee brown eyes dancing with excitement.

Eric returned the kiss before pulling fresh veggies out of the refrigerator and placing them on the counter. “Okay, Chandi, you better spill it before you bust,” he teased, returning the smile.

“I visited the Chambers today as planned and like I feared, their road was fairly well blocked. I just wanted to check and see how they were doing….as you know, Judy was almost to term. Only she came a bit early.” Chandi bounced on the balls of his feet as he prepared to drop his bombshell. “Guess who assisted in the delivery of identical twins girls?”

Eric laid down the knife he was using and stared at his partner. “I am almost afraid to ask,” he responded somewhat shakily once he was able to put a coherent thought together.

“Me! It was me, Eric….honest!” Chandi joyfully informed him, as if Eric had not already deduced such was the case. Dropping the pasta into the boiling water, the younger man inquired. “Do you want to hear all about it now or would you rather wait until we were seated and eating supper?”

“It is going to take another fifteen minutes before we get this meal on the table and I seriously doubt that I will be able to wait that long. What happened anyway? I thought Judy’s due date wasn’t until the end of the month.” Eric stopped talking as a frown creased his forehead. “Come to think of it, I don’t recall hearing anything about her expecting twins.”

“Nobody knew she was,” Chandi exclaimed. “Let me tell you, the second baby came as quite a shock. God, I thought Jeff was going to pass out on us. Not that he was any help to begin with. The man turned into a basket case the minute we accepted the fact that there would not be enough time to get Judy to the hospital. Their sons helped out as best they could. Fifteen year-old Barry helped me by fetching whatever I needed while twelve year-old Robbie took care of their father. Even with having to repeat the exercise a second time, everything went beautifully. Mom and baby daughters are fine, and big brothers are holding their own. It’s too soon to call Dad’s condition. He was still babbling incoherently when he climbed into the medivac helicopter.”

Chandi chuckled at the expression of astonishment on his partner’s face and turned back to the stove to check on the pasta.

“Helicopter?” Eric questioned disbelievingly.

“Yes. With the roads up that way still blocked, I called Kelowna General and they sent the chopper with a medical team. Poor Barry and Robbie though. They had to take over the chores and were so disappointed at not being able to ride along with their parents. Not that I blame them, mind you.” Chandi shook his head, remembering the sadness on the boys’ faces. “I’ve promised to contact my friend, Cliff, and make arrangements for him to take them up on one of his avalanche surveillance flights.”

“I must say, you’ve had a remarkable day; definitely one for the books.” Eric tried to come to grips with all his Brat had told him. He shook his head as he went back to chopping veggies for the salad. “And you weren’t at all frightened when you realized you be filling in as doctor?”

Chandi contemplated the question for a couple of moments. “You know, I can’t remember even thinking about it……I just did what was necessary. All my emergency training seemed to come to the fore and I just did it.” He looked at the other man and grinned broadly as he thought of all that had happened. “Man,” he whispered, a little in awe. “To think of all that could have gone wrong, but didn’t. Someone was sure watching over us.”

“Well I for one am terribly proud of you, sweetheart. I guess it must have been fate that had you deciding to pay the Chambers family a visit on your day off. It kind of makes my day seem dull in comparison.” Eric smiled at his partner and his chest swelled with pride.

“Then on the way home, I met up with young Kyler Jamieson and Cameron Jackson. They’d been snowmobiling and were stranded, having run out of fuel. After giving them my emergency supply, I followed them back to Kipper Johansen’s place where Chad Cavenaugh was waiting. Guess I’ve done my good deeds for the week, huh?” Chandi joked as he drained the pasta.

“Hmm, at least for the day anyway,” Eric returned the light-hearted kibitzing. He placed the finished salad on the table next to the hot food Chandi had just set down. “Boy, this looks good and smells delicious.”

“Then let’s dig in!” Chandi sat down and began filling his plate. Telling Eric the highlights of his day had been the easy; now he had to figure out the best way to tell Eric about the surprise that awaited him in the shed. Unless……

“I would imagine that after such an exciting day, an evening of relaxing at home would sound good to you, Chandi. What do you say to a nice long shower and maybe watching one of your favourite movies? Of course, if a nice long shower followed by making love sounds even better……..” Eric flirted across the table at his young lover. “I’ll let you decide.”

“I’ll go with the second idea.” Chandi jumped at the chance of spending the night in his lover’s arms. At the moment it certainly sounded more appealing than bringing up a subject that could possibly lead to them having a major disagreement. ‘Yeah, putting off the inevitable works for me,’ he thought and set about finishing off his meal. “Ah, I’ll be right back. I just have something to check on outside.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Chandi was startled by the slamming of the back door. He turned to see an angry, red-faced Top glaring at him.

“Why didn’t you tell me, Chandi?” Eric demanded to know. His stood with legs slightly spread apart and hands on hips. “Why did I have to find out from someone else, almost a full week later no less?”

“I’m sorry, Eric. I-I meant to tell you last Sunday, but couldn’t come up with a good way to introduce the subject. It became harder and harder with every passing day to bring it up.”

“Did you ever think that maybe a simple ‘guess what, Eric, we have a dog’ might work?”

“Nooo,” Chandi whispered and hung his head; the response clearly indicated his nervousness. Eric so seldom lost his temper or raised his voice. He could be intimidating enough without resorting to that.

Eric paused to take a deep breath when something else occurred to him. “Where is the dog, Chandi?”

“In the shed,” he answered quietly. “I’ve been taking good care of her, Eric. I spend as much time as possible with her; even taking her to work with me.”

“In the shed, huh?” Eric frowned as his mind processed this latest information and his temper flared as a connection was made. “Wait a minute; this wouldn’t happen to be the same dog that’s been howling off and on during the night? The one I thought belonged to a neighbour? The one I said I should call the police about?”

Chandi cringed. Eric’s teasing suggestion to report the disturbance had seemed amusing at the time. As if it would have been a momentous effort for Eric to roll over in bed and say ‘I have a complaint to make.’ In fact, the young man could still see the humour in it and as a result, failed to stifle the gurgle of amusement that escaped his throat.

Eric’s eyes narrowed as he advanced on his Brat, turned him slightly and landed a hard swat on the seat of his pants. “Corner!” was all he said.

Although corner time was seldom used, at this moment Eric felt it would do them both good. He needed time to cool down and Chandi needed time to think.

After slowly drinking a glass of cold water, Eric felt better able to deal with the matter at hand. He glanced over at his partner who was leaning dejectedly against the wall, pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Come here, Chandi,” Eric softly requested. When he had the younger man comfortable seated on his lap, he patiently insisted, “I want the whole story from your mouth only and I want it right now, please.”

“Okay. You know Jeff Chambers breeds pure-breed Chow-chows.” Getting a nod, Chandi continued. “Well, he wanted to thank me for helping his wife; so he gave me a puppy. Not the papers though, but that’s all right with me as I do not intend to breed her. Lady is three months old, housebroken and has all her shots up-to-date. With her papers, she’d be worth a pretty penny. I’ve been bringing her into the house every night after you’ve fallen asleep and only keeping her in the shed when you’re around.” Chandi hated admitting this but felt it best to put everything out on the table.

Eric sadly shook his head. “Why did you find it so hard to tell me you had been given a gift, babe?” he quietly asked, mentioning only what bothered him most.

Chandi shifted as he felt his face heat up. “I was afraid you’d tell me I couldn’t keep her and I just couldn’t bring myself to take that chance when I want her so badly. I’m sorry. I know I should have told you first; before someone else blabbed about it.”

“We don’t keep these kinds of secrets in our relationship, Chandi,” Eric calmly stated. “It is not something I can just pass over.” With this final sentence, Eric flipped his partner face down over his thighs. After lowering his Brat’s sweatpants and boxers, he quickly got into a steady rhythm of spanking hard and fast; stopping only when he knew the lesson had been learned.

Chandi was a snotty mess by the time Eric let him back up. He curled up on the other man’s lap, seeking the comfort and forgiveness they both needed and both knew would be eagerly given and received.

It was several minutes later, when Eric softly chuckled at the barely heard whisper. “Are you ready to meet our latest addition to the family, big guy?”

The End