“Oh my god,” Elion hissed from Gabe’s side. “This is like an episode of The Good Wife!”

Blake shushed him, but kindly. Joey had to agree. This was absolutely like something out of a courtroom drama.

While Mr. Slater stuttered and Mr. Tallis rose indignantly to his feet, Joey had shuffled down their empty row of seats so Elion and Blake could sit beside him and Gabe. Christ, it was so amazing to see them. It had been months, but they both looked so well. It was like a balm on Joey’s shredded nerves.

At the front of the room Blake’s dad, Richard, was completely unruffled. He placed his briefcase on the table at the front of the room and draped his damp coat over the seat Mr. Slater had left unoccupied.

“This is not a session in court, Mr. Jackson,” Mr. Tallis said sternly.

Richard smiled at him, flashing perfectly straight, white teeth. “Of course not. But I am here as Mr. Robinson’s legal representation all the same. Am I to understand you’re currently blackmailing his place of employment into forcing leave on him with the threat of diminished funds next fiscal year?”

“No, no,” said Mr. Slater, holding up a finger.

Mrs. Slater, the blonde with the earmuffs Joey already immensely disliked before all this, jumped to her feet. “We have the right to question Mr. Robinson’s fitness as someone who interacts with children on a daily basis,” she snapped, all but stamping her foot. Her two buddies from the fair were sitting next to her, nodding like the good lapdogs they were.

Richard arched an eyebrow at her. “Yes, you do,” he agreed. “But as you have absolutely no grounds with which to cast these accusations, as Mr. Robinson’s legal counsel I’m advising he sue this board for libel, slander and defamation of character, all of which could potentially affect his capacity to earn in the immediate and foreseeable future.”

Gabe let out a small huff of disbelief, his mouth hanging open and eyes glassy. Joey slipped his hand into his, lacing their fingers.

“Holy crap, your dad is so scary,” Joey whispered to Blake.

“Yeah,” said Elion with no small amount of snark. “It’s awesome when it’s directed at someone else.”

“Now, now,” said Mr. Tallis, trying to regain control of the increasingly loud room. “There’s no need for that, Mr. Jackson. We were simply concerned for the well-being of the community.”

“A community which Mr. Robinson is actively part of.” He turned and beckoned the bear of a guy with grey hair that had come in with him. “Gabe’s employer, Mr. Curtis here, has some evidence we’d like to present to you.”

“This isn’t a court of law,” Mr. Slater said with a scowl.

Richard winked at him. “Yeah, but you’ve got no grounds for dismissal, remember? How about we take a peek at some evidence just to put everyone’s minds at ease?”

“What’s going on?” Gabe whispered.

Blake leaned over Elion, who was watching the proceedings with such awe, all he needed was some popcorn. “Joey told us everything. My dad was in contact with your friend, Mitch. He’s got twice as many testimonials to your good character as that witch over there has names on her petition. Hi, I’m Blake by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Gabe shook his hand mutely, eyes darting back and forth between the people standing at the front of the audience. Voices hissed and whispered all around them. A man leaned over a whole row of seats to grip Gabe’s shoulder.

“Well done, son,” the guy said.

“This was a sham from the start,” another woman chimed in. Joey recognized her as one of the waitresses that always gave him a sneaky slice of pie with his endless coffee refills.

“I wrote a few words for you,” said another, pointing to Mitch.

Joey’s heart swelled as more people in the room were nodding and calling out words of agreement. They’d not been brave enough to say more than the odd word before, but with Mitch’s testimonials and Richard’s unflinching attack on the council, they were finding their voices now. Joey smiled as he recognized the girl from the stall at the fair who’d given him a free turn, as well as the parents of the little Wonder Woman twins. So many people had come out to support Gabe.

“You did this.”

Joey turned to find Gabe looking at him in a way he was sure no one had ever looked at him before. There was pride and happiness and gratitude and, of course, love. That word that Joey had been getting more and more used to over the past few days.

Joey so desperately wanted to kiss him, but he didn’t want to aggravate the already-noisy crowd. The din was getting louder as more people tried to make themselves heard. Instead, he rubbed Gabe’s thigh.

“We did this,” he said. “It was a group effort.”

Joey looked around again. Maybe people weren’t all untrustworthy bastards, after all? Some of them could actually be amazing when you really needed them.

He suddenly stopped his wandering gaze, his eyes widening in disbelief. He’d spied a timid-looking woman standing at the rear of the room, a familiar backpack clutched in her hands.

“What?” said Gabe, reacting to Joey’s stillness. Richard was still going at it with the council behind them.

“Mom?” Joey said, the word no more than a rasp.

She gave him the smallest of waves. He couldn’t believe it. She was here, she was out of the house. She had his stuff.

Before he could properly process it, his attention was drawn back to the front of the room.

“It seems Mr. Robinson is, by all accounts, an outstanding member of the community,” Richard said, pointing to the testimonials. “Furthermore, in the state of Connecticut, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religious creed, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, marital status, disability – learning, mental, intellectual or physical – sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.” He looked out at the crowd. “Shall I go on?”

There were several cheers of support.

“Mr. Jackson,” spluttered Mr. Tallis as Mitch handed him the testimonials he’d collected. “This is highly irregular.”

“No,” Richard shot back. “What is highly irregular is putting a man’s livelihood and general well-being at stake because you have petty prejudices. Mr. Robinson will be allowed to return to work with immediate effect, and the Greenwich public library will receive the same funding as this financial year, or you will find yourself buried under a legal landslide. Do I make myself clear?”

Mr. Tallis clenched his jaw. “Yes, sir,” he said.

Mr. Slater slunk back to the audience to sit by his sour-faced wife.

“Excellent,” Richard said cheerfully. He tapped the testimonials in front of Mr. Tallis. “We have our own copies of these. So I’ll just leave those there.” He deftly picked up his coat and briefcase and walked back down the aisle. “Come on,” he said to Blake, his face stony. Joey blinked in surprise at the sudden change in demeanor.

Blake didn’t seem all that surprised though. “Let’s go,” he said, rising to his feet.

They weren’t the only ones. As Mr. Tallis shakily called the next order of business – something to do with parking regulations – half the room must have stood to follow Joey and the others out.

Amidst the throng, Joey craned his neck looking for his mom. She wouldn’t have left without talking to him, especially as she had what looked like all his possessions with her. But it was such a shock to see her on top of what had just transpired, Joey wasn’t sure what to think.

“That was…” Gabe said as they got buffeted from the room.

Richard was up ahead, already on his phone. People were clapping Gabe on the back as they swarmed downstairs, telling him congratulations. Joey recognized some from the firefighter display as they hugged him. A little girl came running up. One arm was in a sling, but her free hand clutched a pink daisy in a Coke bottle to show Gabe. Her mom told him she’d been coming to classes at the library for years and wrote a testimonial without hesitation.

The man and woman who had come in with Elion, Blake and his dad pushed through the crowd to engulf Gabe in a hug. “We got stuck in the snow,” the guy, Mitch, bemoaned.

“He wouldn’t put the chains on the tires,” the woman said. Joey guessed they were married by the way he just rolled his eyes and smiled at her. “Are you all right?”

“Great,” said Gabe, slightly dazed. People were still waving at him and patting him on the back as they left.

Mitch and his wife said they had to run because they had one of their grandkids staying over. They gave Gabe another long hug before they departed. “See you at work,” Mitch said pointedly, tapping Gabe’s cheek fondly.

Joey couldn’t quite believe this was his town. Sure, there had been plenty of shitty people in there trying to tear Gabe down. And fucking hell, in the end they’d tried to pin it on Joey, which given his track record with this place, wasn’t all that surprising. But damn, if the room hadn’t mostly been filled with people there to support him. All those testimonials. Joey would have to ask Blake for a copy from his dad. After all this unpleasantness, he wanted to read the wonderful things that people had had to say about his boyfriend.

Joey was pulled from his musings as he saw his mom standing to the side on the first floor, letting the crowd go by. “Wait up, guys,” he said. Gabe, Blake and Elion stopped, then followed him as he pushed his way through the throng to her. “Mom?” he said again. “What are you doing here?”

He hugged her carefully. Her slim frame wouldn’t withstand the bear hug he wanted to give her.

“I heard about your Gabe’s troubles from Cathy,” she said. Her tone was a little sheepish, no doubt because Joey’s sister-in-law was probably over the moon to hear about a ‘fag getting justice’ as she saw it. “I – I wanted to support you both. And, well, you left this behind.”

She held out Joey’s bag and he had to fight the lump in his throat. Gabe slipped his arm around Joey’s waist and watched over his shoulder as Joey opened the backpack. As far as he could see, everything was in there. His laptop, wallet, clothes and the irreplaceable keepsakes in the front pocket. He placed the bag on the floor.

“I hid them,” said his mom, a tear rolling down her cheek. “So he couldn’t find them. He was so…so mad.”

Joey looked back at his friends, then to her again. “Mom,” he said, wishing they were alone. At least most of the townsfolk had left now. It was just them and Richard talking on his phone in the hall’s grand lobby, with the occasional person walking past. “Did he lose his temper with you?”

She didn’t like it when he asked directly if his dad had hit her. It was too blunt. Joey had learned years ago to dance around the subject to a certain extent. But the way she tried to stop her lip trembling told him pretty much all he needed to know.

“I tried…” she said as he let go of Gabe and hugged her again. “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. I let you down so badly.” She was choking back her sobs now. Joey’s heart ached.

“No, no,” he said. “You did great. I can’t believe you saved my things.”

“Where did you go?” she asked. They pulled apart enough for her to wipe her eyes. She glanced warily at Gabe and the others then back at Joey.

Joey pulled Gabe to him and smiled. “I’m staying with Gabe at the moment.” She didn’t need to ever know about his brief jaunt in the E.R.

“For as long as he wants,” Gabe interjected. “I’m taking care of him, Mrs. Sullivan.”

Joey took his mom’s hand, feeling Blake and Elion come a little closer. “Who’s looking after you though, Mom?” he said. He could feel his voice cracking, but he tried to keep it steady. “Don’t you want to get away from him?”

Her eyes widened and she drew her hand back. This wasn’t the first time he’d suggested such a wild notion to her, but he meant it more than ever. She needed to get the fuck away from that asshole.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, I, uh. I couldn’t.”

Gabe squeezed Joey’s side. “Is that what you want, Mrs. Sullivan?”

She rubbed her neck, blinking rapidly. “Tess,” she mumbled, shaking her head. Joey couldn’t help but smile a little, despite the awful circumstances. She only let people she trusted call her Tess. She’d never once asked Cathy to call her that.

“Mom,” Joey said. “I’m not coming back, not ever again. You need to do what’s best for you now.”

“But Michael,” she said with a hiccup. “I don’t want to lose him.”

“So you’re willing to put up with Dad’s bullshit?” Joey asked. He was pushing her, he knew. But he had to try. “Patrick and Cathy are going to move out soon. Then it’ll just be you and Dad again. Is that what you want?”

She looked between him and Gabe. “He needs me,” she said, her voice small.

“No, he doesn’t,” said Joey firmly. “That’s just what he says to keep you there. Please, please Mom. At least think about this. Are you happy with him?” Her lip trembled and more tears leaked from her scrunched-up eyes. Joey hugged her again. “I can help you get out,” he promised.

“How?” she said. “How do you unravel twenty years with someone?”

“Um, Mrs. Sullivan.”

Joey let his mom go and they both looked at Blake.

“Hi,” he said warmly. “It’s lovely to finally meet you. I’m Joey’s friend, Blake.”

“Oh,” she said, a twitch of a smile on her lips. “Joseph’s told me so much about you.”

Blake smiled. “He’s told me lots of lovely things about you too. I’m so sorry to intrude, but I think I might be able to help. If a divorce is what you really want, I think I could introduce you to a lawyer. He’s taking on some pro bono cases right now.”

She blinked. “What?”

Elion rose up on his toes in obvious glee. “Blake’s dad got caught saying some of his usual homophobic bullshit on camera.” He rolled his eyes at Blake. “You’d think he’d have learned by now?” Blake shook his head. “So his firm and Blake’s mom have got him doing all these goodwill cases.”

“He’s an amazing lawyer,” Blake assured her. “Despite his narrow views on…certain things.”

Elion raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

Joey’s heart was beating fast. He turned back to his mom. “What do you think?” he asked gently. “You could stay somewhere else while it’s going on, if that’s worrying you.”

“You can stay with us,” Gabe said, rubbing Joey’s shoulder. Joey felt fit to burst with love and pride. Gabe had only just met his mom, for heaven’s sake.

Joey’s mom was shaking her head, looking between them all. “I couldn’t…” she said uncertainly.

“You can,” Joey said. “That’s Blake’s dad, right there.” He pointed to Richard, pacing the tiled floor several feet away. “You don’t even have to go back tonight. You can talk with him now, then come with us after.”

She bit her lip. He couldn’t believe it, but he saw hope blossom in her eyes.

“I never thought…” she said slowly, “he’d really hurt you like that, sweetheart. Or throw you out into the snow. I…I don’t think I can stay with him any longer.”

She was trembling all over, but Joey hugged her again. “You can do this. I believe in you.”

Because sometimes, you really did need other people to believe in you. Joey thought maybe he understood that now.

He held Gabe and his mom while they waited for Richard to wrap up his call. His best friend stood by his side, his own boyfriend holding his hand in support.

Joey had friends. He was loved. These people thought he was important.

From now on, he was going to work harder to show them that he was worthy of their love, and do his best to let them know it was returned. Trusting others was pretty terrifying, but actually, being alone was worse.

He looked at Gabe, and made a vow to try and never push anyone away again.