Fic: Leaving On A Jet Plane Title: Leaving On A Jet Plane
Authors: sevs_lil_secret and unbroken_halo
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Company belong to JK Rowling. No copyright infringement is meant.
Summary: It’s 1960, Damon and Grant have been married for five years and new orders for the big Marine send the whole family into chaos.
Warnings: Cross Dressing, Leatherneck Lingo, Jealousy, Beginnings of a kink for Damon.
AN:This piece is the first of several that will show the life Damon and Grant had while they lived in Japan and Grant lived as Gracie. It was a huge change taking time for both to adjust to the amended roles in their relationship and society.
Leaving On A Jet Plane
Damon crawled out of bed earlier than normal. He had to Apparate to the base today to pick up new orders. He should have been expecting them and he knew it was going to be a harsh assignment. He had opted out of every tour that had come his way over the past six years since he had come home from Korea.
He had eight years left in his service time and he had managed to avoid being sent overseas again. To stay stateside and close to Grant, Damon had taken the shit jobs the ones no one wanted, recruiter, military civilian advisor anything that would keep him at a desk and home. His luck had just run out though. He had to take these orders or it was a Court Marshal.
Today also marked the end of Grant’s current semester at the university. They had plans to celebrate his break from term and Damon knew that would have to be moved now. He sighed and began to dress quietly. He kissed his still sleeping husband and made his way downstairs.
He fixed the percolator and sat at the table eating one of the cinnamon rolls Grant and his mother had made yesterday while waiting on the coffee. He stole a cup of coffee and got ready to leave as the kitchen door swung open.
Grant rushed into the kitchen, his book bag slung over one arm and his long hair loose around his shoulders. "Good morning baby," he said as he quickly kissed the corner of Damon's mouth. "I'm all thumbs this morning and cannot manage even something simple like a braid. I'm going to fail my exams today, I just know it. I shouldn't have gone to bed so early..." He chattered on as he poured himself a cup of hot coffee and promptly burned his tongue on the black brew. "OUCH!"
He looked at Damon and just sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. "I'm not cut out for school, my mother was right. My place is just to be at home having babies," he grumped as he yanked his fingers through his hair. Finally he noticed just how spit shined his husband looked. "Damon... is everything alright?" His man hadn't mentioned anything out of the ordinary that he could remember. He stood and crossed the kitchen to smooth Damon's dress jacket down. "You look so handsome this morning."
Damon smiled at his Grant and reached out to touch the long, loose hair. "You'll do just fine, Pet. I have faith in you and so does mom and da. You get too excited sometimes." He palmed the other man's chin. "Don't think about that shit Rachel told you. You are nearly half way there to your degree."
The Marine straightened up nearly to attention and smirked at his husband. "You think? Thank you." He sighed. "I have to go to the base today, Grant. But I should be home in time for dinner this evening. Want to go out somewhere and celebrate?"
Grant smiled and shyly brought his hand up to pull his hair back from his face. "Why do they want you on base?" he asked as he quickly tied his hair back with a black ribbon. A pony tail would just have to do for the day. "Why don't we have a picnic supper? I can make some fried chicken when I get home this afternoon, if you'd like."
They were interrupted by the sound of a car horn blaring and Grant quickly kissed Damon's cheek before grabbing a cinnamon roll and running out the back door. "I'll see you tonight," he called behind him with a wave. "Love you." He opened the door of the old car driven by one of his wizarding school mates and hopped in.
Damon chuckled and shook his head. He finished his coffee and then Apparated to the base. The Marine reappeared in the safe room in the basement of the building where the officers of the 32nd Airborne unit where housed. He hadn't been in this building since taking the recruiting job last year.
As he made his way to General Watson's office, he waved and chatted with a few Jarheads that had been in the offices the same time as him. They asked about Gracie and Damon smiled. His husband would never live down that first visit to Camp LeJeune.
Damon knocked on the door and listened for Watson's gruff voice to admit him. Once inside the Marine stood at attention. "Lieutenant Colonel Wolffe reporting, Sir." He saluted the other man and waited for the next command.
"At ease, Colonel." General Watson told him, not bothering to look up from the paperwork on his desk. It wasn't until Damon had sat down in the chair that the veteran looked up. "I have your orders and am required to tell you that these cannot be opted out. The Thaumaturgy Council has approved them and they are to be followed through." He raised an eyebrow at the soldier.
Damon nodded and the General continued. "This is a hardship tour duty in an advisory capacity. Part of President Kennedy's plan to keep us out of the conflict. Since you are under the Merlin Compact the Council thinks they need an advisor for them as well and you have been chosen. One year minimum in Okinawa at Kadena Air station."
Damon stared at the older man. "Japan?" He sighed. "Is there any other options available to me? I know I can't pass this one over, but ..."
Watson chuckled. "Yes, your Gracie might be quite upset at this news. I figured as much and there is the option to change but it will have to be permanent. If you select that option you will stay in Japan until your service contract is up. That means eight years, Colonel." He smiled at the younger man. "Speaking of which, how is the young lady doing?"
Damon grinned weakly. "She's just finishing up a semester at university. She's halfway through her basics." He swallowed. "When do I leave?"
Watson nodded. "A Marine has already been sent to the recruiter's office in Wheeling to replace you. You have a week to adjust your affairs and you fly out of here next week. First stop, Maine then on to Japan."
He scrawled something on the papers and held them out to Damon. "Good Luck and Godspeed, Colonel. Dismissed."
Damon took the papers and left the General's office, stunned. One year by himself or permanent relocation to Japan. Grant's schooling came first, that much he had promised. The younger man was just going to have to deal with it. He slowly made his way to the medical offices to make certain his transcriptions were in order. His ready bag was waiting on him at home. All he had left to do was to tell Grant.
Grant finished his last exam and slowly walked out of the lecture hall feeling like his brain was filled with mush. He was fairly certain he'd done well on the last two exams he'd taken, but he wouldn't know for sure for another week. And to think, he was only half through with his schooling, some days he wondered if he'd ever make it.
He walked off of campus and over to where John generally waited for him in the afternoons so he could get a ride home rather than walk the five miles out to the farm. Arriving at the library, he found John wasn't there and he'd have to wait at least another three hours since he'd finished early. With a shrug, he pulled some change from his pocket and went next door to buy a Coke and a candy bar for the long walk home. He didn't mind at all, it was a beautiful late spring day and not too warm yet, just enough of a breeze to pick at his long hair.
As he walked along, he thought about what he was planning to make for Damon's meal and then about the trip they'd planned to take a few weeks from then. Nothing spectacular, just a long road trip on Damon's bike for the weekend, camping along the way. In the back of his mind, he wondered what his husband had needed to go to the base for; he hoped it was nothing serious.
One of their neighbours came along a half hour later and Grant thankfully climbed into the bed of the pick up truck and rode the rest of the way out. Once home, he found the house empty and quickly set to making fried chicken for Damon. Thawing the meat in cold water and a quickly muttered defrosting charm soon had the house quickly filled with the smell of pecan crusted fried chicken, fresh biscuits baking, and a peach pie for dessert.
Grant settled down with one of his books and a glass of iced tea at the kitchen table while he waited for the food to finish cooking and his husband to come home.
Damon Apparated into the kitchen and saw Grant sitting at the table studying and the smells of the southern home cooking filling the air. He took a deep breath and sighed.
He would miss this and it hit him what the orders meant. His country was calling for him to go back to a similar place he still had yet to fully recover from. He walked over to his husband and sank to his knees in front of him then wrapped his arms around the younger man's waist. "I love you, Grant." He laid his head on the man's lap and closed his eyes.
Grant looked up as Damon Apparated in and smiled at him gently. When the older man knelt and laid his head on his lap, he became worried. "Damon, honey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked softly as he ran his fingers through the short blond hair and stroked the other man's cheek. "I love you too."
Damon nodded and hugged Grant tighter then turned and kissed the fingers caressing his cheek. "I'll live, Pet." He looked up into Grant's eyes. No use in beating around the bush especially since he could hear the anxiety in Grant's voice. "I got new orders today. It's past time for them to come. I have been opting out of tours to stay here but I can't do that anymore. I have a week to settle my affairs and then I am shipping out."
Grant's world slowed and then stopped; his man was leaving. "No...," he whispered shaking his head. "they can't." He was numb, he didn't know what to say or think.
The young man sat for a few moments before he stirred, gently pushing Damon's head from his lap. "I have to tend to your dinner, I need to get up," he said woodenly as he rose and went to the stove, poking at the cooking food. They were taking his Damon away. He could feel his fury begin, could feel it consuming him as he stared blindly at the pan of hot grease and chicken. "No." he whispered.
"No," he said louder and stabbed harder at the meat. "No," he growled and picked up the pan, moving to the back door where he flung it unmindful of where the grease landed or what it covered. Neither did he care what the heavy iron pan hit when it landed.
"No! You can't go," he howled as he sank to his knees and sobbed. "No."
Damon stared at Grant. He stood and walked over to the stove and turned the gas off. He turned around and picked Grant up then carried the hysterical young man into the living room and sat down on the couch trying to soothe him. "Calm down, Grant." He shushed the other man. "Calm down. We knew this was coming and I have to go."
He rocked and rubbed on Grant's back. "I can call and we can write just like before. It's only for a year, baby."
Sobbing so hard his body shook, Grant tried to form coherent answers. "Last... last time you almost... you almost didn't come home," he choked out and tried to push away from his husband. "No... I won't let them take you, Damon." He struggled as Damon held him tighter. He had to get away, he was trapped.
"Let me go!" he cried and slapped at Damon's arms. "Let me go, I'm calling your commander. I'm going to tell him you can't go!" he pushed and slapped at the larger man, furious that he was being held back. "LET ME GO!!!" he shrieked, fighting to get free. "I have to call him and tell him."
Damon dropped Grant on his ass in the floor. "Stop it right now." he stood and looked at the man in the floor. "Pull yourself together and think about what you are saying." He leaned over and picked up his husband and tossed him on the couch then began to pace the living room floor. "This is hard enough without you acting a fool and doing something stupid that could get me thrown out. Do you want that?"
The Marine turned and faced Grant. "Well? Do you? Do you want me to get hacked and possibly thrown in the brig for perjury and committing unlawful acts?" He screamed. "Six years, Grant, I've been homesteading it. Being a desk jockey. It's my turn, now. Nothing else can be done."
Shocked into silence, Grant shrank back on the sofa and stared at his husband. He straightened himself out to where he was sitting up and continued to warily watch the larger man. Damon was right; he didn't want his husband to placed in jail because of something he'd done.
"I won't do anything," he whispered. "I promise." He scrubbed at his face with his fist, his breath hitching in his chest as he stared at the floor. His husband was leaving in a week and he didn't even know where he was going. "Where? They aren't sending you somewhere you can get hurt, are they?"
Damon took a deep breath and tried to calm down as he began pacing again. "Japan. Kadena Air Station. It's a good sized base and as far as I know I am going to be there in an advisory capacity. I can't tell you much more than that."
He sighed and sat down in his Da’s recliner. "It's called a hardship tour. I have been passing them up since I got reassigned to Camp LeJeune." Damon looked at his husband. "I meant what I said, Grant there's nothing I can do but go on this tour. After that I have seven years left and I can start by passing them again and I'll be on my way out once my turn comes up again."
Grant chewed his lower lip for a moment, the wheels turning in his mind as he tried to think of something. "Can't I go and just live off the base and you can see me?" he asked softly, his fingers picking at the throw pillow he'd pulled onto his lap. He couldn't imagine going a year without Damon. He risked looking up to where his husband was sitting. "They wouldn't have to know I was there."
Damon chuckled. "Baby, that's why it's called a hardship. Besides you have your schooling to see to." He looked over at Grant. "Come here." He patted his lap. "You want to live in a foreign country where you know no one else?"
Grant stood and went to his husband, sitting down gently on his lap. As he leaned against the strong chest, he began to think more. "I can take an academic leave from school and not lose my standing," he said as he played with the buttons on Damon's dress jacket. "It would be a learning experience, wouldn't it? And I'd know you. You... you'd have a warm bed when you wanted one."
The last was said softly. Grant knew that no one could know he existed as Grant; his Damon would be in a world of trouble if that happened. It seemed so silly to him that an army that would tolerate him casting a spell was incapable of tolerating him kissing another man.
"You wouldn't have to go somewhere else... for that," he said quietly as he fingered the heavy material.
Damon sighed and ran a hand over Grant's hair and threaded his fingers in the long dark locks. "It would be a learning experience but I think you should finish your schooling. You are halfway, my Injun and I promised your mother you would get an education. We have to push that back in her face, that you can do it."
He cupped the back of Grant's neck and tilted his head back to look him in the eye. "I haven't had eyes for anyone else since I came home and married the one for me. I needed to know how to handle you, Pet and now I know, so they'll be no one else warming my bed while I am gone."
"I don't want to be away from you," the smaller man whispered and turned his head to kiss Damon's palm. "If I went, I could get a job maybe teaching English?" He wasn't going to give up the idea of living off the base and being available to Damon whenever he wanted him. He didn't want to say it, but he also felt that if he were close by, then he could somehow keep his husband safe; that no one would try to hurt him or capture him. He didn't know what he would do if Damon never came home.
Damon shook his head. "I don't like to be away from you either. Pet, I would love to have you go with me but it's just not possible. Japan is not in the conflict zone and the year will pass quickly." He didn't know what else to say. He cuddled the smaller man closer to him. "I promise to stay as safe as I can."
Grant looked Damon in the eye. "Why can't I go? You told me that when Major Pritchard was transferred he had his orders amended to include his wife,” he stated. He wanted to go.
Damon nodded. "Yes, Pet his wife. While we are married you are decidedly not a wife." he held up a hand at the protest he could see on Grant's face. "I mean no offense to you, my Own. And when the Pritchards transferred they did it permanently as in never coming back."
"They could keep you for more than a year, couldn't they?" Grant asked fearfully
Damon nodded. "Technically yes... but then it would no longer be a hardship duty and I would get to come home for a while."
Grant looked down at his knees, his fingers worrying at the fabric. "I could be Gracie," he whispered softly.
Damon stared at him. "You must be joking.” He smirked and then began laughing, loudly.
Grant stared at him in horror. He'd been dead serious. He thought he did Gracie well and passed as a woman. To have Damon laugh so cruelly at him cut him to the quick. He stood up and ran up the stairs before he started crying again. The man was ashamed of who and what he was and ashamed of what he'd done to be with him.
Once upstairs in their small room, he looked around and decided that if Damon was that ashamed of him, then his parents probably were too. He pulled the cardboard suitcase that he'd used to move from South Dakota with, out of the closet and tossed it on the bed before he began to throw his clothing in it. He had some money he'd made from doing odd jobs for Marion’s garden club friends. It would have to be enough to get him back to the reservation.
Damon's laughter stopped almost immediately with Grant's thumping footsteps up the stairs. He hadn't meant to laugh at his husband but the thought of taking Grant half way around the world dressed as Gracie was an entirely different matter. It was one thing to go to dinner like that but another to live that way. He sighed and hung his head. He knew Grant wasn’t pregnant this time, so what had happened?
He stood and made for the kitchen when the front door creaked open. He turned and spotted his father coming carefully into the house. "Evening, Da. Grant threw dinner out the back door, so we'll have to go into town tonight I think."
John eyed his son and the throw pillows that were on the floor. Marion slipped past him and went into her kitchen, only for the men to hear her complaining loudly of the mess that had been left behind.
"Why is dinner in the backyard, boy?" John asked as he crossed his arms and looked at his boy. From the uniform, he could tell he'd had to go to the base, so whatever it was would most likely affect the whole family. "You want to tell me what got a bee in his britches?"
Damon sighed and shook his head. "I've gotten new orders, Da and needless to say Grant was not happy with them." He opened the kitchen door and looked at the kitchen. "I'll clean it up mom, just leave it. My treat for dinner tonight, where ever you want to go."
He turned back to his father and bent to pick up the pillows. "What would you like for supper, Da?"
"I don't care. Where is Grant now?" John asked as Marion came out of the kitchen, mad as a wet hen.
"I know you didn't make that mess Damon, you aren't going to clean it up. Where is that boy at? There is grease slung everywhere, what in Merlin's name was he thinking?" she demanded as she went to the bottom of the stairs and glared up them. "He's made this mess and he can fix dinner for everyone." She started up the stairs after giving both of her men a glare defying them to stop her. No one left a mess like that in her kitchen after she'd granted permission to use it.
John looked at his son and just shook his head; all he wanted for dinner was some damned harmony in his house.
"I can guess he is in our room pouting... or crying, one of the two" The Marine called out to his mother and then sank down to the couch. He looked at his father and waited until his mother had vanished at the top of the stairs. "Did Mom give you lip about your orders?"
"Are they that bad?" John asked as he sat down in his chair and looked at his boy. Marion had gone insane when he'd been shipped out overseas. "Your mother... well you were probably too young to remember, but she was a hellcat in her day. She didn't take to separation well at all." He cocked his head and listened for yelling from upstairs and nodded when none was heard.
Damon rolled his eyes. "Well it seems that Grant is the same." He met the blue eyes he had inherited. "I'm shipping out in a week to go to The Rock. It's a hardship tour for one year."
"Fuck," John muttered and wiped a hand over his face. "Yeah, he's going to be a right treat for awhile. It's too bad he's not a female, you could get it amended. I know I wish I'd done that with you and your mother." He put his feet up on the ottoman in front of his chair and sighed, thinking about what living with his son-in-law was going to be like. He didn't know if he really wanted to put up with it.
Damon stared at his father. "Grant offered to go as Gracie." He told the older man, softly.
*********
Marion knocked on her boy's door and opened it, to find clothes strewn all over the place and a red faced, tear streaked Grant in the middle of the room looking for all the world like someone had torn the poor boy's heart out and stomped the sucker flat. The dirty kitchen flew from her mind as thought of what her fool son might have done or said to the young man now. "Oh Grant, honey what happened?"
She crossed the small room and enveloped the boy in her arms. “I know Damon did something, you can tell me."
********
John looked at his son and didn't know what to say. He couldn't imagine living the life his boy did with Grant. "And you laughed in his face, didn't you?" he asked as he sighed softly, not sure if his son realized how much the man upstairs loved him to offer to change his life like that.
********
Grant sobbed quietly on his mother-in-law's shoulder before he answered. "Damon is going to Japan for a year. He could take a wife, but all he has is me and he's ashamed of me," he cried. "I offered to be Gracie for him and he laughed at me." He pulled away and wiped at his eyes. "So I'm not going to be an embarrassment to anyone anymore. I'm going back to the reservation as soon as I can get packed."
Marion stared at Grant. "Merlin save me from pig headed men." She turned and went to the door and shouted down the stairs. "John Nolan Wolffe! Come see me upstairs... NOW!" She turned back to her son-in-law and patted his cheek. "You're not going anywhere, sweetie, Mother Wolffe is going to take care of this." She said, sweetly.
********
Damon was about to answer when his mother's voice rang out in the house. "Aw hell." He said softly.
John looked at his boy in disgust as he got to his feet. "You had to go and piss off your mother, didn't you?" he grumbled as he made his way to the stairs and up to the small bedroom.
He knocked on the door and went in expecting the worst. "Yes Mother, what is it? What has Damon done now?" he asked as he eyed his little son-in-law who was sitting on the bed rocking himself back and forth. Oh yeah, dinner was going to be around midnight tonight.
Marion eyed her husband and shook her head. "Your son." She spat out and sat on the bed, gathered Grant to her and began stroking the long, dark hair. "Look at this room. Poor Grant was going to go back to the reservation because he thinks Damon is ashamed of him." She glared at the man she had been married to for nearly fifty years.
"I know your career is over but Damon's isn't. Now you get down there and fix this right now. I refuse to have Grant go through what Damon and I did all those years. Especially if you want to eat tonight, otherwise Grant and I are leaving without you."
John rubbed the back of his neck and then put one hand under Marion's arm. "I'd like to talk to you in our room alone, dear," he said as he pulled her to her feet and then patted Grant on the head. "Carry on Grant, we'll be back." He pulled his wife to their bedroom and shut the door behind him.
"Just what do you expect Damon to do, Marion?" he asked as he sat his wife down on the edge of the bed. "Grant is a male, Damon will be court marshaled and Merlin only knows what else." He looked at his wife and shook his head. "Maybe the boy would be happier in his own type of environment while Damon is gone."
Marion stared at her husband. "We are not sending that boy back to that awful place. You read the letters Damon sent home about how his family treated him." She stood and began to pace the bedroom. "John, what did we go through with the both of them not five years ago? Damon can get a PCS and take Gracie with him. They need to be together. Let's get them out of our home."
She turned to him. "I love them both dearly, John, but they are never going to learn to work out their problems if they don't have time alone as a married couple under their own roof."
Marion knelt at her husband’s feet as he sat on the bed. "Honey, please. Grant can pull off Gracie and we can get our life back. It's a wonder we all have survived this long. There's just no way two households can live under one roof much longer. This needs to be done. It's time to throw Damon out of the nest, sweetheart."
John nodded; he agreed totally, he wanted his house back. It wasn't that they didn't love Damon and his husband; they just wanted to love them under a different roof. He bent down and kissed his wife's cheek. "I miss the mornings when you fixed my breakfast in nothing but that apron. I'll go talk to Damon. They are both gone by the end of next week, I don't care where."
The big man stood and walked out of the bedroom, nodding to Grant through the open door before he went back downstairs. He took his seat once more and looked at his son. "When you ship out, Grant has to go. I don't care where, but we want our house back," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument as he picked up the paper and opened it up to read.
Damon stared at his father. "What?" He said softly. He blinked at his father. "How?" he looked up at the stairs. "What happened up there?"
His father bent the paper down and looked at his only child. "It's time for you and yours to leave this nest. We love you both, but this is not going to work any longer. You need to find someplace to put him. He's packing his things now to go back to South Dakota, you can use my truck to take him to the bus station," he said and began to read again. He hated being a hard ass with his boy, but sometimes you had to light a fire to get things done. Grant needed to stay with Damon even if it meant living as Gracie.
Damon started to laugh almost hysterically. "Merlin, Da. Why now? Why did this have to happen now?" He rubbed his face for a moment then looked up the stairs. "Fuck." He muttered and got up, taking the stairs two at a time to get to his husband.
At the door to their room he looked in at the utter chaos. "Grant, do you really want to go back to Pine Ridge?" He asked softly.
Grant wouldn't look up at his husband; he continued to fold a shirt as he shook his head. "I don't want to be an embarrassment to you or your family any longer. I don't have anywhere else to go," he mumbled. "I know I can't go with you, you don't want that. I heard your mother and father talking, so I know I don't have a home here any longer..." He shrugged his shoulders and put the shirt in the suitcase before reaching for another. "I suppose I could maybe move in with Todd over across the river, maybe get a job working on one of the farms."
The younger man was scared to death, he had no where to turn and he knew it.
"Grant..." Damon sighed. "It's not that I don't want you with me. Merlin, if I could I would scream it from the mountaintops that you were mine." He walked over to his husband and took the small face in his hands, tipping it up to look him in the eyes. "Pet, I am honoured to have you at my side. But I could never ask you to give up your identity and live as Gracie for eight years."
He searched the other man's face. "If you go with me, that's what will happen. We will move to Japan and stay there for the rest of my career. You'll have to be Gracie the entire time. No moonlighting as Grant when we are home alone, nothing but Gracie all the time."
He bent and kissed Grant softly. "Do you want to do that, Pet? If that's what you desire, I'll make it happen."
Grant looked into the blue eyes and nodded. "Gracie is just another part of me, always there," he said softly. "Inside I'm still me, I can deal with that, can you?" He chewed on his lower lip and searched his husband's face. He was prepared to do anything and everything he had to do to stay at his man's side, and if cross dressing would do it, bring on the stockings and heels.
Damon closed his eyes and folded Grant into his arms. "It looks like we are going to Japan, Gracie." He whispered softly into the other man's hair.
"I promise I won't let you down or make you regret it," Grant murmured as he wrapped his arms around his husband's waist.
********
Marion stood in the doorway and watched the two with tears in her eyes. She was glad they'd fixed it; she had been planning a beating for her boy if not. Now she just needed John to drive her and Gracie in to do some serious shopping, Grant was going to need to be outfitted.
********
The next morning Damon Apparated to Camp LeJeune once more to change his orders. The General laughed at him and informed the young Colonel that if he had read the orders more clearly that he would have seen the option already filled in and all Damon had to do was sign.
Sighing, Damon stopped off at Officer’s Mess to grab something to eat. His Mother and Grant had gone shopping at first light it seemed and he was slightly afraid to return home now. All his father had done was practically run out the door saying something about a reunion of his old battalion and not to be waiting up for him.
Cringing, he finished the sandwich he had bought and returned to the Apparation room. The General had given him another two weeks to get everything together. He would fly out first and then Gracie would follow that weekend on a commercial flight. He was a bit worried about Grant getting on the plane by himself because it would be his first time flying. However though the gauntlet had been tossed down and it was now or never for the two of them.
Damon appeared in the kitchen and crept closer to the door separating the kitchen from the sitting room. He listened trying to get an idea if they had made it home or not and whether or not he had any savings left. He had left his bankbook on the kitchen table with his husband this morning. There was no telling what the two had gotten up to that morning.
Grant stood in the middle of the living room surrounded by bags and boxes from what seemed to be every shop in Wheeling. "What am I going to do with all of this?" he asked as he surveyed the retail carnage. "Mother Wolffe, surely I didn't need all of this, did I?"
The small man sat down on the sofa and pulled a bag to him, opening the top and peering in at the contents. Panties, what seemed to be a hundred pairs of panties in that bag. The next contained camisoles and bras, which Marion insisted he purchase even though he didn't have anything to fill them out with. She'd promised that John was taking care of that and by morning the cups would runneth over, Grant shook his head as he remembered how she'd laughed at her own joke.
They'd bought skirts, culottes, dresses, blouses, a raincoat, some formal something that Grant didn't have the faintest idea how to put on, a few pairs of slacks, some long underwear that the pamphlet he'd gotten from the base suggested, nightgowns and a robe. And then there were the shoes. Grant had no idea how he was supposed to pack everything.
"Well, at least Damon won't kill me for spending his money," he sighed softly as he set his husband's bank book down on the coffee table.
Damon groaned softly but plastered a smile on his face and pushed his way into the living room. He looked around at the bags and frilly things strewn from stem to stern and gaped at his mother and husband. "What did you do buy out West Virginia?" he asked shocked. "What is all this?" He picked up a satiny pale blue camisole and raised an eyebrow.
Marion looked at her son and took a breath. "These are things Grace is going to need for the next few years, of course she'll need to replace items in time," she said and looked over to where Grant was trying to gauge Damon's reaction. She took the flimsy camisole from her son's fingers and held it up. "This is a camisole, and it's to be worn like an undershirt or to sleep in and I think it's the perfect colour for Grace's complexion."
Grant coughed softly and handed the bank book back to Damon. "I only needed twenty five dollars," he said quietly and began to pick up the bags.
Damon pocketed the book and nodded. "That's fine, Pet." He leaned down for a kiss then sank down to the couch as he had seen his father do after his mum had gone to town. "Go on then. Show me what you bought." He smiled gamely at them and crossed his legs.
Silently, Grant laid out outfit after outfit, nervous fingers carefully spreading the material and laying it flat for Damon to see and comment on as he got to the last few bags he looked up. "These are just underthings and nightgowns, nothing really to see. What... what did you think of what I picked out?" he asked as he nervously waited for the verdict.
He'd been as conservative as he could and still find clothing in his size. He knew Gracie had to be the perfect officer's wife, nothing less would do. Everything that had been purchased was sensible and no nonsense, nothing to draw the eye. Grant had made good use of the money he'd saved over the past few years, not wanting to spend Damon's money on frippery and baubles.
Damon looked at the clothes and then stared up at Grant. "Pet, how did you get all this with just twenty-five dollars?" He looked to his mother and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't certain he wanted to know just exactly how much they had spent but he had been willing to fund the entire operation. He shook his head. "Nevermind. They are great. I don't know much about clothes but I am certain you both did a good job." He waved his hands over the piles. "So show me. Go put something on."
Grant rose to his feet and picked up a few things, going upstairs to change for his husband. "I'll be back in a few moments, Damon."
As soon as they heard the bedroom door shut, Marion turned to her son. "Don't be hard on him Damon, he's done his best. He used the money he's saved from the odd jobs he does gardening and what have you. What do you really think of his choices?" she asked as she ran her hand over one of the long skirts lying on the coffee table. "I tried to talk him into something that looked younger, more his age, but he was adamant that he couldn't dress like that and please you." She stood and moved to the sofa where she sat next to her son, taking his hand in hers.
Damon sighed. "Mom, I gave him my bankbook to buy whatever he would need. These things look very nice but if he's not comfortable in them then there is nothing I can do about it. I don't know anything about clothes. The Marines issued me practically everything I wear and what little else I own you bought for me." He shook his head.
"We'll just have to see. I do know we can't be having attention brought to him but since we are young it will have to be at the height of whatever's in style now. Some of the other Officers wives are sharks when it comes to things like this."
He brought his mother's hand to his lips and kissed her delicate skin. "If he looks like Rachel then you all are going back to the store." He smiled at her and tried to bring some humour into the situation.
Upstairs, Grant changed quickly and slipped his feet into a pair of low heeled pumps before coming back down stairs. He stood in front of his husband clad in a long blue, pleated skirt that ended at mid calf and a plain white, button up blouse tucked in.
Marion leaned close to her son and whispered in his ear. "It looks like we are sending him to a convent."
Damon stared at his mother then turned to his husband. His eyes ran up and down the skirt and blouse. His mother was right; Grant looked like a noviate. "You look... very nice, Pet. Are... are you comfortable in that?" He cleared his throat.
Grant sighed in frustration and sat down on John's chair. "I messed up, didn't I? I was trying to make it so no one would notice me," he said as he propped one hand under his chin.
Damon scooted forward on the couch and looked at Grant. He held out a hand to the other man. "No… no you didn't. They are very nice conservative clothes." He looked to his mother for help then bowed his head. "Can't believe I'm going to say this." He muttered. "Grant, I want you to be comfortable in these things. Do you even like what you picked out or was there some others things that you would have rather had?"
"There were a couple of things at Penny's that were nice, but I didn't know if they would be appropriate," he replied as he picked at his skirt. He waved his other hand at the clothes all over the living room and shrugged. "I picked what would hide me from people, the dark colours, simple things. Nothing to embarrass you."
Marion reached out and patted the young man's hand. "The dresses I saw you looking at would look very nice on you and there was nothing inappropriate at all about them."
Damon nodded. Alright, he told himself, let’s go about this in a military fashion. "Okay, I think I understand here. By trying to hide in plain sight you've made yourself all the more noticeable. Does that make sense?" He crooked his head to the left studying Grant. "Is there anything you bought today that you liked?"
Grant picked through the clothes and soon had a small pile in his lap. "I like these. They feel nice and they are comfortable," he said with a shrug and looked at the much larger pile remaining. "I understand what you mean though. I'm young enough that I'll stick out if I dress like your mother."
Damon chuckled and nodded. "Yes." He looked at his mother and then back to Grant. "Go get dressed in something you like then we are going back to town. All of us. We are taking this shit back and getting something else."
Grant smiled at his husband and reached out to take his hand. "Would you come upstairs with me and help me with my zipper?" he asked playfully as he gathered the clothes he had in his lap and stood up. He grinned at Marion who simply smiled back. She'd been working on helping him act as female as possible, realizing she really didn't have that much to do, Gracie was simply part and parcel of Grant already.
Damon stared at his husband then shook his head. "Go on or we'll never get anything done." He stood and adjusted his uniform then began gathering the boxes and bags back up. "I have no idea what goes where."
He picked up a nightie that was kind of short and a dark green in colour. His long fingers ran over the silky material and he looked over at Grant. "What other kinds of night things did you pick out?"
"Bring the bags upstairs and you can look while I change. I was serious, I really do need help with the zip," he said with a grin and started up the stairs, the low heels he wore putting extra sway in his hips.
Marion gave her son a push. "I'll tidy this up down here, go see what else we bought," she laughed knowing her son was going to deal with this well.
Damon looked around at the mess. "Which ones are we keeping again?" He watched the skirt sway around Grant's hips and he swallowed, hard. Stunned he looked at all the frill and satin and silk, panic set in and he blinked. Sweet Merlin, he was going to have a wife. He sank down to the couch again.
The idea had never occurred to him since he had Grant and yet it had a certain appeal as well. What was wrong with him that he wanted to see his husband dressed in some of the more revealing things? He wondered if there was any of the supposedly naughty underthings in the packages. A black camisole perhaps or red even? He swallowed and looked up to where Grant stood on the stairs. The blood left his brain and distributed itself to other areas of his body. His face mainly. "Umm..."
Marion tried hard not to laugh at her son and then noticed his attentions had become more focused and his face flushed. She swatted him on the arm. "Upstairs. Take these with you. I know which ones to keep," she instructed and pushed several bags into his arms.
"Are you coming, Damon?" Grant called softly as he began to climb the remaining steps.
Dumbly, Damon nodded and stood he followed his husband blindly up the stairs and to their room. He closed the door with his foot and leaned against the solid wood, bags hanging from his arms. He closed his eyes and shook his head and began to laugh. "Please tell me you did not pick out sexy lingerie with my mother." He said softly.
Grant bit his lower lip and smiled. "No baby, I did that all by myself. It's in the blue bag if you want to see it," he laughed and began to untuck and unbutton his blouse so he could change into something else. The removal of the blouse revealed a white camisole and the dropping of the skirt revealed matching panties, a garter belt and stockings. Grant stood clad in his underthings as he carefully folded the clothing up and set it on top of the dresser, paying little attention to Damon as he did so.
Damon stared at Grant as the outer clothes fell away and his husband stood there in all that white against his darkly tanned skin. "Fuck," Damon whispered and swallowed. The camisole framed his sculpted chest with the white satin and floated just above his slim hips. The little white panties framed his small cock with just the barest of bulges.
His legs looked longer with the stockings moulded to them and the little strips of elastic vanishing up under the camisole, did things to Damon that he wasn't certain he wanted to think about. His breath quickened and he shook himself. They didn't have time for this. "Blue bag... right." He dumped the bags on the bed and began searching through them distractedly, eyeing Grant on the sly.
Grant looked up at Damon's whisper and frowned. "Did I do something wrong Damon? I can take whatever it is you don't like back," he said as he turned and looked at his husband, one slim hand resting on the slight curve of his hip. He liked how the silky material floated over his skin and he'd been certain to ask Mother Wolffe to charm him so he wouldn't embarrass himself bodily from the sensations. He was thankful she'd been understanding and hadn't laughed at him; she well understood how important it was he passed without fail as Gracie to everyone.
Damon straightened and looked at his husband. How could he tell the other man just what exactly was wrong without him thinking that his husband had become a deviant? Grant had taken to the Lifestyle like a fish to water and he was beautiful at submission. He cleared his throat. "No Pet, you haven't. I haven't even looked at whatever it was that you bought." His eyes racked over the slender form and he took a deep calming breath.
Grant knew something was wrong; something was eating at his Marine. He walked slowly to where his man was standing and gracefully dropped to his knees. "Master, please tell me what is wrong. I'll do my best to make it better," he said softly, his face tilted down and his hair falling loose over one shoulder.
Damon whimpered softly. Couldn't the other man see what he was doing to him? And when the beautiful man had dropped to his knees in front of Damon, all the blood in his body rushed from his face to his crotch. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "You have done nothing wrong, Pet." He groaned softly and opened one blue eye to look down at his husband again.
At Damon's groan, Grant looked up and saw for himself that his husband was aroused. A little smile played over his full lips as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to the bulge in the other man's trousers, kissing his way along the hardening length before turning his face and rubbing his cheek over Damon's groin. "Did my Master see something he liked?" he asked before turning his face back and pressing his lips over the straining fabric once more.
Damon gasped and closed his eyes again. "Yes." He said softly. He moaned as his husband's mouth moved over the wool of his pants. "Merlin Grant..." He gasped out. "I... Oh gods..." He swallowed and moaned, clinching his fists at his sides, resisting the urge to grab Grant's face and rub against that red mouth until he found the release his body was so desperately demanding.
Grant didn't bother asking for permission, he simply undid Damon's pants and pulled his erection out of his shorts. Opening his mouth wide he slid his lips around the head and then began to bob his head up and down, taking Damon as deeply as he could while working the rest of his shaft and heavy balls with his hands. He could taste the salty tangy precome and by the way his husband was thrusting his hips, Grant didn't think he'd last long. Letting his teeth gently rake along the shaft of Damon's cock, he worked his tongue under the foreskin and delved into the little slit without breaking the suction he had.
"Fuck!" Damon grabbed Grant's head, tangling his fingers in the long loose hair and thrust faster into the willing mouth. Groaning deeply he threw himself over the edge and shouted Grant's name as he orgasmed. He sagged over the kneeling man and kissed the top of his head. "I love you, Grant."
Grant swallowed as quickly as he could, trying not to gag as Damon fucked his mouth hard, his husband's hands holding his head as he pounded into him. Letting the softening prick slip from his mouth, he wiped his lips with his fingers and wrapped his arms around Damon's waist as the other man was bent over him. "I love you too, Damon."
After a few minutes and Damon had sat down on the edge of the bed, Grant got to his feet and stepped into the dark green shift he'd brought upstairs. It was still a simple style, just a simple sheath, but he thought it was a bit younger and less dowdy looking than the other things he'd bought. He turned his back to Damon and looked at him over his shoulder. "Would you zip me? After I pull my hair back, I'll be ready to leave."
Damon sighed and looked up at his husband. He tucked himself away and stood to zip the green dress. He placed a kiss to Grant's satin covered back then quickly raised the zipper. "Leave it down." His eyes roamed over the other man again. "You look very nice, Pet." He pressed his lips to the other man's mouth.
Grant/Gracie pulled back from the kiss with a smile and picked up a wide black head band, slipping it in and tossing his waist length hair back over his shoulder so it lay neatly down his back. He stepped back into his shoes and reached out for Damon's hand. "Your mother has demanded all of my boy clothes before I go to bed tonight, and that you can't loan me yours at all," he said as he licked his lips nervously. There was no turning back now, not for the next eight years. Grant had just died and Gracie risen. "Are you ready?"
Damon nodded and smiled at his wife. He clasped the small hand in his. "We'll have to get you a diamond today as well. Can't have you going around without, my Gracie." He raised an eyebrow. "Well now, then we'll have to make certain that we get you some new nightclothes then." He kissed the full mouth again. "Let's go spend my money."
"Why do I need new ones? You didn't like the ones I picked out?" Gracie asked as she followed Damon out of the bedroom and then down the stairs where Marion was waiting on them.
Mother Wolffe had sorted all the clothes to which store they were from and had everything bagged or boxed, ready to be taken to the car. She looked up and smiled at the picture her son made in his uniform with the small dark complexioned woman behind. Grant truly was beautiful as Grace. "I knew that one would look wonderful on you, dear," she said as she embraced the small woman and kissed her cheek. "Damon, are you ready to go shopping? Perhaps you can take us to dinner while we are out?"
Damon looked at his mother and Gracie. "I'm sorry Pet, I didn't even look at them but if you like them then we don't have to replace them."
He nodded and held out an arm for each of them to take. "I think dinner can be arranged. Da will just have to eat a sandwich seeing as he has vanished from sight." He smiled down at Gracie. "Come my dears, I have no idea what I am going to do with such beautiful women on my arm. I shall be the envy of everyone in town."