"You know, you're quite the hero, Mr. Foust." Adam smiles as he gets everything ready for the arrival of Rob and Mr. Rucker.

"Oh, I just did what I thought needed to be done." Tim shrugs as he watches Adam hurrying around dusting, straightening things and cleaning whatever needed cleaning.

"You're too humble. Because of you, Darius Rucker can have a life. Possibly married and with children. If you didn't save his great-great-grandfather from your dad, then Charlie Rucker probably would have died a slave." Adam says.

"You keep on, you're going to give the old cowboy a big head." Austin says, rolling his eyes.

"Well, he needs to know how important what he did was." Adam says, glancing around at the two spirits sitting at the table watching him work his ass off. "Wait. Why aren't you two helping me?"

"I didn't know that we were supposed to be." Tim says innocently.

"Yeah, the place looks fine." Austin shrugs.

"Are the beds made?" Adam asks as he wipes off the kitchen counter.

"They are unless you messed them up. We don't sleep." Tim answers, slightly shaking his head, still watching his lover.

"Good point. What about your room, Austin? What does it look like?" Adam asks, turning to the younger spirit.

"Like an F-5 tornado went through but why in the hell would he be in my room?" Austin replies with a light chuckle.

"What if I want to give him a tour of the house?" Adam asks, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why would you want to do that?" Tim asks with furrowed brows.

Adam huffs as he pulls out a chair and sits down between the two spirits.

"Humour me, okay? Work with me here?" Adam says. "This is a very big deal to Mr. Rucker." Adam adds, looking at one spirit and then the other. "And for the love of God, do NOT be making any haunted sounds or whatever you guys call it. Please, behave yourselves."

"Why, Mr. Rupp, you sound to me like you don't trust us." Austin says, laying a hand on his chest and putting on his best shocked expression.

"After what you guys pulled during Chance and Sami's first visit? No, I don't trust you, Mr. Brown." Adam says, raising a brow at the younger spirit.

"Oh. I forgot about that." Austin chuckles.

"You have my word, Adam. No hauntings." Tim smiles as he turns to the younger spirit. "Right, Austin?"

"I guess." Austin pouts.

"I guess, ain't the answer I'm looking for. I'll repeat the question. Right, Austin?" Tim asks, arching a brow.

"I promise to be a good little spirit. No noises." Austin slouches in his seat.

"Great. Now, go clean your room." Adam says, getting up from his chair to continue his cleaning.

Tim hangs his head and chuckles as Austin stomps out of the room like an overbearing teenager.

~~

"Remember what I said." Adam reminds the two spirits who were standing side by side like innocent children in the parlor. He stops at the door and straightens his clothes and quickly checks his hair in the mirror.

The two spirits look at each other, shaking their heads and rolling their eyes.

"Hi, Adam." Rob says as the blonde opens the door. Behind the historian was a black man with a friendly smile.

"Hey, Rob. Please, come in." Adam smiles as he steps back from the door.

"Hello, I'm Darius Rucker." The black man says as he reaches out to shake Adam's hand.

"I'm Adam. Very pleased to meet you, Mr. Rucker." Adam smiles as he shakes the man's hand.

"Please, just call me Darius." Darius says as he steps inside the entrance hall. "So. This is the Foust mansion. Wow, it's beautiful." He adds as he looks around.

Tim smirks as he looks around at the younger spirit. Pride was written all over the older spirit's face.

"Whatever." Austin shakes his head.

"I thought I would wait until we got here to give Darius the history of Timothy Foust." Rob smiles as he holds up his briefcase.

"So, is this Mr. Foust?" Darius asks as he stops to look at the painting in the hallway.

"Yep, that's him." Adam nods.

"Very handsome man." Darius comments.

Once again, Tim smirks at Austin.

"Whatever." Austin chuckles lightly.

"Is this all original furnishings?" Darius asks as they walk into the parlor.

"Yes. But there were some renovations done to the house especially in the kitchen area. And a heating and cooling unit that was added. A few other moderations were added." Adam nods.

"Where's Tim and Austin?" Rob whispers as the visitor walks over to look at the fireplace.

"Right here." Tim answers. (Darius is unable to hear them)

"OH!" Tim's voice startles the historian. Darius looks around at Rob's sudden outburst. "Oh, uh, let's make our way to the dining room to have a seat and we'll get started on the history of this place."

Soon the three men were seated around the large dining room table. Adam had fixed them all a drink. Tim stood behind his lover with his hands resting on his shoulders. Austin took a seat on the kitchen counter.

Rob began to tell Tim's story from beginning to end to Darius.

As Rob got to the part of the hanging, Adam felt Tim's hands on his shoulder begin to fidget nervously. The blonde reaches up and lays his hands on top of the spirit's hands. But to Rob and Darius, it looked as if he was just rubbing his shoulders.

"So, they murdered him for being gay? And then his own father buried him in an unmarked grave under the tree that he was hung in? Excuse my language, but that was some f*cked up sh*t." Darius says.

"I totally agree." Adam nods and then adds, "His grave has gone unmarked all these years until a few days ago. I had a tombstone put up for him."

"I'd like to see it but first I would like to see the room where he hid out the slaves if I could?" Darius asks.

"Certainly. Follow me." Adam says as they all stand.

"From what I've been told...." Rob says as they make their way down to the basement. "The slaves were allowed to roam freely around the mansion. This room was just where they slept and hid when someone came by."

Adam pulls on the wine rack to reveal the room to their visitor.

"There's no electricity in here considering no one knew it was here until a few days ago." Adam says as he begins to light the lanterns.

"Oh, my God." Darius says as he walks into the room.

"As you can see, each slave carved their name into the walls. Over here is your ancestor's name." Adam says as he walks over to the inscription on the wall.

Darius pulls out his phone and takes a picture of his great-great-grandfather's carving.

"Would it be okay to take pictures of the rest of the room to show my dad?" He asks.

Adam glances quickly at Tim for an answer. The older spirit shrugs and nods his head.

"Yeah, it's fine. "Adam answers. "I just don't want my home to become some kind of historic museum."

"Oh, no. I totally understand. I wouldn't either. This is just for my own personal knowledge of my ancestry." Darius replies. "It won't end up on social media or anything." He adds with a chuckle.

After taking several pictures, Darius asked to see Tim's final resting place.

They exit the mansion and walk around to the side of the house.

"That is the tree where he was murdered." Adam says as he points to the large tree. "I had this stone placed here under the tree even though I'm not sure of the exact location of where he was buried."

"Adam, you're a good man for doing this." Darius says after reading the inscription on the stone. "I brought a cross with me that I would like to put on his grave if I could."

"That would be very nice." Adam nods with a smile.

Darius heads over to Rob's car to get the cross.

"It's not much. Just my way of saying thanks to a wonderful human being." Darius says as he pushes a white wooden cross into the ground next to the tombstone. It was engraved with the words 'Thank You'.

"I'm sure he would say that he was only doing what needed to be done." Adam says as he quickly wipes his eyes.

"Well, it's been a pleasure and thank you, Adam, for opening up your home to me. I need to visit my great-great-grandfather's grave before heading back to Chicago." Darius says.

"Anytime." Adam smiles as he shakes the visitor's hand.

"Ask him where Charlie is buried." Tim says next to Adam's ear.

"So, uh, where is your great-great-grandfather buried?" Adam asks.

"Over at the Eastside Cemetary." Darius answers as he and Rob walk back to the car.

"I'd like to go pay my respects." Adam replies.

"That's very nice of you, thanks." Darius says, getting into the car.

Adam waves as the car pulls away.

"That's it? You mean I cleaned my room for nothing?" Austin huffs.

"You're such a douche bag." Tim says walking away, shaking his head. (another word he learned from the younger spirit)

********

Until next time .... ✌️