Cavalier

Outtake: You're Not Alone When You Take Somebody Home

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I've only been promising this for years. This is exactly the story that you think it is.

A few things to remember if it's been awhile:

1) CAVALIER establishes that David, at least, is attracted to Bathsheba. That attraction is something that he's struggled with for years, especially considering that she's married to one of his mighty men and good friends (if he can see her from his rooftop in the biblical account, I think we can safely assume that means he and Uriah were close). Bathsheba wasn't a stranger to David in the Biblical account.

2) Due to the messiness of David's marriages and that you can't modernize them without ignoring polygamy laws, Michal is out of the picture and David and Ahinoam are not legally married. David's only wife, as of right now, is Abigail. None of David's other mentioned wives/lovers even come into play except for the ones that we already know.

3) Title is a line from "Astoria" by Mariana's Trench, aka the song I listened to on repeat while writing. 

4) I struggled with where to end this as I was writing because I didn't want David to be forgiven. I think I took so long writing it because I knew that Uriah would have to die. Writing him in CAVALIER was important, because I got to know him as more than just Bathsheba's husband--he was one of David's mighty men. He was one of the men who came to David's aid when he was on the run. I wish I could change the end to this story.

5) But if God had grace for David I suppose I should, too.

Buckle in. It's a bumpy ride.

*

David's always needed his friends close.

He remembers what it is to not have friends, to live as an outsider looking in. He remembers what it is to have older brothers who won't give you the time of day and to have the beings closest to you be sheep. And since Jonathan—since having Jonathan, and then losing him (and the thought still strikes his heart like he's hearing it for the first time all over again)—it's gotten more pronounced.

He doesn't give his friends a choice. As the Presidential Mansion is renovated, David doing as much as he can to erase the bad memories he has of Saul, he gathers Jashobeam, Benaiah, Eleazar, and Uriah together and says, "I'm keeping you close."

"I want my room to have a seventy inch TV," Benaiah says.

David rolls his eyes. "Not that close, Benaiah."

"I want my house to have a seventy inch TV."

Jashobeam snorts, like he thinks that that's not what David means, either, but when David says, "Okay," his expression turns stunned.

"David," Jashobeam says as Benaiah does a fist pump, "you don't have the kind of money to build all of us a house."

"Yes I do," David says, and he does, because he'd gotten some of his more money-savvy men to crunch the numbers, Abigail watching over their shoulder as they did the math and their son ran around their feet, and when they came to him with the numbers she confirmed. They won't be large houses, but they will be houses. Homes stocked with all the amenities and a few indulgences and, more important, homes that will be close to David.

Eleazar stops gnawing on his lip for a second, long enough for him to say, "You sure you don't want us on base?"

David's been President for over a decade, now, long enough that the main conflict between his supporters and Saul's have faded and that wounds from the civil war are starting to heal, but tensions still flare every now and then. His friends have been invaluable during that time, even more so than they usually are, because while David has been running the country and verbally sparring with other politicians, his men have been breaking up fights and ensuring that they're all united under one banner. Under the title of Israel. Under David, their President.