Realisation is a story idea that came to me after reading a particularly beautiful part in one of GinnyNoTonic's stories. It was supposed to be short, a one-chapter thing, but it evolved and became a full story of its own.

Many thanks to Mererid (friendoftheearth) for her advice and excellent suggestions and ideas.

In Realisation, Aaron and Jackson have been together about five years, the accident didn't happen and Aaron is a more mature young man, comfortable with being gay and, of course, madly in love with Jackson.

/

When Aaron and Jackson came out of Bar West, the night was warm, the stars were out and they felt good. They had just had a great night out with their friends Mark and Brian, they had a few pints and some good games of pool. Well, the games were good for Jackson who managed to be victorious over Aaron in three games out of five. Aaron blamed his poor performance on the fact they hadn't played in a while. Had lost his touch, he said.

Mark and Brian had left Bar West about twenty minutes ago. As Aaron and Jackson were standing on the pavement, trying to decide if they were going to take a taxi or the bus to go back to Emmerdale, Aaron was suddenly distracted by noises coming from the alley next to where they were standing. The noises were muffled, interspersed with cries. He clearly heard the words, "No! Stop! Stop!" Then he heard a weak voice call for help.

"Jackson, something's going on over there. Let me go check it out."

"Just a minute, will you?" Jackson said, grabbing his arm. "Is this really a good idea?" He could see Aaron was intent on going to check things out and it didn't seem he was going to be able to top him. "Just… be careful, Aaron." He sighed, realising how useless his warning was going to be! "Never mind, I'm coming with you," Jackson replied, worried Aaron was going to get hurt.

Aaron and Jackson walked into the alley and with the light that was there, they could distinguish a big bloke beating up a much smaller young man who was slouched into a bunch of rubbish bags. The assailant was relentless. "Here you go, you little shit faggot," he snarled as he delivered another punch. "That'll teach you to be a man, you goddam queer. You're disgusting!" Those last words were delivered along with more punches and kicks. The young man's cries were now barely audible.

Aaron had seen and heard enough. He ran toward the two and as he approached, he grabbed a rubbish bin that was by the building and, holding onto the handle tightly, he came from behind and swung it with all his might against the attacker's left upper arm. The impact was so hard that the bloke flew sideways, and as he fell to the ground, he was holding his arm, screaming in pain. His arm was probably broken, but Aaron didn't care.

"Call for help," he yelled to Jackson.

People had started to gather upon hearing the commotion. Aaron wasn't aware of them as he was now trying to help the young man to his feet, but he found he was barely responsive. He was badly shaken, bleeding from the nose and the mouth. He looked in bad shape. He had difficulty breathing with the punches his attacker had delivered to his body and to his head. While Aaron was trying to help him, the attacker managed to get up and he was coming after him, enraged by Aaron's interference. He was furious. As he approached Aaron, he made a move to grab him by his coat. He could only use his right arm since the left one was out of commission. But he was a big guy, taller and much stronger than Aaron.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded as he shoved him roughly against the building. Aaron looked into his eyes and saw raw anger, pure fury, he had a crazed look that was very scary. He tried to push him back and was about to use his fists when the guy suddenly kneed him in the stomach. Aaron was momentarily winded and he doubled over. He was trying hard to stay focused. That's when the guy delivered another kick to the side of his body. It sent Aaron flying, his left foot catching in pallets that were piled close by. He ended up twisting his knee and falling on it as he crashed to the ground.

Aaron couldn't get up, he was in agony now, but he could see the bloke coming towards him again, intent on making another move, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. Both of them looked up and saw four men walking kwickly in their direction. Jackson was with them. The attacker thought better than continuing his assault on Aaron and turned around, about to start running up the alley. He was quickly chased by the four men who soon caught up with him. They pushed him to the ground and held him there with a knee to his back and a foot on his face. In the meantime, Jackson had called the police who arrived quickly and took over.

The young victim was slowly coming to, he was shaking. He was in obvious pain and holding on to his sides. When Jackson was done speaking to the emergency services, he noticed Aaron on the ground and rushed over to help him get up. He had scratches on his face and cuts on his hands from the fall against the pallets and on the ground.

"Aaron, are you alright?" Jackson asked, worried.

"My leg hurts like hell but I should be OK," he said, wincing as he tried to get up. He quickly realised he couldn't stand up on his own or put any weight on his leg.

"How's the lad doing? Can you help me get to him?" Aaron was worried about the young man. He looked a bit like him when he was younger. He couldn't be any more than 18 or 19 years old. He was in bad shape but one of the officers was talking to him. Daniel, the night manager from Bar West, had come out, having been alerted to what had happened behind his building. He had a first aid kit with him, but on seeing the condition of the lad, he decided to wait for the paramedics to arrive and he made sure the lad was comfortable.

Jackson bent down so that Aaron could put his arm around his shoulder. He then put his arm around Aaron's back and they managed to stand up together. Once Aaron was up, he supported himself on Jackson and the two of them made it to where the lad was, Aaron hopping along.

"Are you alright?" he said to the young man. "My name's Aaron, by the way,"

The young man was still quite disoriented, he was so scared, and he was gasping with the pain he was feeling. "My… my name's Ray," he said in a halting voice, "Thanks for helping me."

This was the second or third time Ray had come to Bar West. He was still trying to come to grips with his coming out and was hoping to connect with someone at the bar. It's what most young men in his situation would do. But somehow, this hadn't been a good night for him.

He looked at Aaron and then at the police officer who had stepped aside to let the paramedics do their work; they had just arrived. "This guy, he just came after me when I left the bar. He started calling me names and shouting at me. I was scared, I didn't know what to do, so I walked faster to get away from him, but then he walked even faster behind me." Ray was breathless, he was starting to get panicky as it all came flooding back. "When we reached the alley, he grabbed my coat and dragged me in here and started hitting me. I tried to escape but he pushed me back, I lost my balance and fell into the bags. He kept hitting and calling me names and insulting me." He was trying to recall the events for the officer, but after that point, he really didn't know what happened. That's when Aaron had come to his rescue.

The night manager had taken note of Aaron's involvement and thanked him for what he did. The other four men came back to the street after the police arrested the attacker. They chatted a bit with Aaron, realising what he had done and congratulating him on his swift reaction, saying it was brave, considering the size of the guy. The attacker was quite big, probably around 250 pounds, and tall. But when Aaron came swinging with the bin, he didn't pay attention to that, he just knew he had to get him off that young lad who was being pounded so violently.

In his mind, he didn't want to get involved in a fight. He was now past the time when he would use his fists to deal with a situation, but this was different. This was someone attacking another person, and from the looks of it, the fight didn't seem fair. No matter what the reason was, he thought, nothing could justify that kind of violence. The lad needed help and Aaron knew he had to do something, and quickly. Who knows, it could have been him a few years back. No matter how good he was with his fists, his adversary in this case would have been much bigger than him and he would likely have lost the fight.

The paramedics came to check on Aaron's leg and the cuts on his face and hands. Noticing he couldn't stand on his leg, they pulled a stretcher and layed him on it, proceeding to immobilise his leg. Even that simple procedure made Aaron wince and let rip a few choice words that turned the air blue. Jackson noticed his reaction to the pain and became worried. He realised something was definitely wrong. Aaron was usually a tough nut but seeing that the simple movements involved in immobilising his leg hurt him that much, he figured his condition might be worse than expected. He didn't say anything, not wanting to worry Aaron. The paramedics loaded the two lads in the ambulance. One of the paramedics stayed in the back with the two patients and Jackson who was allowed to accompany Aaron.

Once at the hospital, they had to wait several hours before Aaron was seen. His case was obviously not as urgent as some of the others that came in. And Ray was in much worse shape, they took him in immediately, especially since he had lost consciousness during the ambulance trip.

Aaron had been lying on the stretcher for a few hours now, bored out of his mind. Good thing Jackson was there to keep him company. Aaron was clearly worried and Jackson could see it on his face, in his eyes.

"You were miles away, Aaron. What's on your mind?"

"I'm just thinking about this lad, how things could have turned for him. Why was this guy so intent on hurting him? What could have happened to make him hit Ray repeatedly like that? I mean, he was so big next to him, we both know it wasn't a fair fight. What was the point of that?" Aaron was angry, anxious.

"Why so much violence?" he continued, sounding really saddened by this event. "There had to have been something wrong with that man." As he was saying that, he turned his head to look into Jackson's deep, brown eyes, where he knew he could find comfort and reassurance.

Jackson returned his look, eyebrows raised in surprise at the seriousness of his question, at this Aaron he had not seen before. He knew Aaron's past and all, but still, he had changed a lot over the past years and Jackson was so very proud of him. He was calmer, so much more restrained, in control. He could still get hot under the collar, but he wouldn't use his fists now. That wasn't his way anymore.

Aaron realised how much his boyfriend was surprised by his question and he quickly added, "I know, I've reacted with my fists before, but there were good reasons for it. Well, they were good at the time," he said, chuckling. "But this, I just don't get it."

"I don't get it either, Aaron, but that's what it is. And you were incredibly brave to do what you did, not to say… maybe… a bit foolish. I mean, did you see the size of him? I was worried when I saw you go, but there was no stopping you!"

"I'm glad it worked out the way it did. Could have been worse, but from the moment I saw them, I knew I had to do something." Jackson was very proud of his boyfriend and the look he gave him said as much.

TBC