Each night before they went to bed, Arthur let Francis go up first because he had to do some checks, just to make sure everything was the way it was supposed to be. He made sure that the cooker was well and truly switched off, checking two or three times just to be certain. Then he checked all the plugs and switched off every electrical item in the house, making sure that the smoke alarms were in good repair and had batteries. Then as part of his bedtime ritual he made sure that ever door in the house was closed and that the fire extinguishers were easy to get to. If there was one thing he knew about it was fire safety, and he couldn't or wouldn't go to bed till all this had been done. Francis was already in bed reading a book when Arthur got there, and changed into a set of blue pj's, getting in next to the man he loved.

Francis put down his book and lay next to Arthur gazing into his perfect green eyes. He reached forward and stroked his cheek gently before kissing him softly on the lips. "Is everything alright darling?" He asked

"Yeh…" Arthur replied as he returned Francis' tender kisses. "The windows are checked, the doors are all closed, everything is turned off… we're all safe and sound." He said with a smile.

Francis chuckled and kept kissing him, for their love was so special, and he adored Arthur. "Tell me why it is you do that every night?" He asked curiously.

"Oh… just.. something I like to do… just to know we are safe." He replied.

After some tender lovemaking, Arthur slowly fell asleep in his lovers arms, and Francis held him all night, close to his heart, occasionally stroking his hair or kissing his head a little.

"Je t'aime mon Angleterre…" He'd whisper even if Arthur was asleep and couldn't hear him. Sometimes he thought that Arthur was the most precious thing in the world, even though he got a little bad tempered here and there, it was funny to watch him, of course he'd never tell him that. He lay watching Arthurs chest move slowly up and down as he slept, and a protective urge inside him just wanted to make sure he was always safe too, just like he did for him.

The next day they awoke to a cold and frosty morning and Francis decided that it would be good to light the open fire in the lounge. He'd always lit the fire as for some reason Arthur always seemed to be busy with something or out, and sometimes he'd sit in the lounge on a cold day and not even light the fire, instead he'd get out a heater, saying something about it being more economical and better for the environment. He never lit the fire, ever. Francis didn't notice really, he just set about putting the firelighters in the grate, with rolled up paper, and putting the lumps of wood and coal over the top of that. Arthur came downstairs as he was lighting it and saw what he was doing. He didn't even say good morning, he just walked into the kitchen somewhat nervously to get a cup of tea. Francis didn't know it but Arthur was pacing the floor and looking anxiously through the door to the lounge, and completely NOT making himself a cup of tea. He watched from a distance as Francis lit the fire, striking a large match and skilfully working with the paper and firelighters. Then he did a very archaic thing, he got a large piece of wood and placed it over the fire as a technique to get it going.

Arthur's heart was in his mouth, and he could feel his chest muscles seizing up in abject fear. He was afraid for two reasons, one of them being that this fire could get out of control and the other one being that Francis might get hurt if he wasn't careful. He came in and tried to act like everything was okay.

"Hey… darling…what…what are you doing there with that er…piece of wood on the fireplace? Heheheh…."

"Oh… updraft." Francis replied. "It should make the fire burn faster, and therefore it won't go out." He said, then noticed exactly how nervous Arthur was and how his tea cup didn't actually have any tea in it. He watched the fire with a look of alarm on his face, gripping the arm of the sofa, looking absolutely terrified. "Is… is that safe Francis?" He uttered trying to sound fine. "I mean … it looks dangerous and everything…."

"Of course Mon Cher…" He said and couldn't help notice how tightly Arthur gripped the arm of the sofa.

"Are you alright Arthur?"

"I.. I…" he uttered "Just keep an eye on that piece of wood…" he gulped. He was pretty anxious by now, hoping to heaven that Francis knew what he was doing.

Alarmed, he realised that the piece of wood was on fire, and burning at the edges, and he really didn't like that… he backed off out of the room and closed the door, standing in the hallway breathing fast.

"Don't be hurt Francis.. please don't be hurt…" he mumbled. He fully expected Francis to have hurt himself dealing with that, and he felt bad for leaving the room. "He might be in there burning… oh God what have I done?" He thought to himself as he eventually summoned up the courage to open the door… and Francis was fine, the fire was lit and the piece of wood wasn't burning anymore, he'd dealt with it and was about to put it outside in the coal shed.

"There we go, all lit… we can get some warmth now." Francis said with a smile. Arthur immediately put the fire guard over the open fire so that nothing could escape it.

"Oh of course…thanks for that…" he replied, breathing a sigh of relief. Francis wasn't hurt or burnt and he'd successfully lit the fire, something he, Arthur had never been able to do.

After Francis came back from the coal shed he stood there looking at Arthur with his arms folded. Arthur looked back at him wondering why he was doing that… what could he want?

"Everything… alright?" He asked.

"No." Francis replied. "You didn't have any tea in your cup…"

"Didn't I?" Arthur laughed "Oh silly me.. I'll go and sort it now…"

"Is anything wrong Mon Cher?" Francis asked looking concerned. "You seem worried and anxious today…"

"Oh its nothing… nothing at all…" Arthur replied dismissively as he went to really get himself a cup of tea. "Thanks for lighting the fire… and everything…"

Something wasn't right. Something didn't add up. He'd noticed this type of behaviour before but he'd always dismissed it or never thought too deeply about it, but something just wasn't right with Arthur that day.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Francis asked as Arthur managed to make himself a cuppa.

"Talk about what? There's nothing to talk about… " he said as he calmed himself down. "So um.. we'd better uhh get on with things ey…" Arthur said as if everything was fine. Francis got on with making he breakfast because Arthur never seemed to want to do any cooking. With him everything was either underdone or overdone or didn't work out right so he never cooked.

Francis put the bacon on to fry and then looked for some eggs in the fridge, as Arthur sat at the breakfast table, watching the frying pan as if his life depended on it. Did it have to fry so noisily? Was it going to burst into flames at any moment? It might… it could…

He tried to ignore it and read he newspaper, although his heart was beating ten to the dozen and he was terrified, really terrified.

Francis found the eggs and some more cooking oil to continue to make the breakfast. As he poured a little cooking oil on to the frying pan, some of it spilled over on to the side, causing the gas to ignite it and a huge flame shot up almost reaching the ceiling. Francis knew what to do though, as he was an expert cook, but Arthur dropped his tea cup and it smashed on to the floor. At the sight of a huge flame shooting up, he screamed hard and got up, knocking his chair over, and in a terrible panic ran out of the kitchen, and through to the lounge, hiding behind the sofa, absolutely terrified, hugging his knees and sobbing.

A few moments later Franics came out of the kitchen, there was no fire, and it wasn't like there was anything to worry about in the first place as he dealt with it easily enough.

"Arthur…?" he asked tenderly as he found him behind the sofa having a terrible panic attack.

"It's alright… the fire is out… Arthur?"

His poor husband was curled up, and crying hard, the tears flowing from his eyes, and he couldn't stop.

"You're pyrophobic aren't you?" Francis asked as he reached for him.

"Is it out? Are you alright?" Arthur managed to ask. "Are you burned?"

"No I am fine… I'm absolutely fine… come here…" Francis said in soothing tones as he held his husband. Arthur turned to him and sobbed into his chest.

"Every day… I have to put up with it… knowing a fire could happen… someone close to me could get hurt…" he wept. "Every single moment of every day, its in the background, something terrible could happen…"

"This is why you don't cook very much isn't it?" Francis asked as he helped him to the sofa to sit down. "In case you get burned or if a fire starts?"

Arthur just nodded. "It rules my life…" He uttered. "I can't even light a match without worrying about it… and even candles… I'm always watching to see if anything is too close to them… When people smoke I want to tell them not to, but I can't just do that…"

Francis realised painfully that watching him light the fire that morning must have been a terrible experience for him, and cooking the breakfast. Sure he didn't feel nearly the same way and couldn't get his head round it, but he could imagine the anxiety and fear that Arthur was going through. He held him close and tried to calm him. "It's alright the fire is out… and it wasn't that big anyway…" he uttered. "I had no idea you were pyrophobic mon amour… and yet when I think about it, I see that you must have been, and for many years. What started it? Do you know?"

"London…" He uttered. "I don't think I ever… got over it…not really…" His mind cast back to those dark days when that great fire took him… the tremendous pain it caused, the flames, the terrible unrelenting flames…

London's burning …. London's Burning… fire fire…fire fire….

Francis took him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Arthur was the most precious thing in the world… and this was just one of his little quirks… pyrophobia. He hoped he could help him get over it or at least get him to a point where he didn't panic or think that every flame was going to turn into a catastrophe. Arthur felt the tightness in his chest die down and he relaxed into Francis' embrace.

"I'm sorry…" he uttered "I didn't mean to … panic…"

"It's alright…" Francis replied "You're allowed… just as everyone else is…"