Thank you for your reviews for part one, I know it's been a while since I posted it! Just to clarify, this story, and The Unravelling, is set in a world where John Paul and Ste never happened. So my version of events starts after the flat explosion, Doug's death and Ste finding his new family. So, here's chapter two...

Chapter Two

"Ste!"

A small voice had interrupted the pair, reminding them that they were not, in fact, the only two people in the village. It was Peri.

"What are you doing in here, Pez?"

"I wanted a smoothie on my way back from school," she replied with an innocent shrug.

Ste found some spare change and dug it out of his pocket. "Here y'are then, I'll pay."

"Thanks," she said, taking it from him before fixing her gaze on Brendan. "Are you Brendan, then?"

"I am. And what was it Steven just called ye, Pez? There are sweets that go by that name, ye know," Brendan remarked with amusement.

Ste rolled his eyes, and Peri looked confused but managed an awkward laugh.

"This is my baby sister, Peri," he announced with a grin.

"I'm not a baby, I'm fourteen!" she complained, but she didn't storm off, instead choosing to pull up a chair and sit next to the Irishman. "My mum and dad used to like this old band from the 80s – they had a singer with the same moustache as yours. What was his name, Ste?"

He tried not to laugh. "Freddie Mercury, you mean?"

Brendan couldn't help but touch the hair above his lip; a little self-conscious under the gaze of a teenage girl who was clearly very important to the man he loved. "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"That's weird. I'd forgotten all about your beard," Ste blurted out suddenly.

"They don't usually let ye shave in there, but one of the guards lent me a razor for the trial," the older man explained, correctly guessing Ste's meaning.

Now Peri looked as though she was about to come out with another observation, or worse, a question. And just in case it happened to be 'what was prison like?' Ste decided to intervene.

"Hey, are you getting that smoothie or what?" Ste said, gently nudging his sister. She got up to order her drink, and in her absence he leaned across the table. "I think she likes you," he told Brendan eagerly.

"Yeah?"

He nodded. "If she didn't she wouldn't have been so nosy."

Peri returned, sipping her strawberry smoothie through a straw. "So are you coming back with me?"

The two men looked at each other, and Ste shook his head. "We'll see you later though, yeah?"

She smiled and nodded, then turned back to Brendan. "Do you love Ste?"

"Pez!"

"What? I'm only asking."

To their surprise Brendan let out a loud chuckle. "It's okay, Steven. Yes, I do love him. Ye don't have to worry, Peri," he winked at her. "I promise not to break your brother's heart."

"Okay. Good." Looking pleased with herself, she waved goodbye and left College Coffee.

"I promise not to break it again." To Ste's surprise, Brendan's voice had now lost it's playful manner, and his face was grave and serious.

"What?"

"I've already hurt ye more than once, Steven. I've broken every promise, even the ones I really meant to keep. I won't make that mistake again."

Ste looked down at his hands. "That's...a big thing to say on your first day out of prison. We said we weren't going to talk like this until tomorrow."

Brendan smiled. "Look at me," he pleaded gently. When, after half a minute, Ste raised his head, he continued. "Some things can't wait."

Emotion swelled inside Ste then, and although he tried to focus on the joy he felt at Brendan's words, the meaning behind them hit home. All the things he had banished to the back of his mind were now clawing their way back to the front.

"My mam died," he heard himself saying.

Brendan's face gave way to confusion, then shock, then concern. "Steven..."

"Then I got back with Doug, and he died. That was after the flat got blown up." Ste watched as Brendan flinched at the mention of his husband, but still it didn't stop him. "I got the kids back, and then got so skint I had to send them back to Amy."

"Steven, I..."

"Oh and then there's the suspended sentence I'm on, because my mam didn't just die, she asked me to help her die. Probably should have started with that bit."

"What?" The younger man shut his mouth tight, the impact of his impulsive monologue dawning on him. And he hadn't even mentioned all the business with Trevor.

"Sorry, I just...like you said, it couldn't wait." Brendan didn't speak; barely even moved. "You wanted to know what's been happening to me. Now you do."

Still Brendan said nothing. Ste started to feel physically sick, and stood up weakly. "I need some air."

This jolted Brendan into action. He reached the door at the same moment Ste did. They stepped out into the fresh air together, and he caught hold of Ste as his breathing grew erratic and he became unsteady on his feet. "Hey, hey come on, it's okay."

"It's not." They sat down on a nearby bench, Ste's body slumping.

"Well obviously it hasn't been okay for ye. I didn't know...I never realised. But it will be. That's a promise I'll keep until I'm in my grave."

They sat in silence for a while, the declaration sinking in between them. It wasn't the first one, but more importantly it wouldn't be the last, either.

"You haven't said anything yet. About everything I've done, and my pathetic excuse for a life."

Brendan suddenly looked fierce, but not in the same way Ste remembered from years ago. "Don't say that."

"I'm not the same person I was before you left, Brendan."

"I'm not the same person either. It doesn't mean I've ever stopped loving ye. If ye want to have this conversation now; if ye want to talk about everything I've missed, then we can do that. Or we can wait a few more hours and talk about the future instead. Our future. The one I promised to give ye a long time ago."

Ste was smiling, but he couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes. "If you keep talking about making promises, we'll never get anywhere. You'll jinx us." "Really, Steven? Haven't I done enough of that already? We're about as jinxed as we've always been."

"I don't know about that, maybe God's listening and he's still holding you to that pact you made with him."

Brendan smirked, unable to meet Ste's eye. "Never gonna let me forget that, are ye?"

"'Course not. Anyway that reminds me," he replied, reaching into his pocket. "I've got something for you."

The younger man was now hiding something in his hand. As the Irishman watched, he reached over and placed the object in front of him. It was the Cross pendant he had left with Ste after the bus crash had almost claimed his life.

For a moment, Brendan thought he might be seeing things. "Ye kept it?"

"It was found in the flat ruins, after the explosion," Ste explained. "I always kept it somewhere safe. I couldn't get rid of it. I know I could've given it to Cheryl, but it would've been like letting go of you. Which is what I was supposed to be doing at the time, I know."

On the point of replying, Brendan sighed as they were faced with yet another interruption.

"Brendan Brady!" announced Cindy Cunningham with her usual fearless confidence. "Wouldn't have thought you'd come back here."

"Wouldn't have thought ye would still be working at Price Slice," he remarked drily. "But there we go."

Cindy folded her arms in front of her. "Well, I was going to make you an offer. I don't think I'll bother now."

"Don't tell me, ye were going to offer me a job? Sorry Cindy, the uniform's not really my colour. Suits ye, though."

Ste snorted a laugh, thinking how much Brendan had mellowed since being in prison. When it came to 'chit-chat', this was him being polite.

"Actually I'm the manager of Price Slice and I don't think you'd be quite right for the job," Cindy smirked. "But me and Holly have moved in with Dirk so the flat above the shop is empty. The owner's been on at me for ages to find a new tenant. You wouldn't be my first choice but it's not as though anyone else is interested, so. Let me know by tomorrow. Earlier than that would be better."

As soon as she had finished talking, Cindy turned and disappeared round the corner, leaving two stunned men in her wake.

"That was...weird," Ste said. "Do you think you'll take it?"

"A tiny flat above a tiny shop, run by the local gold-digger?" Brendan replied in deadpan tones. Then, after a pause, he smiled at Ste. "I just might."

When Ste's phone rang they grinned at each other, knowing they weren't going to get any peace until this day was over. This time it was Tegan.

"Are you coming home for tea or not?" She sounded impatient. "Where are you, anyway?"

"With Brendan. We're outside College Coffee."

"Great, I'm just about to pass there anyway." She hung up before Ste could reply, but as he looked around he caught sight of her dark hair, wrapped in one of her vibrant headscarfs. She spotted him and started to wander over.

Ste glanced Brendan's way just before standing to meet Tegan, before she could approach their bench. "Time to meet another sister. Last one, promise."

"Right, just so you know, Dad's gone down the pub in a sulk and Mum's cooking dinner. And your Brendan is invited – hence Dad's bad mood."

"What, so you're okay with all this too, then?"

She shrugged. "Mum says he's not a wrong'un, and that's good enough for me. She's been catching criminals my whole life, Ste. If she trusts this bloke then it's like a guarantee. It takes a lot to gain her trust. So are you going to introduce me, then?"

"How can I say no to you now?" he said, squeezing her hand and heading back over to the Irishman. "Brendan, this is Tegan. Teegs, this is-"

"Oh I do hate these silly formal introductions," she interrupted with a sigh. "Hello, I hear you're the love of my brother's life. Hurt him and I'll knock your block off. Okay? Great. Now we've got that out of the way, I hope you like chicken casserole."

Ste's jaw had dropped about halfway through her speech. "Tegan!"

"What? Just because he's just come out of prison doesn't mean he gets out of hearing the caring sister speech."

"He's already had Peri on at him today..." he trailed off at the sound of Brendan's laughter. When Ste turned to look at him, his whole face was creased with amusement.

"Good to know Steven has sisters with fighting spirit on his side. And yes, chicken casserole sounds perfect."

She shot him a genuine smile, and they started walking ahead, chatting animatedly. Ste stood for a minute, wondering whether what he'd just witnessed had actually happened. Could his life really be as easy as that?

After a somewhat normal family meal with the Lomaxes, Brendan made a quick trip to Price Slice for a bottle of wine. He returned with the news that he would be moving into the shop's flat the following day. Ideally enough, the owner had wanted to start charging rent as soon as possible.

Now, finally, after what seemed like the longest day on earth, he and Ste were lying in bed, in Ste's room. Which also happened to be Brendan's old bedroom. The light was off but neither of them were sleeping.

"Steven."

"Yeah?"

"Will ye move in with me?"

There was a beat of silence. "Really?"

Brendan couldn't tell if this was a happy response, so it caused him to ramble. "It was just...an idea. I spoke to the man who owns the place, told him I might be splitting the rent with a second tenant and he couldn't care less either way. Of course, I could cover both our halves of the rent or even afford to buy the flat outright if I wanted to, now my solicitor says the club money will be with me by the morning. Look, if this is too soon, just say, because we can-"

He was cut off by a searing kiss, and Ste didn't break away until he had wordlessly made his answer obvious.

"So that would be a yes then, would it?" Brendan asked, more than a little breathless.

"That would be a 'what took you so long to ask?'" Ste replied, grinning so much that his face started to ache.

"I just thought ye might have wanted to wait, after everything that's happened I wouldn't blame ye for not trusting me. A few hours ago ye thought I was walking out on ye all over again."

"I know. To be honest, Brendan, I didn't really believe I could have you back until then. It was that thing you said, about being without me. No matter how many times you try and explain what it feels like to someone else, they just don't get it. But you said exactly what I've felt like for the past year. I believe you. I trust you, and I want to live with you. Now."

The look on Brendan's face – that coy, private smile – reminded Ste of his reaction that day they'd been in the pub in Dublin, when he had convinced Brendan that the past was behind him. All that was left of it was dust, he'd told him. At the time it had felt so true; nothing else could hurt them.

This time the past wasn't just dust. It had turned to ashes.

Holding Ste's face gently in his hands, Brendan resumed their kiss, their energy rising. Things seemed about to go over the edge until Ste sat up in the bed, bringing the other man with him. Reluctantly, he pulled away.

"I hate to say it, but can we pick up from where we left off tomorrow? I don't really fancy the idea of a houseful of people around on my first proper night with you since..."

Brendan let out a soft sigh, just as the sound of the front door opening and shutting reverberated through the house. Danny was back.

"Tomorrow," he agreed with conviction, lying down again. "I love ye, Steven."

"Love you too," Ste replied, pressing another kiss to his lips. "Soppier than me, you are."

"Shut up."