Three Days Earlier
A banging sound coming from the kitchen woke Doug from his slumber, he looked over at the clock and it was only 5:30 in the morning. He put a pillow over his head and tried to drown out the noise, hoping he could get at least another hour of sleep. He didn't have to be at the Deli today and he had had his whole day planned out. Sleep until 6:30 had definitely been on the list but as it turned out it didn't seem like that was going to happen.
He wondered sometimes how his life had turned out like this. It wasn't as if he had planned on being in a committed relationship at twenty five, spending the last five years in domestic bliss with the man he loved. He also didn't plan on living with that man, his best mate and their two children for the last four but sometimes life has a way of surprising you.
He couldn't really complain though he'd never been happier and although he would have loved it if he could have gotten an extra hour of sleep or possibly two, he wouldn't have changed any of it for the world. So he uncovered his head, opened his eyes fully and sat up in bed because that was life with young children, they waited for no one and at 5:30 both the kids were raring to go.
Doug heard another bang coming from the kitchen and wondered what the hell is going on. Usually they were at least a little bit more considerate. He was about to go investigate what all the noise was about when Lukas came bursting through the door and jumped onto the bed, right on top of him.
"Dougie, Dougie." Lukas screamed paying no mind that up until a few minutes ago he was sound asleep.
He pulled the little boy off of him and sat him down next to him on the bed.
"What's up champ?" He said ruffling Lukas's long head of hair. He had told Ste once that the little boy was starting to look like a little girl but was affronted by a very angry father so that was the last time he had ever mentioned that.
"It's your barfday." The little boy screamed jumping up and down on the bed.
"My what?" Doug said trying to ascertain if he had actually heard the boy correctly.
"It's your barfday." Lukas said putting a hand over his mouth to stifle his giggles.
"Oh it's my barfday, does that mean I get to barf all over you." He grabbed the little boy holding him still while he made fake barfing noises. Lukas giggled and wiggled all around trying to break loose.
"Ewwwww…ewwww…Daddy…daddy." He screamed.
Doug finally let him go and he ran back out of the room squealing. Like clockwork, in came Leah with some sort of breakfast muffin with a candle.
Oh yay, it's my birthday. He thought less enthusiastically.
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear – "
"Oi LEAH," Ste shouted from the kitchen. "I told you to wait for me," his boyfriend came running into the bedroom quickly holding a tray with a full English breakfast on it.
Doug couldn't help but smile at the frazzled man in front of him who looked to be wearing as much of the meal as was on the plate. The older boy smiled back leaning over to give him a soft kiss on the lips. "I wanted to shower before I came in but the kids didn't want to wait," he said as way of an explanation for his appearance. It was cute really even after all these years together, Ste still wanted to look his best for him.
"Daddy…Daddy, can we do presents?" Leah asked excitedly, setting the muffin down unevenly on the table causing Doug to jump off the bed and grab it before the house burned down.
"Careful Leah," he scolded however Leah didn't seem to notice and was still looking over at her dad for his approval. "Ok sweetheart, go get your brother and then we'll do presents." Leah went running out and finally the two of them were alone, even if it was only for a minute.
"Happy Birthday lover," Ste whispered into his ear as he leaned down again this time fully capturing Doug's mouth with his own and pushing his tongue deep inside. There was no warm up, they didn't have time so Doug grabbed a hold of his waist pulling him closer, tasting the inside of the older boys mouth. He so wanted a birthday quickie, he wanted to be bent over the bed while Ste fucked him so hard he saw stars but he knew the kids would be back any minute so instead he pulled away from the kiss catching his breath and adjusting his shorts.
It had been a little over a week since they last had sex and they were both gagging for it but every time they tried to get a moments peace together one of the kids would interrupt them or Amy would need one of them to go to the store or one of them was needed at the Deli for some sort of crisis.
Doug thought if he didn't have sex soon his balls might fall off but he was a patient man and he would wait.
As if reading his thoughts, Ste pulled the younger boy into him and whispered seductively into his ear. "I have something very exciting planned for us later." Doug was about to pull him into another breathtaking kiss when the kids ran back into the room.
Leah and Lukas put there presents on the bed and jumped up onto the bed to watch Doug open them. The younger man always thought that this was the best part of his birthday, watching the kids little faces light up as he opened their presents.
He had missed all this when he was a kid. His mom were very very over protective of him and he spent most of his childhood playing indoors instead of outdoors with the other children. And even though he had an older brother, he was almost ten years older than him and when Doug was eight he had left home. Doug had not seen or heard from him since then.
So he had never really gotten to enjoy all those childhood activities like birthday parties or special events or even playing coyboys and indians with the kids in the neighborhood so being able to do those now was one of the highlights of his life.
He started with Lukas's present, shaking it lightly. He expected some socks or a new t-shirt like he got last year but pulling the wrapper off he was surprised to find a brand new phone. Doug turned to Ste who looked proud as hell. "Lukas picked it out, you said you wanted the new I phone, right?"
"Yeah but Ste this is so expensive," Ste just smiled at him while Doug stared at his gift wide eyed. He honestly hadn't meant for Ste to buy him a new phone when he had mentioned it last week.
They had been huddled close on the couch when the commercial came on and he had made a passing comment about how he had always wanted an I phone but that they were always way out of his price range.
He briefly wondered how Ste had come up with the money. They were doing well at the Deli, making a profit but they weren't made out of money. There were some months when they feared there wouldn't be enough to pay the bills but they had always made it work somehow. Maybe he had been saving money.
"I picked it out, me." Lukas chimed in when he noticed that Doug was not paying him any attention. He scooped the boy into his arms and gave him a kiss on the forehead.
"Thank you Lukas, it's just what I wanted. How did you know?"
"Daddy told me," He said giggling and jumping off the bed. He ran out of the room where his attention was drawn elsewhere. Lukas could rarely sit still for any amount of time.
Doug grabbed Leah's present next and started to open it but soon the little girl got impatient with how slow he was going and 'helped' him rip open the rest of the wrapping paper off. In it held a photo of Ste, Amy, Leah, Lukas and him and on top it said 'My Family'.
Doug stared at the photo, remembering the day they took it.
It had been a few years ago when they all went to the lake just outside Chester. It was meant to be just the two of them; Ste and Doug but Amy invited herself and the kids along after another one of her breakups claiming she needed the companionship.
Doug had been upset at first because he had wanted to spend some quality time with his boyfriend without the distraction of anyone else but it turned out to be one of the best days of his life.
He spent half the day teaching Lukas how to play American football and the other half swimming with Leah in the lake, throwing her into the water over and over again until his arms couldn't stand it anymore. He had even spent some quality time with Amy talking about life and love and the future.
It wasn't like he had never spoken to Amy before, they talked all the time because they lived in the same house but this was the first time he started to feel like part of the family and not just Ste's boyfriend. And as he watched Ste's face light up he knew that this is where he belonged.
At the end of the day Ste asked an elderly woman if she could take a picture of his family. Doug had stood off to the side watching as they all stood close, arms around eachother. It was actually Amy who walked over to him and dragged him into the picture.
And when the woman handed the camera back to Ste and commented on what a lovely family he had, Doug had never been happier.
When they got home, they must have forgotten about the photo because this was the first time he had seen it.
Seeing it framed and on display for the whole world to see made his eyes begin to water. He scooped Leah into his arms and kissed her on the top of the head, squeezing her tightly.
"I love it Leah, thank you so much."
"You're welcome Daddy," She said and he couldn't hold it in any longer. The tears fell freely and when Leah began to feel them on her face she extricated herself and ran out of the room too, leaving him and Ste alone.
Ste wiped the tears from Doug's eyes and kissed them with tenderness.
"I love you so much Doug and you are a well wonderful dad to me kids." He said with such honesty that Doug felt so proud, like a brand new father. "Don't get too happy, them kids are right monsters sometimes." Ste joked and Doug laughed because he had seen those kids misbehaving and they are a force to be reckoned with. "Oh I almost forgot…" Ste ran out of the bedroom and came back seconds later with an envelope in his hand. "…this came in the post for you."
He handed the envelope to Doug who looked it over curiously. There was no return address.
"Must be from Tex." He said, tossing it on the table beside him.
Texas and Dodger have been away for months on a trip around the world after finally admitting their love for eachother. He was actually surprised to get a card from her. He had just assumed that she'd be too loved up to think about anyone else but herself. Which was fine with him, he loved to see his friends happy.
"Yeah must be…I'm gonna go check on the kids," Ste said kissing him before leaving him in the bedroom by himself.
He propped the pillows behind him and started to dig into his now luke warm breakfast. He absolutely loved Ste's cooking. If he was honest, he had probably gained a few pounds from it but that didn't stop him from enjoying it. It was what brought them together.
He grabbed the newspaper that Ste had brought him looking over the current events.
Boring as usual.
That was a good thing though; there was a time not too long ago when Hollyoaks Village was constantly in the papers and he was now glad for a boring paper, it meant no one he loved had died today.
He remembered the last murder he read about in the paper. Lynsey Nolan. His confidant. His friend.
There had been a time in his life when he felt like he couldn't go on, like he didn't want to. After Bex's murder, he felt completely empty. It had been Lynsey who had helped him through, even though she was dealing with her own troubles. She had become such a great friend and when he felt like he had had no one to rely on she was there and equally he was there for her.
Then he met Ste, well met him properly that is. He had known who he was (Brendan's property) but had never really had a conversation with him until they both tried to get a job at College Coffee, which eventually went to Doug because of dirty tactics.
It's crazy really; they both had such a reciprocal dislike for eachother. But even with that, Doug had recognized that Ste was very attractive and even though the only look Ste generally gave him was a snare, Doug could see that he was hot. It was one of the reasons he tried to piss him off.
Ironically it wasn't until Ste got him fired from the coffee shop that Doug actually started to like Ste. At first they bonded over their mutual want to better themselves, going into business together and through that they found out that they were quite similar.
Always trying to get ahead in life only to be knocked backed by other people.
And as they bonded something inside Doug was lit. And the more he was around Ste the brighter it got, that attraction like he couldn't stay away from him. Oh and he had tried, he had tried to extinguish it, to just be his friend but there was something about Ste that called to him. Whether it was that snarky attitude or those perfect lips or his kind heart Doug just couldn't help himself. He fell in love, even before Ste had any clue.
But it was hard and he fought it with everything he had and when he saw Ste about to kiss Adam that first time at the SU bar he snapped. How Ste did not know that day, he'll never know. His jealousy was pouring out of him.
But eventually Doug told him, in not so many words that Adam didn't love him but there was someone else who did. Him.
He wished he could say that after that they were just a couple but things never came that easy for Doug. He took it all back the next day, claiming he just wanted to remain friends and the day after that Ste kissed him, changing his life forever. But even then, the two of them could not get it together and Ste let Doug go to find himself.
But eventually he did, after sleepless nights, many, many tears, the help of his friends and his last heart to heart with Lynsey; he found out that he was a man in love with another man and eventually he got his man.
He didn't know it then but that would be one of his last conversations with Lynsey because two months later she would be dead.
And it was Ste who inevitably got him through Lynsey's death. The older boy held him when he cried for his friend. He became his verbal punching bag when he was angry and he made love to him when he needed to feel connected to someone. Ste became the thing that kept him afloat day after day. He was a reason to keep breathing, to keep fighting because Doug could admit that there were times when he felt so devastated and so distraught that it took everything in him not to climb back on the edge of that bridge again and end it all.
He owed Ste a lot, for loving him, for taking care of him and although the older boy would never take credit for this, he owed him for saving his life.
Doug put the paper down, got out of bed and opened the wardrobe. In the back, buried behind all their clothes he reached into one of his old jacket pockets and pulled out a box.
He had bought what was inside the box a little over a year ago, he had seen it in a jewelry shop and thought it was absolutely perfect. It was subtle not flashy with one stone and as if it was made for Ste, it was inscribed with the words Vous m'aves sauvé.
You saved me.
Doug loved Ste. He was madly, passionately in love with Ste. What more did he want out of life. Yeah he was only twenty five and yeah he hadn't imagined at this age he would be living in domestic bliss with the man he loved, that man's best mate and their two children but it was what life had handed him.
It was what life had blessed him with, so why not make it official, make Ste his and Amy, Leah and Lukas his family. He put the box back in the pocket and walked into the kitchen to be with his family.
He was ready.