– AARON & JACKSON –

– BORN AGAIN–

"Meltdown"

This fanfic continues the next day on from It's What Counts...

...

The following morning after Aaron bravely allowed Jackson into his bed, he woke up with only his time in hospital as his past, he frowned and turned on his side; Jackson was still asleep. He began watching him.

Moments had passed until Aaron had bucked up the courage and leaned down and kissed Jackson on his forehead gently. It didn't feel familiar to him, he was okay with it; he was making new memories.

"BREAKFAST!" Paddy yelled from downstairs which woke Jackson up.

"He does that every morning!" Jackson grumbled.

Aaron laughed. "Well breakfasts important so...we better get dressed" Aaron said as he pushed back the cover and got up and walked to his wardrobe and pulled out his clothes, joggers and a t-shirt.

"I'll look away while you get sorted" Jackson told him.

"No Jackson, I trust you...I just shared a bed with you, I'm sure I can change my boxers in front of you"

Jackson nodded. "You can" he said with a smile.

...

"Where's Jackson?" Paddy asked as he popped his head out the front door and looked at Aaron sitting on the seat.

"Erm...work I think...builder?" he asked.

"Correct!" Paddy said cheerfully and walked back inside to leave him to it.

Aaron smiled to himself and caught sight of the newspaper on the table, he frowned and reached for it and unfolded it to its full length. It was like he was looking at a foreign language and he sighed and vowed to concentrate. He placed the newspaper over his knees and leaned down and concentrated on it. "L-L-" he sighed then tried again.

Adam was walking up to Smithy and smirked when he saw what Aaron was trying to do.

"L-L-Lo...Loc-" Aaron frowned as he attempted to say the word out loud. "Loca" Aaron's frustrations grew and he threw the newspaper away from him and a few sheets separated and landed on the lawn, followed by the main bulk of the paper that had survived separation. Aaron put his head in his hands quickly and rocked slightly as he tried to calm down.

"What did the paper do to you?" Adam asked?

Aaron looked up, confused. "I-uh..."

Adam shook his head slightly and began to pick up the newspaper from the lawn. "Adam, I'm your best mate...I wanted to come to the hospital after you'd come around but I didn't wanna crowd ya..."

"Ah it's alright no problem" Aaron replied. "Where do you live then?"

"Butler's farm, not too far from the village" he told him with a smile as he placed the paper on the table. "Wanna go for a walk?"

Aaron nodded and stood up. "Sure, nothing much else I can really do"

"Ahh there is, just gotta get back into it"

"Yeah like what?" Aaron asked as they walked down the village.

"The garage...mechanics and stuff"

"Chas said I work there but I can't remember"

"Ahh that's alright mate, one step at a time" he smiled.

"Oh erm...if people start coming up to me would you kind of just move us on quickly? I'm not ready for it yet" Aaron asked.

"No problem" Adam told him as they walked.

...

Aaron stopped next to Adam and looked at the building in front of him. "What is this place?"

"This is the cricket pavilion mate, you've spent a lot of time here over the years, follow me I wanna show you something" he told him before running up the few steps.

Aaron was curious and he followed close behind him. Aaron stopped beside him at some railings. "What am I meant to be seeing?" he wondered.

"This" Adam said and looked down at the engraving Aaron had made years ago. "Aaron woz ere 2003" he said with a chuckle.

Aaron smirked and ran his finger along the engraved writing.

"See mate, to us there's no doubt but we understand that you may have doubts but whenever you are having them just remember this and know that you've always been here, this is your home"

Aaron smiled and nodded. "Thanks for showing me this"

"I wouldn't be a very good mate if I didn't try to help would I?"

...

It was almost midnight and Smithy cottage was quiet and in darkness, everyone was asleep but Aaron. In his mind as he lay there staring at the ceiling flashes of images that needed to pieced together came to the forefront of his mind, he frowned it was all confusing. What were they trying to say, what were they and who were they? He hadn't told anyone but over the day the same thing had happened but not as intense as the flashes of images he was seeing now. He turned and looked at Jackson who was asleep. Aaron slowly pushed away the quilt and sat up, swung his legs out of bed, he shivered the air was cold. He wanted to get back in bed but he couldn't. He picked up his clothes and grabbed his hoody off the back off the bedroom door and opened it slowly and sneaked out. On the landing he quickly dressed as quietly as he could and then proceeded to creep down the stairs. Everything seemed louder in the silence, every quiet step, even his breath. He shook his head, he was frustrated, he needed to get out and if he woke them he wouldn't be able too. As he reached the bottom he unlocked the door, it clicked loudly and he cursed himself under his breath. He swung the door open and stepped outside quickly and shut it again but the door made a loud thud. Aaron ran down the village quickly, he could make as much noise as he wanted then and plus he needed to get away because if the door hadn't woken them something else as he'd made his exit might have.

Jackson began to stir, his arm moved to Aaron's side of the bed and once his mind was aware that there was no contact with Aaron, Jackson opened his eyes. He couldn't see his outline in the darkness and he felt the bed sheet had been pushed away on his side. Jackson jumped up, and got out of bed, he walked to the door and opened it, there was no light in the bathroom or in the kitchen, the only other place to check was the living room and surgery and he intended on checking before he had to wake Paddy and call Chas.

Aaron knew where he was going; he could see the outline of the pavilion from the light of the moon. He was running so fast, he didn't slow down at the steps and he fell up them banging his knee off the edge of the top step, he grabbed his knee and put pressure on it with both hands. He winced in pain and rocked back and forth to divert his mind away from the pain; it was safe to say it wasn't helping much but now that pain was the catalyst for the barrage of tears that fell from his eyes, because of the pain - not the physical pain he felt but the mental pain. He didn't know where he was, where his head was at, or who he was and the images he'd started to see confused him more.

"Paddy!" Jackson shouted as he ran back up the stairs. "Paddy! Aaron's gone! I tried cal- Paddy!" Jackson shouted more as he reached his bedroom door and banged on it.

"What! I'm coming, I'm coming!" Paddy replied groggily, seconds later he opened his bedroom door. "Are you trying to wake the village?"

"I don't care, Aaron's gone Paddy, I tried calling but he left his phone here, I-I rang Chas, she told me to get you up aswell, well I was going too anyway but you know what I mean"

"Alright" Paddy nodded, trying to get his head around this. "Alright, I'll put some clothes on, you start looking for him and I will too, call me if you find him"

Jackson nodded. "Yeah you too" he told him and turned around and bolted down the stairs and ran out of the front door and down the village.

...

"Aaron woz ere 2003" he scoffed. "Was I?" he asked himself. "Cause I don't remember, I mean what was Aaron like? Am I the same as him? Will I ever be? Would it be a bad thing if I was different than him, or a good thing? Who knows..." he spoke to himself as he cried.

"Aaron...is that you love?" Chas asked.

Aaron sniffled. "Come on love you've got me scared to death and it's dark..."

"Go away" he cried"

Chas started walking up the steps and shone her torch onto Aaron who was huddled in the corner leaned against the railings. "What you doing here kid?" she asked in a caring tone.

"I-I don't know..." he wiped his eyes. "It's all got too much" he told her.

"It's bound too but you pick your times don't ya" she smiled as she stepped closer and knelt down in front of him.

"Couldn't help it, I needed to get out" he told her. "The i-images..they only started earlier today...but when I got in bed they came back and I saw things and I saw people...I don't know who they are..." he swallowed hard and wiped his eyes, however that action was pointless as more fell. "I saw a man, in his forties maybe and a little boy, the man was playing with him, chasing him around the garden"

Chas instantly knew what this was and her emotions caught up with her quickly.

"And then the next I saw the boy being shouted at, and in these images it's always a man, I think it's the boy's dad..." Aaron frowned. "It seems to be anyway I'm not sure...but then a woman appeared...s-she had blonde hair..."

Chas shook her head slightly and closed her eyes.

"I think that boy was me" he had to catch his breath as he sobbed. "Are you really my mum?" he asked through tear-filled eyes.

Chas wiped away her tears and nodded. "Yes, yes Aaron I' am...our history is complicated...I didn't get to see you much when you were younger, you're dad he looked after you and he found someone else...t-the woman you saw...you hit her and your dad wasn't happy with you, you liked to get into trouble a lot...you visited but you hated me, and at one point I hated you too because I tried my best with you but it wasn't working, when you got older you moved here, you lived with Paddy and me until I left him for Carl but Paddy let you stay...we've always had a rough relationship me and you, you never let me in, you blanked me, if I tried to help, you'd shove it back in my face...maybe the reason you haven't saw me in those flashbacks is because somewhere maybe you don't want to be reminded of it all"

"Why my dad though if I haven't seen him in a while?"

Chas shrugged. "The mind is a funny thing son I can't explain it to you" she took a breath. "It was only until you came out as gay that we slowly started to be friends I suppose, some days you were still very much you but some days you'd let down your guard...this is going to sound so selfish of me" she let out a cry. "But in a way... I'm glad you can't remember things Aaron because we have a fresh start and I've got my son back and I love you, I love you so much...I always have despite leaving you as a kid and the mistakes I made"

"Why is this happening to me?"

"I don't know Aaron but you have to trust me, I'm your mum and I'm going to help you, I told you the other day, you're safe here nothing will happen, your among people who know you and who care...especially Jackson" she smiled. "He loves you with all his heart you know"

"Why?" he asked.

"Because he just does" she chuckled.

Aaron nodded. "I do trust you, the hospital wouldn't have let me go with you otherwise" he smiled a little as he cleaned himself up.

"True point that kid" she smiled.

"Think I just had a bit of a wobble" he said as he nodded his head to the side and chuckled.

Chas couldn't help but laugh; he really did make her smile. "Everyone has one every now and then"

Silence fell upon them in the darkness until Aaron spoke again. "I can count to five now, Jackson helped me" he told her quietly and the only response he heard was his mum crying.

"Oh love..." she leaned forward and hugged him tightly. "I'm so proud of you, do you know that? Now you've just got to keep going" she pulled away and nodded to him.

Aaron nodded back. "I will"

"Aaron!" Jackson yelled in relief just as he ran up the steps.

"I-I'm alright" he told him as Jackson fell to his knees and held him.

"Don't ever do that again, scared the life out of us all!"

"He's alright Jackson" Chas told him again

"I'm sorry I can't explain it, I just had to get out" Aaron explained.

"Come on we'll walk back, its freezing you'll catch your death out here" Jackson was concerned.

"Mother hen isn't he?" Aaron asked with a smile.

"Don't knock it son" she told him as she stood.

Jackson chuckled. "Yeah nothing wrong with it" he told Aaron as he got to his feet aswell.

Aaron stood when he had room to do so and he winced slightly when he straightened his leg. Jackson frowned, as did Chas. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"When I got here I was running and I ran up the steps but I fell up them and my knee hit the front of the top step, it killed" he laughed then gritted his teeth.

"We'll get some ice on it just to be sure" Jackson told him as he put his arm around him.

"You don't have to look after me you know" Aaron told him.

"I know but I want too"

Aaron looked at Jackson and smiled. "I just wanna get back in bed now"

Jackson nodded. "Me too"

While the boys chatted as they all walked back to the village, Chas called Paddy to tell him they'd found Aaron and gave clear instructions for the kettle to be boiled for a brew. She needed one.

TBC...