Aaron got to the garage early the next morning, not that there was much he could do as the police were still searching around the yard where they found the gun.

He'd hardly slept, lying on his bed writing and rewriting text messages to Jackson only to delete them all. Eventually he'd sent him a message just before midnight. Aaron was sure he could have said more but nothing he put sounded enough. In the end he'd just put…

You're right, I'm a miserable prat. Sorry x

He'd watched the phone for the next hour, willing it to light up with a message from Jackson but it never did. The longer he lay there, staring at the phone, the more his mind raced. What if Jackson had decided enough was enough and dumped him? What if he'd met someone tonight, someone who was 'out and proud' and Jackson was kissing him right now? Jackson wouldn't do that, would he? Why couldn't he just ignore Cain? Why couldn't he be normal?

Aaron put the kettle on and sat nursing a mug of tea, watching Declan's house. The minute Jackson arrived, he would be there; apologising, doing whatever he could to show him that he was sorry.

Cain arrived, obviously shocked to see Aaron there already.

"Loverboy kick you out of bed this morning?" he called to Aaron.

Aaron tensed. "I haven't seen him since last night" he snapped.

"Had a lover's tiff, have we? What's up, you step on his toes during dancing queen?"

"Shut up Cain! I didn't even go out last night if you must know. Just drop it will 'ya."

Aaron walked to the end of the drive. It was just gone nine. Jackson was normally here by 8.30am. Where was he?

eeeeeeeeeeeee

He'd been working on the Fiesta for a couple of hours. There was nothing else he could do with the police crawling all over the place. It wasn't until he went to grab a can of oil from the back of the garage that he spotted Jackson's van.

"Cain, I'm popping out for five minutes," Aaron said starting down the drive towards Declan's.

"Stop right there you! You're not going anywhere until this heap of junk is fixed and moved off the yard. Loverboy will have to wait!"

Cain glared at Aaron. It would have to wait until later else he wouldn't have a job as well as boyfriend.

Aaron made sure that he worked facing the drive from then on, desperate to even catch a glimpse of Jackson. Every noise made him look up but the builder was nowhere to be seen.

eeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Jackson was working inside the house, although the most urgent jobs were outside but he was avoiding Aaron for as long as possible. He'd managed to get a couple of hours sleep in the end, after dealing with his mum's latest crisis and going over his conversation with Joe.

He'd left Bar West and grabbed a cab home where he found his Mum waiting on the doorstep. He wasn't sure what had gone on but the last thing he needed was a house guest right now. Why was she crashing at his? She'd been staying with Aunt Polly since she got back.

All her text had said was… Need to stay at yours, spare key in the same place? You won't know I'm there, honest ;-) Mum x

The moment he stepped out of the cab she started ranting about Polly and the row they had, not stopping to draw breath until she realised that something or more specifically someone was missing.

"Where's Aaron? You've not sent him home on my account have you? You know I'm pretty open minded when It comes to you and your boyfriends."

"He's at home, tucked up in bed I would imagine. He'd had a bit of a bad day so didn't come out in the end." Jackson didn't want to go into details. He needed to work things out for himself before his Mum got involved although nothing much got past Hazel.

"So he didn't come out… on your Birthday. He decided to stay in and sulk because he had a bad day. Well, that's no way to treat your boyfriend, is it?

"Mum, don't start. Just leave it, eh?"

Hazel could see Jackson didn't want to talk about it. "Alright. You know I'm only worried about you. I know what you are like when you meet someone new. Jump straight in, heart first. You're just like me. I was exactly the same when I met your dad. He was all charming and…"

Jackson zoned out. This was the last thing he needed. Once Hazel started talking about his dad there was no going back. The buzz of his phone brought him back and he saw Aaron's name flash up on the screen.

"Mum, let's talk in the morning eh?" He pulled out the bed settee and gathered up some pillows and a duvet before heading to his bedroom to read the text.

It didn't say a lot but Jackson knew that Aaron had probably deliberated over it for quite a while. He lay on his bed, going over the events of the night. He thought about what Joe had said. He was right, it was early days and Jackson was cross with himself for thinking him and Aaron had moved on further than they had. It was early days for Aaron too. He obviously still had loads of issues to sort out.

Jackson thought about what his mum had said. 'Jump straight in, heart first' and she was right. Perhaps he needed to start worrying less about Aaron and more about protecting himself. If this ended… when it ended, Jackson knew it wouldn't be easy.