Author's Notes: Sorry this is a week late! Life...yeah, just yeah. There will be two more chapters after this and then a sequel will be started once I'm done school.

If you read this please take the time to leave a review. It's been a bad week and this one isn't looking to be much better and feedback always cheers me up!

Chapter 16

Finley disliked taking buses and subways. Buses were worse because they gave him motion sickness on top of being smelly, crowded and always either too hot or too cold. The subway wasn't bad, he didn't feel sick on it at least, but he didn't enjoy it either.

He had woken up alone, which he didn't enjoy much either, not anymore at least, and the faint trace of a headache tingling at his temple. Advil, food and a smoke had chased it off but he still felt a bit wonky. Alexander was in New York for just over two weeks visiting his brother, whose youngest child was being christened. Finley had been invited but he hadn't wanted to miss his therapy sessions, upped to two a month. He'd be missing quite a few soon as it was.

Still, there was a message from Alexander on his machine. A very muddled Alexander saying something about delays and cancellations and he had found another flight but he would be late and that was the last fucking time he attended a christening and his brother, goddamn it, could just stop having children, three was enough click.

Second message. He was home, by the way, he'd call in the morning, later in the day, whatever.

The orange plastic of the train seats indicated its age. The newer ones were red and were a fabric of some sort. Finley briefly wondered why they replaced them with fabric when it was harder to clean and gave his seat up to an older women balancing too many shopping bags. He stood next to the door.

A small black fluffy dog chased an empty water bottle passed him, yapping. Finley blinked and shook his head.

It walked back with its bounty, tail sticking straight upright then dropping at the end with the weight of its fur.

Finley's eyes followed it back to its owner. The scruffy looking man held another little puff ball dog, this one a brown-orange colour, and had four pudgy puppies in a duffle bag on the next seat. A cream coloured puff dog stayed on the floor beside the seat, licking a purple-coated woman's hand.

The puppies were bigger than the little adult dogs, making Finley wonder at their parentage. They wriggled in the duffle bag, two cream heads poking out one side, a orange-black face peaking out against a black strap and a brown fuzzy body managing to squirm out of its green fabric confinement.

The scruffy man picked it up and put it into his shirt, the furry face sticking out of his collar, pink tongue visible for a moment before it renewed its escape attempts. Finley had the sudden impulse to ask if they were for sale.

Then he remembered he hated little dogs. Hated the yapping, and the scraping of their nails on the floor and their breath and the time they consumed. He was actually more of a cat person but if he had been interested in buying a dog, and he wasn't, he would've wanted a larger one though he didn't think that would work too well in his apartment.

The doors chimed his stop and he got off, walking the few blocks to Alexander's house instead of transferring to a bus. He let himself in.

The house was quiet, jarred by a clatter as Finley tossed his keys on the table in the front hall and locked the front door behind him. Alexander was upstairs sleeping, not surprising given the hour he had gotten in at.

Alexander was laying on his stomach, one foot and calf sticking out from under the plain comforter. His dark hair tumbled over his bristled face and his visible bare shoulders moved shallowly as he breathed. He was snoring slightly. Finley hesitated in the bedroom door but only for a moment. The man lying tangled in the sheets was too tempting.

Alexander made a garbled noise as Finley crawled in beside him, shedding his boxers as he went. Alexander hogged the covers but he liked to snuggle so much it hardly mattered. He always ended up curled around Finley somehow, bringing the covers with him.

He rolled over, flung an arm out and tried to pull him close as Finley settled beside him. Tiny frown lines appeared between his eyes until Finley had shuffled closer and settled next to him, close enough that Alexander could nuzzle his cheek against Finley's shoulder blades.

Then Alexander relaxed and began to make the snuffling snoring sounds that told Finley he had a cold. Finley's lips curled upwards and he turned in the loose embrace, freeing a hand, touching his lover's face gently. Alexander slept on. Finley sighed, closed his eyes, and joined him.

He woke again to the smell of coffee, the warmth of a hand splayed out over the worst scars on his back, and the huff of Alexander's breathing against his arm, which was stretched above his head. Alexander knew he was awake almost before Finley did and stretched to drop a kiss into his palm.

"Morning," Alexander greeted.

Finley rolled onto his back and Alexander's hand slid over his body onto his stomach. Finley's head flopped to the side and he opened his eyes to look at his lover. "It is still?"

"Don't know," Alexander smiled, propped himself up on his elbows and leaned down to kiss Finley. He tasted like coffee and, faintly, toothpaste.

Alexander grinned at Finley and shifted, the soft skin of his thigh sliding into place against his, the hand on his stomach creeping lower. Finley quirked an eyebrow at him and shivered.

"I woke up curled around you for the first time in too long. I don't give a flying fuck what time it is," Alexander said cheerfully, hair falling about his face.

Finley reared up and kissed him. Words became unnecessary.

Sometimes Finley wondered at himself, sitting nearly naked in Alexander's house as he did. Alexander was making breakfast, it was past lunch but he was making breakfast in the nude.

Alexander was naked whenever he could get away with it, a quirk that had been subdued as they slowly grew accustomed to each other again. Finley, now, occasionally, did too. With Alex only. And the doors locked and never quite completely naked. But Finley wondered at sitting around in his underwear and a t-shirt, even, because at one point not so long ago he could hardly stand being naked to bathe.

He looked up as Alexander put a plate down in front of him and smiled. "I'll never eat this much, you know."

"I know," Alexander smiled; dumping what Finley thought was far too much maple syrup on his blueberry pancakes. The artificial crap. Finley put a smaller amount of real maple syrup on his own pancakes.

Alexander chuckled around a mouthful. "Elitist."

Finley sniffed. "That stuff is horrible."

"It's sweeter," Alexander replied.

"It's fake," Finley countered. "So, how was it?"

"The baby screamed bloody murder the entire time," Alexander told him. "Danny looked embarrassed by it, he'd gone on and on about how good this one was, never cried like his sisters, never kept them up all night long and, really, that was the only time I saw the kid do more than sniffle the entire trip."

Finley laughed and Alexander smiled at him. "Danny says he was sorry you couldn't come and that he looks forward to meeting us when we stop by after Christmas."

Finley smiled thinly. Alexander nudged his knee under the table and Finley met his eyes. "He'll like you, don't worry. Izzie is the only person in the family that's so paranoid."

"Does she still call me a gold digger?" Finley asked. Alexander sighed and nodded. "Why? Why is she like that?"

Alexander shrugged. "She had some bad experiences through high school with friends who weren't really friends and... I don't know. She doesn't trust people easily anymore and it's worse because you don't have a career or something. That's her problem though, not yours, Fin. It's... Danny and I both had some idea where we were going in life, what we wanted, she never did and still doesn't. She's off to learn French this month, next month it will be something else and she doesn't know how to deal with that in herself so when she sees it in other people..."

"She has a problem with Annie too because Annie doesn't work. Annie doesn't need to work and doesn't want to. She does a lot of volunteer work but she likes travelling with Eve and being able to pick up and go when she wants. She makes that work for herself, Izzie can't, she said it makes her feel guilty," Alexander sighed. "If you were anyone with less money than our parents have she would not trust you but she's even worse because she sees part of you that she doesn't like in herself."

Finley snorted, "It isn't like I would like to be able to hold even a fucking minimum wage job..."

"I know, Fin," Alexander said. "I'm not justifying what she does. I can't and I wouldn't if I could. That's how she justifies it to herself but Danny isn't like Izzie. He likes most people he meets outside of a work environment. He's not going to dislike you on the same basis that Izzie does. He's more like my mother."

Finley shrugged, toying with the left over pancake and a half that he had known from the start he wouldn't manage to eat. "I've gotten used to it, people thinking I'm lazy or whatever because I don't work. It's too much of a bother to explain everything and even then it won't always shake their perceptions."

Alexander frowned at the acceptance in Finley's voice. "That...should bother you more."

"It used to," Finley replied, smiling sadly. "Gets tiring. The people who are worth it understand eventually even if they don't at first. I'm just lucky that I do have people who love me and are there to take care of me when I...can't."

Alexander reached over the table and put his hand on Finley's. Finley's smile brightened slightly, looking at him and he squeezed back.

"Relax, it's only my uncle," Finley told Alexander as they stood waiting for Alexander's bag.

"Your uncle is more intimidating than Ben," Alexander replied, smiling as he felt Finley fingers curl around his. "I hope they didn't lose my luggage. Air lines always manage to lose my luggage."

Finley smiled, leaning against him slightly as they waited. Most of the luggage had already been claimed, there were just a few forlorn pieces circling. Not Alexander's but someone had just come by and said there were a few more pieces that were being unloaded. A truck had been caught briefly in a snow bank.

Finley was tired. He took a mild sedative to fly, travelling, especially flying, could do wonky things to him. He was still a bit wonky from it, would be for a few more hours, but it was a low doze and he was coherent. The pills he used to have to take would hit him so hard he needed help to stand.

"Thank God, there it is." Alexander moved away from Finley for a second to haul his battered black suitcase from the belt. He knew for sure it was his from the daisy Annie had stitched onto it when he wasn't paying attention so he would always be able to find it.

"How many times have you lost your suitcase?" Finley asked, grinning, leaning into Alexander again.

"I never lose it. The airlines always manage to," Alexander grumbled, he kept one hand around Finley's waist, pulling his suitcase behind him with the other. It was odd, walking like that but Finley was half asleep again and it made him feel safer being close to someone when he was so out of it.

"Hmm," Finley replied.

Alexander smiled and kissed his forehead. "Come on; let's go get this over with."

"He'll like you," Finley told Alexander as he let go of him to hand the customer's women their custom's card and were waved through. "Don't worry so much..."

"Finley!"

"Uncle!"

Alexander recognized him from the pictures Finley had of him, of their family. Irving was a tall man and stood with a posture that showed off his inborn grace before he even moved. He had dark hair, like Finley, though grey streaked his temples. His eyes were a stormy grey, like rain clouds over water where Finley's were smoky grey. Irving's features were softer than Finley's sharp features, chiselled but without the hint of the same past sufferings.

Finley was enfolded in a tight embrace as soon as he got within an arm's length of Irving; nabbed and held tightly by the man who never stopped worrying about him. And Finley relaxed completely, like he did with Ben, like he was starting to half do with Alexander, because this man would never let anything hurt him.

"Was the flight okay?" Irving asked, ignoring the boyfriend momentarily. Finley came first as much as his own children did.

"Fine," Finley told him. "Slept for most of it."

"You look half asleep now, Fin," Irving said, a chuckle in his deep voice.

"Yeah, still a bit that way, I need a smoke," Finley murmured before pulling out of his uncle's arms and finding Alexander's hand. "Uncle, this is Alex; Alex my Uncle."

Irving extended a hand for Alexander's free one; his arm had slipped around Finley's waist again. "Irving."

"I'm glad to meet you," Alexander said honestly. Finley was getting heavier against him; Irving glanced at him, his face soft. A more thorough introduction would have to wait.

"Come on, let's get him home. I'm getting too old to be carrying him up to bed."

Alexander woke up before Finley the next day. Finley was sleeping with unusual heaviness. Drugs outside his normal regime did that to him. He had a prescription for sleeping pills but hated taking them, wouldn't take them if at all possible. The sedatives he could take with his other medications really knocked him on his ass.

The car ride to Irving's home was interesting. He had directed Alexander and Finley into the back of the car, a good idea as Finley promptly dozed off against Alexander. They hadn't spoken much. Alexander wasn't sure what to think of Irving, except to know that his initial reaction was to like the man, and didn't think Irving knew entirely what to think of him, except to know he was a possible source of love or hurt for Finley, the latter making him uneasy.

Alexander knew, as well, that part of him recognized Irving from the past but knew that Irving didn't remember. Irving just was. He was too much of his past self to recognize the difference between them.

They would have to wait and see where to go from there.

Finley stirred against him as Alexander's hands traced lazy stroke on his back. Alexander knew the moment he actually came awake, felt the constant tenseness steal back over his lover's body. Finley didn't move a moment, then blinked, turned to look at Alexander and smiled hazily.

"I'm guessing he doesn't hate you too much if he let us sleep in the same bed," Finley commented. "See, I told you there was nothing to worry about."

Alexander chuckled, rubbed his fingers gently against Finley's neck. "How are you feeling?"

"Groggy," Finley admitted, sitting up beside him and scrubbing a hand over his forehead. He sat still a moment, frowning faintly. "I need to brush my teeth."

Alexander chuckled, his hand on the small of Finley's back. Finley felt his lips twitch into a smile. "My cousins will be here soon. We'd know if they were here already."

"Are they really that bad?" Alexander asked.

"Think of Thiri," Finley instructed. "Now think of her times four."

"Where's Chirion?"

"Chuck me that..."

"No throwing things, either of you."

"It's just a pillow, pops, calm down."

"And there's a vase of your great-grandmother's behind you. No throwing things."

"When do we get to open tonight's present?"

"Chirion isn't here yet."

"He's always late though!"

"Stop whining."

"Bite me, big shot."

"Enough. If you don't start acting your age instead of your shoe size I'll send you both to your..."

"CHIRION!"

"Where've ya been, Chirion? Thiri was getting impatient."

"Like you weren't, Roo!"

"You are an hour late, Charlie."

"Charlie? You feeling alright, El?"

Alexander stayed where he was through the scuffles and flurry of Roth children stampeding to the front door and the clamour of laughing voices that raised in the fuzz.

"Chirion?" Alexander asked.

"Charles," Finley told him. "Thiri has always called him Chirion and it just stuck. I don't understand why it just is."

Alexander smiled and shook his head. The Roth's were a mixed bunch of nuts that was for sure.

Charles "Chirion" Roth was a solid man, broader than Irving if just slightly (slightly what?) than Ben. He was light where all his siblings were dark with dusky blonde hair and bright brown eyes bordering on amber, a booming laugh and a ready smile. The look he gave Alexander was the same he had received upon meeting every male member of the family; cautious welcome and a warning. He was very glad they didn't know his earlier history with Finley; he would have been thrashed within an inch of his life.

All this was conveyed through a moment of a look over Finley's shoulder as Charles gave him a surprisingly gentle hug. They were big on hugs, this family, even Elijah, the eldest brother, who didn't know what to make of his younger siblings half the time.

"I," he announced, "have arranged a surprise for you, Fin."

Finley looked at him quizzically and Irving raised an eyebrow at him. Charles motioned for everyone to stay and returned the eyebrow with a cheeky grin before leaving. A door opened down the hall and there was a low murmur of voices and rustling in the hall, disturbed by Arthur plopping down beside his sister.

"So who is this Evan I've been hearing about?" Arthur asked, flopping gracefully onto the couch without so much as sloshing his beer in the slightest.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Teresa replied, flipping through her magazine and not looking at her brother.

"Of course not, I'm assuming you had a good time then," Arthur continued.

"You can assume anything you'd like," Teresa commented with a hint of a smile.

"And will we be seeing more of this man?" Arthur asked.

"Cowboys are a lot of fun..." Teresa looked up, stuck her tongue out and whacked him with the magazine. Arthur managed to stabilize the beer.

"I guess those horse riding lessons were actually worth something," Elijah tossed in.

Teresa smirked at him. "Who said anything about a horse?"

"Ahem," Charles cleared his throat to regain their attention and save Elijah's face from going purple. "Merry early Christmas, Fin."

"Christ, Chirion, you're as overly dramatic as the rest of them!" Ben declared as he stepping into view, grinning. "Hello, uncle, Merry Christmas."

His eyes were on Finley as he said it, trying to be polite and not succeeding further than that as Finley rose. Instead he strode across the room and met him halfway, wrapping him in a hug. The cousins had enough restraint to let Finley step away before mobbing his brother, talking over each other, even Elijah, at him. Irving gave him half a second to breathe before following with his own hard hug.

"I thought you were going to be out of state over Christmas?" Irving said.

Ben sat beside Finley, stopped himself from curling an arm around his brother because Alexander already had one there. He was still getting used to that.

"There was a problem with about half of the recruits that were supposed to arrive. They've run into a heap of discipline trouble and they don't want to send them on this training exercise before the hearing is done," Ben shrugged. "It's too great a number not to thoroughly check out their rest of them so the exercise has been postponed. I managed to scramble and get leave."

"For how long?" Arthur asked, tilting his head back. He had forsaken the couch seat beside his sister to sit on the floor, leaning against Ben's legs.

"Four days. I leave on Boxing Day," Ben told him.

"Good enough," Arthur grinned. He left the day after Boxing Day. He was spending New Years in Toronto and then heading to Argentina with the CBC.

Irving leaned against the doorway a moment, a slight smile on his face as Teresa and Charles playfully riled Elijah who still had a bit of trouble realizing they were teasing, and Ben's hand dropped to Arthur's shoulder, Finley wedged between him and Alexander, leaning his head against his shoulder and smiling. Elijah's wife and two children were meeting them at the church, they knew he had only come to meet Alexander with his brothers first, just in case.

Irving felt a familiar pang in his chest because his lovely, wonderful, crazy wife wasn't there to slip her arms around her waist as she hadn't been the past seven years. It hurt still but a little less, looking at his family.

"Don't get comfortable," he warned, smiling. "We'll be late, again, and we're too large a group to sneak in after the service has started."

There was a collective groan from his children and Irving spotted Alexander's bemused smile. He could accept this one, he thought. "Up, let's go. Remember your hats and mitts! I'm not driving anyone to the hospital on Christmas Eve because they've got frost bite!"

"Do you get the feeling," Finley asked, "that Ben knows we aren't telling him something?"

"No," Alexander answered honestly. "Why?"

Finley shrugged, raising the cigarette to his lips and taking a long drag before answering, "I think we should tell him about everything."

Alexander raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"No but…" Finley sighed, "I want to tell him."

Alexander said nothing, for a moment, just looked at him. They were alone, standing outside the church in the cold night air so Finley could have a smoke before going inside. Alexander hadn't been inside a church in a long time, and never an Anglican one, but going to the carol sing on Christmas Eve was a tradition.

"Do you think he'll believe us?" Alexander asked.

Finley shrugged, inhaling deeply and shivering in the cold. He flicked some ash into the snow. "I think a part of him will."

"Boromir," Alexander sighed. He remembered that, thinking about it made a part of him ache. "Is this for him or you or neither?"

"Bit of all three, really," Finley replied. "Faramir wants this, and really fucking badly, but they did meet again, after Faramir died. It's different though, doing it in life. But I think Ben needs to know and I think I need to tell him. It's important he understands, especially where it changes me and he will notice that. I'd bet he does by tomorrow night."

"He's your brother," Alexander told him. "And you know more than I do."

Finley smiled slightly, finished the cigarette in another long drag. He flicked the butt away into the snow. "I'll talk to him tonight, I think."

Alexander's arm found his waist. "We'll talk to him."

"Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Finley bent over his brother. Alexander spared a hand to grab his wrist, stroking the inside, absently finding his pulse while keeping Ben's unconscious form from the floor.

"Calm down, Fin, it's okay, his pulse is strong," Alexander told him levelly. "Go get..."

A moan interrupted them and Ben made himself sit up, wincing and pressing his knuckles against his temples. "Christ, Fin, don't fucking do that again, okay? Fucking hurts..."

Finley stared at him and then Ben grabbed him and held him close. His fingers tangled in Finley's hair and he let half a sob, half a laugh escape. Alexander stepped back. It wasn't Ben and Finley reacting to each other any more.

After church Teresa and Arthur had gone out, a bag of clinking bottles slung over Terera's shoulders. It was another tradition, Alexander had been told, as was Charles dragging them home in a cab around dawn. Elijah had taken his family home and Irving was on the phone to his late wife's brother. They had taken the opportunity to talk to Ben.

Ben had looked skeptical until Finley had mentioned the name Boromir. At that he had given a low groan and gone boneless. Alexander had managed to catch him, ending up on the floor himself but at least with some semblance of control and acting as a cushion.

Alexander knew, felt, viewing the reunion he saw in front of him now, watching Ben hold Finley tightly to him, seeing him pull back and look as Finley tearfully, that Boromir had come home to his little brother at last.

It was the younger who seemed strong then, who bent the elder's head and pressed a kiss of blessing or forgiveness but most assuredly love to his brow.

Then they pulled apart, slightly, and Ben hugged Finley to him, felt him shiver and closed his eyes exhaling slowly. They let go eventually and Ben began rubbing at his temples again.

"Christ, fuck, I'm going to have a headache for days," Ben complained. "Warn a guy next time, will you?"

"What, exactly, happened?" Alexander asked.

"A lord of Gondor decided to return rather fucking abruptly," Boromir told him. "Fuck, really abruptly, fucking blunt bastard. I remember everything and that much of a download all at once isn't pleasant. I hope yours was kinder."

Finley laughed and if it edged on relieved hysteria no one said anything. "Faramir was pretty gentle with me, considering. Alex doesn't remember everything, just bits and pieces."

Ben turned, looked at him and, again, Alexander felt that it wasn't Ben he was seeing anymore. "Do you recall me?"

Alexander felt some part of himself that wasn't him respond. "I do."

Grey eyes regarded him with gladness and a hand touched the back of his neck, drawing their foreheads together as Captain came back to King. It had not only been Fin...Faramir and Boromir who had needed their reunion.

"I told you I would follow you, my brother," he said hoarsely and Alexander moved forward, hugging him hard, closing his eyes to see the scene that had been tickling at the back of his mind play out.

Ben let go first, wiped at a stray tear and laughed once because he didn't know what else to do saying, at great length, "I think we all need to have a drink."

"Lie down; you'll sleep better if you aren't so tense," Alexander instructed, putting his hands flat on Finley's back when he did lay down then beginning to knead firmly. "It went better than I thought with Ben."

"Yeah," Finley replied, closing his eyes and concentrating on the feel of Alexander's hands soothing away some of the tension he always carried. "We owe Boromir for that."

Alexander snorted. He kept massaging Finley's back, feeling the knots ease beneath his hands, feeling the scar tissue that never would too. Alexander loved Finley, even his scars, but he would take them away if he could because Finley hated them.

They could...lessen them maybe, with surgery but Finley wouldn't agree to that, not even to get rid of the scars. And, really, it wasn't a good idea for him to have any unneeded surgery; there were more risks for him.

Finley had relaxed some and Alexander stopped, keeping one hand flat on the small of his back, looking at his smooth skin against the cross patch of scars for a moment. "Finley?"

"Hmm?" Finley murmured sleepily. "Alex?"

Alexander got off the bed and went to his bag, looking through it for a moment and pulling out an envelope. Finley roused a little, propping himself up on an elbow and watching him. Alexander smiled.

"I didn't want to give you this tomorrow," Alexander explained, "in case you don't think you can but I want you to know I'd like to give this to you."

Finley looked at him oddly. "You're not going to give me a ring are you?"

Alexander laughed and shook his head. "No, no ring. It's just a print out, an itinerary, sort of. I haven't bought the tickets yet but..."

Finley had opened the envelope and unfolded the sheet of paper inside, looking at it dazedly. "Greece?"

"I thought we could end there," Alexander offered. "Or begin, if you'd prefer."

"Alex..." Finley stopped, unsure of what to say.

"If you don't think it's something you can do, I can wait," Alexander told him, he slipped back onto the bed, his arm went across Finley's back and he let his face fall close to his. "And don't say it's too much. I want to see these places again with you."

"Alex," Finley looked at him, moved forward and kissed him slowly. "I...Thank you. Yes, I want this."

Seadragon68: Glad you like it so much! The person I know, Lewie, actually bites people and she does a range of other wacky things as well! Poor Evan is in good hands, even if he doesn't know it yet. Thiri does know how to ride and more than horses!
Alex and Fin...yeah, they're going to be okay I think!

Earendil Eldar: Heh, well, I had to put my home in there somewhere right? Even if I don't live in Nova Scotia...Yes, Alex and Fin are really going to be okay, they worried me for awhile there.

Elenhin: Well, there will likely be a scene in the sequel demonstrating this more but Fin's extended family really took the time to get him at ease with them again, especially Roo, aka Arthur. Thiri hasn't dragged Evan anywhere...yet! Well, it isn't only the biting...

Updates on characters:

Irving Roth Prince Imrahil of Dol Amroth

Elijah "El" Roth Elphir

Charles "Chirion" Roth Erchirion

Arthur "Roo" Roth Amrothos

Teresa "Thiri" Roth Lothiriel