The smell of food woke him up, the first thing he noticed was that Colby was gone. Looking at his phone he saw that it was ten o'clock. getting up he slipped some pants on before heading to the kitchen. Walking in the kitchen he saw Colby sitting over at the table in a pair of skinny jeans and a plain black T-shirt eating . He approached the younger man and leaned in to give him a kiss on the lips

"Good morning,"

"morning, there's food in the microwave for you "

"thank you"

"Don't thank me your mom cooked"

"hell yeah...wait…... what!"

"boy what are you yellin for?" speak of the devil. Dominic's mother came walking into the condo with a basket of folded clothes. setting them down on the floor she walked over and hugged him close.

Angela Lynette Baker was the strongest and most beautiful woman he knew. her warm brown eyes always had a smile in them, her once brown hair was streaked with silver she may have only been five foot four but she'd always been able to put the fear of god in him and Devin. She'd worked two jobs to raise him and his sister single handedly. He never heard her complain nor did she ever make them feel neglected. She wasn't just his mother she was his father too .

"Good morning mom" She pulled back from the hug and fixed him with a look.

"Don't 'good morning mom' me the next time you leave dirty clothes at my house ,I'm beating the hell out of you .are we clear?"

" Yes ma'am"

"Good. Now eat your food before it gets cold"

Sitting down he began to dig into his meal. His mother sat down and joined them staring intently at her son before she spoke again.

"Devin told me what happened" his mother began He looked up at her hoping that he would be able to gauge her reaction, it was entirely useless he'd never been able too. Even when his father left he had never seen her looking any less than happy.

"and. . ..?"

"I'll tell you the same thing I told her. It's up to you but , I think you should at least consider it."

"Ma, he had all the time in the world to talk to us when we went to Dawn's party,OR he could have been a REAL father and helped raise us but like a coward he chose to avoid us like the plague our entire life so no, I'm not going"

"Dominic Don't be ignorant because he was. I raised you to be bigger than that."

" I think you should" Colby spoke barely above a whisper, He himself had a no so great relationship with his father who was an alcoholic and had since recovered and they were on speaking terms . He'd sat and listened to Dom talk about the very few interactions he had with his father and felt he deserved some sort of looked over at Colby slightly confused as to why he felt that way.

"What?"

"I said ,I think you should go, he owes you an explanation and you should go get it." Dominic dropped his fork and stood up.

"I think you both should mind your business"

With that Dominic stormed out of the kitchen a few moments later they heard the door to the spare bedroom slam. Angela looked over at Colby who looked heartbroken , she had a feeling from the way Victoria talked about him and the way he constantly looked after Dominic making sure he ate right and didn't overwork himself that he was in love with her son and meeting him this morning only confirmed it. She took a seat beside him and pulled him close and comforted him.

"He's been avoiding this subject for a long time, he hates to admit it but he's just as stubborn as his father. just let him calm down, It'll be fine honey" Colby nodded not entirely convinced that was the case she was his mother of course he would forgive HER , he on the other hand hadn't even been his boyfriend for a day he was disposable.

Dominic didn't know how long he sat there brooding but,it was long enough for him to feel like a world class ass. He'd caught the broken look on Colby's face when he left and it hurt like hell that he was the one that put it that wasn't bad enough his mother looked incredibly disappointed in wasn't even mad anymore and hadn't been for a while luckily he had yet to hear the front door slam so Colby hadn't left. . .yet. now all he had to do was figure out how not to look like a bigger jackass than they probably thought he was.

Finally deciding to bite the bullet Dom opened the door and walked into the livingroom where he saw his mother sitting on the couch watching a movie.

"I see you finally managed to pry your head out of your ass." she spoke without even taking her eyes off of the screen.

" sorry ma" he really felt like an asshole now.

"Don't tell me , I know how stubborn you can get"

" thanks mom I don't know what came over me"

"ALTHOUGH. . . .there IS someone in your room that deserves an apology" ok he was wrong NOW he really felt like an asshole.

"fuck" he'd meant to curse under his breath but his mother's hawk like hearing was working as good as always which earned him a pinch on the arm. "ouch!"

"I don't care if this is your house I don't wanna hear that language, now I gotta head home, he's in your room . . . fix it, you may not see it but ,I do and that man loves you don't lose him ."

" I'll fix it ma"

He saw his mother to the door in an effort to stall for time he honestly had never dealt with something like this. his last relationship had ended six years ago and although it had lasted two years. Ironically because his ex had said he was too 'cold and selfish' and couldn't deal with his heavy work deciding he'd stalled enough he opened the door and walked into his sight before him broke his heart, Colby was sitting in the middle of the bed with his head buried in his knees what broke his heart the most was the tiny sobs he'd heard from him.

Dom crawled to sit behind him his legs on either side of him. He pulled him close completely forgetting about his 'I'm sorry' in his ear as he attempted to calm him down. He realized the second he walked out of the kitchen that he made a stupid mistake. They had briefly talked about past relationships and Colby had very briefly told him about his ex's anger issues and his dad's former need to get drunk and take his anger out on his kids which left Colby scarred and his anger at seeing his father probably didn't help.

"are you mad at me?" he barely heard Colby's voice.

" No baby I'm not mad at you. And I shouldn't have let my feelings towards him get me so worked up" Colby lifted his head and moved around so that he was straddling Dominic's legs. He took the older man's hands in his and laced their fingers together.

"Maybe if you talk to him it'll get that weight off of your as much as you like to pretend you've moved past what your father did, the way you reacted out there proved that you're not"

"no it won't, I know WHY he left I just don't want to hear him say what I already know. "

"and what's that?" Dominic looked away his eyes looking anywhere but at Colby.

"...me"

Colby's heart broke for his lover he untangled their fingers and grabbed Dominic's face in his hands forcing the older man to meet his eyes.

"Listen to me,it is not your fault that your father was a coward. You have NOTHING to be ashamed of ok,you are an amazing man with a wonderful mother an amazing sister and great friends who would kill for you and if he can't handle having a gay son then fuck him .Not being in your life is his loss not yours." Dominic pulled Colby closer and planted a soft kiss on his lips before pulling away.

"you forgot one thing"

"what's that?"

"I also have a fantastic boyfriend who despite my knack for being an asshole and flipping out on him for no reason still finds the time to make me feel better….Thank you." Colby pressed their foreheads together and smiled.

"I know" Colby replied his smile wider causing Dominic smiled back at him

Another Chapter in the books. The next Chapter fasts foward to Dominic's return and IS the begining of the end to this love story well,the first part at least. I'm working on a Prequel (Based on how he met AJ and his Relationship with Victoria) AND a Sequel.Please read and review Constructive criticism and reviews are always welcome.

**Author's note: I know this is still slightly vague but, It will all be explained in the sequel (*spoiler alert NO his father isn't homophobic) and I hope that you aren't too pissed that you just essentially red the same thing twice.