Prodigal Son – Chapter 4

-O-

DISCLAIMER: I am not connected to Emmerdale and its characters, which belong to ITV.

-O-

Jackson was enjoying a well-earned day off and had decided to chill out in front of daytime TV as the weather was inclement. A knock at the door interrupted his 'me time' and he answered it to find Hazel on the doorstep, holding up an umbrella to shield her from the rain.

"It's raining cats and dogs out here," she said as Jackson stood aside to allow his mother entrance into the dry and warm.

"To think I left sunny Spain to come back to this," Hazel continued after sitting herself down, "What was I thinking?"

"Don't tell me you want to go back already!" Jackson rolled his eyes.

"Not to live, but I'm booked on a flight tomorrow. Rafael has asked me to go and join the family to scatter Carlos' ashes, plus I need to sign some final documents for the sale of the villa."

"How long will you be gone?" Jackson asked with a worried expression.

"It's alright, it's only for a few days, I'll be back to see you tie the knot with Aaron, though why you're going to all this bother and expense when you're already married beats me."

"You're as bad as he is," Jackson signed, "Aaron reckons our 'civil partnership' is good enough."

"He has got a point, hasn't he?" Hazel looked her son in the eye.

"I want to be married in the traditional sense," Jackson was not going to be deterred, "I never thought I would be able to get married when I realised I was gay, but now the law has been passed to allow same-sex weddings, I want to take advantage of it...especially as I've found someone like Aaron. We want to spend the rest of our lives together and show the world what we mean to each other, even if Aaron does think of it as just another piece of paper."

"Not the most romantic of souls, is he?" Hazel observed.

"You'd be surprised," Jackson replied, "he went down on one knee to propose!"

"Aaron did?" Hazel laughed, "I wish I'd been a fly on the wall for that!"

"He surprises me sometimes, Mum, that's one of the things I love about him."

"Well, I must admit, contrary to my initial impressions he does seem to have grown up and become reliable and responsible. I hope you'll be very happy, son."

"Thanks, Mum, I'm sure we will be."

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Jackson had finally persuaded Aaron to go for a night out with Eden. As a sweetener, he had invited Adam along too, so that his husband would have someone to talk to other than his kid brother. He hoped that he could get the brothers talking again, although he wasn't sure if the language would be repeatable in polite company.

Aaron was not looking forward to this night out. Because he had been talked into it by Jackson, aided and abetted by Chas, he wore a scowl as he buttoned up his shirt.

Jackson noticed his husband's expression and smiled, "Lend me your face to haunt a house with, would you?"

"Oh, ha bloody ha!" Aaron's scowl turned to a grimace, "Do we have to spend an evening with the toe-rag?"

"That's no way to talk about Adam," Jackson chuckled.

"You know who I'm talking about...my 'cute' little brother."

"Cute?" Jackson laughed out loud, "Where did that come from?"

"Well, HE thinks he is. Anyway, maybe he'll meet someone at Bar West and go off with them. He'll probably cop off in no time, being a complete tart!"

"Oh Aaron," Jackson raised his eyebrows, "You'd better not let your mother hear you saying that."

"She knows how I feel," Aaron replied, "I've never made any secret of the fact that I don't like him."

"I suppose I should be grateful that you agreed to come tonight, even if I did have to enlist Adam's help to drag you out."

"Adam's my real brother. Well, my brother from another mother!"

"Anyway, we'd better get going before you have a chance to back out."

Later at Bar West, Aaron, Jackson, Adam and Eden were sharing a table. They were chatting and having a surprisingly good time although Aaron, in the main, was 'blanking' Eden. It amused Aaron to notice that Adam was eying up a blonde girl in the club, who also seemed to be paying Adam a lot of attention. It didn't take long for Adam to excuse himself and start chatting the girl up and it was no surprise when he came back to the table to tell them that he had 'pulled' and that he was leaving. Adam seemed amazed that he had picked up a gorgeous girl in a gay bar.

Once Adam had gone, the three remaining lads chatted together.

"Listen guys," Eden seemed a bit tipsy, "I know you don't trust me and I completely understand that, but I am serious about mending my ways. I paid that loan shark off, so I don't need to steal anymore to get hold of cash...that's all finished. If you give me a chance, in time I'll prove to you that I can be trusted. All I'm looking for is a break, even if I don't deserve it."

Aaron was still not in a mood to give an inch as far as Eden was concerned and he was even less cheerful now that his best mate had left, "You're right, you don't deserve a break...except maybe a broken neck!"

Jackson was getting a little tired of Aaron's constant barrage of insults towards Eden, "Come on, babe, let's just enjoy our drinks."

Aaron looked at Jackson, "You're drinking but you shouldn't be...you're driving."

"I'm only having soft drinks," Jackson defended himself, "Are you going to start having a go at me now?"

Eden looked uncomfortable, he felt that he was a cause of friction between Aaron and Jackson and he spoke again, "Look guys, I appreciate you inviting me out, but it's not working, is it? Maybe we should just call it a night." He stood up in preparation to leave, but Jackson stopped him.

"Hold on," Jackson did not want Eden wandering off alone, he felt that Chas would not be best pleased if they lost him, "We'll give you a lift home."

"No, you're alright," Eden replied.

"I insist!" Jackson would not take no for an answer.

"OK then," Eden was thankful for the offer, "But I need the little boy's room first."

"We'll wait for you outside," Jackson said as he and Aaron headed for the exit.

Aaron and Jackson waited for a few minutes at the entrance to Bar West but Eden was taking his time.

"Where's he got to?" Jackson kept looking back into the bar to see if he could spot Eden.

"He's probably still in the bogs," Aaron sneered, "Selling his arse to every bloke that comes in, the dirty little whore!"

"AARON!" Jackson was sometimes shocked at his husband's turn of phrase.

"Well, that's what he's like," Aaron tried to defend his statement.

"Look, I need to get some cash out," Jackson turned to leave Aaron, "I'll use that ATM down the road. You stay here and wait for your brother."

"If I had my way, we'd just leave him here," Aaron said, but his husband was already out of earshot. He kept looking at the entrance doors, hoping that Eden would appear. People came and went, but there was still no sign of his brother. Then, just after a well-built, handsome, dark-haired guy exited the club, Eden came rushing out behind him.

Eden saw Aaron waiting for him and stood next to him, still with his eyes still trained on the muscular hunk, who stood on the pavement further along the road, presumably waiting for a taxi.

"Have you seen the thighs on that?" Eden jerked his head towards the handsome hunk, "Like tree trunks! Must be a rugby player, he could crack walnuts with those...he could bust my nuts any time he liked...phwoar!"

"You're a dirty sod!" Aaron was not impressed, "It's a wonder you haven't caught some sort of fatal disease by now."

Aaron walked out into the road, but stopped half way to call Eden, "Come on! Get a move on!"

The next few moments happened in a blur. Eden was approaching and suddenly cried "AARON! Look out!" before pushing Aaron forcefully and he fell back onto the pavement on the other side of the road. Aaron was aware of the screeching of tyres and the squealing of brakes as he watched the scene unfolding before him, almost in slow motion. Eden bounced off the bonnet of a black BMW car, flew into the air and landed with a sickening thud on the tarmac. The BMW, and a silver Mercedes which seemed to be racing it, sped off without stopping. Jackson heard the commotion, he had just collected his money and card from the cash machine and he ran to where a shocked Aaron was sprawled on the ground.

"Are you OK?" Jackson helped Aaron to his feet. Aaron winced a bit as he put out his hand to steady himself.

"My wrist hurts," Aaron said, but he was more concerned about Eden, who was lying motionless on the road. A small crowd was gathering and the muscular guy, who had previously been the source of eye-candy for Eden, suddenly appeared and crouched down to Aaron's brother. Aaron and Jackson approached and Aaron called out "Eden!" as he looked at his brother's prone body.

The well-built man looked up, "Are you with him?"

"Yes," Aaron replied and looked at the man quizzically.

"It's OK, I'm a fireman," the man said, "I'm trained in first aid. Call an ambulance...I'll do what I can. What's his name again?"

"Eden," Aaron confirmed.

"Eden...can you hear me?" the man proceeded to give Aaron's brother CPR.

Aaron was shaking violently, so Jackson pulled out his mobile to call the emergency services. The evening had suddenly taken a very unwelcome turn.

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Aaron's head was once more in turmoil as he sat in the hospital visitors' waiting area with Jackson. They had called Chas and she was making her way to the hospital with Paddy in his car. Aaron was blaming himself for Eden's accident, even though it was not his fault. Jackson had tried to reason with him but, in typical Aaron fashion, he would not listen. As far as he was concerned, he had pushed Eden away and wished all sorts of ills on him and now his brother was lying in intensive care with major head injuries and a broken leg. Aaron was convinced that Chas would blame him for Eden's plight. He felt that a big brother was supposed to protect his younger sibling. It was made worse, in his mind, by the fact that Eden had actually saved him from severe injury or even death. He had a sprained wrist but that was nothing compared to the state that Eden was in.

Aaron rose to his feet when he saw Chas and Paddy approaching, "I'm so sorry, Mum!" he said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Chas embraced him, "You've got nothing to be sorry for, Jackson told me over the phone what happened, it was an accident."

"Yeah," Aaron gulped, "but if I hadn't stopped in the road to call after him, he wouldn't have got knocked down."

Chas put her hands on either side of Aaron's face, "It wasn't your fault, it's not like you ran into him yourself...on purpose!"

"I know," Aaron continued, "But I wished him bad things, Mum...and now look what's happened...he might die!"

"Stop it!" Paddy interjected, "You don't know that, he might be perfectly OK once they've cleaned him up. Stop thinking the worst."

Just then, a young, fair-haired doctor appeared and approached the party.

"How is he?" Aaron was the first to enquire.

"We've stabilised his internal bleeding, but his head injury is the most critical factor."

"He will recover won't he?" Chas asked.

The doctor took a deep breath, "It's difficult to say at this stage. We've done all we can for the moment, but now it's up to Eden. He's in a coma at present and we won't really know any more until he wakes up. He could make a full recovery, or he could possibly be brain damaged."

"Oh God!" Chas exclaimed and sank down onto a seat in shock.

Aaron's face had turned ashen: even Jackson's gentle arm round his shoulders didn't register with him.