Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. What was I thinking? How could I have said those thinks to him?

Arthur, you bloody idiot. He's scared and doesn't know how to deal with it, so he shuts down. Damn it. Now I have to cook so I can get Mattie dinner. I look at Matthew, and start to feel angry. How could he say he doesn't deserve us? For all our differences, we've managed to make it this far. Somehow. We have two beautiful sons and a relatively good friendship, even if we do argue. A lot.

"Come on, Mattie. Lets go eat some dinner, alright?"

He nods and quickens his pace to match mine.

"Papa made chicken for lunch, and we saved some for you, Daddy." His face lights up as he says this. "Me and Daddy and… Alfred." He lowers his head solemnly. He's obviously worried. Possibly more so than any of us. He was so much like Francis. He just couldn't cope with pain, although Francis did a wonderful job of hiding his negative feelings behind a bunch of silly jokes and a happy façade. Matthew was an open book.

"Alright Mattie, go on and sit, and I'll see what's in the icebox."

"…I'm not hungry…"

"Mattie. You need to have something. We have spaghetti. Have some of that."

"I'm not hungry, Daddy."

This was one of his rare oppositional moments. Easily solved.

"Matthew William Kirkland! You have to eat, or you'll get sick. Now have some spaghetti."

I handed him a small plate with spaghetti and sauce on it, and made myself a plate of my own. Francis's chicken would have to wait. After dinner, Matthew went straight to bed, and I went to discuss things with Francis. He'd had time to cool down.

I saw him as soon as I had entered the room. He was holding a picture, and looking deep into it, as if it were speaking to him. I spoke, words were exchanged, and then I did something I would regret.

I hit him.

I hit Francis.

My Francis.

"Just be quiet, Francis. We love you. We LOVE you." I felt tears welling up inside me. "Why can't you see? We care, Francis. We care. I hugged him and held him in my arms. I kissed him better. He held me, and we were happy. We were in love, just as we had always been.

We kissed.

I sat against the headboard, and wrapped my arms around Francis as he leaned into me. I heard footsteps, and we both looked up. The door opened slowly to reveal Matthew, holding his bear by the arm.

"Daddy, Papa? Oh, did you make up?"

Francis cracked a smile.

"Oui, mon garçon," he replied with a light tone.

"Oh. Good. Does that mean I can sleep here tonight? I don't want to sleep alone. I miss Alfred."

"You can sleep here. Don't worry, we'll see him tomorrow," I reassured him.

Matthew climbed up on top of the bed, and crawled in between us.

"Goodnight Daddy, goodnight, Papa."

We fell asleep in each others arms. Despite every argument, and every struggle, we were- are- family. And we love each other.

Author's note: I referred to Matthew as "Matthew William Kirkland." Why? Because in the series canon, his name is "Matthew Williams." But, it made more sense (to me) to have him share a last name with one of his fathers. So, I dropped the "S" from "Williams" and made it a middle name. Yup. Enjoy.