Aaron didn't realize he was shaking until he was sat across the road from the hotel, in an empty bus shelter. The woman on reception, working the night shift, had given him an odd look as he had rushed past her to get outside, and no wonder she had. He was a mess, in a right state, he couldn't get himself to stop shaking let alone care about his appearance. He was a trembling mess. He had grabbed the closet clothes to him before he'd ran out on Jackson, one of the builders white and blue t-shirts and his won suite trousers he had been wearing earlier at the wedding, not to mention the trainer he had shoved on his uninjured foot. How could things have gone so bad, so quickly? Him and Jackson had been fine, more than fine for the first time in ages. They'd been laughing and joking at the wedding, joining in the celebrations to congratulate Lola and Harvey. Then everything had gotten even better when they had gotten back to their room, things had gotten steamy as they'd showed each other what they really meant to the other before they had fallen sleep feeling safe and at peace. He should have known it wouldn't last long. He should have known that he was going to mess it up. He always did. So he shouldn't have been so shocked when he did.

He didn't notice the taxi, containing Hazel, driving past and stopping in front of the hotel or even a rather loud and cheerful Hazel climbing out and paying her taxi fare.

"Here you go love." Hazel smiled at the taxi driver. "A little extra, too!" She added with a little laugh, before the taxi driver thanked her and pulled away. She fumble a bit with her purse, trying to get it back into her bag, proving to a difficult and tricky task after the many drinks she had consumed in celebrating the couple. She bent down to pick up a packet of mints she'd dropped on the pavement and as she straightened up she noticed Aaron sitting alone in the street.

"Aaron love?" Hazel called over to get his attention. "What're you doing out here?"

"What- oh, I needed a smoke." Aaron told her, thinking up an excuse quick. It was a half truth, he really did need a cigarette right now but he'd left his up in their room.

"This time of the night?" Hazel questioned checking for traffic on the road before crossing to his side. She would have thought Aaron and Jackson would be asleep by now, it was well past three in the morning. They had both left the wedding reception at eleven so she was a little surprised to find the teen. "You must be freezing." She commented as she tugged her cardigan tighter around herself. She could see that the thin t-shirt and trousers were doing nothing to keep the young mechanic warm , not enough layers for the typical winter weather. She wasn't surprised to find him shaking.

"I'm fine." Aaron assured her, with a small forced smile.

"You're shaking, come on." Hazel said placing a hand around the back of his shoulders. "I'm freezing just looking at you. It wouldn't do you any good to catch a cold either! Or me, which will happen if we stand out here any longer."

He didn't want to go back inside just yet. He couldn't face Jackson. Not after what he had done, no doubt there would be bruises to come. He couldn't forget what he had inflicted on Jackson. He could still see the fresh blood on his face, the hint of pain in his eyes as he looked at him full of fear. He had caused and it hurt. However, he wasn't going to argue with Hazel and he didn't want to be the reason why she got a cold, so he allowed himself to be pulled back into the hotel.

"What do you look like, eh?" Hazel teased as she commented on Aaron's appearance. She chose not tease the teen on the obvious showing purple small mark just above his collar bone on the base of his neck. She knew he would only blush in embarrassment at her knowledge of what him and her son had gotten up to , either that or instantly switch into a bad tempered mood and most probably would be the latter considering how tire he looked.

Aaron only shrugged his shoulders at her comment.

"I don't know. You're wearing Jackson's trainer as well!" She laughed as they walked out of the lift, bumping into the builder himself accidently. "Speak of the devil!" Hazel chirped before she had a chance to look at him properly and take in his appearance. What on earth had been going on? "Jackson, whatever's happened?" Hazel exclaimed as she stared at the dried blood underneath Jackson's nose and an already forming bruise on his jaw.

"Nothing it's okay." Jackson shrugged off. He didn't want to discuss the events that had happened a short while ago in the middle of a hotel corridor in the middle of the night. "I've been looking for you." Jackson said to Aaron, who still couldn't bring himself to be near Jackson. The teen's eyes looking anywhere but at him. "Where did you go?"

"-why have you been looking for him?" Haze3l questioned, her suspicions growing. First she finds Aaron outside in the cold staring into thin air in the early hours of the morning and then she finds out her son looks like he's been a few rounds in a boxing ring.

"Mum, I need to speak to Aaron." Jackson tried to quiet her. "So if you don't -."

"No. I want to know exactly what's gone on." Hazel stated clearly ,looking at them both. "Well. . . one of you is going to tell me."

Jackson sighed and ran a hand down his face, careful not to apply any pressure to his tender nose. "Fine, come to our room. We can't talk out here."

Jackson switched the lights on in the room as he lead them further inside. Hazel made herself comfortable in one of the luxurious arm chairs by the large window, waiting for them to start talking. Her mind was racing as she thought of different possibilities as to why her son had a bloody nose and marked face, and with Aaron outside on the streets at four in the morning. They'd both been fine at the wedding, happy and content, and she could only imagine that it carried on when they got back to the hotel by the looks of the marks she could see peeping out from underneath Aaron's clothing and Jackson's. So what had happened since then? She knew Aaron had form. She'd been told about Aaron turning on Jackson in the pub and landing him a powerful punch to the face. She had also heard other stories about the boy, but she hadn't paid attention to them. It wasn't fair that she listened to them and based a judgment of the young man on those stories. However now she was doubting if that was the right thing to have done. So she couldn't help but jump to conclusions as she waited for one of them to tell her what happened.

"So would one of you like to explain to me what's gone on." Hazel sighed as she watched Jackson shoot another look towards Aaron.

"It's not what it looks like." Jackson quickly assured her, causing Aaron to scoff. He was unsure as to where to start. He didn't know whether Aaron wanted Hazel to be told about his nightmare, they had yet to speak themselves about it, besides the fact that Aaron hated anybody knowing about his vulnerable side. So that was why he kept looking towards Aaron hoping he would look back and show some signed that he did or didn't want her to know. But it was no use, he kept looking at any thing but him still.

"Really?" Hazel said sarcastically, finding it hard to believe her son's words. "So what is it supposed to look like? Excuse me if I think my son's boyfriend has lost his temper and used my son as a punching bag . . . again."

"That's definitely not what happened!" Jackson defended. "I was being stupid."

"Stupid? You think that's a good enough reason for him to hit you?" Hazel started. her assumptions where only being confirmed by the sounds of things. "He shouldn't lose his temper just because you don't something stupid!"

Jackson shook his head. If Aaron wasn't going to say then he would. There was no way, he was going to leave it and allow his mum to think that about him. "No, that's not what I meant at all." He said.

The builder shifted the thick throw back on to the bed from where it had fallen to the floor, before taking a seat on the edge of the bed, facing his mother. "I was trying to wake him up. He was having some sort of nightmare-." Jackson managed to get out before he was interrupted.

"I still don't understand how that gives you a busted nose?" Hazel questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Let me finish then. Listen, because it's the truth. Aaron would never hurt me on purpose." Jackson told her before continuing. "Like I said, he was having a nightmare, and I couldn't wake him up when I shouted at him. So I thought I'd shake him. It must have made him jump or he might have thought I was- . . . or something like that." He dared a glance towards his boyfriend to see if he was reacting, felt uncomfortable. He'd been close to mentioning Darrel's name and he didn't think that would help matters tonight if Aaron heard that name.

"Don't." Aaron spoke up.

"So let me get this straight. Aaron hit you "Accidently" because in his nightmare he thought you were Darrel?" Hazel asked, not beating around the bush, straight out.

"Yeah, so it's not his fault. I should have known it was gonna happen." Jackson said to make it final. "He was kicking out in his sleep."

Hazel sighed as she looked over to Aaron.

The young mechanic was stood by the door and the bathroom door, as if he was ready to bolt or hide. He was staring at the floor now, biting on hi nails as he tried not to listen to the two of them talk or remember the vivid flashes of his nightmare.

"Aaron, why don't you come sit down." Hazel suggested as she nodded her head towards the other chair in the room. "I'll make us all a cup of tea." She added the answer to all problems, or the start anyway. She was already getting up on to her feet and crossing the room to the kettle and mugs placed on a tray at the side.

"No I'm fine." Aaron told her. "I'm just tired, think I'm gonna head back to bed."

"Aaron." Jackson reached out. He couldn't' go back to bed not now. They needed to talk about. There was no way any of them could forget about it until the morning. They'd all been hoping that sooner or later they could put it all behind them. But they had been wrong. They couldn't turn a blind eye to it anymore and hope that it would go away. They all needed to do something about it for a change.

"- No Jackson, I just want to sleep." Aaron cute him off, already heading towards the bed.

"Stop." Jackson ordered. He was done with Aaron running or hiding from things.

Aaron had stopped immediately at Jackson's raised voice. The only sound in the room was the kettle boiling and the clattering of spoons against mugs as he stood still.

"You're going to talk to us Aaron. You're going to talk to us now, whether you like it or not." Jackson told him. "We can't keep carrying on like this."

"Like what?" Aaron snapped.

"like this!" Jackson answered him. "We keep ignoring it, hoping it will all ago away get better, but it won't. It isn't getting better, it's getting worse if anything."

"- You mean I'm getting worse." Aaron shot at him. He didn't need reminding. He knew things were getting out control but he hoped if he paid no attention to it, it would all go away. He'd been trying his damn hardest to hide it all from them and act normal.

"No-Yes, I don't know Aaron. I just think we need to deal with it instead of ignoring it." Jackson explained.

"What he's trying to say is, you need help Aaron. You can't deal with all this on your own. It's far too much." Hazel interrupted as she placed a cup of tea into both boys hands.

"I don't need help." Aaron gritted out. He didn't need any help. He wasn't a nutcase. He was dealing with it himself.

"Yes you do!" Hazel argued. "You're not coping."

"She's right Aaron." Jackson added.

"It's because I hit you isn't it?" Aaron demanded.

"No, course not." Jackson protested. "We believe that you're not dealing with everything. And that's normal! No one would be able to get through what you've been put through on their own."

He was dealing with things. Him and Cain were dealing with things.

"Aaron, how long have you been having nightmares?" Hazel questioned, trying to find out more.

If he told the truth than they would definitely think he needed help. "Just tonight." Aaron lied.

Hazel didn't say anything, just sent a look to Jackson to show she didn't believe him. She knew he'd been having trouble sleeping. She'd heard him wondering around at night and catching short naps during the day time.

"I've been dealing with it." Aaron protested. 2I had one night, tonight, and that's it. I don't have Clyde with me every second of the day and night anymore, do I? He's not here now! Jackson, tonight – earlier, must have proved something. I'm past all that. I'm fine!"

"Yeah, Aaron, you sat that but . . . I don't know." Jackson said truthfully. He couldn't help but suspect that Aaron was hiding something from him.

"Believe what you want." Aaron snapped tiredly, placing his untouched tea on the side. He grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that belonged to him on the way to the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind him.

When they heard the lock click Jackson turned to his mother. "Urgh, what am I gonna do?" Jackson sighed.

"We are going to help him whether he wants it or not." Hazel told him. "Leave it to me."

"But mum-"

"It's in hand Jackson, don't worry about it." Hazel assured him they heard the lock click again. "Right, I'm going to go back to my room and catch some sleep before the train in a few hours."

"Alright, I'll see you later.2 Jackson said to her, as Aaron walked out of bathroom changed into different clothes.

Hazel let herself out of the room, leaving the two alone. Aaron crawled back into bed, trying to sleep straight away. Jackson, however, went into the bathroom to clean himself up some more. He highly doubted he'd get anymore sleep that night. There was to much worry running through him, his mind doing over time.

A/n – Thank you for all the great feedback, it brightens my day and helps me so much getting another update done!