It had been just over month since Aaron's cast had been removed. He had been attending his physical therapy sessions twice a week and the majority of the time he believed they were helping him immensely. Other times, when he was feeling a little down, he would often vent his frustrations on his recovering leg and swear that physio wasn't making the slightest difference at all. At those times Jackson and others would just ignore him, there was no point talking to him when he was like that. He would never listen. His physical therapy sessions were going extremely well, despite what the teen would say when he was in a mood. The young mechanic was now able to walk without the help of his crutches, they remained hidden in the corner of their bedroom, forgotten about most of the time. Aaron was now looking forward to being be able to drive soon. His physical therapist had told him it wouldn't be long till he would have full mobility and strength back in his leg so he couldn't see any reason why he couldn't begin driving again. It seemed like forever ago since he was last sat behind the wheel of a car. He loved driving, he loved cars. So not only not being able to walk was a major inconvenience for the teen but also unable to drive was torture for him. He had sworn to himself that once he was back at work he would start saving so he could build up enough money to buy himself a car. That was another thing that was working out for him as well at the moment. He was back at work. He had been since two weeks ago. Ever since he was able to walk without crutches he was back down at the garage telling Cain he could work again. There were a few problems, sometimes when he would stand for a long time over a car, he would get a painful ache in his leg so he would force himself to sit down, take some painkillers and go over some paper work instead whilst the ache died down. Cain didn't dare say anything, he knew his nephew was eager to get back to work after so many months off, unable to do anything.
Aaron had attended his first counselling session two weeks ago. He had been a little anxious when Jackson had told him one evening that they had found a counsellor for him to see, hoping it would help the teen sort out the raging thoughts running through his head. He knew he had to see a counsellor, there was no way he could go on the way he was. He knew he was messed up before. He'd been abandoned as a child by his mother, left with a father who couldn't give a damn about him who also dumped him back with his mother after a few years when he had had a enough, whilst he battled with the inner feelings of sexuality which he struggled to come to terms with. He had horrible trust issues, an anxious paranoia that he was going to be left alone at any time, that everyone always left him in the end and an extremely bad temper, plus a deep self hatred towards himself. It didn't help matters when Darrel forced himself upon him on those numerous times when he screamed no, when the older man left him to die at the bottom of the stairs or continued to plague his nightmares. He needed to sort his head out. If not for him but for Jackson and his family. It wasn't fair on them that they had to contend with his constant mood swings, violent nightmares and depression. He needed to sort it out quick and that was why he attended his first counselling session two weeks ago and continued to attended them once a week.
He had just attended his fourth counselling session. The sessions always left him feeling tired, they drained him emotionally. He wasn't used to talking about his feelings or his thoughts to anyone let alone a complete stranger. His counsellor was nice enough, she was a middle aged woman with dark hair and horrible taste in shoes, wearing the most outrageous pieces of footwear she could find. Today she had donned on a pair of chunky black high heels with white cat eyes on the front. Aaron had been distracted through most of his session as he stared at them wondering whether she was a punk rocker in her teens, just like his mother used to be. He'd seen the pictures of her dressed as a goth even if she had tried to hide them from everyone. Cain had dug some out the other day when the young mechanic happened to mention the tarten boots his counsellor had worn that week.
"How do you feel?" Jackson asked, meeting the young mechanic outside. The teen had insisted he was fine going in on his own. He didn't want Jackson in there with him. He knows the builder wouldn't judge but he still didn't want him to hear the horrible thoughts that went on his head. Maybe one day he would give the builder a little insight to what went on but right now, that wasn't a go area.
Aaron shrugged. "Tired."
"Fancy getting a bite to eat or do you just want to go home?" Jackson asked as they walked out the building.
"Let's get something to eat." Aaron answered, still walking with a very slight limp.
They found a small coffee shop/bar round the corner and tucked themselves in the corner ordering a pasta dish to share between them.
"Do you want to talk about anything that you and Louella discussed today in your session?" Jackson asked casually, he didn't want to push the younger man but he didn't want to seem as though he didn't care.
"Not really, no." Aaron sighed. He was done for the week talking about his issues. He dreaded it every week but he was always relieved when it was over.
"That's fine." Jackson assured him, moving his arm from resting on top of the table so the waiter could place the meal in front of them. "Thank you." He said to the waiter before he turned back to Aaron.
"So when are you going away for this new job then?" Aaron asked changing the subject.
"Hopefully, this Friday if nothing else gets in the way." Jackson told him. He had been offered a new job in Essex for a few weeks building a set of new houses on some land that one of his friends had brought. His friend had contacted him the other week about his offer, explaining to him that it was him he wanted to build the houses for him along with a few of his other builder friends. They had met up a couple of times the previous week going over plans and materials needed and they had hoped have gotten started last Thursday but due to a hold up in getting hold with some of the materials the build had been put off a week.
"How long are you going to be away again?" Aaron asked digging a fork into the pasta.
"A few weeks, three maybe four." Jackson sighed. He really didn't want to be away from Aaron for that long. "I'll come back during a few of the weekends when I can, but it's a long way."
"Or I could come see you." Aaron said after swallowing his mouthful.
"It's a lot of hours by train and quite a few connections." Jackson laughed, he couldn't see Aaron bothering with the many connecting trains and buses it would take for him to get to essex.
"I could always drive down there." Aaron suggested hesitantly.
Jackson raised an eyebrow. "You can't drive yet, your physio therapist hasn't given you a heads up yet." He said.
"But he did say I would be driving soon." Aaron corrected him.
"Even so, it would be too much of a big drive for you." Jackson said.
"No I wouldn't be, I've driven to places further away than Essex before." Aaron argued.
"Yeah but you haven't been driving for months and your leg gives you bother sometimes." Jackson sighed.
"I think I can manage a simple drive down to Essex." Aaron muttered, annoyed that Jackson didn't believe that he could even manage that. He was determined to prove him wrong. When the builder went away he was going to concentrate insanely hard on getting back behind the wheel.
That was exactly what he did. To prevent himself from missing Jackson too much whilst he was away, between the phone calls to one other night and the texts during the day, Aaron concentrated on his physical therapy exercises, pushing himself to the limit to gain more strength in his leg. He even went to the gym in between his physical therapy sessions and it worked. When he went to his third physio session after Jackson had left for his building job in Essex his Physical therapist was quite impressed with his progress and had even given him the green light to get back into driving. He was grinning from ear to ear when he went home that day, he had to stop himself from texting Jackson the good news, wanting to keep it a big surprise when he turned up in a few days.
Wednesday morning Aaron he managed to talk Cain into letting him borrow one of his cars from the garage and informed Paddy about his plans to surprise the builder. The older vet had been a little hesitant to allow the teen to follow through with his surprise. He didn't want the teen over doing things when he was only just getting back to full recovery. But there was no way he could talk Aaron out of what he wanted to do, the teen was stubborn and determined to do it. He had packed his belongings the night before, a rucksack full of boxers and clean sets of clothes as well as a tooth brush and other toiletries. He was travelling light. He planned to be in Essex by that evening if he set off after lunch. He had the address of the friend's apartment Jackson was staying at written down on a piece of paper in his pocket and if he got a little lost he hoped that phone wouldn't have ran out battery so he could use google maps. He wasn't going to faff about with the paper pull out map Paddy tried to send him away with.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Paddy asked the young mechanic as he fastened his seat belt.
"Yes Paddy." Aaron groaned, sick of the vet's worrying.
"Well, make sure you take a few rests from driving every so often." Paddy told him firmly. "And text me when you get there."
"Yes mother! Jesus Paddy, what is this?" Aaron sighed. "I'm only going to Essex."
"It's a long drive Aaron-" Paddy started once more.
"Just shut up Padster." Aaron smiled, starting the engine. It felt so good to be driving again. "I'll see you later."
"Just make sure you call!"
"Whatever." Aaron said rolling his eyes as he closed the window and began to pull away from the side of the road outside Smithy Cottage.
The drive was long, very long. He was getting bored quite quickly. He had changed the radio a dozen times already, not satisfied with radio stations supplied and he had even fiddled with connecting his ipod to the radio when he pulled up to a round about on the way out of Yorkshire. He'd received a rather rude beep of somebody's horn when it was his turn to go. He had made sure to give the car behind the middle finger before he went. Seeing as he hadn't been behind the wheel of a car for so long, he thought it wouldn't be right if he didn't have a little play around. With speakers blearing like a little boy racer, something that Jackson would never allow him to do if he were in the car with him, he began to test the speed limits a little when he knew there was no speed cameras up on the motor ways, passing several cars in the fast line. He knew if he kept the speed he was doing he was going to reach Jackson in no time and the older builder had said that it was a long drive? Whatever.
After nearly three hours of driving he found himself in Essex. He pulled over into a Tesco carpark to tap in the address of Jackson's friend's apartment in his phone to help him track it down. There was no way he was going to waste anymore time searching round the whole of Essex for his boyfriend when he had been away from the builder for over a week already. The late night calls and texts just didn't make up for it. He needed to see Jackson.
Just as he was about to go look for the apartment, Aaron's phone beeped on the dashboard to signal a text from Jackson.
"Hey babe, missing you so much right now. Hoping to see you this weekend J xxxx"
He quickly sent a reply back saying "Missing you too. Can't wait to see you A xxx"
Little did the builder know that he would be seeing him sooner than he thought.
At his friend's apartment Jackson had just gotten out of the shower. It was much needed after a hard days work having been up since four the morning. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and padded bear foot into the lounge to join his friend, Si, in front of the TV.
"Gonna cheer up this evening?" Si asked jokily.
"Hmm?" Jackson said a little confused.
"You've been miserable nearly all week now." Si laughed. "Missing the boyfriend are you?"
"Just a little, it's just hard being away from him." Jackson sighed. "He's been through a lot you know."
"And so have you by the sounds of it." Si told him. "You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow founder."
"Yeah, so they do." Jackson laughed, settling down on the sofa beside Si.
"Fancy a takeaway tonight? After all we have worked hard today." Si said. "Can't believe those morons couldn't work out where to leave that bathroom today in the third house!"
"Me niether." Jackson laughed as he remembered how the very young drivers from homebase struggled to work out which room needed the bathroom suite delivered to."
"I'm just gonna order that Takeaway, Pizza sound good?" Si asked.
"Sounds good to me." Jackson agreed.
"Joe should be back soon with the shopping, told him to get a few beers in." Si said before he disappeared into the kitchen in search for the takeaway leaflet.
A few minutes later the door bell to Si's apartment began to buzz. Seeing as the other builder was on the phone, Jackson stood up and went over to the front door to answer it.
"Surprise!" Said the man on the other side of the door.
"Couldn't you open the door yourself?" Jackson said sarcastically as Joe stumbled into the apartment carrying a lot of plastic bags from the supermarket that looked as though they were ready to split due to the content they were holding.
"Unfortunatley I wasn't born an octopus." Joe laughed as he wadded into the kitchen and dropped the bags onto the counter, not caring if the eggs broke or the jars smashed. He just needed to put the shopping down before his arms snapped. It didn't matter that he was builder and should be used to carrying heavy items. Shopping was a different matter, especially the amount he had to buy for the three of them.
"I'll help you unpack." Jackson laughed as he began to empty items from the bags.
As soon as Si came off the phone and disappeared into his bedroom to get his wallet ready for when the takeaway guy appeared, the phone began to ring.
"Get that will you Jackson! It will only be Aaron calling you again." Si shouted through from the bedroom.
"Hey, what do you mean "again"." Jackson called back as he picked up the phone. It wasn't Aaron. It was Si's mother. "Oh hi, Mrs Jacobs. Yes, he's just in his bedroom at the moment. I'll just go get him for you." Jackson said when he answered the phone before disappearing into Si's bedroom to get him. He thought Aaron and him were bad when it came to calling each other, Si was a complete momma's boy.
Outside, Aaron parked his car in a space just in front of the building of apartments where Si owned his and began to make his way inside. He wasn't sure where about's in the building Jackson's friend had his apartment so he set about looking for it. He knew it was number SJ80 but he hadn't a clue what floor. Thankfully he was able to ask somebody in side where abouts he would find the apartment he was looking for. He climbed two sets of stairs and ventured down a long hall before he came across the right apartment. Excited to finally his see his boyfriend after such a long time, Aaron knocked on the door and waited for an answer.
"Hello, can I help you?" A tall man with a tattoo peeking out from underneath the sleeve of his t-shirt asked.
"Urm, I'm looking for Jackson?" Aaron said. "I'm Aaron, his-."
"Oh right, you best come in then. I'm Joe by the way" The man said stepping to the side to allow him through. "He's expecting you right?"
"No, not really. Sort of a surprise." Aaron smiled sheepishly. It sounded stupid.
"Thought so, if he knew I doubt he would have stopped himself banging on about it." Joe laughed taking a seat in the lounge. "I swear he's pining after you."
"He is?" Aaron smirked taking a seat in the lounge too. "Where is he then?"
"In Si's room." Joe said.
What was he doing in Si's room?
"Don't worry, he's not doing the dirty on you. Si's girlfriend would rip him a new one if he was." Joe laughed when he saw Aaron's face after mentioning where Jackson was. "He answered the phone to Si's mum."
"Oh right."
"Aaron!" Jackson exclaimed as he walked out of Si's bedroom to find his boyfriend sat in the lounge with Joe.
"Hey." Aaron smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Jackson questioned. "How did you get here? I'm not supposed to be seeing you till this weekend! How come you didn't say anything last night?"
"Woah, whats with the twenty questions." Aaron exclaimed. "Can't you just be happy to see me."
"Yeah course." Jackson said. "I've missed. It's just a shock that's all. How did you get here?"
"I can drive now."
"You didn't."
"I did and before you saying I got given the green light to drive, so everything is back to normal now!" Aaron grinned.
"That's great news!" Jackson smiled.
"I know."
"Seeing as you guys haven't seen eachother in a while and as much as I love playing the third wheel, I'm going to go see if Si wants a match on the Xbox." Joe said already getting up from the sofa.
"Good idea." Jackson said waiting for Joe to leave the room before he pulled Aaron into a much needed kiss.
"I've missed you." Aaron murmed against Jackson's lips.
"I've missed you to." Jackson said. "Doesn't seem right waking up without you by my side."
"That could all change for the next time you know." Aaron smirked, implying his intentions.
"I'm not complaining." Jackson breathed, before he began to trail kisses down the teens neck, nipping and sucking.
A/N- Okay guys, hope you enjoyed this update! This may be the last one of this fanfic, although I am thinking of doing an epilogue to tidy it up a little. Thank you for such great reviews and feedback, let me know what you think.