It was late, Tony and Gerard had enjoyed a winderful meal in the local French Bistro and had walked back to the hotel hand in hand under the stars. It was after midnight, and the two men kissed like teenagers in the elevator. They entered the suite and without a thought, went straight through to bed.

Tony woke at nine and heard a woman giggling. Gerard was still snoring. The dark haired actor, pulled on a robe and went into the main room.

"Morning, papa. I ordered breakfast for Kiki and I, but there's plenty of coffee left." Alex then looked at the girl, "Oh right, introductions... Kiki Smith, my papa, Tony Fletcher." Alex still thought it was funny Kiki had the same surname as Jon.

"Please to meet you, sir." She stood and shook Tony's hand and then made her excuses. "Its been fun Alex but I have a snowboarding lesson in 40 minutes and I have to get back to change. See you later." The blond kissed Alex on the cheek and left, humming a Bond theme.

It was like Tony had entered an alternative universe. His confusion must have been plastered on his face. Alex decided to explain, "Ummm, Kiki's a friend of Tom McMorin. He's on holiday here with his girlfriend Dionne. She was just hanging with Tom and I was invited to hang with Tom, Dionne and Kiki. So I got talking to Kiki about Bond movies, we came back here, ate dinner and watched a couple of movies and talked." Alex then blushed, they had done more than talk. He was now a lot more intimate with female anatomy and orgasms. He had done another on his to do list. He now knew for certain girls as well as boys floated his boat. Well, open fun girls or should he say young ladies, for Kiki was no girl. Twenty three, bright and sensible and in search of fun after escaping a bastard of a boyfriend. He was lost in thought over their serious conversation and later game of doctor. "She's a psychology major. We talked about last December, you know about Yassen. I now get the concept of Stockholm Syndrome and what you all were trying to tell me. I... I'm sorry I love that man, but it was love or go insane. Falling for someone, though completely irrational was a safe option. I get him, I'm trying to make you understand that he and I are very alike. Not that I'm a serial killer but we both survived horrific childhoods, we are both broken and healing. I say healing cause its an on going process. I bear no ill will to Yassen, despite everything. He is part of my past, good and bad."

Tony sat down and poured himself a coffee. Drinking deeply and savouring the taste, the actor looked at the blue sky and collected his thoughts. "I never need to explanation about your friend Kiki. You are an adult and even though I may encourage you to see beyond sexual gratification. Making friends, having liaisons and experiments are normal." The man studied his son, who was relaxed, open and had actually explained the fall out of miscommunication. "You seen different this morning, lovely. More together."

"This holiday has been really good. I feel like I have found bits of myself I thought I had lost. I am bisexual and I do want long-term stability. I think I need to find a great girl like Kiki or a great boy like Cassian but when I'm ready for commitment. I'm not sexually active at college and I don't plan to be. Study, exercise and enjoy myself without the minefield of sex and my problems with intimacy."

"But you were intimate last night, weren't you?" Tony had noted Alex's blush, in some ways his son was still quite sheltered.

"Sex ed 101. How to get girls to orgasm and g-spots were explained. No penetration. It was just cool, fun, no strings." Alex smiled, it had been slow and wonderful. Different and better than just fucking. "So how was your date last night?"

"It was perfect. The restaurant was wonderful. I ate about seven thousand calories. Gerard smoked a cigar on the way back here. He was a perfect gentlemen and he asked me to marry him. Its legal for men to marry in Canada."

"Oh, so he'll be my dad." Alex then frowned noting that Tony had not confirmed he had actually said yes.

"I said I wanted to get your approval. I take it you legally being his son is OK."

"Yeah, married huh. Summer wedding?"

"No, next Christmas. I'll get Dylan over to be my best man. It will be small. I think Gerard might ask you to be ring-bearer."

"Umm, thats cool. Here or Calgary?".

"Probably Edmonton, Gerard was born and brought up there."

"Well, I guess I have to take you guys out for lunch to celebrate." Life for Alex was again changing, but with changes came challenge and growth. He was no longer afraid of disruptions and upheavals. The routines were boring in a way. He had to break out of his habit of living by his schedule.

...

The strange family were traveling north, their week skiing holiday was over. They were spending a couple of days in Edmonton with Gerard's sister Marie and her family. They had finally reached the outskirts of the city. Alex had gone from spectacular mountains to the flat open plains. They were going for a proper family dinner. Marie was a widow with two sons, a daughter and five grandchildren. It turned out Marshall was not Gerard's original name, but he preferred the anglicised name to birth name of Grigor Maslak. He was descended from Ukrainian immigrants. Marie was still close to her brother despite the fact he had left home at 16. The man had made his way from penniless manual worker with no qualifications to a millionaire by his 30th birthday. In the nineteen eighties his business interests had been bought out by a conglomerate and he used his vast wealth to diversify and now only pursued projects that interested him and producing films was a hobby.

They entered the suburban home, which had a large open plan ground floor. There was a buffet set up for the supper. Gerard after kissing his sister, introduced everyone. Then the silver haired man noted the kiev cake, using a recipe passed down from their grandmother and the plates of stuffed cabbage, piroshki, plov and kotleti. A look of horror passed over his face. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry Alex, I forgot about your dietary restrictions." Gerard knew Tony was typically English and would forfeit his strict health food diet for politeness and rules of hospitality. Alex could not eat the prepared feast, which was rich in butter and sour cream. A string of Ukrainian was spoken between the two siblings.

Marie came over to Alex and patted his arm. "My borsch is good for you. No butter or cream was used making it. I have some matzo crackers in the kitchen and I can make you a green salad."

The tall dark haired son introduced as Kevin stated "Mom, if he's vegetarian your soup was made with chicken."

Alex smiled, "Not vegetarian, just extremely allergic to butter, milk, cream and cheese and a couple of antibiotics." He then pulled out his Epi-pens to emphasize this. "I could do without another trip to hospital. It sucks."

Cat, Kevin's wife stepped forward. "Hi Alex, I work in children's day care. You must have a pretty serious allergy to carry those."

"Yeah, I used to just have vomiting episodes as a teenager but last year I had a full acute allergic reaction to a protein shake after swim practice, which resulted in two hours in the trauma room and an overnight stay in hospital in LA. Attacks are meant to get progressively worse, that one was bad enough. I was already carrying epinephrin auto-injectors, which probably saved my life. I also wear a medical alert bracelet and carry a medical alert card."

"Swim practice? You any good?"

"I used to be OK, I guess. I no longer do team or club practice, just keep myself fit."

The eldest grandchild, Tara then said, "You don't look like your dad."

"Thats cause I'm adopted." Alex grinned.

Alex woke in the campbed in the basement. He stretched and looked at the glowing dial of his watch, 6:30am. He really needed a pee. Rather than dress he strolled upstairs in his shorts and t-shirt.

He was not the only one up, as he went through his morning routine of washing and shaving and brushing his teeth. He then had breakfast to worry about. He had a stash of snacks in his rucksack but this was north America, he would eat bacon, peanut butter and maple syrup, but most bread was out. Microwave popcorn for breakfast would be a first.

He wandered into the kitchen and said a bright and cheery "Good Morning", whic was half returned when Marie turned around and just stared at Alex. "Oh, I've got toothpaste on my face." He rubbed his face and the woman came out of her apparant shock.

"Looks like Grigor failed to mention a few things." The woman said and then let the matter of Alex's disability pass. "Coffee?"

"Thanks, no sugar." Alex then added, "Tony's a health food nut, so we are mostly vegan. I used to eat meat and fish though, when I swam. Now, I prefer to stick to a strict vegan diet. You can guess no candy, no fried food, no junk. Jon was good though, he found a Bengali restaurant in Lambeth that did excellent curries dairy free." The pair sat with cups of black coffee.

"John?"

"Jonathan Smith, Tony's previous partner, my dad. He died in 2004."

"Oh... was it ... ummm... AIDs?"

Alex scratch his head at that particular misconception. "Err, no. It was a terrorist attack, IED... improvised explosive device. He was working as a communications specialist with the SAS in Afghanistan, well its all covered by OSA.. err.. the official secrets act. The others in the vehicle also died instantly. It was his last day on assignment. He was flying back for his and Tony's anniversary." Alex the paused. "He and Tony had been together for 17 years."

"Oh, he and Grigor seem very serious?" Marie added.

"Yeah, well Gerard survived his initiation into Tony's crazy world last summer, I kind of went off the deep end. Tony had moved in. My papa's an all or nothing person. I know they dated for about five months before, but Tony knew it was good so grabbed his chance of happiness. Getting a crazy step son is another thing though."

"You seem OK, now?" Marie said looking closely at this very open eighteen year old. Her son's had been grunting strangers at this age.

"Yeah, I like college. Well, first term was cool, another three and a half years until my masters."

"Are you doing drama?"

"Oh, god no. I do not want to be an actor. Tony's quite happy with my life choices on that score. Acting is hard enough for someone as talented and handsome as Tony. I'm not into all that anyway. Not even tempted to join Footlights."

"Footlights?"

"Drama Society at Cambridge. Its a stepping stone to being successful. Half the people on TV in Britain seemed to have been members. No, I'll stick to the Archimedians and the Disabled Students Action Group". Alex left out he was a member of the Russian Society as well. The Fresher's Fair had been manic, he'd had words with the Assassin's Guild. Introducing yourself with the fact his birthfather had been the genuine article had met with stunned silence from the stupid gits, Alex's parting shot that it was just not PC to glorify killing people as real life assassins were truly scary. Mind you that had not been half as heated as his spat with the Swimming Society had been. He'd let rip about Parlympic Swimming. The 'Blues' only accepted set times and he as world record holder as an S8 was way out of their strict acceptance times. He had joined the Disabled Action Group just to start the ball rolling on lack of inclusion.

Marie then looked at her planned breakfast of pancakes and bacon.

Alex then smiled, "Don't worry, Tony would never be a bad guest. He really wants your recipe for those cabbage rolls and the borscht. I can ... well not eat pancakes. Do you have oats? You know oatmeal.. I like that with honey and raisins. I can cook.. well microwave that."

The woman got the oatmeal, raisins and honey from her store cupboard and watched her brother's stepson cook. She smiled, with a house of all men, the boy would have learned to look after himself. Her sons still let her do everything when they were here.

Alex then asked, "Would you like some? Its a bit different made with water, but still tasty."

"I'd love to have oatmeal."