Freedom 7
"Your Royal Highness, this is a surprise." Ellen's southern twang came through in her voice, the more she tried to shove it down to impress her position as the US President on the future Queen of the United Kingdom. "Please tell me that my idiot son has not caused another international scandal. If he has, you have my permission to throw him in the towers."
"Please, call me Catherine." Catherine told her warmly. "To my knowledge, your son is not causing another international scandal, Madame President."
"Call me Ellen. After all, our sons have shared multiple international scandals." Ellen chuckled at her own words. "I ... ah ... I heard Henry ended things. Is he ok? He is such a sweet, kind and caring man. If my son has somehow managed to make his way over to harass Henry, you can feel free to kick his ass all the way back to the good ol' US of A. I promise you; I will personally deal with that little shit. He's a good kid, Alex, but he can be oblivious to other people, sometimes."
"Why would Alex be in the United Kingdom?" Catherine asked, the confusion colouring her voice. She had kept her mouth firm. She hadn't wanted to panic. "Haven't you seen your son lately? I rather thought Henry was there, with Alex."
"Alex is having a temper tantrum, Catherine." Ellen announced, not acknowledging Catherine's remark about Henry. "He may be an adult, but not when it comes to things not working out according to his plan, he is like a toddler. I am sure Alex will be fine when he gets over his snit. Then I can assure you, he will stop at nothing to win Henry back."
"Ellen, you are aware that my son is missing?" Catherine asked and she heard the wince from the US President down the phone line. "No one has seen or heard from Henry since he broke off his relationship with your son. I am begging you, please tell me that my son is there, with your son."
"Henry is not here, to my knowledge. I ... No one has seen Alex since the break-up. I'm sorry, I thought Alex was just having a tantrum." Ellen apologised sincerely, realising her mistake and suddenly she could feel worried and dread sink into the pit of her stomach. "You must think I am the worst mother in the world. It's just my son, he ... he can be too much sometimes, and he sulks when he doesn't get his way. Where is Henry? Is he ok?"
"I am afraid I am not much better. I have been absent and oblivious for far too long. That ends now." She declared, in a firm business tone. "So, we should review. Henry has ended the relationship and now both boys are missing."
"I am going to immediately start the search for our boys, from here." Ellen declared, already jotting down her list of things she was going to do as soon as the call ended. "What if something happened to them? The media, they have been relentless in their pursuit of the boys for an exclusive."
"There's more." Catherine winced, as she elaborated. She closed her eyes at the thought of having to confess her own mother's sins. "I have since learnt that Henry ended things under duress. It seems that while my mother could not save face, in light of the email scandal. She agreed to appear to be supporting them. Only she then gave Henry an ultimatum. She is being dealt with on my end. But as you can imagine, I am worried about my son. Both of our boys, actually. If you know of anywhere, they could be, please, I beg you to tell me. I am going to start the search on this side of the pond for them."
"The only place I think they could be is my ex-husband's lake house." Ellen confessed. "I know the boys visited there once before and enjoyed themselves immensely. I have just sent my Chief of Staff a formal request to have the FBI check it out for me. Plus, I will contact my ex-husband. I understand from Oscar, that Henry and he have become friends, away from the relationship he shares with Alex. Henry and Oscar met here at the state dinner, back in March and they recently spent some time together when all of the kids were all at the lake house."
"I did not know Henry was friends with your ex-husband." Catherine subtly wiped her eye softly. "Henry lost his father when he was a teen, I imagine that Alex has willingly shared his own with Henry."
"Henry is a sweet boy, Catherine. We, both the Claremont's and Diaz clan, as well as my husband Leo, think the world of him." Ellen said. "I shall let you know when I hear anything."
"From Beatrice and Percy, I have heard nothing but good things about Alex. I cannot wait to formally meet him." Catherine told her. "I am going to send my daughter Beatrice to the US with Percy Okonjo to liaise on my behalf. I am planning to join them, but first, unexpectedly, I have some duties to take care of here. Namely my mother, and my stupid, misguided son."
"A duty to one's country is never done." Ellen stated in sympathy. A sentiment that she could understand from one woman to another, from one leader to another. From one mom to another.
"In light of my mother's actions, I am in the process of applying to parliament, to have my mother removed from the crown, Ellen. Unfortunately, she has a lot of currently sitting members of parliament, as allies." Catherine stated, factually. "Please, do not hide your anger at what I am about to tell you. I am beyond quite angry with her, myself. My mother's multiple objections to your son were not only that his relationship with my son was out in the open because of the emails. It was homophobic, as well. I have it on good authority that once she thought about it, her other objection wasn't just that he was American. But that he was half Mexican too. Please know that I do not share those views and neither do my children or anyone else in this institution. Please feel free to air your concerns with our Prime Minister. It will further my cause."
"Thank you for your candid honesty." Ellen said calmly. "I believe you. Unfortunately, raising two children of a Mexican immigrant, deep in the heart of Texas, and working in politics, I have heard it all before. You would not believe what some people have said to me. I have had it inferred that my children are stupid. That my children will destroy America. The worst one was during my first electoral campaign when an advisor told me that if I abandoned my children, I would win. That advisor never saw the end of their job coming. Thankfully, Zahra Bankston came knocking and she hasn't let me down."
"It is a shit world we live in." Catherine huffed. "I will keep you abreast of the situation from our end."
"You can bet your left heel that I will be raising this issue with the Prime Minister, as soon as I end this call." Ellen promised. "I will even leave your name out of it. Please call me no matter the time, if you hear anything."
As soon as Ellen was off the phone with Catherine, she was dialing the PM's office. Her and Sharon had successfully negotiated a trade deal between their two nations, in the wake of Alex and Henry's cake fight at Philip's wedding. They had been on agreeable terms since the state dinner. Surely, being of African descent and having ebony skin, she would understand Ellen's concerns. It was to no avail; her personal secretary had penciled something in the books for later in the day. But was furious when she received an email less than ten minutes later, postponing that meeting for the following week.
As Ellen had Zahra summon her lead investigator, Ellen began to compose a strongly worded email to her counterpart in the UK, outlining her grievances with what she had just learnt. By the time she had dismissed her lead investigator, giving him only eight hours, before the next update, alongside a strongly veiled threat that he better have some answers for her, she had finished composing the email. She had finished off her email with the friendly statistic that out of approximately 330,000,000 people, over sixty percent of them were of a non-Caucasian origin in the US alone. Before the thinly veiled threat of making the queen's racist comments public and letting her own people get angry.
Her strongly worded email garnered an immediate response, and it was the one that Ellen had originally wanted to get. A telephone conference with the UK's PM. As well as an apology.
It was warm when they woke, and the boys planned to go for a dip in the ocean. The crystal-clear blue water and golden sandy beaches had been calling out to Alex since they had first arrived. It had been begging to be enjoyed. Henry had found a small, but usable sun tent in the amenities shed and pulled that out, while Alex had prepared some snacks and water bottles, towels and what not to take with them. Henry had also found a small inflatable raft, as well as oars, that looked like it was in good condition. When Alex had joined him in the amenities shed, he had grinned at Henry, spying a surfboard and body boards, as well as an electric motorized beach buggy.
Henry grinned when he switched it on and the boys laughed, discovering that it was fully charged up and ready to use. "Let's load her up." Alex had declared, grinning at Henry. "It beats having to lug all of this down to the beach and back."
Henry smirked at Alex; his boyfriend had made a good point. Especially since the two men had no other plans for the day. Except to spend the day in the sun. There wasn't a lot for them to do but make the most of their situation and the sunshining day.
The two lovers spent the day in the sun, surf and shade. Alex had taken the surfboard out attempted to catch a wave, but all that had done was make Henry laugh at him. The waves hadn't been big enough for actual surfing. But Alex had happily set the surfboard aside, in exchange for the body boards and he attempted to teach Henry how to ride the waves. They stopped in the beach tent for lunch, reapplied their SPF and rested.
Henry had been feeling frisky all morning and had attempted to seduce Alex, but all that had done was make Alex curse the fact he had left the condoms and the lube on the nightstand. That hadn't bothered Henry, he'd just given Alex one of the best blowjobs of his life. Right there on the beach, in full view of the nature that surrounded them. In full view of anyone passing by. But no one did, they were totally isolated.
As Henry withdrew his mouth from Alex's now spent cock, Alex followed him over, lowering Henry's body onto his back and capturing his lips between Alex's. Kissing and nipping at his lips, Alex moaned spurring Henry on. He could feel Henry's hardness through his swim trunks, against his own thigh. Before Henry could calibrate himself, Alex had his hard length in his hand and was working him towards a much-needed relief. "Tonight, after dinner, in that hot tub, I am going to take you apart with my teeth." Alex threatened sweetly, whispering his threat into the shell of Henry's ear between kisses and nips to the small strip of flesh there.
Henry bucked in response to the desire that coursed through his body. He wanted that. Needed that. More than he needed the oxygen to breath.
It had taken nearly all day, but Zahra and Shaan finally found themselves alone and away from the White House. They knew today had been a shit storm. When Shaan had put Arthur's plan in motion, he hadn't anticipated on Catherine shaking off her grief and getting involved. That was a complication that he was ashamed to admit that he hadn't factored into the equation.
The other factor, the one Zahra hadn't anticipated was Ellen and Catherine quickly forming an alliance. She had only been privy to her boss and best friend's side of the conversation, but it had been enough to throw her for a loop.
The one thing that both Zahra and Shaan had factored in, was that Beatrice and Percy would be making their way over here. Which was for the best. Shaan made a promise to Arthur that he would always look out for Henry. Arthur had never made him promise to look out for Beatrice, but he had been doing so, as well. Ever since the day that Arthur Fox had taken his last breath on this earth.
It had been Shaan who had helped Henry and Bea navigate the world of Bea's addiction. He had been a pillar of strength for Henry, to allow him to support his older sister through her demons and the biggest battle of all, the battle of her addiction. Shaan was fond of Bea, just like he was fond of Henry. But he and Henry also shared a fond friendship, as well. Shaan was there, the night that Henry had come out to Bea, when he had rescued her from that club and begged her to get some help. He had been proud of the young woman for choosing to get help and still maintain her brother's secret. Best of all, he knew that unlike Henry, Bea was fearless and would happily tell both Philip and the Queen to go screw themselves.
But first, he knew that he and Zahra had covered their tracks well. However, they owed it to President Claremont to bring her in on their plan at some point. They needed her not to tell Catherine though, and that was going to be the hard part.
"Well today was harder than I thought it would be." Zahra sighed into her fiancé's shoulder. He could feel the tension radiating off her. "Ellen is one of my best friend's and she is going to kill me when she realizes what we have done."
"I think she will love the fact that you have protected Alex, and will always protect him, from the media." Shaan counter-offered his opinion. "Imagine if the Queen had of followed through on her threat and locked Henry away from Alex. Alex would have blown a gasket and tried to storm the palace. I have no doubt that the Queen would have ordered her guards to go extra hard on him, too. She is an immoral, cold, vindictive woman, Zee. When the Israeli ambassador's husband was at the state garden party with his wife, last June, he made a passing comment to a colleague of his about something of insignificance relating to the weather in the UK. She had him forcibly removed from the party, in a heavy-handed public manner and exiled from the United Kingdom. The man held a dual citizenship. He was born in the UK and now he cannot even return to the UK to live with his wife and children. She also has refused multiple requests from the ambassador to step down from her position so she can move back to Israel to be with her husband."
"She would really lock up her own grandson?" Zahra asked in disbelief. "Isn't that against human rights?
"That woman does not care." Shaan replied, letting some of his own personal anger at the woman huff out of him. Zahra was his safe space, probably the only safe space he has left at this point. "She purposefully and forcibly had kept him in the closet. Henry has known he was gay since he was eleven years old. On his eighteenth birthday, the woman sat him down and told him not to let any deviant, homosexual desires he was having ruin the Crown and its image. Before laying it all out for him, he would marry, and he would have children. He was never allowed to even allude to the fact that he was gay. He was never to be seen or engage with men in public and such desires would have harsh penalties. You know what happened when Alex's emails were hacked, and the world read the irrefutable evidence of his own homosexuality. Before his panic attack took hold and mental trauma took hold, do you know what he said to me and his sister?"
Zahra shook her head, as he took her turn to hold him close to her. When she and Shaan had first met, he had been honest with her, that his duty to Henry needed to come before anything else in his life because he had made a promise to Arthur. Zahra had been ok with that. And she still was, because she felt like that about Ellen. So, she understood him.
"He was being sardonic of course, but he chuckled and said, 'Let's see how she wants to spin this, now she can't hide the fact that I am very, very gay.' Beatrice and I, of course had seen through his bravado, and the panic attack had begun not two minutes later." Shaan confessed.
"Alex, he had a panic attack too. He shut down and June was the only one who he could remotely communicate with. Even then, it was sporadic." Zahra sighed. "Alex likes to portray this image of a strong, fearless man. For most of the time he is, but in that moment, I saw the scared twelve-year-old boy who refused to cry the day that Oscar packed his bags, got in that cab and drove away. I saw the five-year-old boy who clung to me like I was his lifeline, right before he was whisked away to have his tonsils removed. The boy who was silently begging me to not leave him alone. Because his mother was the Governer of Texas, and his father was in California. June was still a minor and at school, and he had no one. No one but me. He probably doesn't even remember me being there when he came out of it, but I do. He gave me the biggest grin, grabbed on to me for dear life and told me he loved me. I locked myself in the bathroom and cried for him, just as I did on those other times." She had tears welling in her eyes and Shaan held her close to him.
As he pressed his lips to Zahra's forehead and held her close. He realised something. His Zahra loved Alex, like he loved Henry, like a parent, unconditionally. While Arthur had no choice in whether or not he lived or died, both Ellen and Oscar had a choice in whether or not, they were there for their son. Suddenly he found himself feeling a whole new layer of sympathy for the First Son. While Henry may struggle with his grief for his father at times, Alex had not yet confronted his demons about the fact that both of his parents abandoned him in his times of need and that the only one who had been there for him, was Zahra.