Bea and Oscar 13


"Here's what we're going to do." Henry said softly, as he held Alex close to him and brushed a stray tear from his face. Alex's eyes were red-rimmed, puffy and swollen from his tears. Not that Henry's were much better. Henry's eyes were red-rimmed, puffy and swollen from his tears as well. He had cried alongside Alex. Instead of crying while Alex relived his pain and the trauma of losing one of the best friend's outside June and Nora he had ever had, Henry cried for Alex. He cried for how loving and self-sacrificing Alex was being so that Bea could be happy. "We're going to get your stuff and get Cash to drive us home. Poor Dylan has been waiting outside this whole time. Once we're home, we're going to order a pizza and get one of the PPOs to go pick it up, and we're going to talk it out. OK? Because as much as I'd love to hash it out here, if I put my lips on you, I am not going to stop. I think all of us, especially Amy, would prefer if that happened in our bedroom. Not her spare room. Meanwhile, I am going to text Bea and remind her she promised to go back to Pez's tonight."

"I can't let you send Bea to Pez's." Alex started to argue, but Henry silenced him with his fingers on Alex's lips. "She's your sister."

"You can and you will." Henry said softly, putting his lips to Alex's forehead. "I love you Alexander Gabriel Claremont-Diaz, I am not going to let you argue with me. Now, come on. Let's get moving."

"Alright, alright." Alex huffed, but there was a small trace of a smile on his face.

Amy and Cash came to meet Henry and Alex as they came out of Amy's guest room. "Kissed and made up, hey?" Cash jested softly.

"Let's not go that far." Alex mumbled. "But this stubborn head wants to sort it out at home.

Amy looked carefully at the boys. The men that she was beginning to consider as 'her boys'. Henry and Alex both looked like they had been crying and Amy couldn't help but feel for them. "I'll see you two in the morning, and I appreciate you coming to get him, Henry. Alex, listen and communicate. Communication is key." She advised him.

"Thanks Amy." Alex said and hugged her lightly. "You knew I was in my head, and you respected that I needed distance. You didn't let me run, but still gave me distance."

"It's ok, Alex. Anytime." Amy smiled at the boys. "Henry, take good care of him."

"Yes, Ma'am."


Cash drove them back to the Brownstone, a trip they made in total silence. Mostly Henry's attention was focused on Alex and Alex wasn't wanting to start an argument with Henry's PPO present. It was an irrational fear of his. It sounded even more stupid in his head, but he feared that if he and Henry fought in front of his PPO, they'd pack him up and whisk him away without a word. Again.

Alex knew it was an irrational fear. Probably something that had manifested from the time that he had gone off to Summer Camp and came home to find that his father had packed up and moved out of their family home. Not just moved out into an apartment or house down the street, or somewhere in town. But had moved to California. States away from their home in Texas.

That and no matter how much time he and Henry have spent together being a couple, he still has this fear that Henry's grandmother, Queen Mary, is still looking for an excuse to tear them apart. It's something he has never shared with Henry. Something he probably should share with him. Someday soon.

Henry let Alex into the brownstone, ushering him through the door, despite his reluctance. Henry dropped Alex's bag with a thud and joined Alex in their sitting room. True to Bea's word, she seemed to have cleared out to Pez's apartment. "Now Darling, where were we?"

"Umm," Alex hesitated, as his eyes widened, and his pupils slightly dilated. That questioned triggered a Pavlovian response in Alex for an entirely different setting.

"Right words, wrong time. We'll get there, darling. Now let me rephrase," Henry chuckled lightly at Alex's visceral response to his words. "Should we get some dinner and talk about it? Or just start?"

"Start." Alex stated softly. Alex was nervous. He was anxious. HIs anxiety rolling off him in waves. Enough waves and motion to make his stomach feel queasy and nauseous. Alex just hoped he managed to keep it together long enough not to vomit all over the area floor rug of the living room, in their brownstone. "My stomach is in knots."

"I am going to remain calm and collected, Alex, I promise." Henry told him softly and encouragingly. "What happened Alex? I am trying to understand and be open minded because the Alex Claremont-Diaz I know, the man I am in love with; he doesn't usually run. He stays and fights. I know this because he is the one that taught me how to fight like hell.

"It's not that Pa can't date. I mean I know he has dated before. So, it's not some weird 'daddy complex'." Alex promised Henry, making him chuckle. Henry had no doubt about that. He and Alex had discussed Oscar and Ellen's divorce at length, when discussing the potential of living together in Brooklyn. Alex had been upfront and honest that his abandonment issues stem from the way his father left their family home when he was eleven.

"Bea is my sister and I would like it if the two of you could get along." Henry sighed. "That being said, you are entitled to your views, opinions and wishes, as much as I am. If you feel you cannot get along with Bea, then I will work with that."

"It's not Bea, perse." Alex began his rant but stopped as suddenly as it started. He paused, not so much for effect, but as a chance to gather his words and choose them carefully. "She is my friend Hen, and you know I love her like I love June and Nora; like she is another sister. But really? Of all the men on the fucking planet Henry, she chose him. One, she's too good for him. Two, I don't want him to hurt her. Three, and perhaps the most fucking salient point, it invalidates our relationship to an incestuous level. If we were to ever decide we're ready to marry and they're together; she would be like a stepmother. Henry she is your sister, that would make you like a step uncle. It's a big no for daddy role play, Uncle is just as bad."

"Fuck!" Henry exclaimed in his posh English accent with a regal flare. On very few occasions did Alex ever hear Henry swear when he used his regal tone and not his cockney accent that he used when he lets his guard down.

That small detail had escaped his attention. Alex made a solid point of the utmost importance. He was right. "Damn!"


Bea was pacing the living room floor in a move that was driving Percy to the brink of insanity. She was panicking and Pez had only managed to keep her calm for so long.

"What if I have destroyed them, Pez?" She huffed out before she paced four steps to the left and turned viscously on her heel and stalked five steps before coming to an abrupt halt again. "I've always been Henry's biggest supporter. Now what? Because of a silly crush, I've fucked it all up for him." She took another two steps and turned again before skidding to a comedic halt. "And Alex, oh my god! He is my friend, what the hell have I been thinking?"

"Beatrice, darling?" Percy stopped her, grasping her by the upper arms gently and holding her at arm's length to him. He wanted her to look him in the eye. "Is it really just a silly little crush with Oscar? Or could it be something more? Is it the beginning of something more? A happy ever after?"

"That's just it, I don't know." She sighed, tears threatening to fall. She was normally so stoic and in control of her feelings. A byproduct of being Mary Mountchristen-Windsor's granddaughter. Unfortunately, her stoicism and her ability to control her feelings, to mask them; had been the downfall in a couple of her previous relationships.

Flopping down onto the sofa, Percy let out another sigh. He really felt helpless. His best friend's love life was hanging in the balance. His friend Alex was hurting, and his sister's best friend had an emotionally tortured heart. "Bea, Darling," Pez tried again and he felt the sofa shift beside him. "Alex and Henry will be ok, they've been through worse than this and landed on their feet. Think about what you want and how you feel. How you feel about Oscar? About Henry and about Alex?"

"You know what the worst part is, we haven't even told June and Nora yet!" Bea let out a large, exasperated sigh. "Nora, Alex and Henry have both called June a 'Daddy's girl' more than once. This is going to be another led balloon disaster."

"You need to calm down, or I am going to have you sedated." Percy threatened her. He was sure he could find a doctor who would happily let him pay for the pleasure of having her sedated.

Honestly, he couldn't see Nora having an issue about Oscar and Bea. June might. If he had to hedge his bets, he would have betted on Alex being the more chilled one in this scenario. A year ago, he would have known exactly what June Claremont-Diaz was thinking. These days, he doesn't know as much. He, June and Nora, they'd had a thing going between them. A throuple of sorts. But slowly he felt like he was being edged out, until one day, he realised there was another man in the picture as well. A fellow MIT grad student, a friend of Nora's.

There was no pity, no anger or harsh words exchanged. No tears or animosity. Just well wishes and a promise to remain friends and stay in touch. Of course, June and Nora moving away from New York, all the way to Boston for Nora's schooling had helped put things in perspective. It was only ever meant to be a casual thing.

"What if I make the wrong choice?" Bea asked him. Her voice sounded small and unsure. Percy couldn't remember a time when Bea sounded so unsure. Even when Arthur had been in the final stages of his cancer battle and Bea had begun getting hooked on cocaine. "What if I say yes to Oscar and Henry is alone forever because Alex is his soulmate and Alex leaves?" She hiccupped as the tears fell faster. "What if I say no to Oscar and I am alone forever?" She asked in even a smaller voice.

"Come here, Darling." Percy offered, holding her arms out and patting his lap. Just enough of a smile on his face to encourage her to climb into his arms and take the offered comfort. "It'll all work out for the best in the end." Percy commented into her as she climbed on to Pez's lap and allowed to be engulfed by his masculine frame and the fruity, floral aroma of his aftershave filtered into her nostrils.

"How can you be so sure?" She asked him, as she held onto him with all her might.

"I don't." Pez confessed in a low whisper. "No one truly knows. But we've got to have a little faith in life, or else; what is there to believe in?"

Bea stayed silent. On occasion he could feel her body tense and shake, wracked with a sob; before eventually subsiding. When her breathing evened out, he maneuvered her onto the sofa and covered her with the afghan throw from the back of the sofa. Covering her up, and tucking the small pillow under her neck, he lowered the lights and headed into his room.

'The things I put up with for you, Henry.' Pez thought, as they entered their room and stripped off their clothes, before climbing into the shower.


Oscar sighed wearily. He hated how he'd left things with Alex. He was relieved that June was living in Boston with Nora now. She was so wrapped up in her job and their life there, she wasn't constantly checking on him anymore. If she was, she'd be telling him to get his shit together when it came to Alex. June was always Alex's biggest protector. She was someone who valued her role as a big sister and she had always taken it seriously.

Alex might be the reason for his survival and half of the reason he has stayed sober all these years, but he admits that parenting Alex has been hard work and has taken a toll on all of his relationships. Even if it wasn't directly his fault. That wasn't being that he blamed Alex for the fall of those relationships, but Alex had definitely been a key factor in the decline of them.

For instance, Oscar always wondered what would have happened if Ellen had never fallen pregnant with Alex, so soon after having June. Sure, it had been her pregnancy with Alex, that had prompted him to get off the alcohol and stay off it. But maybe Ellen would have left, all the way back then. Back when June was a toddler, and she hadn't even thought about running in local politics.

Would Ellen even be the president?

What would he be doing with his life?

Would he even be who he is now?

Would he even still be in politics? If not for the connections, he had made while he was married to Ellen.

Would he have met Raf? He liked to believe yes, because Raf is his platonic soulmate.

He certainly wouldn't have met Sarah. The best, yet worst mistake of his life. When the fallout from his relationship was complete, he barely had a leg to stand on in his relationship with Alex.

Yet he had been trying to fix it, and they'd been well on their way and now he had stuffed it up by becoming sexually attracted to Henry's sister.

Oscar let out another sigh and lowered his head into his hands, his elbows resting on the desk. Alex had always said he felt forever about Henry. Alex had been planning on proposing to Henry. He bought a ring too. It was perfect for Henry. A ring he had told Oscar adamantly, he was going to return.

"FUCK!" Oscar huffed out, tugging at his hair anxiously.

He had fucked everything up for his son's life.

"Everything ok, Os?" Raf asked him, entering the inner office. Oscar's PA and staffing team had already left for the day and Raf had been confident that his friend wouldn't have minded the intrusion.

Feeling startled, Oscar jumped at the intruder's voice. "For fuck's sake Raf, put a fucking bell on your collar." Oscar snapped in frustration. He hadn't meant to take his feelings of anger and frustration out on Raf.

"Tell me." Raf said, letting his body sink into the sofa against the left wall of Senator Oscar Diaz's office. "Tell me, Oscar. What's got you so upset?"

"I've fucked everything up." Oscar admitted in a low voice. The sound of guilt and remorse was eating away at him. "I tried to think how far back it was, since there wasn't something in Alex's life, that I managed to fuck up. I couldn't remember a time when I wasn't screwing up, especially with Alex."

"We screw up because we care, Oscar." Raf said softly, it was something that someone had once told him and it had resonated so much with him, it had stuck. "If we didn't care, why would we be calling it a stuff up? A mistake? A screw-up? A fuck up? Whatever you call it, is generally based off how badly you think you wronged the other person in question. The fact you're calling it a fuck up and the person in question is your son; I'd say you care a great deal about it and want to right your wrong."

"He bought Henry a ring." Oscar confided in his best friend.

"That's great." Raf beamed. He was happy for Alex. Raf and Alex had always had a special kind of relationship. In another world, at another time, they might have been something more. But in this world, here and now, they were like brothers. Like he was with Oscar. But in that dynamic, he was the older brother. Alex had always looked up to him and admired him, since the say they first met. When Alex was outed, Raf had taken it hard. He had felt incredibly guilty, but Oscar and Alex had both reassured him there was no love lost and that Raf had done the right thing.

"I said bought." Oscar emphasized the past tense. "He was going to propose. He told me he will be returning it now. Turns out when your father confesses, he wants to date your boyfriend's sister, it doesn't go down too well."

"Oh Oscar," Raf sympathized with him. "I am sorry, but after Sarah, you had to know Alex wasn't going to immediately be ok with this." Raf didn't want to kick Oscar while he was down and say 'if, ever.' But he was sure Oscar knew it was always going to be a hard sell.