Bea and Oscar 12


Henry was eager to leave, and he sent Cash a text to come a whole two hours before the end of the day. He couldn't focus and Pez was ready to banish him from the office. The look that Cash gave Henry when Henry and one of his PPOs climbed into the back of Alex's first family issued, armored SUV, was a positive, reassuring look. It made Henry believe he was making the right choice, doing the right thing.

As soon as Cash pulled away from the curb, Henry felt comfortable enough to ask Cash how Alex was doing. At Cash's enquiring stare, not so overtly towards Dylan, his PPO, Henry smiled. "Dylan has been my PPO for the better part of twenty years Cash. He is to me' what you and Amy are to Alex. I trust him."

"Since we spoke, he woke, had another panic attack and Amy made a decision to sedate him with a pinch of belladonna in his coffee. He should be due to wake up again not too long after we arrive." Cash explained as he indicated and changed lanes. "We are hoping you will be able to stave off another panic attack. Otherwise, we will have to activate a medical protocol."

"What's that entail?" Henry asked, mostly for morbid curiosity. But he liked to know plans, carefully laid out, meticulously detailed plans. He found himself stressed further when things weren't going according to plan. "Not that we want that." He rushed to add.

"Well, he would be taken to Bellevue for a medical and psychiatric assessment, depending on what they diagnose either sedation, or seventy-two-hour psych hold. Upon discharge, he would most likely be transported back to DC, to the White House until he is fit to be seen in public once more."

"Christ!" Henry swore. "That's as cold and barbaric as the Crown. Who thinks up bullocks like that? Really?"

"Which is why Ames, and I are going to do everything in our power to prevent that from happening." Cash provided softly, as he pulled into the driveway of the town house Amy shares with her wife. "That includes sticking our noses in between the two of you and overstepping the boundaries between professional and personal. Neither Amy, nor I want to see this destroy the two of you. We were both there, when the two of you started this. We were there, when the two of you went up against the Crown and won. I was there, when the two of you decided this was worth fucking fighting for. I was one of the few people Alex would communicate with after the Lake House. Sure, he might have listened to other people's encouragement to fight for you. But when the going got tough and he decided to fight like hell to have you, it was me he reached out to. Now, it's your turn to do the same."

Dylan agreed to man the door to the townhouse, and Cash let Henry inside the house. Leading him straight to the guest room where Alex is still asleep. Halting Henry halfway down the hallway that led to the guest room, Cash turned and scrutinised him carefully. "As you have probably gathered Amy and I really like Alex and June. I've been in a position where I have been fortunate enough to have witnessed Alex grow up and grow into who he is today. You have had a big part in that. He really came into his own after you two began your clandestine relationship. For what it's worth, now you need to be the strong one and fight for him, Henry." Cash advised him softly. Henry liked Cash. He respected him. Respected him as a man, as a PPO and as an advisor. "Alex really doesn't have it in him to fight for you, as well as his place in the world. He already feels like he has lost because it's Bea and against Bea, he will never win."

"Thanks, Cash and thank you for having his back." Henry tells him in earnest. "Amy too. Alex and I would be lost without you two."

Henry had toed his shoes off when he had entered Amy's home. So, his sock-clad feet made little to no sound as he crossed the mid-sized guest room and went straight to Alex's side. Looking down at him, his slumbering form, Henry gently brushed the hair off his face. Hearing the door snip over, Henry looked over his shoulder and confirmed that Amy had closed the door over to allow for some semblance of privacy between them.

The sleeping man was anything but peaceful, but Henry isn't in a position to complain about the quality of sleep Alex is having. Henry sat on the side of bed and pulled himself up to lay beside Alex. He really didn't have a specific plan in his head. Just to wing it and hope to win Alex back. He was certain of one thing; Cash was right. It was his turn to fight like hell to save them. It was his turn to be brave. It was his turn to let Alex be the emotional and vulnerable one. Alex had more at stake than him. If all this went south; Alex could lose Oscar. Henry remembered the firsthand pain of losing Arthur and he didn't want that for Alex. Sure, Oscar wouldn't die. But he still lived everyday wanting to pick up the phone and call his father and Henry was familiar with the grief that followed the realisation that was not a possibility for him. He didn't want Alex to know that grief. To know that pain. Not yet.

Seeing Alex beginning to stir under his touch, Henry leaned forward and carded those messy curls off his forehead, so when Alex woke up, he'd be able to see those beautiful chocolate coloured eyes that Henry loved so much. Seeing his eyes flutter open, Henry smiled down at him and kissed his forehead. "Darling?" He whispered softly, waiting for Alex to register his presence. he didn't want to startle Alex, especially after Amy had to resort to a dash of belladonna in his coffee to calm him. "Are you awake?"

"Baby?" Alex asked, slurring his sleepy words slightly. Henry loved every version of Alex with every fiber of his being, but there was something about the sleepy-confused Alex that always made him seem so soft and vulnerable.

"I am here, my love." Henry told him, running his fingers down Alex's arms in a reassuring way. Henry saw the moment Alex realised that he was really here, and that Alex was not simply dreaming him into existence.

"Hen? Baby?" Alex was confused. He felt tired, so incredibly tired. His head felt fuzzy, foggy. He was confused. He could seem to organize his thoughts, although for some reason; that was comforting. Familiar. "What are you doing here?"

Alex seemed to remember he had ended things with Henry. He had packed a bag and left the Brownstone. He could feel his eyes getting watery at the thought that even though he had left, Henry had come to see him. His heart was aching. He still loved Henry. Henry still set him on fire with every touch and with every word.

"I thought we could talk about that silly email you sent me." Henry smiled, trying to keep calm and not spiral just because Alex had told him he was leaving. "Why do you think you've got to leave me? What part of you're it for me did you misunderstand?"

"Baby, I can't be with you if Bea's going to date my dad." Alex whispered fast. His tone wasn't kind and harsh. It was rushed and hurt filled. Alex had been making a conscious effort not to cry. He didn't want to cry in front of Henry. He couldn't. "It'd be wrong. If they got married, you'd be my step-uncle. I won't make you choose between me and Bea."

"Darling, no one's talking marriage," Henry tried not to laugh at Alex and his thought process. "And why can't you ask me to choose between you and Bea? Not that anyone is asking you to, least of all me."

Alex felt his resolve not to cry crumble and he felt the first tear fall. Hot and wet against his cheek. "I can't win. I'll never win." Alex sobbed his confession out. That first tear was like opening the waterworks and his tears were falling; fast and frequently. "S...Sh... She's your sister."

"And you're my boyfriend. My partner, my lover. My man." Henry told him, truthfully in earnest. "Alex, I have never loved anyone like I love you. I love you like the air we need to breathe. The sun we need to live. The sin that you Catholics confess to the priest. I am going to keep on loving you. Don't you get it, you're it for me. You're the only one for me. I thought you knew that, already."

"No." Alex argued, vehemently. "She's your sister. You literally promised your father on his deathbed that you'd always be there for her and look out for her. I won't let you break the promise you made to him, for me."

"Alex, Bea's older than me. She's old enough to take care of herself. She doesn't need me like that now." Henry could feel his own eyes getting wet. Partly with frustration at Alex's sheer stubbornness, then at himself. He tried to rein in his own emotions. He couldn't afford to lose the loose control he had on his own feelings. Both of them sobbing wouldn't end well for them. "I have you, and you have me. Bea has her sponsor, her bandmates, her rehab support. She doesn't need me to hover. She came to us because she wanted to be honest with us."

"Hen, you don't understand." Alex huffed, frustrated. He sat up in frustration, dragging his body upright. He felt unsteady and groggy, but he was determined to get his point across. Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing a resigned sigh. His heart was aching. History was repeating itself. AGAIN. He took a deep breath to starve off a panic attack, but his ribs felt like they were being pressurized. He tried again and found it hurt to breathe in deeply.

"Alex?" Henry asked, seeing him begin to struggle. The polished vowels in Alex's name curled around Henry's lips and it took everything in his power not to panic too. "Just breathe Darling, come on. Let's box breathe together. Breathe, Baby, breathe. Inhale one, two, three, exhale. Inhale one, two, three, exhale. That's it, baby. Keep going."

"Hen?" Alex tried again. He was striving to match Henry breathe for breath but found himself coming up short. "Hen?"

"Alex, I am going to need you to calm down." Henry stressed, encouraging Alex to match his measured breathing. "Come on, Darling. You can do it."

When Alex's breathing was consistently matching Henry's measured words and breathes, Henry let himself relax. "Hen?" Alex startled him slightly.

"Darling, what is it?" Henry asked. Whatever it was, it was important to Alex. He had been stubbornly trying to get Henry's attention.

"Did I ever tell you about my friend Sarah?" Alex asked and Henry felt a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. "She was my roommate when I started at Georgetown?"

Henry's gut sunk further. Alex had mentioned her once, in an off-hand sort of way when referring to how he got diagnosed with ADHD. How she had been the one to mention that Alex should get himself tested. "Not specifically." Henry answered him truthfully. "Alex, darling. I want to talk about this with you, I really do, but why are you bringing up an old flame, right now?"

"Trust me, she's not my old flame." Alex snapped in a huff and Henry schooled his features very carefully, as not to flinch at the ice in his boyfriend's tone of voice. "She was my roommate when I was at Georgetown, which is what I said. For the first two and a half years everything was going great. She was like a big sister, but not in an overprotective way like June is. It was nice and we were very good friends. You already know how she helped me navigate the whole ADHD diagnosis. Do you know why we're no longer friends?"

Henry shook his head no. He didn't know. All he had known about the woman was that she had helped Alex get tested and diagnosed. That when she had moved out, Alex had moved into the White House with his mom, then that summer the cake incident happened and Henry and Alex's journey began. Henry was afraid to ask, realising that he might not like the answer or where this conversation was heading. "No."

"She had an assignment for school, to work on a political piece. She was a journalism student. Easy right. Hell, her roommate is the First Son. Surely, he has a connection and would willingly help her out. They're friends after all." Alex hoisted himself upright and looked over at Henry. Henry didn't like Alex's tone. It was self-deprecating and it didn't fill him with a sense that this was going to end well for Alex. "I introduced her to do my dad. She was going to do a piece on our friend, Senator Rafael Luna. Dad was going to introduce them for me. Everything went fine.

Until it didn't. Sarah started seeing someone. She was really cagey about it, about who he was. She never brought him to the apartment, preferring to meet him at hotels or his apartment. She was head in the clouds, head over heels in love with the man."

Alex continued on telling Henry, what had happened between him and Sarah. "Alex?" Henry whispered, as soon as he realised who Sarah's lover had been. "How did you find out?"

"He sent flowers to the apartment for her. I saw his name on the consignment sheet when I signed for them." Alex admitted, trying to hold his tears back in. "I left the flowers where she could find them and went to class. I came home to find the flowers in the trash and her room emptied out. I was so worried. I looked for her, tried to call her. I was even going to call the police. I called her parents. Her mother berated and verbally abused me, before hanging up on me. I lost her friendship and I never saw or heard from her again."

"Oh, Alex." Henry pulled his boyfriend close to him. Inside Henry was angry at Oscar. How could Oscar not think this wouldn't affect him and Alex? Of course it would. Alex was a self-sacrificing man. It was something he both loved and loathed in equal parts.

"Pa didn't know I knew, until yesterday." Alex hiccupped. His tears were now falling freely. Alex was past the point of caring. "I told him. He said he was sorry, but his apology doesn't mean shit."

"I can't lose you because of Pa." Alex openly sobbed. "I love you. But when Pa screws up, and I know he will. Bea will blame me, and you will leave too."

"Hey, hey." Henry tried to console him. He could feel the grip he had on his own emotions falter. "Let's start with, I'm not leaving you and you're not leaving me. The rest we can work out together."