TPASD 13
Henry had barely been seated five minutes when Gabriella started crying from the crib. The monitor picked up the sound wonderfully and the screen lit up with the clear live footage of her little body wracked with sobs. David's barks reverberated off the apartment walls in synchronicity with her wailing. The cacophony echoing in surround sound.
Henry tried soothing her and her wailing continued. Catherine offered to take her, even Bea offered, and Henry declined. "She is my responsibility." He reminded them both, gently.
"Darling, caring for babies is a tag-team effort, let me help you." Catherine all but begged of her son. She was proud of him for wanting to try and do it all himself, but she could see he was beginning to wear himself thin.
"She's just grizzly and fussing today, Mum." Henry sighed in a huff. Usually, she was a calm and happy little girl. Henry leaned down and pressed his lips to her hairline. "Hmm, she is still a little on the warm side still."
Catherine immediately reached out and touched her forehead with the back of her hand in a way that only a parent does. "Hmm, you're right." She murmured, trying to hide the sound of her pride. She was impressed with Henry and had been all day. She could scarcely believe how much of a natural Henry was with her. Now was not the time to let the pride she had for him distract from the little girl's low-grade fever. She would tell him later how incredibly proud she is of him.
He reached into the side pocket of her diaper bag and pulled out the small grey case Alex had stashed in there, just that morning. Handing it to his mother to open, as Gabriella decided in that moment that was the perfect time to scream the palace down. Henry rocked her and spoke in low, soothing tones, trying to console her, to no avail. "Come on, my little princess. It's going to be OK." However, he cries did not stop, nor slow down.
Catherine looked at the thermometer, bemused. It was one of those new fancy thermometers that you wipe the lens over with the alcohol wipes, point it at the forehead and shoot. Much different than the old, under the arm thermometers they had when the kids were younger. "For goodness' sake, Mum." Bea chastised her, taking the thermometer from her and stepped up. "38.4, Henry." She murmured, showing both Henry and Catherine the LED display with the orange, colour-coded backlight.
"OK, her temperature is rising." Henry admitted, trying to keep a clam facade. He knew that if he worried and panicked, it would only upset Gabriella further. He knew he had to keep himself calm, all the books had told him so. But he couldn't help himself, he was a natural worrier. "I think a call to Alex is in order. Can someone please take her for a moment?"
"Don't look at me," Bea swore, shaking her head no, as Catherine stepped up and took her from Henry. "She's a doll and yeah, she's a gorgeous baby, but I don't do babies. Especially when they're crying."
Catherine looked her over, as she held the baby close to her and rocked her, humming the same lullaby that she used to hum to Philip, Bea and Henry when they were babies. Looking up, she saw Henry rub his face, wearily. "It's ok to be worried Henry, just don't let Gabriella pick up on your worry, or she will feed off it." His mother advised him, gently. "Everyone worries, Darling. It's human nature, and after the rough start our little lady here has had; it's more than ok to worry."
"Hen, it's going to be ok." Bea told him softly, pulling her younger brother in for a hug. "Go call Alex and everything will be ok."
Alex had heard his phone vibrating, but court was in session, and he couldn't answer. He was tired and frustrated. If he had to listen to opposing counsel's misogynistic, homophobic rant on the reasons to not to emancipate the shelter's minor based opposing counsel's client's bank balance on one more time, Alex was going to leap across the table and strangle him. The two of them had gone to law school together and he had been a nightmare back then. Four years later and nothing had changes. Alex still hated the man. Fucking WASPy Hunter.
The incessant sound of the phone vibrating, harshly and repeatedly. In between calls, Pez's phone would harshly vibrate and disturb the peace. "Gentlemen? Can we please have all mobile phones switched off while the court is in session? I am not going to ask again. Thank-you."
Alex turned his phone off, as per the judge's request, ignoring the missed calls from Henry. Pez refused on principle, telling the judge their pronouns were they and them, not his, and that he did not identify as a gentleman. The judge profusely apologised to Pez and reworded his statement, before Pez reluctantly complied with the request. Normally someone making a guess at their pronouns and getting it wrong did not phase Pez, but this case was about the emancipation of a trans minor, whose safety is in jeopardy based on her parents' ability to accept her for her queerness.
Not even five minutes later, a court officer entered into the courtroom quietly, interrupting the proceedings, profusely apologising to everyone, including the judge before stepping up to Alex and handing him a piece of paper. Scanning the message it was from Henry. "Your Honour, we request a recess, there is an urgent matter that requires my attention immediately." Alex requested.
"Request denied, Mr. Claremont-Diaz." The judge snarled, infuriated at the interrupted proceedings. "The urgent matter will just have to wait. Sit down and allow opposing counsel to continue."
Frustrated and fed up, Alex handed Pez the telephone message. "Your Honour?" Pez tried, seeing Henry's coded message to Alex. "A recess, please. We have an urgent matter that needs attending to."
"Mr. Okonjo, you just heard me tell Mr. Claremont-Diaz to sit down." She reprimanded Pez too. "Now sit down!"
"I'd personally like to know what this urgent matter is." WASPy Hunter sneered at Alex. Alex and Hunter had been rivals at law school, with Hunter constantly in competition with Alex and falling short every time, Hunter had an axe to grind. He wasn't above playing dirty to get a win against Alex.
"My daughter has fallen ill." Alex snapped, and Hunter scoffed. "She was born prematurely and needs medical help."
"Well, you are not a doctor, Alex. But I am sure your fiancée' can handle a sick baby." Alex had been physically restrained from punching fucking WASPy Hunter in both of his eyes. Alex wasn't a violent person, but that dig felt like Hunter had crossed a line. Especially since that fucker had sent Alex a condolence card when Erica had lost her life. "Oh, I am terribly sorry." He apologised in an overly sweet, and entirely aggressive false tone. "A dead woman can't help anyone, can she? It really is such a shame she is dead. I guess that's one way to get away from you."
"Cool it, Counsellor." The judge warned Hunter. "Do not leave the courtroom, you have three minutes, Mr. Claremont-Diaz. However, I want this case wrapped up and off my docket today. No more delays."
Alex furiously turned his phone back on and as soon as it was loaded, was hastily calling Henry. No answer, "Dammit!" Alex huffed out, ignoring the smirk that graced Hunter's face.
"It's going to be ok," Pez tried to reassure him. But it didn't work. Alex was getting antsy and panicking further with every unanswered call.
"What the hell is going on over there?" Alex fumed out, this time louder and frustrated. Pez turned his own phone on and made a call to Brie on the reception desk, back at the shelter.
"Brie said Henry took Gabriella back home with him, she was grizzly and unsettled when he left around one." Pez murmured to Alex.
"I can't get hold of him." Alex said, his eyes watering. He was panicking. He was worried. The last time Gabriella got sick was running through his mind. Calling the ambulance and Gabriella struggling to breathe. The doctors forcibly taking her from him and separating them while they worked on her.
"Alex? ... Alex?" Pez interrupted his mental spiral. "Go and beg the judge for a continuance. I'll keep trying Hazza. Tell the judge what happened last time she was sick."
Alex was pleading with Hunter and the judge and whilst he did look sympathetic, he had meant what he said. He wanted this case off his docket. He was over it. "I am sorry, Mr. Claremont-Diaz, I am sympathetic to the plight of a single father, I truly am, but an ill child is not an excuse." The judge told them, dismissing his plight again.
"Please ..." Alex begged. He never begged, but this was his daughter. She meant everything to him. he would happily lose his job for her health and well-being. "Please!"
"Tell me why it is so important you rush to your daughter's side when she is in the care of another adult." The judge asked him. The question was meant to come off as rhetorical, but Alex didn't think he just snapped.
"Because she almost died the last time, she was sick!" He snapped, before pulling at the curls on top of his head, like he usually did when he was frustrated. Pulling at his curls had always been an outlet for his anxiety, when things were ratcheted up to the maximum level.
Pez came over, urging Alex to take a seat. "If I may, your honour. Mr. Claremont-Diaz's child is a micro-premature baby. Six months old, actual, three months corrected. She was born at twenty-nine weeks gestation and has had an extensive myriad of health issues in her short life, so far. Please take into account that Alex is her sole caregiver, it is within his right to want to be with his daughter at this time. As Alex said, the last time she was hospitalised was only a month ago. She was hospitalised with respiratory issues which almost cost her, her life."
"Very well. We shall reconvene on Monday morning at 0800 hours, unless I hear further word from Mr. Okonjo or Mr. Claremont-Diaz. Any objections, counsellor?" The judge asked Hunter and he smirked.
"I thought we were closing this case today. My client is ready and wishes to proceed today, Your Honour." Hunter smirked at Alex who was still frantically trying to contact Henry. "As you said, we have already had too many delays."
"You're skating on thin ice, counsellor." The judge reiterated, before staring Pez down. "Monday! Unless I hear otherwise. Adjourned."
"Come on." Pez gathered all of the papers and Alex's legal notes in one armful and shoving it all into his own briefcase. "I've texted my driver, he's waiting for us at the front door. We'll go straight to Henry. They will let me in."
Pez dragged Alex out of the courtroom and through the courthouse, all but shoving him into the open limo door, before ordering his driver to the gated driveway at the west entrance to Kensington Palace, specifically.
In the back of the limo, en route to the palace, Percy pulled Alex in for a hug, before dialing Beatrice, Henry' sister; kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner. When Beatrice, or Bea, as Henry and Pez affectionately called her, answered; she quickly explained that Henry and Catherine were in the bathroom with Gabriella, and that they should head straight to Henry's apartment, as soon as they arrive. That Henry had Shaan call the pediatrician from her last hospital admission and Shaan was on his way to her in that moment. The plan was to make her sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement before bringing her to the palace to assess Gabriella, personally.
Alex was thankful, he truly was. But it had made him feel incredibly guilty. He was Gabriella's father, not Henry. It was his job to care for her, to look out for her and to provide for her. Not Henry's. A slap to his chest startled him out of his reverie. "Stop it!" Pez chastised him harshly. "I can see the hamster in your head spinning on his wheel, so fast it's making smoke. What I say to you now, I say as both your friend and as your employer. You did what you had to do today. It was a hard call, but you made the right one. She's going to be ok."
Alex could barely nod. He was emotionally hanging on by a thread.
A large crack of thunder, and a bolt of light lit up the grey afternoon sky. It had been in a light misty drizzle all day, which had had not improved Alex's mood. He was from Texas, born and bred. All his years in London, he was still not acclimatized. The weather matched his mood.
Pez had given up verbalizing his reassurances. Pez had managed to get Alex out of his head, momentarily, but it was no use. Until he saw Gabriella, and by extension Henry, he would remain there. That was fine, Alex was still learning to rely on people after everything that he had been through. Alex didn't know what it is was like to have people nearby who cared about him, about his daughter and about their well-being.
They had never heard such a sharp sigh of relief, as the limo rolled to a stop at the west entrance of Kensington Palace. Pez gave their names to the security, and they were waved through the gilded wrought iron and gold-plated gates. Footmen were waiting with umbrellas to usher Pez and Alex into the palace.
"I've got it from here, thank-you." Percy told the footman, leading them to Henry's apartment. Not bothering to knock, Pez waltzed into the room like he owned the palace. "We're here, babes."
"You must be Alex," Bea said softly to Alex, taking his hands in hers and pulling him into a hug. "I'm Bea, Hen's sister. I'll show you where they are. Percy, Darling, wait for Shaan to arrive with the Doctor. He said they were almost here."
Princess Beatrice led Alex through an over-generous sized bedroom and into the bathroom. There was Henry, sitting in nothing but a pair of wet shorts, wet golden locks of hair and shirtless from the waist upwards. That shoulder to waist ratio Alex adored on Henry, on full display; his daughter nestled safely on his chest. Alex tried not to take advantage of the opportunity to check out Henry's naked torso, although his eyes did roam slightly.
Alex felt like he had swallowed his own tongue. He couldn't talk. His eyes were roaming, and his mind was racing, wondering why the hell Henry was soaked and his child was naked on the man's torso.
A plush white towel was wrapped around Gabriella's naked body, Catherine drying her down as much as she could while she was still in Henry's arms. "Hello, Alex." Catherine smiled warmly, turning around. She couldn't help but notice Alex's eyes roam slightly, and briefly over Henry. "We've had a slight mishap here. Your darling girl made a bit of a mess. All over Henry and herself. The doctor is on her way."
"Hen?" Alex asked, finally coming out of his stupor. The lights flickered momentarily. "What's wrong with her?" Alex didn't bother to hide the worry in his voice. This was his daughter; he was allowed to be worried.
"She's still fussing," Henry murmured, looking up into Alex's eyes. They were dark, yet soft. Much like they had been when Henry had been staring at them this morning in Alex's bed. There was this distinct softness that took them over, whenever Gabriella was in his presence and Henry adored seeing it. "She managed to work herself up and vomited all over me."
Alex grinned widely, "Welcome to the club, Hen. Do you know how many times I have been vomited on? Peed on?"
"Oh, I've been peed on too." Henry laughed too.
Catherine was watching and observing. Henry had managed to pass her off to Alex seamlessly and she couldn't help but smile as she watched Alex and Henry work together in getting her dried and into warm clothes. As they all re-emerged from the room, Shaan was announcing Dr. Sander's arrival into the room.
She stilled, squinting at Henry and then at Alex holding Gabriella. "Yes, I remember you now." She murmured with a warm, reassuring smile. "Gabriella here had a rather nasty bout of croup, last time. What seems to be the problem today, gentlemen?"
"Increasingly fussing," Henry answered, automatically. Then he realised he had all but taken over, when Gabriella's father was here. "Sorry Alex, your child you go."
Alex gave him a reassuring smile and squeezed his arm. "It's ok, Hen." Alex told him. "As Henry was saying, increased fussiness, low grade fever. Very clingy to Henry or myself. Vomiting."
"First off, relax. Both of you." The Doctor reassured them both. "It's natural for all babies to only want their parents when they are feeling unwell. Let me examine Gabriella, and we will see what we find."
"Oh, I'm not ..." Henry protested, but trailed off when he heard Alex's words.
"You may as well be, at this point." Alex sighed softly. The doctor simply apologised for the assumption, before continuing on with her examination.
"Let's start with her ears." The paediatrician murmured, looking over behind Alex. Alex was sitting in the armchair, with Gabriella on his lap. Henry was behind the armchair, leaning over to see what the doctor was doing too. His hand resting on Alex's shoulder. Gabriella's little fingers grasping the pinky finger with the gold signet ring in a vice grip.
She let out a small cry when the otoscope entered her small ear. "Oh, my darling girl, it's ok." Henry replied to her softly.
Alex shot him a soft and gooey look, that made Henry feel like he could have melted from the heat of it. "One of her ears are rather red." She murmured. "Let's check her throat too. Has she had any coughs or cold symptoms?"
The boys exchanged a soft look with each other. "No, she hasn't." Henry answered for both of them. Alex gave him a small, reassuring smile of his.
"Ah..," The doctor stammered, seeing that Henry's hand was in the way of her listening to her little patient's heart and lungs.
"Ah, sorry." Henry said sheepishly and Gabriella let her protests be known with a small cry.
"Oh Mija, you can have Hen back in a minute." Alex promised her, as the doctor tried very hard to school her face.
"If I may say, your daughter really likes His Royal Highness." The doctor told Alex shyly. Dr Sander's couldn't help but wonder what the relationship were between the two men.
"Please, call me Henry." He said softly to the doctor. "Thank you for coming out to see Gabriella, I know the weather is far from ideal."
"No trouble at all." She said softly, looking over the prince. He wore the same look of worry as Gabriella's father, Alex did. "I understand from your equerry that our little patient here became unwell, whilst in your care. I want to reassure you both that she had a slightly red throat and one ear is red. Most likely she is suffering from an ear and throat infection. I will prescribe her some antibiotics. Am I assume you will want them delivered here?"
"Yes." Henry said.
"No." Alex said, at the same time.
"Excuse us a moment." Henry said politely, as the doctor stepped away momentarily. "Why don't you want them delivered here?" He asked Alex.
"I have to go home." Alex reminded his friend. "There is a storm coming in and I would like to get Gabriella home before it hits."
"You and Gabriella need to stay here, Alex; where it's safe." Henry insisted, taking Alex by the hand and giving it a small squeeze, before letting it go. "They're predicting major power outages with this storm. It could be days before the power is back on. I need to know you and Gabriella will be OK."
"Of course we will be OK, Hen." Alex said, touching his forearm reassuringly. "We've survived storms before."
"Not a storm like this Alex." Henry argued, secretly revelling in the fact that Alex hadn't taken his hand off him yet. "Last time we had a storm this bad, six people were killed. Where you live, it went completely underwater with the storm surge from the river. I need to know the two of you are safe. The weather is shifting, you saw it on your way in, Alex. Gabriella is already unwell, I am begging you to stay here at Kensington Palace. We have everything you might need. The palace runs on it's own power station and we have a doctor on-site if she gets worse."
"Hen," Alex said softly. "It'll be OK. Gabriella and I can wait out the storm at home. We will be ok. "
"Alex," Henry pleaded softly, he wasn't above begging again, at this point. "Please. I know you're independent and you like to be self-reliant. But think about your daughter. What if her health gets worse and you can't get help in time because of the storm?"
"Fine." Alex conceded. He hadn't wanted to. He had wanted to be stubborn and insist that he take her home. But Henry made sense. After his last experience with Gabriella being unwell and how scary it had been, Henry had been there for him then too. Being his calm rational side. He conceded for Gabriella and no one else. "I'll need to run home and get some things for us."
"I'll have Shaan run and get them, just give him a list and a key." Henry insisted, before calling the doctor back over here. "If you could have the antibiotics sent here, that would be wonderful. With the impending storm and expected surge, I have my convinced my friend Alex and his daughter to stay with me."
The sound of a scoff behind him was discreet, but when Alex and Henry turned around to locate the guilty party, Catherine, Bea, Shaan and Pez all wore the look of innocence on their faces. Henry would have bet his last pound that the scoff had come from Percy. Bea was usually more discreet and his mother would not openly do so in front of a stranger.
"If Mr. Claremont-Diaz and Gabriella live in a low lying area, that is a very good idea." The Doctor murmured in agreement. She hadn't wanted to be caught in the middle and this whole experience had been unique. At least, by signing the Non-Disclosure Agreement she couldn't tell anyone. Not that anyone would believe her, the prince being all paternal with a non-blood relative's child. "I'll have the antibiotics to you within in the hour. She will need one dose every eight hours. It is preferred that she have the medicine after a feed, as it can upset her stomach, if given on an empty stomach. Please store it in the refrigerator between doses."
Alex and Henry, quickly and proficiently thanked the doctor once more, before Shaan escorted her out of the apartment, out of the palace and into a waiting car.
"Darling, get that list organised for Shaan and a key while I take Gabriella." Henry said softly, running his hand across Alex's shoulders. Alex's body shivered under Henry's touch and Henry sent him a sly smirk, seeing Alex physically affected by his touch. "You can use my office, it's right through there."
Once Alex was safely inside Henry's office, Percy sent Henry a wide grin. "What?!" He laughed at his best friend, exasperated. "I didn't say a thing."
"You didn't have to, it's written all over your face." Henry argued with his friend and Bea rolled her eyes at how oblivious her brother was being. Somehow his mother ended up with Gabriella and Henry feared his mum was becoming attached to the young Claremont-Diaz girl. "Mum you do know when the storm is over, Alex and Gabriella will return to their own home?"
"Oh of course, Henry Darling." Catherine murmured, not taking her eyes off the baby in her lap. "Perhaps you should go and see how Alex is getting along with that list. I suspect Shaan will want to get there and back before the main front of the storm hits within the hour."
"I am almost done with the list, Hen." Alex said, not looking up from behind Henry's desk. Henry had to admit, Alex looked good behind his desk. He bit into his bottom lip, imagining going over to Alex, curling his arm around Alex's shoulder, climbing into the Texan man's lap and kissing him senseless. Before dropping to his knees and worshipping his manhood with his mouth. "Did you hear me, Hen?"
"Sorry, my mind was wandering." Henry murmured, joining Alex on his side of the desk, resisting the urge to wrap his arms around Alex's body. "Mum's going to organise dinner, is there anything specifically you would like to eat?"
"Nothing bland." He chuckled, looking up at Henry. His chocolate eyes crinkling with laughter at his own words and Henry wanted nothing more than to bend down and capture those lips. To massage his lips against Alex's in a mating dance as old as time itself.
"Mother knows spice, Alex." Henry whispered between them. Either when Henry spoke, he moved his face closer to Alex's, or as Henry perched himself on the edge of his desk, Alex scooted forward. Either way, they were physically close. Within the close proximity between them you could feel the heat crack and sizzle.
"Tell me, I am reading this wrong." Alex murmured, looking into Henry's cerulean blue eyes. His fingers were itching out to touch the golden coifs of Henry's hair, to feel if it was as soft as he imagined it to be. He was wearing that soft, blue cashmere sweater that matched his eyes, those taupe coloured Tom Ford chinos, with the buckles that fastened on the side and his pinstripe shirt that always made Alex's heart skip a beat.
"You're not reading this wrong." Henry replied, barely louder than Alex's murmur. His thumb gently strumming Alex's lips in a feather-light caress that made Alex metaphorically need to bolt his feet to the floor. "I need ..." He paused. Lust, desire and want was written on Alex's face. Letting out a sigh, Henry lowered his head to Alex's shoulder. "That list," He replied, sullenly.
"Right." Alex pulled up, straightening his body up and angling it backwards, away from Henry as if he had been slapped. "Here." Alex handed the list off to Henry and Henry walked it over to the study door, handing it to Shaan, alongside Alex's spare key.
Alex moved off Henry's desk chair, towards the door. Partially wanting to escape, to mentally regroup and berate himself for reading the signals wrong, but more importantly, to return to his daughter.
"I'm not done with you yet." Henry murmured, as Alex walked past him. Turning Alex towards him by his forearm and marching him the short distance backwards to the closed office doors. Henry kept closing the distance until his lips were pressed against Alex's in a fiery hit of passion and lust. Hips to hips, chest to chest. Lips on lips.
It only took a nanosecond for Alex's brain to catch up and he was immediately kissing Henry back. Alex's mouth over Henry's top lip and Henry over Alex's bottom lips, fireworks exploding behind them. Alex's hand found its way into Henry's hair, as Henry's hand toyed with the hair on the nape of Alex's neck.
Opening his mouth a little wider, was all it took for Henry to introduce his tongue to Alex's in a dance that was older than time. Henry's tongue, danced and mingled with Alex's and the moan that escaped Henry's mouth when Alex sucked Henry's touch was guttural and wanton. The noise Alex made in response to Henry's was steamy and pitiful, almost begging.
They could feel each other pressed firmly into one another's hips. Henry wanted to reach down and stroke Alex through his dress pants, but that would require putting some distance between them. Something he was loathed to do.
Pulling back slightly and reluctantly, resting their foreheads against each other; they breathed each other in. "Do you still think you read the bloody signals wrong, Alex?" Henry asked, his voice slightly broken and laced with carnal desire. Now he'd had a taste, Henry wanted more. "Now's not the time, but mark my words, I bloody want you. All of you."
With that, Henry stepped back. Before Alex could reply, Gabriella let out another loud cry, and Alex left Henry standing in the middle of his study, panting, hard and alone.