TPASD 26

Being woken by Henry's cell phone ringing was not on their bingo card for the day. Gabriella had been up and down all night. Alex and Henry had taken turns all night at settling and resettling her. Henry's yawn into his cell phone, as he hit answer startled Shaan, who was on the other end of the video call. "Is now a bad time, Sir?" Shaan asked, trying to keep the mirth out of his voice and off his face.

"Not at all, Shaan." Henry answered, through yet another yawn. "What is it?"

"Your mother wishes to have a meeting with you and Mr. Claremont-Diaz this morning." Shaan replied, firmly. "I thought you may appreciate the heads up, she is already enroute to the flat?"

"Thank you, Shaan." Henry answered tensely, disconnecting the call. Alex had laid back down on the bed when he had realised that it was Shaan. Shaan calling generally meant it was palace business and therefore, not his business. Alex had laid back onto his pillow and closed his eyes, Gabriella was finally asleep and had been for the last ninety minutes. That was the longest stretch of time she had slept all night. "Darling, mum is on her way here. We need to get up."

"Babyyy." Alex whined. Last night had taken him back to the early days of when he had first brought Gabriella home from the hospital and she was constant crying. Having that witching hour, every hour. "Nooo."

The purple crying. Peak crying - That one had started around a month after she came home lasted almost three months. Unexpected crying - when Gabriella would cry and scream for no reason. It would often catch him off guard. Resistant to soothing - Nothing would calm or soothe those tears. Pain like face - Gabriella would always look like she was in pain when she was crying, and Alex would find himself constantly worrying that she actually was in pain. Long-lasting crying - Gabriella would cry for hours on end, past the point of exhaustion and it would not be limited to the nighttime. Evening crying - Although Gabriella would cry mostly in the night, she did cry a lot in the afternoon too.

It had been a triggering and traumatic time for Alex and last night had been like that was back. Alex had learnt early on how not to let Gabriella's crying trigger his own ADHD meltdown too. After it happened the first time, Alex realised that his meltdown had only exacerbated Gabriella's crying. So, he would really work to consciously control his own feelings during that time.

"Sweetheart, Darling, Love..." Henry pleaded with Alex. "Please..." Alex rolled over and opened one eye to Henry, raising his eyebrow at Henry: the question written on his face. "NO!" Henry answered, his face heating up and flushing red. "I am not going to do that right before my mother arrives. No!"

"That's so not where I was actually going." Alex laughed at him, kissing his forehead. "Now, I am going to make it my mission to get you to scream before she gets here."

"Alex, you cretin. NO!" Henry laughed out loud, as Alex lunged onto him and they tumbled into a laughing heap. Henry managed to capture Alex's lips. "Come on you heathen, we smell."

"Well take me into the shower already, baby" Alex grinned lavaciously at Henry, as Henry pulled Alex out of bed and into the bathroom.

Catherine was ringing the doorbell just as Henry and Alex were finishing up in the bathroom. Alex rushed ahead to get the door. Henry was finished, but he was getting little miss Gabriella up and changed for breakfast.

"Good morning, Catherine." Alex greeted her warmly. Catherine smiled, as soon as she saw him. Alex was freshly showered, dressed in blue denim jeans and a black fitted tee shirt and bare feet. The cotton fabric was thinly stretched over his bulging muscles and Catherine could see a small smattering of purple marks blooming on his skin, at the neckline of his shirt. "Come on in."

"Good morning, Alex." Catherine smirked following him into the flat. Henry spotted Catherine as he came in with Gabriella in his arms. Gabriella was dressed in a pair of baby girl leggings and a tee shirt and socks. "Good morning, Hen."

"Good morning, Papi" Henry spoke, handing Gabriella over to Alex. Alex placed a dutiful kiss on his daughter's head, before he put her in her highchair. By the time Alex had Gabriella in her chair, Henry was placing a small handful of dry cheerio cereal on the tray for her. "Morning, Mum. Cup of tea?"

"Thank you, Darling." Catherine gave a Henry a nod and took a seat beside Gabriella at the table. She watched in wonder and fascination as Henry and Alex moved around the kitchen flawlessly. Henry making tea for her and coffee for himself and Alex. "Coffee, Henry?" She asked, amused.

"It was a very rough night here, Mum." Henry yawned, once more. In turn making Alex yawn too. They did say yawning was contagious. "Our little miss here has a very healthy set of lungs, and she showed us all night, just how active they can be."

"Oh," She commented lowly, taking a sip of tea. She recalled how Henry had previously explained to her about how ages are calculated for premature babies. How the actual age does not reflect their development. That for everything except their vaccine schedule they use 'corrected age'. Which is worked out by subtracting the number of weeks premature the baby was born. Calculating in her head that Gabriella was nine months old, minus the eleven weeks early she was, put her at six months corrected. She remembered when her own children were six months old, especially Henry, and how each of their sleep patterns had changed. "Sounds like the six-month-old sleep regression. Gabriella's become more aware of sounds and her environment, making her more sensitive to sleep disturbances. It might not sound like it right now, but this is a good thing. It means that she is experiencing a significant physical and mental growth. As her awareness of her environment increases, she will become more responsive to sounds, engage in more laughing and babbling, and possibly begin to show more physical abilities like rolling over or sitting unsupported. With the increase in her physical abilities and mental and environmental awareness, she might be more sensitive to overstimulation, separation anxiety, or other disturbances which might affect her sleep."

"So, this is normal?" Henry asked his mum. "We shouldn't be too worried about it?"

"Perfectly normal, love." Catherine smiled at her son, reassuringly. She was pretty sure Alex was asleep with his head in his hands, and coffee going cold under his nose. "All three of you went through it, although you were by far the worst, Henry. Your sleep regressed and it never really bounced back."

"Even now as an adult, with Henry's chronic insomnia, it's shit." Alex commented, not bothering to open his eyes.

Catherine sent Alex a smirk. So, the man was awake, that surprised her.

"Like you're any better, love." Henry retorted, giving Alex a playful jab in his side causing him to physically jump.

"Henry love, your father used to try to make it home for bedtime as much as possible. Especially when you were younger." Catherine recollected. "He was so good at it too, Bea used to call it 'daddy put downs'. I can tell you what he used to find worked best with you."

"Please," Alex begged. "I'll try anything. If it works on Gabriella, I'm gonna try it on Henry and finally get some fucking decent sleep of my own."

"He used the same series of steps to get ready for bed each night to teach Henry that bedtime was approaching." Catherine chuckled, amused by Alex's desperation. She was sure it could not have been easy for the single father, doing it all alone. Even if this relationship was new, she was relieved that she had raised Henry to be the kind of man that cares so much that he feels the need to help his partner. "He would feed you dinner before bed and engage in some calm activities, like rocking or cuddling, to help you wind down before sleep. Sometimes life would get in the way, and it would be hard to manage a schedule to the minute. But he found that having a ritual with a regular time for bed and naps created the stability Henry's sleep pattern needed. He would often tell me that the increased activity during the day, especially if Henry was exposed to natural light, would help Henry get used to daytime being for play and nighttime being for sleep. When Henry would show signs of drowsiness, such as eye rubbing or fussiness, he would get them ready for bed and put them into their crib while sleepy but not yet asleep."

"That's it?" Henry asked, surprised. "I thought dad would have at least told me a bedtime story. He was always so good at those, and he would do the character voices. Never failed in not making us laugh."

"Bedtime stories came later." Catherine remembered fondly. Henry had been almost four and was just beginning his fascination with books. "He loved spending time with all of you. However, he always said there was something beautiful about putting your child to sleep."

Gabriella let out a squawk, annoyed she had run out of cheerios. Even if a third of them were on the floor and in her chair. "Some banana coming up, little lady." Alex promised her, as Henry passed him the whole banana from the fruit bowl on the bench behind him.

Catherine observed Alex, recalling when her own children were little and how all of the food had to be pureed and it would be a big debacle to get any of them to eat. Especially Henry, who quite often preferred to play in it, making a mess. She watched Gabriella with a sort of awe, that someone so small, who had faced the challenges she had faced in life, could still manage to be as happy and healthy as she was. "She definitely loves her food."

"Food before one is just for fun." Henry recited, remembering what he had read in one of those baby books that Shaan had loaned him from his wife. "It is about exploration of differing textures and exposure to them, rather than meeting nutritional needs. These early food experiences help babies develop taste preferences, learn about different textures, and practice feeding skills."

"Look at you go with the dad knowledge, Hen." Alex beamed at him proudly, while Gabriella smooshed her banana between her fingers and into the tray, before reaching for Henry. Henry was quick and managed to capture that grubby little hand with a napkin and clean it. "How about I take care of cleaning up our girl and you go and chat with your mom."

"It is so wonderful to see you this happy and carefree, here with Alex and Gabriella." She mentioned, looking around the room as Henry collected his own cup and plate, his mother's teacup and Alex's coffee mug. He wiped down the table, and Gabriella's tray and seat, scooping the left-over cheerios into the bin. "Have you made a decision yet?"

Three nights before Mary's funeral, Catherine came to him. He was in the music room at Buckingham Palace. It was late, almost two in the morning. Henry was sitting in front of the piano, reading music, pencil in hand making side notes. Sometimes tinkering around on the ivory keys with a couple of bars.

"Henry, darling, what are you doing up still?" Catherine asked, startling him out of his reverie. He had never slept well at the best of times, but it was always worse when he was at Buckingham Palace.

"Can't sleep, Mum." Henry sighed. He wasn't even tired, and that was the biggest hurdle of his insomnia.

"What's on your mind, love?" She asked, taking a seat beside him on the piano stool.

"Alex," Henry gave her a small smile. "Gabriella and Alex, actually."

"You really like Alex, huh?" Catherine asked her son. She was fairly certain that the boys really cared for one another, and that Alex was just as deep in love with Henry, as Henry was with Alex.

"I've never felt this way about someone before." Henry admitted, shyly. "Gabriella, she is just amazing, and I utterly adore her. I would do absolutely anything for her." Henry sighed, letting a mix of anger, frustration and hurt. "I just want to be with them, all the time."

"What if you could, darling? Would you?" Catherine placed her hand on Henry's arm, stopping him from distracting himself on the piano or with the music sheets. She wanted one hundred percent of his attention.

"What do you mean?" Henry asked, confused.

"Would you ever be open to the idea of having an honest relationship with Alex?" She asked him. She had been hoping that under her reign, Henry would feel comfortable enough to live his life as his true, authentic self. "I mean coming out and getting to be with Alex without hiding or being forced to feel ashamed of your feelings for him."

"Mum, I think I want to abdicate." Henry finally felt something loosen in his chest. His chest had been so tight, for as long as he could remember. The guilt gnawing at him, that while most people would do anything to be a prince, he would do anything not to be the prince. "It's not about Alex and Gabriella; it's about me and finding myself."

"Ok." Catherine stated. She had known how unhappy Henry was with his life. How had Henry suffered under her mother's reign? Shaan had filled her on some more pertinent details like Henry's PTSD, anxiety and clinical depression. As soon as Catherine had become aware of the extent her youngest had been battling through his whole life, she had made herself a promise.

'If Henry ever wanted to abdicate, to leave his title behind, she would do everything in her power to let him.' The monarchy owed him that much.

"What if …?" Henry started but stopped just as abruptly.

"What if; after the funeral, you and Alex have yourselves a serious talk about the state of your relationship?" Catherine finished for him. "After that, take a few days, stay with Alex. Pretend you aren't a prince; you're just an ordinary man. If you realise it's for you, I will do everything in my power to make it happen."

"Thank you, Mum." Henry hugged his mother tightly. Catherine had been surprised by the sudden affection. She couldn't remember the last time when Henry had impulsively hugged her that wasn't shrouded in grief.

"Henry?" Catherine prompted, bringing Henry out of his thoughts. "I need a decision. I have spoken with the PM, and we have tentatively agreed on a course of action, but we won't go any further with the plan, without your approval."

"I want to … abdicate." Henry admitted, and he felt even lighter than he did that night at the piano, talking with her in the music room at Buckingham Palace. "I don't wish to leave the family, but I do want to live my own life, away from the trappings of royal life. Alex and I are currently in discussions with Pez about our next shelter locations, and I have been subtly hinting that maybe somewhere in the USA is a viable option. I want to protect Gabriella and Alex from as much of the fallout as possible. I would like to have a chance to get to know Alex's family too. We would like Gabriella to spend some more time with her grandparents, as well."

"Can you and Alex work on a proposal and settle on a location for me?" She asked, looking at her watch. "I will contact the PM and notify him of your choice. We can get the ball rolling and he can put it before parliament in a closed PMQ session. However, do be aware that … he will be requesting that you make a speech upon your abdication. You will not be able to just go quietly. The people will not accept that."

"So, I will have to come out then?" Henry asked, not sure if that was really what he wanted. He knew he didn't want to hide anymore.

On the odd occasion he had allowed himself the luxury to fantasize about this, he had always just imagined that he would get papped with a man and that would be that. Mary had drilled it into all of them, for as long as they all could remember that 'As members of the royal family, we do not make speeches. Speeches are for politicians.' It was taking some time to adjust to the new way his mother was running this monarchy. The better way, he hoped.

"I am afraid so." Catherine confirmed. She tried to pull off a loving and supportive smile, and for the most part she succeeded. However, Henry could see a flicker of doubt behind her eyes, still. "It doesn't have to speech, or a press release. You could just do a social media post. In fact, that might be best for all involved. The PM and the Lord Chamberlain are in agreement that it might be best if you omit the part about being in a relationship. Allow the people to see you as the gay prince first, then allude to the fact that you are involved with someone."

"Deny Alex's existence then?" Henry asked. He felt himself getting angry. In theory, he could guess that his mother was coming from a place of love; but his heart hurt at the thought of having to deny his feelings for Alex.

"Deny a relationship, not his existence, Henry." Catherine corrected him, gently.

"Am I not existing, now?" Alex asked, looking up from a case file he had his nose buried in. Gabriella was at his feet in her sit and spin and Alex had been catching up on legal briefs from the shelter.

"I do apologise, Alex." Catherine sounded genuine. "We just thought it would be a better way to control the media and their response to the announcement. If Henry were to come out, and admit he has a boyfriend, it might to overstimulating for the people of the Commonwealth."

"Especially since said boyfriend has a biological child with his dead fiancée, right?!" Henry snapped. He could only imagine that this wasn't exactly his mother's idea. This had the trademarks of the late queen mother's Lord Chamberlain's homophobia written all over it. The man had been one of his grandmother's closest confidants, of course, he would still be trying to control Henry on her behalf, from beyond her grave. "Let's not even touch the fact that his is a bisexual, biracial American expat."

"Henry!" His mother admonished him. Her initial reaction had been one of shock, as she had been stunned that her youngest son was capable of such cynicism.

However, the more she thought about it, the more she realised there was a distinct possibility that Henry was right. Henry made some very valid points. The Lord Chamberlain was one of her mother's closest confidants. He was more than capable of picking up where her mother had left off in her death. In particular, since he would have been privy to her deep aversion to Henry's 'deviant proclivities', to use her mother's favourite phrase. As well as the fact that Alex does have a biological child with a woman who was once his fiancée. That there are visibility issues in the LGBT community around bisexuality and the common misconception that bisexual people are just people who cannot make up their mind. Perhaps the most pressing matter, is that Alex is a biracial, expat.

If the Lord Chamberlain is capable of homophobia, then he is certainly capable of xenophobia too.

"Alex?" Henry asked, hesitantly. Henry didn't like the look on his face. The look was a mixture between upset and self-sacrifice. "What do you think?"

"It doesn't concern me, Hen." Alex told him, not looking up. Alex was feeling a lot of things all at once. He was feeling low, like Henry was ashamed of him, of being with a bisexual, biracial American expat. He felt like he was disappointed that Henry had seemed resigned to just follow whatever his mother wanted. Henry had seemed so serious about them being together; Alex's stomach had dropped at the thought of Henry wanting to hide him away like a dirty secret. A direct contrast to the prince's promises.

"Don't be daft, Alex." Henry scoffed at him. "Of course it concerns you. You are the person I am in a relationship with. I made a promise to you, Alex and I intend to keep it."

"Then no, Henry." Alex huffed, standing up and scooping the legal brief together. "I do not want to be hidden away like your dirty little secret."

"There you go, Mum." Henry told her, plain and simple. "I will not keep Alex and Gabriella as my dirty little secret. Hidden away, while every gay man in country who thinks they're available for the taking, tries to slide into my DMs, or anything else, thinking they have a chance. Go back and tell the PM and the Lord Chamberlain that I will make a social media post. I will no longer be the prince of shame, and of the secrets. Starting now, the world will see who I am."

"Very well." Catherine replied, before taking her leave.

It wasn't too long after Catherine left, that Henry started feeling antsy. And not a good kind of antsy, but the kind where it felt heavy and ominous in the pit of his stomach.

It wasn't until after lunch, that Henry gathered the strength to confess his worries to Alex. Who admitted feeling that same kind of worry. After a small discussion, back and forth, they determined that it definitely had to do with the media reaction, and not the abdication post.

With the two of them in agreement of feeling unsettled, Henry summoned Shaan to the temporary apartment so the three of them could talk. Shaan arrived promptly, as promised, and as Henry let him in, he was hastily apologising to him for disrupting Shaan's day off with his wife. Shaan waved their apology away, conspiratorially leaning in and saying, "I had to get out of that apartment. My wife is working on a big case, and she has a whole team of lawyers over."

"There's nothing wrong with that." Alex muttered, and Shaan shot him a look. "Ok, yeah, I get your point." Alex conceded, thinking about the headache inducing constant use of legal jargon. And not in a fun way, like when he and Henry binge watch Legally Blonde One and Legally Blonde two.

Henry quickly explains the feeling of uneasiness that he is feeling in his chest. Alex corroborates the feeling and says the same thing. Shaan admits that the more he thinks about it, he too has a feeling of uneasiness.

Together, they make a plan.

Shaan organised a truck to come and collect the belongings that Alex had purchased in the almost two weeks he had been in the temporary flat. Next, Alex packed up what belongings are left of June and Nora's, while Henry and Shaan packed up his and Gabriella's belongings.

For safety, Shaan had managed to procure a guest house on the grounds of Kensington Palace, separate from the main building. For security reasons, Shaan urged Alex to telephone his sister and her wife to find out exactly where they were and what they were doing. Alex discovered they were just returning from spending the day at the Louvre. That they were planning to return back to London on the Euro-star the following evening.

Shaan did not like the idea of the women on the Euro-star unattended without security, especially since both Nora's grandfather and June's parents were important politicians in the US and it would not be much of a leap to make the connection from Alex to the ladies, given they all have Claremont-Diaz in their surnames.

After a couple of calls back and forth between Oscar, Ellen and Alex. As well as Shaan and Catherine, it is decided that Shaan would send two PPOs by royal plane to retrieve the women immediately. That Nora and June would wait to be collected from the US Embassy, in Paris by Henry's PPOs as a precaution, for their own safety. However, when they landed in the UK, they would not be disembarking the plane.

Alex, Gabriella and Henry, as well as Shaan would be boarding, joining them on board. Before the royal jet would be flying on to a private airstrip in New York to refuel. From there, Shaan, Alex, Henry and Gabriella would fly onto Texas. There, Ellen would have vehicles waiting for them, with additional security, to take them to his Lake House on the LBJ Lake.

Oscar would be waiting for them at the Lake House. Oscar and Ellen took emergency leave from congress. They figured that a week away on emergency leave would suffice. It was long enough to deal with this, but short enough that it isn't suspected to be something too serious. Leo, of course, would be joining them too, and Alex just hoped with the three parents under one roof; everyone would behave themselves.

Shaan busied himself organizing the plane and carefully selecting which PPOs he and Henry could trust the most, who had the least amount of family ties and would not tell a loved one of the plan of an extended stay in the US. Ideally, Shaan would have preferred for the girls to get collected on the way to the States, but he wasn't comfortable with the idea of Henry being a sitting duck on the tarmac.

It had been only then that Alex had reminded Henry that his and Gabriella's passports were locked away in his safety deposit box at his bank and he would not be able to access them until the following morning.

Shaan left the temporary flat first, followed by the truck. Henry, Alex and Gabriella left in Alex's SUV, which Shaan had organised to be stored with Henry's vehicles in the palace garage.

The transition from temporary flat to the guest house went seamlessly and by the time Gabriella was back in her sit and spin, Alex was phoning both of his parents; to let them know they had made it to the palace safely.

Henry made a telephone call to Pez, asking him to empty all personal effects from both of their lockers and their offices. He requested Pez make it look as if neither Alex, nor Henry had ever worked at the shelter.

As the trio settled in to eat some dinner; a simple pasta dinner that Henry had ordered for them from the palace kitchen, Pez was knocking on the door, with Shaan in tow.

"I have procured all of the belongings and paperwork that Mr. Okonjo retrieved from the shelter." Shaan informed the boys, as Percy held Gabriella close to him. He wanted as much time as possible with her, before they departed. He admitted in a small voice to his best friend that he was going to miss the three of them. Alex returned the legal briefs he had been working on since he would no longer be involved in that case. "I have stowed them with the belongings to accompany you to the plane."

"Thank you, Shaan." Henry smiled.

"Two more things, Sir." Shaan added, as he smothered a smirk at Gabriella trying to escape Percy's arms, for Henry who was sitting beside him. "Your mother is currently working with Rose, on a way for Mr. Claremont-Diaz to access his safety deposit box tonight. And Mr. Claremont-Diaz, I have received word from my contact at the US Embassy, your sister and her wife are safe. They sought refuge after returning to their hotel room, to find that it had been broken into. My contact has assured me they will be safe there until morning. We will be meeting the plane just as it touches down. I will have some staff that are trusted implicitly, on hand to help us load your belongings. You three will board, I shall board when we have dismissed our staff. As soon as I am seated, we will take off."

"Can I speak with my sister?" Alex asked him, worried about June and Nora. He was eager to hear from their own mouths that they were ok.

"Of course, Darling." Henry soothed Alex's worries about June, trying to comfort the man by pulling him into a half hug. "Why don't you go call them now, love?"