TPASD 32
Leo had immediately sensed the need for Henry and Philip to keep a bit of distance between them. Leo liked Henry; he could see the conflict written on the younger prince's face. Whatever it was, it was big between them.
'Probably from a lifetime of being pitted and compared against one another,' Leo mused to himself. 'The heir and the spare. Knowing the history of the royals, they were probably treated that way too.'
With Alex so much like both Ellen and Oscar, he needed someone Henry to keep him settled. Keep him on an even keel. Like Leo did for Ellen, like … well, Oscar managed; but it wasn't easy for him. Weirdly, in June and Nora's relationship, June was the calm one.
Glancing up, Leo caught prince Philip's eye. He was watching Henry with Gabriella, while Alex shouted firmly into his cell phone. Speaking in Spanish rapidly, Philip's eyes bugged out a little. He hadn't realised that Alex was bilingual, in addition to biracial. His face changed to a smile when he saw the dopey, love-struck look on his brother's face.
"Pretty sure Ale's talking to Senator Rafael Luna." He whispered in a low voice to Philip. "Senator Luna is a friend of Oscar's and Alex's mentor. He has worked with Luna on campaigns in the past and Luna is particularly familiar with that reporter's particular line of bullshit."
Alex's rapid-fire Spanish was doing things to Henry. Things he rather it wasn't doing in the company of Alex's entire family, his brother and equerry. He felt that stirring in his pants and not for the first time, wondered how bad it would be to give in to his desires when it came to Alex.
He hadn't wanted to put further pressure on his boyfriend, in light of the revelations. However, Henry did note that Alex seemed to be in a much better place today, mentally.
"Sé que es difícil, Alex. Pero hay que dar un paso al frente. Dígale a la policía la verdad para que pueda proceder con cargos penales. Tiene que ir a la cárcel por sus crímenes." Raf pleaded with Alex into the phone. (I know it's hard, Alex. But you have to come forward. Tell the police the truth so you can proceed with criminal charges. He needs to go to prison for his crimes.)
"Quiero dar un paso al frente. ¡Miguel Ramos merece pudrirse en la cárcel por lo que me hizo! Pero tengo miedo, Raf. ¿Y si papá tiene razón? ¿Qué pasaría si yo mismo me trajera todo esto?" Alex replied, running his hand through his unruly curls on the top of his head. The stress clearly written on his face. (I want to come forward. Miguel Ramos deserves to rot in prison for what he did to me! But I am scared, Raf. What if Dad is right? What if I brought all of this on myself?)
Oscar looked up and caught leo's eye, frowning. Leo gave him a small shrug. The fault was not on Leo because Oscar had not apologised or patched things up with his son. Looking over at Philip, Leo gave him a small smile. "The quicker you learn Spanish in this family, the better off you are." He chuckled.
"Siempre has sido valiente Alejandro. Ahora es el momento de demostrarle a Ramos y al mundo que no le tienes miedo ni a él, ni a una pelea. Lo tienes, Ale." Alex sighed, he knew his mentor was right. He didn't usually back down from a fight. (You've always been brave Alejandro. Now is the time to show Ramos and the world, that you're not afraid of him, or of a fight. You've got this, Ale.)
"¿Y si Enrique me deja por esto? Decide que soy demasiado. ¿No vale la pena el esfuerzo?" Alex asked, risking a glance in henry's direction. Henry who was changing a sleepy Gabriella into her pyjamas, while Zahra chatted to him. (What if Enrique leaves me over this? Decides I am too much. Not worth the effort?)
"Entonces tu príncipe no es el hombre que pensabas que era. No voy a mentir, Alex. Te dolerá, pero lo superarás. Para que conste, por lo que me dice Oscar, tu príncipe se quedará contigo." Raf replied to Alex, and Alex couldn't help but send Henry a big smile. (Then your prince is not the man you thought he was. I am not going to lie, Alex. It will hurt, but you will get through it. For the record, from what Oscar tells me, your prince will stick by you.)
"Muchas gracias. ¿Te veré pronto?" Alex asked, his question lingering in his arms, as Henry wordlessly handed him his sleepy child. (Thank you so much. I will see you soon?)
"Mañana por la mañana, Alejandro. Quiero ayudar y quiero conocer a la damita más nueva de tu vida, así como a tu príncipe azul." Alex laughed, hard and but soft in sound. He was trying really hard not to startle Gabriella, trying to muffle to majority of the noise. (Tomorrow morning, Alejandro. I want to help, and I want to meet the newest little lady in your life, as well as your prince charming.)
"Oh, Raf, no puedo esperar a que lo conozcas. Es increíble. Es tan maravilloso, amable y cariñoso. Ah, y quiere mucho a Gabriella." Alex replied, grinning from ear to ear. (Oh Raf, I can't wait for you to meet him. He is amazing. he is so wonderful and kind and caring. Oh, and he loves Gabriella so much.)
"Alejandro, parece que te hace muy feliz. Eso es todo lo que quiero para ti. El hecho de que él ame y adore a su hija es una ventaja. Nos vemos mañana. Adiós." Raf replied. (Alejandro, it seems like it makes you very happy. That's all I want for you. The fact that he loves and adores your daughter is a plus. See you tomorrow. Bye)
"Adiós, Raf." Alex grinned, disconnecting the call. Leo had been keeping a close eye on Alex and when Alex looked up, he caught Leo's eye. "Raf's coming. He'll be here in the morning."
Leo gave him a thumbs up, pleased with this development. There had been many times in the past when Rafael Luna had been able to diffuse an escalating argument between Oscar and Ellen with success. He always managed it in a way that no one felt stepped on or put out. It was something that Leo admired about the now former Senator, turned political advisor.
"We need to put Gabriella to bed, now." Henry whispered firmly to Alex. The only sign that Henry wasn't angry with Alex, was the slight upturn of his upper lip and the resulting smirk he sent Alex's way. Henry's face morphed into desire and lust, which was written on Henry's face as plain as the day had been.
"We're gonna call it a night, ya'll." Alex announced sending Henry a wink, as Henry snatched up the camp highchair and the trio headed out, rather quickly.
"Gross." June muttered into the silence, once the three of them were gone. Her mind had been slow to react to the small exchange she had just witnessed between her brother and Henry.
"I second that." Philip agreed softly. He was relieved someone else commented first. He definitely did not want to look like a homophobic arse-hat, even if he did support Henry. He did not want, nor need a visual of Alex and Henry doing anything sexual swirling around inside his brain.
"Hey, you're still on probation there, Princie." June hissed to him.
Philip rose his eyebrows at her, surprised by the venom laced in her voice. He was perplexed and confused. Why was he on probation with Alex's sister? Until that moment, he had never even met her, let alone spoken to her. "With you?"
"Yes, me." She hissed. "I am protective of those I care about and that includes your brother. Who, when it comes to my brother, is as thick as it gets. Both of them. You didn't have the privilege of being around them when they were working out their shit. You didn't have to try to sleep in the room next to them. I kid you not, all you could hear was sex noises from the bedroom. So, you don't get to comment. You have to earn that right."
"Hey, what about -?" Nora started to ask her wife, but June glared at her too.
"You have willingly had sex with Alex. You don't get to comment either!" June laughed, teasing her wife. "I don't care if you were fifteen and short lived."
"Alright settle down, Mija." Oscar intervened. "We get it, you're traumatised. But you don't get to traumatize poor Philip here too. It's been a long day, maybe we should all call it a night."
"She's ok." Philip murmured to Oscar. "I've had my own share of seeing things I don't want to, when it comes to Henry. She is allowed to be traumatised. You might have only heard Alex. I have had the displeasure of walking in on Henry – mid act. You can not unsee that."
"Did you miss the part where Nora here," June pulls Nora closer to her. "Has slept with my brother? Nora is my wife, by the way."
Philip screwed up his face in disgust, as Nora and June laugh at him.
Feeling pity towards Philip, unaccustomed to June's twisted brand of humour, Ellen leaned in close to him. "Nora and Alex dated for like ten minutes when they were fifteen, after getting together at a party. They were better off as friends. June and Nora didn't get together until Alex and Nora were eighteen. Three years after they split up. It's not as twisted as June is making it out to be."
Laughing, Philip grinned at June. "Gotcha." Nora grinned at the heir. "I'm sure that Oscar won't make you stay in the apartment with them." Turning to Oscar, Nora called out with a chuckle. "Hey Pa, princie can stay in the vacant apartment, right?"
Getting Gabriella down and into her pack and play, peacefully sleeping was the easy part. Alex smugly going on to Henry about he couldn't resist him was the hard part. And by hard, it was that Henry was reluctant to admit he wanted Alex, despite his common sense. Even if, contrary to his words, Henry had the foresight to grab the lube and condoms out of travel kit.
Sneaking off down to the small double bed in the spare room, across the hall, sharing heated kisses as they made their way.
Neither of them willing to do anything in the same room as Alex's sleeping child. Between kisses, Alex promising that Gabriella was going into the spare room first thing in the morning.
Breaking their kiss, both men, eagerly stripped off their clothes, before Henry playfully pushed Alex down onto the bed.
This was a small change in their usual dynamic. They usually played a fairly even hand in bed. Give and take in equal proportions.
Tonight, Henry was taking the lead, and Alex was definitely enthused by Henry's eagerness to get him naked and in bed.
"Want you." Henry panted into his ear, placing biting kisses along the column of his neck and into the shell of his ear. Smoothing his tongue out over the harder bites, Alex was bucking up into Henry, eager for some friction of his much-neglected manhood. "Need you." Henry grinned against the skin on Alex's neck, as he sucked and nibbled harder, before laving at it once more.
"Fuck, baby." Alex keened, as he writhed underneath Henry. Alex's brain went offline as Henry began a slow and torturous decent south, stopping to suck some well-meaning love bites into his collarbone. Alex not in a position to complain if he needs to stick to crew necked tees and sweaters, instead of his usual V-neck. That was a tradeoff he was happy to make.
"Stay still, Alex." Henry admonished, letting the playful but firm request slip past his lips. "Not finished with you yet."
Henry was practically growling at this point, and it was doing things to Alex's libido. The growl combined with the soft love bites was sending waves of pleasure through his veins.
"For fuck's sake, Hen." Alex panted seeking out further friction for his much-neglected dick. "You've been winding me up for days."
As Henry's hand found his bare nipple and he toyed with the nub, bringing the pebble to peak, as his mouth continued to wreak havoc on Alex's senses.
"And speaking perfectly fluent Spanish to Luna, was what, foreplay?" Henry grinned, his mouth joining his hand on Alex's nipples. "I know you fancy him. Must admit my jealous ass-self did google him, and while he is hot as fuck, he isn't your type."
Henry could feel Alex's hard length pressed against his own. The head of Alex's cock leaking profusely with every movement.
"What's my type then, sweetheart?" Alex preened under Henry's touch.
"Me!" Henry exclaimed, fumbling for the lube. Leaning in close, a generous dollop of lube warming in his hand, Henry murmured. "You've ruined me for anyone else, and now it's my turn to ruin you."
"Jesus Christ." Alex panted, begging Henry to take him right now.
"Not Jesus, just me." Henry replied smugly. He took Alex's firm member, as well as his own in his lubed hand. Henry taking great pleasure in rolling his thumb over the helmet and through Alex's slit to illicit that sweet noise from Alex's lips.
"This isn't …" Alex panted between kisses. Henry was pressing him into the mattress with dirty kisses, as he worked Alex's manhood over. "I'm not gonna … last long."
Henry gave him a sly, feral grin as Alex's white seed shot out of his cock in long white ropes, painting his abs and chest. Henry gently released his semi-flaccid member and moved lower. Using his tongue in an erotic manner that had Alex squirming in pleasure, the naked spare prince lapped up Alex's cum on his tongue. Making eye contact with Alex, he swallowed smugly before.
Alex's cock twitched with interest, as Alex reached down to give his balls a light tug. That was single-handedly the most erotic thing he had ever seen someone else do with him in the bedroom. Ever!
Henry smirked, seeing Alex's member twitch. While his own member stood hard and erect, curving upwards slightly and uncut.
Alex's mouth was watering.
"The way I see it, you have two choices here." Henry grinned cheekily at him. "I'm going to take you apart until you're nothing but a whimpering mess. I will drag one climax after another out of you until you're begging me to stop."
"Or?" Alex hoped. Whilst Henry's first option sounded wonderful; now was not the time, nor the place for a sex marathon. Improbable, but not impossible.
If Alex was going to spend the whole night having sex, he would choose a time when they didn't have a nine-month-old to tend
to overnight.
Perhaps when she is a little older and can spend the night away with a grandparent.
"Or …" Henry winked, climbing back up on the bed between Alex's open legs. "We can just make love. Wash up and curl up in bed together."
"You fucker." Alex chuckled, seeing Henry grinning stupidly at him.
"Darling, we both know option A is not an option right now." Henry smiled into the skin of Alex's chest. "Not while our little miss Gabriella likes to wake multiple times a night."
"As soon as she is old enough, … I promise…." Alex let his words trail off. "I feel like I should say sorry. For being such an emotional mess."
"Darling, you're allowed to be." Henry replied softly, snuggling beside Alex on the bed. Holding him close.
"Yeah, but I knew you wouldn't want to … Not while I was a mess." Alex sighed, looking defeated. "And I just kept trying."
"Alex, you're right." Henry replied, kissing his forehead. "I wanted to. But I also want our relationship to succeed."
"What changed, Hen?" Alex asked, honestly. He knew he was just as a mess now, as what he was yesterday.
"Jealousy." Henry chuckled. "Seeing you so lively and animated talking to Luna in Spanish. Knowing he was making you that happy. Wanting it to be me that made you smile like that, not him. Plus, the Spanish was really doing it for me."
"Weweretalkingboutyou." Alex spoke into Henry's skin. The sound muffled, as Henry's mouth made a perfect 'o' shape in surprise.
"Huh?" Henry hummed. There was no way they were talking about him. He didn't hear his name.
"Príncipe means Prince, Hen." Alex replied with an amused smile. "Enrique is Spanish for Henry. I wasn't lying to you, baby. We really were talking about you."
Henry rolled over onto Alex, pressing his naked body into Alex's. "I can live with that." He murmured, as his eyes flicked up and down their conjoined naked bodies intertwined together. "If you want to go any further tonight, we really should get moving. Gabriella will be awake soon."
Waking in the morning, naked and satiated, Henry and Alex made their way to the shower. It was still early, and Gabriella had not long gone back down after a rough night of crying. They had taken turns of getting up with her and settling her. In the end, she had only settled if she was upright on Alex's chest.
She had worked herself up slightly, and Henry was beginning to worry about her health. They had left London in such a hurry, neither of them had thought to seek advice from her medical team. Especially since London is a temperate oceanic climate, with cool winters and mild summers. Whereas Austin, Texas is a humid subtropical climate with mild winters, long hot summers and warm springs and falls. Now they're in San Diego and they have a mild all year round mediterranean climate has dry summers that are mild to hot, as well as winters that are mild to cool.
Of course, all of this instability with the weather, as well as the excessive jetlag, was going to impact her health.
Alex made a quick call to the latest paediatrician that Henry's palace doctor had referred Gabriella to, Dr Marissa Clarke, and asked for her advice. She suggested in addition to plenty of rest, some exercise particularly to take her swimming, as well as ensuring she keeps a regular sleep schedule.
A call to Oscar and he had managed to procure a packet of swim nappies and Shaan had purchased a cute pair of swimmers for his Gabriella on a trip into Austin shortly after they arrived at the Lake House. Henry and Alex both had packed their own swimming shorts and Oscar had managed to secure a pool booking in the apartment complex for them. He had invited everyone else to join them, thinking it would be a good chance for everyone to destress completely before they get into it again and tensions run high again. IT also served as perfect timing whilst they waited for Rafael Luna to arrive from where he was working in his home state of Colorado.
Henry got Gabriella ready, with Philip hovering nearby, in a spare pair of trunks that Oscar loaned him. Philip watched as Henry proficiently changed her and prepared her for swimming. This would be the first time that she will have ever been swimming. Unfortunately, Alex and Henry had not had the chance to take her into the water at the Lake House before they had departed for San Diego.
"You're really good at that." Philip murmured, as Henry swiftly pulled the swim nappy up her tiny legs. "I don't think I have even changed a nappy before in my life. I would always hand the boys off to Martha or the royal nannies."
"Perhaps you should have learnt." Henry replied and couldn't help but feel just a little bit shitty that it came out snappy. "I'm sorry, that was -"
"Somewhat justified." Philip smiled at his younger brother. "I guess I deserve that. I know I have been a shitty brother and a shittier friend, pretty much since dad died, really. Hen, I know I don't deserve your forgiveness yet. Lord knows I haven't done anything to earn it. But please know, I'm going to try everything I my power to earn it. Even if what I did was unforgivable.
Please know, it was never meant to be malicious, it was meant to come from a place of love. It wasn't until I sat down with a therapist, the morning after that last dinner that I realised just how much I was wrong. How much I had let Gran, and her outdated, bigoted views control me. She was such a master puppeteer at her manipulative games, that I couldn't see it. I was blind to it all.
That same shit she made me pull on you, the verbal berating and emotional blackmail. She was using me to do it to both Martha and my boys as well. I cannot believe I didn't see it.
My blind faith in her that she would never lead me astray has destroyed every relationship I have in my life. However I fear by far, it has done the worst damage to us. You and me. Martha and the boys, I feel they will eventually forgive me. You? I am not sure you will."
Henry didn't reply. Not because he didn't know what to say but because what was there to say. Philip was right. The damage was done. The hurt was still there and an apology didn't mean shit right now. Philip hadn't proved anything to him yet.
Gabriella broke the stalemate between the two brothers with a giggle at Henry, as she reached for his nose.
"Say Pa-pi, Darling." Henry tried to encourage her to say her first word. She had been babbling for a while now and trying to move her mouth to form words. Henry had been working with her, eager for her first word to be Papi. Which was Alex's dad name. He secretly dreaded that it would be his name, because he knew how much it would destroy Alex if it was.
She just giggled at him some more, and Henry kissed the curls on the top of her head too. Just like he kissed her dad there too.
"What?" Henry asked Philip, seeing Philip with a crazy, goofy looking smile on his face. "What is it?"
"She loves you." He replied in a whisper. "I mean I knew you were smitten with her and thought the world of her. But she looks at you like you're everything. Like you hung the moon and the stars just for her. She loves you, Hen. She loves you like a child loves their parent."
Philip walked off, leaving Henry to contemplate what he had just said. He went off to find Nora and June. To the future heir of the throne, it seemed they were nice women and he wanted to get to know them better. Even if they were Alex's sister and best friend and they liked to tease him and give him a hard time.
As Philip set himself up on the edge of the pool, his feet dangling in the water. He watched Alex and Henry with the baby. Alex slid into the pool first, before Henry handing Gabriella to Alex and sliding in himself.
The baby immediately giggled and kicked her feet in the water, as the men both smiled wide smiles and Henry playfully splashed the infant. She loved the water and Henry's face lit up in excitement at Gabriella's exuberant smile and Alex's infectious laughter.
In that moment, he caught a glimpse of his kid brother on an odd angle, and he saw his father in Henry. His parents in the pool, while on holidays in Hawaii, at the hotel pool. Philip was still a child, maybe seven or eight years old. Bea was three and Henry was about the same age Gabriella is now. He remembered it like it was yesterday and Bea was beside him, splashing him, with Rose and Shaan hovering close by.
Arthur and Henry have the same smile. He has heard it his whole life, but he has never seen it. They share so many physical attributes and out of the the three of them, Henry takes after Arthur the most. In both looks, in personality and creativity. Now the penny has dropped for Philip. He can't unsee it.
Alex and Henry are just as happy and in love, as what Catherine and Arthur were. Are. Just because his father has passed, does not mean his mother loves him any less.
Henry had to admit to himself, that he had no idea what he was expecting with the arrival of Rafael Luna. Alex had told him so much about the former Senator turned political advisor and had spoken about him so much, henry felt like he already knew him. But he didn't. And this was a man who Alex admitted had been responsible for his first sexual awakening with men. Alex hadn't even known what his sexuality was back then. It was the beginning of his bisexuality discovery.
Coming in at only five foot nine inches tall, Rafael Luna is nothing like Henry expected him to be. He is witty, and sarcastic, incredibly attractive (He made a mental note to tell Alex just how ridiculously attractive Rafael Luna is to him, also.) He has an effervescent personality, a bit scatterbrained, but you get a sense of how smart the man really is.
He wears a similar style of haircut to Alex, except Luna's is longer. The curls are not as refined as Alex's are, where Luna's hair is wavier. His hair is less black like Alex's and more of a salt and pepper mix, definitely showing the twenty years age difference he has on his mentee in age. His growing a beard that is littered with salty, silver hair, much like the salt and pepper mix.
Rafael Luna's got this magical aura about him and Henry had not been able to understand what it was, back when Alex was explaining Rafael's role and position in his life. Now Henry gets it, there's a magnetism there. Something that draws people to the man. A tug. Henry could feel it too.
For Henry, it was like looking at an older version of Alex. Twenty years into the future. Now he understood why he felt that magnetic pull towards Rafael Luna. But not as strong as the pull he felt towards Alex himself.
Alex was missing this though. Missing this man's arrival. Missing the arrival of his mentor. He was back in the apartment, putting Gabriella down for a nap. Leo was having a conversation with Philip about the importance of renewable energy and solar power, while Henry had been actively listening to Oscar explain how the Electoral College Voting system worked. Henry had offered to go with Alex down the hall to their apartment, but Alex had declined, feeling overstimulated and needing to self-regulate.
Oscar had hugged the man tightly, as soon as the political advisor entered the room. Followed by shaking Leo's hand, kissing Ellen, June and Nora. Oscar introduced him to the English contingency, noting to Raf that Henry was the younger prince.
"¿Dónde se esconde Alejandro?" (Where is Alejandro hiding?) Raf asked Oscar in Spanish, as Leo sidled up to Henry and Philip.
"He is a good guy, Henry." Leo whispered. "No need to worry. That man loves Alex like a fourth parent and in some ways, he is." Before coming to sit by his wife on the opposite chair to the princes.
Henry must have had a worried look on his face. He caught Philip's eye and Philip rose his eyebrows, dropping his voice to Henry in a way he hadn't done since they were children. "Does hearing them speak in the Spanish language bother you? I know that Martha and her siblings speak Danish and sometimes it drives me bananas. Now I just listen for my name to know if they're talking about me or not. Some people can find it rude."
"Doesn't bother me." Henry replied with a slightly feral grin. "I like it. Just like Alex likes it when I speak Arabic to Bashmir or when I am speaking French. We're both multilingual. Alex gets this look on his face when he is speaking Spanish. It's like there's a spark behind his eyes. He becomes so animated and alive."
"The infamous Príncipe Enrique, por fin nos conocemos." Rafael Luna smiled, offering a handshake to Henry. "We meet at last," he repeated in English for the clueless Philip who was standing beside his brother. "Your Highnesses, it is a pleasure to meet you both. Prince Henry, I have heard a lot about you. All good, I assure you."