I had to reupload this chapter because I read through it a few hours after I posted it and there were some huge grammer errors, but there's probably some more that I missed.

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I was quickly discovering that cuddling wasn't so great in the summer. The heat was insufferable with my boyfriend's body wrapped around me, but Carlisle craved the affection whenever we lay down. It was unconscious on his behalf - he just wanted to be hugged - but I was sweating and too uncomfortable to sleep. Even just in my underwear, the heat of his body against mine was sweltering.

I gingerly tried to loosen his arms around my waist so that I could pull away, untangling my legs from his and rolling onto my back once I was free. Although I breathed a sigh of relief, it only lasted a few seconds before he was against me again. It was futile really.

Kicking off the blankets, I hoped that might be enough, slowly rubbing his arm as the movement made him fidget.

"...you okay, Gar?" he mumbled, pressing a soft kiss against my neck.

"It's kind of warm," I admitted, not wanting to openly push him away.

Thankfully, he took the hint, shifting back a little but still holding my hand to maintain the contact. "It's barely the beginning of June, Garrett, how are you going to cope next month?" he teased me, squeezing my hand lightly.

"With lots of fans," I groaned. It was already the worst and I was sweating just thinking about it.

He just laughed, waking up a bit now. It was literally the middle of the night, but he'd thrown his sleep schedule off quite terribly seeming as he didn't have to get up at a strict time every day. "Do you want some water?"

I'd never understand how he was still wearing a t-shirt and long pants, but I used his clothing to hold him in place, starting to laugh as well. "No, just get back in bed." Secretly I was just pleased that he was moving so comfortably after being in so much pain for so long. I snuck my hand under the edge of his shirt as he lay back, tracing his spine. "Are you feeling better?" I asked softly. Unable to resist a smile as he nodded, I rolled onto my side to face him.

"Yeah; I'm going to go crazy after a few more weeks of time off, though." He was laughing a little bit now, and I relished the sound.

"Take them, though," I warned. "You'll only hurt yourself if you go back too soon."

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This was the conversation I'd been dreading. Theoretically, it was my call whether we went or not, but I knew Carlisle would be upset with me if I cancelled without talking about it with him, and I really wanted to go. "Yeah, we're still coming camping," I assured my father, trying to keep the doubt out of my voice. If the worst came to the worst and my boyfriend wasn't well enough, it wasn't going to kill anyone if we pulled out last minute. It would just suck. Dad voice his approval down the phone line.

The trip wasn't for another few weeks, which meant that Carlisle would have a bit more time to heal, and would have the brace off of his wrist by that point, and he'd insisted that he would be fine every time I brought it up. We'd already organised for Alistair to baby-sit Fox - or had asked him to come and check on her a couple of times to make sure her food and water dishes were full, and he'd not so subtly suggested he'd rather take her to his place for a few days. Things were all set to go.

As I set down the phone, my eyes landed on the mail sitting on the bench. Carlisle had brought it in last night, and everything with my name on in was still unopened. One envelope stuck out; I was sure it was a bill, because no one ever sent me anything else, but I didn't immediately recognise the company logo on the front. I ripped it open with my teeth and pulled out the thick wad of paper.

A month until my lease on the apartment expired. Just Great. The rent had gone up too. Even better. I'd always planned to pack up and leave when this day came - I had no attachment to the place, and had only moved here out of convenience. It was a little harder to move when another person was involved, though. The new contract burned in my palm as I considered our options.

Carlisle came up behind me while I was frowning at the letter, his arms automatically around my waist. "What's this?"

I handed it to him and waited to judge his reaction. It was a bit of a comfort that he didn't immediately frown. Mostly, I just didn't want to stress him out when things were finally getting better for us. Choosing a house with him was appealing though.

"Are we moving or staying?" He kissed my throat, handing back the contract. There was no anxiety in his voice which automatically calmed me a bit. He leaned against me, prompting me to wrap my arm around his waist.

"I don't know...I always thought I'd move, but what do you…?" I asked, carefully broaching the subject. The last thing I wanted to force him into something that he didn't want. Moving was huge, and stressful enough without someone else throwing you into with.

A shy smile tugged at his lips. "I'd really like to find a home with you, Gar."

Warmth rushed through my body and my heart skipped a few beats, and I put the paper on the bench to deal with later. Coiling my arms around him, I pulled him tightly against my chest, bringing our lips together. "We'd only have a month to move, though," I reminded him, trying not to let my hopes get too high.

"We can do it," he assured me. "Unless you don't want to?"

"No, I do. It's just that moving has never gone smoothly for me, and it makes me a bit nervous," I admitted. "And I wouldn't want it to make you sick." Considering he'd moved countries, it was entirely likely that he was far more competent at it than I was, though, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

"I'm not working for the rest of the month anyway," he reminded me. "You don't need to worry about me, but if you'd rather stay here another year, then we can do that and plan for it a bit better."

I thought for a moment, squeezing him a little tighter. "I guess it would be the ideal time to move, seeming as one of us will be off. Every time I shift, it's chaos because I have to do it around office hours."

He kissed me again, obviously wanting to soothe me. "Then we can look at places together, and I can do the packing while I'm home?"

This could actually work. I nodded slowly and rested my chin on his shoulder as I thought it over. "We could get somewhere a little more appropriate for a cat?" The creature in question was currently perched on the kitchen windowsill, watching birds on the powerlines outside. It would be nice if our apartment had a bit more ventilation from outside for her, instead of recycled air.

"Yeah, and closer to your family, if you wanted?"

"I'd like that a lot."

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Going to work didn't provoke the same worry as it did the week before. The early mornings were still far too early, but I trusted Carlisle not to do something stupid while I was away. If he took the pain medication, he'd just sleep all day anyway, which was more than fine by me. Things didn't seem to hurt him as bad either; he was well on the way to getting his independance back, not really needing my help to cope anymore.

As usual, my alarm woke both of us up. As usual, we bickered a little about him staying in bed while he wanted to get up. As usual, he wasn't about to be told, and stayed awake while I headed to the bathroom.

By the time I'd gotten out of the shower, he still hadn't made it out of bed, sitting with his legs folded under himself and having untucked one of the blankets to wrap around his shoulders. I eavesdropped while I found my clothes, a little confused as to who thought it was okay to call someone at seven in the morning. It was my phone he was holding, and the ringing must have annoyed him enough to answer it. I silently cursed whoever it was. He offered me an apologetic smile when our eyes met, mouthing 'Eleazar'.

I almost groaned. It was never a good thing when my brother called me, especially this early in the morning. He'd better behave himself while he was talking to Carlisle too. I waited impatiently for the call to end, and then looked at him expectantly.

Still sleepy, he crawled across the bed to be in front of me. His fingers were cold as they brushed my waist, and he tried to pull me down to sit beside him. I did as he wanted; now that he was fully awake, I wasn't opposed to cuddling. "I'm watching Kate this afternoon," he told me.

The idea wasn't appealing to me at all; having to entertain a boisterous five year old was not going to be an easy task for someone who was in pain every time they moved, even if he was a lot better than before. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" I asked wearily. I tucked the blanket tighter around him as he leaned his head against my shoulder, carefully shifting him into my lap.

"Carmen isn't feeling well." His hands worked their way free of the blanket, his arms slipping around my waist.

"Neither are you," I frowned. "The injuries you have are a bit more, ah, severe than morning sickness, Carlisle."

"It'll be okay, she's a good kid," he argued, pressing a kiss against my jaw. "It'll only be a few hours, anyway, and then Eleazar will pick her up after he finishes work."

I sighed through my teeth, already stressed about it. "I can take the afternoon off work-"

"I'll be fine, stop worrying, Gar. She'll only want to watch TV anyway." He was right, but it didn't make me feel any better.

I kept my arms around him for a bit longer. Too soon, I needed to finish getting ready for work. "I'm going to be late," I murmured.

He kissed me again. "Have a good day, Garrett."

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I shut the front door as quietly as I could behind me, unable to wipe the smile off my face. Wrapped up in a blanket in front of the TV, Carlisle was half asleep, lying on the couch with Kate sitting on the seat in front of him. He had his arm wrapped around her to stop her falling, while she babbled nonsense at him about whatever Disney movie they were watching and he pretended to listen. Fox was curled up with them as well, nuzzling into them both. After all my worrying, it looked like things had gone well after all. He looked a little worse for wear, but generally okay.

"Are you hungry, Katie?" he asked her tiredly, straightening her clothing as she twisted to get down onto the floor. She'd never wanted to sit with me like that on the couch, so no doubt having Carlisle babysit her was a novelty. At least she was behaving for him.

She shook her head, giggling, and sat on the floor to finish watching the movie.

"Okay, but tell me when you are and I'll order us dinner," he mumbled, folding one arm over his face to block out the light. Her energy was enough to give anyone a headache, so it wasn't surprising, really.

"Can we go to the park again after?" she asked excitedly, spinning around to face him again. That would be the reason that he was so exhausted; too much physical activity was still a no-go.

He tried to smile at her. "It'll be dark soon; it'll be too cold." There was no point in reasoning with a five year old, but I'd obviously forgotten to tell him that.

"Can we watch Cinderella after this?"

"Sure, Kate, whatever you want." He just wanted her to settle again. Once she was sitting, he gathered Fox into his arms, pulling her to his chest to cuddle her as she purred. The kitten seemed to be quite a comfort to him, at least.

I crept over to them, leaning down to brush his hair off his face and kiss his forehead. "Hey."

He managed to smile this time, sliding one hand around the back of my neck to pull me down for another kiss. "Hey…"

"Uncle Garrett!" Kate pounced on me immediately, climbing my legs in demand to be picked up.

"Sit up," I told Carlisle, nudging his shoulder. I sat in his place once he had, wrapping my arm around his shoulders and scooping my niece up with the other. "Have you been good, Miss?"

"Yeah…we went outside and ran around a bit, so she's been well-behaved," Carlisle mumbled to me. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No, I just want you to stay there for a bit; you look exhausted. What've you two been doing all day?"

"Nothing, we just went to the park, and we've watched movies the rest of the day." The crafts on the table said otherwise, but I didn't pull him up on it.

Squeezing his leg, I just hugged him as much as I could. "Tired, huh?"

"Hmm…I took the pain killers before and now I can't think straight." He leaned his head against my shoulder, kissing my neck. "Are you up to watching Cinderella with us? Apparently it's the best movie of all time," he asked, teasing as he glanced up.

"Of course," I promised. Princess movies really weren't appealing, but cuddling definitely was. As soon as Kate got off my knee, I pulled Carlisle into my lap, hugging him tightly and kissing every inch of skin that I could from that angle. It was a relief to be able to shift him like that again.

He hummed contentedly and leaned into me. "…shower with me when Carmen picks her up?"

"Yeah."

It didn't quite work out like that, though. Carlisle fell asleep ten minutes later, cuddled into me and exhausted. I got Kate and I dinner and put Carlisle's in the fridge for later, leaving him wrapped in the blanket on the couch while my brother collected his child. He was slightly pissy when I answered the door, so I was glad it was me dealing with it and not my boyfriend. It was going to make camping a little uncomfortable if he kept up that attitude though. After that, I deemed it bedtime. "Carlisle," I nudged him awake before pulling him to his feet. "Let's go lie down."

He stumbled into me, sleepy and not very coherent. I kept my arms around him until he was in bed again, and then helped him out of his jeans and jacket. "Love you…"

"I love you too. Are you hungry? Dinner is in the fridge."

He shook his head though, already falling asleep again.

I gave up on both him eating and us showering, getting comfortable as well before slipping into the sheets beside him. "Thank you for looking after her. You're amazing." Smoothing his hair off his face, I kissed him gently. As he cuddled up to me, I kept my phone and headphones close, figuring I could watch videos with it while he slept since it was still early.

"She's a good kid." His voice was muffled by my clothing, but I knew he wasn't really up for conversation now anyway.

Nevertheless, a twinge of sadness lodged in my chest; we'd never have that together. I thought moving might help, if I could build a home with Carlisle, but never being able to have a family of our own was never not going to be a sore point.

Carlisle noticed immediately. His hand was suddenly on my arm, squeezing. "We have to talk about this, Garrett…"

"Let's not," I pleaded. Already my eyes were burning. "Carlisle, I don't even want to think about it- I can't-"

Despite being half asleep and already comfortable, he sat up and crawled closer to me, his fingers finding mine. "I know, but I don't want you to be miserable every time we spend time with your brother and his family."

"I-I don't know what we're supposed to do about it, though - we can't do anything about it…" I swallowed thickly. "I just...I think I just need time to process it. I'd never thought about it at all until Carmen announced that she was pregnant, and it hurts more than I thought it would…" Needing him, I reached for him, thankful when he immediately melted into my arms.

His lips met mine in a soft kiss. "Okay, Gar, just tell me how I can help." It didn't take long for him to settle again, staying close to me and gently tracing my chest with his fingertips.

I stayed awake for a while. In some ways, I'd never fully come to terms with being gay. It was a weird thing to suddenly become aware of at 26, just for one boy, and I'd never considered any other guy in terms of anything romantic. Carlisle had tried dating girls, so at least he'd had the opportunity to rule that out as something he liked, but I'd never done that. I'd only ever been with him. And the curiosity was still faintly there. That was probably something we should talk about too; maybe he could help me. It was kind of an awkward thing to want to ask about though; 'hey, I'm gay, but I still sort of like women'. It was going to be a slap in the face for him too, especially with the kid thing on top of it. Perhaps I should just keep my mouth shut.