As usual, I'll be back to fix any major errors, I just wanted to get something up since it's been so long.
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I was not up for swimming before eight in the morning - I was barely even awake. The birds and the light streaming through the tent right on dawn was enough to disturb Carlisle, who was apparently too uncomfortable to lie down any longer. He'd scrambled out of the tent and into the sunlight, leaving me groaning and dragging my sleeping bag over my head.
It was Kate that had decided it was time to get in the water. She'd gotten straight into her bathing suit from her pajamas, bypassing clothes altogether. I heard Carmen tell her no, that it was too early to be in the lake and that she wasn't doing it without her father, and the child's whining protest which eventually turned to tears. Still, by the time I dragged on enough clothing to come out and emerged from the nylon walls, she's convinced Carlisle to wade in waist deep.
The current wasn't very strong this morning, and Kate was doggy-paddling from him, to the shore, and pack again. The water can't have been over her head, but he was catching her every time he reached her anyway. The kid was wearing goggles and had already been fully submerged, though he was obviously hesitating now he was in.
Carmen smiled at me once she noticed I was up, coming over to offer me a hot drink. "She refuses to let Eleazar teach her how to swim, but she was all for it as soon as he suggested it," she chuckled. "She loves him to bits."
I sighed. "I know her father is pretty 'anti-Carlisle' at the moment, but thanks for letting him spend time with her; it makes him feel good, and he needs that…"
She frowned. "He may be being terrible, but I have nothing against your partner, Garrett. He's just trying to protect you, I guess."
"Protect me from what? A five-foot-something, 120-pound, bookworm? He's hardly threatening. I mean, sure, he can outrun me, but what's he going to do once he catches up?" That was for Carlisle's benefit as I spoke loud enough for me to be overheard, earning myself a playful glare as he rolled his eyes at me.
My sister-in-law laughed at our interaction, lowering her tone again. "The experience obviously hasn't tarnished your relationship any."
"No, of course not; I love him more than anything. It's made us stronger if anything - well, as far as our relationship goes anyway; I'm still scared of breaking him."
"You'll marry him, then?" She nudged me with her shoulder, obviously teasing, but my face still warmed and my heart beat a little faster.
"Jesus, Carmen, one thing at a time," I teased back, fighting off my reaction to her words. "But we are looking at moving house at the moment - somewhere right for us, that we choose together. I really want that for us, you know? Somewhere that's ours and not mine which he moved into."
A warm chuckle bubbled out of her chest. "So traditional, Garrett. Are you also going to ask his father's permission for his hand?"
My smile fell, and the urge to have my boyfriend in my arms was suddenly overwhelming. "He doesn't have that, Carmen," I told her softly. "He never did."
It took her a while to form a response as her face fell. "...oh…" She swallowed thickly. "Then it must mean a lot to him that your parents have finally accepted him?"
"Yeah. Yeah, it does." Kate barrell out of the water then, charging at her mother and babbling something about being hungry. I took the opportunity to grab a towel, wrapping it around Carlisle's shoulders once he was close enough. That horrible vulnerable feeling was gone once I was touching him. "Good morning," I murmured, kissing his throat, his cheek, along his jaw until our lips met. "What's this running away before saying hello?"
"You were asleep," he teased, briefly leaning against me before moving off so I didn't end up wet as well.
"I was not," I laughed. "You made too much noise for me to be asleep." And he had been that tangled in my bedding, that he'd had to wake me up to get free.
"I beg to differ; you can't snore when you're awake," he grinned, laughing when I pushed him off balance.
"I wouldn't have been so tired if you hadn't have wanted to go climbing a damn cliff face," I laughed.
"It was barely a slope, and you were the one who didn't want to get out of the water," he reminded me. Joking as it was, the debate immediately became awkward when my brother emerged from his tent to see what the laughing was about, and Carlisle was immediately watching the ground.
I hugged him again, wanting the nervousness off his face. "Go and get dry, and I'll take you out after breakfast," I whispered. He nodded and slunk away, and I ignored Eleazar completely.
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Dad had come out and captured my boyfriend before we'd had the chance to get away, completely absorbed in showing him how to gut the fish they'd caught yesterday. Carlisle couldn't have cared less, and was actually starting to look a little sick - it was something that I'd always refused to learn because of the smell and mess as well. After a few minutes of silence, dad glanced back at him, chuckling a little. "Do you need to sit down, Carlisle? Don't pass out on me. You're almost as bad as your boyfriend, you know."
A rush of warmth flooded my body as he referred to me as that. If nothing else, this trip was going solidifying a good relationship between them, and I couldn't have been happier. Coming up behind Carlisle, I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed his cheek. "Not a fan, huh?"
"I'll finish here; you two don't need to stay." He was hiding a smirk and trying not to laugh, but he was a little pale and there was no hiding it.
"Good. Let's go for a walk." I tugged him backwards a few steps before letting him turn around, lacing our fingers together. He squeezed my hand tightly, whispering a 'thank you' once we were out of earshot.
We spent the rest of our last day in the wilderness wandering through different tracks that made me oddly nostalgic. I made sure to take Carlisle up to all the places I used to sneak off to when I was a misbehaving child, and Kate decided to tag along for part of the day, becoming my boyfriend's shadow until her short legs were worn out and I had to carry her back down to her parents. Part of me was glad; I wanted Carlisle to myself for the rest of the afternoon before we were busy again for the rest of the week.
Like the day before, we packed a picnic and headed out into the forest. We purposefully picked an easy track, and Carlisle kept his fingers linked through mine as we wandered under the canopy of trees. There was no promise of water this time, but a good lunch and some time alone was enough to keep me happy.
I'd had the forethought to shove a blanket in the bag, and we settled under a large tree with it underneath us. The sun filtered through with the leaves above us with each cool breeze, sending scatters of shadows across the grass. I lay back with my arm folded behind my head, letting my eyes fall closed briefly but keeping my hand on Carlisle's waist. My fingertips traced the edge of his t-shirt, eventually sneaking underneath to brush against his skin. "Hey."
His quiet laughter was almost too soft for me to hear it as he shifted away, but he quickly leaned back, resting his head on my stomach and relaxing against me. I wrapped my arm around his chest to nudge him closer. "Hey."
"You've liked it here?" I asked. It had been my most enjoyable holiday by far, and I couldn't imagine ever doing it without him now, especially since dad was being so good with him. The thought was almost painful. He hummed quietly in response, unwilling to disturb the peace around us as he nodded, lightly trailing his fingers along my forearm. My smile was inevitable.
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The light had changed drastically the next time I opened my eyes, and with a slight jolt I realised I'd fallen asleep for awhile. I propped myself up on my elbows and glanced around, confused. "Carlisle?"
"Right here, Gar." He shifted on the blanket, crawling closer to kiss my throat, his fingers in my hair. He hadn't gone far - just leaning against the tree we were under a few feet away.
"You didn't wake me up," I accused, grabbing his wrist to stop him taking his hand back. It only took one pull to off balance him, sending him falling into me and locking him in my grasp.
"Why would I?" he teased. Still, he melted against me, locking one of my legs between his when I rolled over to face him. "Though I was going to soon; it has been like three hours." This time his lips brushed my temple, his hand trailing down the side of my face as he pushed my hair back.
"Jesus, you should have woken me up." I coiled my arms around his waist, shifting back enough that he could rest his head on my shoulder while we lay together. My eyes wandered around our makeshift campsite, trying to pick what might have been able to amuse him for so long. His sketchbook was tossed onto our bag, a pencil tucked into the pages, and it was a clear giveaway. I repressed another smile but didn't say anything. "Hungry?" My stomach growled on cue and we both laughed, Carlisle untangling himself from me to get to our food.
"Sure, Garrett."
My hand remained on his thigh as he set about digging out our lunch. For some reason, I was unwilling to break the contact between us, needing to touch him. My attention was quickly distracted though; he was handing me sandwiches and coffee in a thermos, and I wasn't about to complain. The food somehow tasted better out here by ourselves. I never wanted to leave.
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It didn't take us half as long to pack up and shove everything back into our cars as it did to drag it all out. Everyone was rather subdued as we tidied the campsite, sad to be leaving, but I found it hard to dampen my spirits about the next few weeks; not only would we be reunited with Fox tonight, but moving apartments didn't seem like such a chore anymore, and I was almost looking forward to it now I'd had a chance to clear my head.
Dad gave Carlisle a warm, though somewhat awkward, hug before we left. His eyes flicked to me, and then back to my boyfriend as he lowered his voice. "Thank you for being so good for my son; I'm sorry we got off to a rough start. I shouldn't have put you through that, you're a good kid." His hand remained on his shoulder for a few seconds while Carlisle glanced up to meet his gaze.
"Thanks, sir," he managed to get out, obviously pleased but still rather shy. Something about the situation pushed him back into formalities, and instantly my father was frowning again.
"You really don't have to call me that, Carlisle," he insisted. "You're obviously a permanent part of this family; it's going to get weird eventually." The last part was a joke but not entirely so. Dad had spent the entire weekend trying to give him the 'father-son' experience he'd missed out on as a kid, and I knew what he was hedging at now. I just wasn't sure whether Carlisle was brave enough to do it.
Sure enough, he realised what he meant, his cheeks reddening as he glanced down at his feet. The words seemed to choke in his throat. I smiled in encouragement when he looked over in search of me, and it seemed to be enough to prompt him. "Thanks, dad."
Dad was instantly grinning, hugging him again and squeezing him a little too tightly before coming after me with open arms. "You boys have a safe trip."
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Driving back home seemed extra rough now that we didn't have something to immediately look forward to. I was bored shitless, and we had to stop every half-hour or so to keep Carlisle from getting too nauseous on the gravel roads. I was stupid enough to try and push him to wait a bit longer, but it only ended in him getting sick in a place that was inherently difficult to pull over.
We ended up stopping in a little town in the middle of nowhere for drinks and snacks. Seeing as he still looked a little 'off', I made him sit with me on the seats outside, a table between us and little birds at our feet. "I'm starting work again next week," he told me quietly. For the last half an hour, he'd been almost silent, just taking careful sips of his soda but ignoring his food.
"Are you ready? They said you could take more time if you needed to." My hand found it's way onto his leg before I registered I was doing it, tracing the inside seam of his jeans against his thigh. It wasn't enough and I swiveled around to be in the seat next to him.
He sunk his teeth into his lip. "I guess so; physically, I feel fine, I'm just nervous…I don't know what I'm actually going to be doing; my old 'job' doesn't actually exist now that Caius is gone. I don't want to be put back in another weird position." He was mumbling, trailing of anf not really wanting to tell me.
"They won't do that to you again; they're too scared of being sued," I reminded him softly. "You're getting worried now it's coming closer?"
"Yeah. Coming home suddenly made it a lot more real," he admitted. "I'm sorry; I didn't want to ruin the end of our holiday like this; I just can't stop thinking about it."
"You're not ruining anything; I'd rather you told me." It was too hot, but I hugged him against me anyway, rubbing his back as he instinctively rested his head on my shoulder. "It'll be alright, Carlisle." It was going to be alight, or I was going to cause enough of a fuss that they would make it alright for him. He was going to be safe, and no one was going to get in the way of that.
"I love you," he murmured, pressing a gentle kiss against my neck.
"I love you too." I waited until the colour returned to his face again before suggesting that we drive a bit further. He still hadn't eaten, but I hoped it would help to calm the motion sickness a little if he had an empty stomach. It was the promise of his cat that made him push to keeping going, and I was starting to suspect that he'd had more than enough for the weekend. It had been a lot all at once.
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Randal wasn't home when we stopped to pick up Fox. Alistair was a little 'off' too, wanting to hug Carlisle a little too long and not his normal teasing self. "She's a cute little cat; I can see why you like her so much," he told us, handing the bundle of fur to my boyfriend but never fully removing his hand, still stroking her ears. Fox was purring loudly, whiskers pointed forward and unphased by the contact from two people.
"Do you want to keep her for another night, Al?" he asked softly. It obviously hadn't escaped his notice either.
"No, I'm sure she misses her parents. I'm trying to convince Randal we need a pet too, but he's not having it." Alistair couldn't stop his frown as he mentioned his partner. Still, he quickly smothered it. "We need to get dinner or something again soon; I never see you, and when I do it's because one of us is miserable." They went back and forth a bit with dates, Alistair just wanting the conversation and Carlisle still trying to figure out what was happening, while I tried not to selfishly focus on the word 'dinner'. It would be fine. It would have to be. I had just dragged Carlisle into the middle of the woods and he hadn't freaked out once, so I could handle a bloody meal.
As if reading my mind, he reached to find my hand. "What about seeing a movie instead, Al?"
Alistair watched our silent interaction closely, distracted as he agreed. "You guys are really good for each other," he murmured eventually. The sadness in his voice only prompted another hug, put he pushed Carlisle away after a few seconds. "You should probably go; Randal will be home soon, and he'll only be nasty. And I have to clean up." And he was making excuses all three of us could see though.
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Carlisle didn't bother putting Fox in her carry crate in the car, wrapping her in his jacket and holding her on his lap instead, wanting to stroke her. Their reunion had definitely been a happy one. "You missed her," I teased. "We were only gone a few days, Carlisle."
"Yeah, but she's special; you got her for me, and she's always so good when I'm home by myself, and…" His cheeks heated and he focused his attention intensely out the car window. His hold on her became a little tighter, his hand trailed up her back to rub the top of her head. Still, he was preoccupied, and not with the cat.
"You're worried about Randal," I guessed, sneaking my hand onto his knee.
"I don't give shit about Randal; I'm worried about Alistair," he replied abruptly.
"Alistair isn't the kind of person to take crap from someone," I reminded him. "I don't think he would stay with him if he was unhappy."
"He needs to be around people; he'd stay with him if the alternative was living by himself again." Sighing, he forced himself to rub fox. "He'll sort it out, I guess."
"It isn't your fault, if that's what you're thinking, Carlisle," I told him quietly.
"...I just don't want him to be hurt…"
"You can't protect everyone; he can hold his own." I squeezed his hand and dropped the subject, not wanting this negativity to follow us in the front door. Right now I was that damn tired that the only things that sounded good to me was showering and falling into bed.